3 disastrous mistakes the Detroit Pistons must avoid this summer

3 disastrous mistakes the Detroit Pistons must avoid this summer

#3: Trying to play two bigs

One of the more mind-boggling decisions this season was to trade Saddiq Bey for James Wiseman. It’s not because Bey was anything great, but Wiseman is very similar to Marvin Bagley III and the Detroit Pistons now have too many bigs with similar skillsets.

Weaver seems tantalized by the idea of running with two bigs, which would be a huge mistake in the modern NBA. If you have centers who can spread the floor or who are great defenders, then going with two bigs does make some sense, but the Pistons don’t have those guys.

We’ve already plenty of evidence that playing MBIII with another big man is a disaster on both ends, and the brief run we saw with Duren and Wiseman wasn’t much better.

This configuration may work at times, but we’ve seen in the playoffs that teams will eventually figure it out and shut down your offense if you have two players on the floor who can’t shoot or defend the perimeter, just ask Cleveland, who were barely able to crack 90 points per game in the playoffs.

Teams like the Warriors and Kings have actually gone even smaller in the playoffs, so the idea that Weaver is going to crack the code with three bigs who can’t shoot is a bit of a pipe dream.

Jalen Duren should be the starting center of this team and James Wiseman should be the backup, it’s that simple. Putting both of them on the floor at the same time will kill the spacing and hurt the two young guards as they try to find room to operate in the paint and mid-range.

Hopefully the Pistons will trade one of their bigs this summer (Bagley preferably) and build a more balanced roster with a few wings who can actually defend, as that is what wins in the playoffs, not a two-big lineup that looks like something out of the 1990’s.