Offseason Report Card: Pistons get two As, four Bs for summer moves

Every year that the Detroit Pistons have been stuck in the Draft Lottery there has been reporting that the team was going to aggressively pursue winning the following season. That should raise red flags for most Pistons fans, as going after the bottom tier of the playoff bracket was what locked the franchise in NBA purgatory for so many years.

Yet whether the Pistons tried to get better and failed or, more likely, were simply trying to shape the narrative as they continued to stockpile young talent, to their credit they haven’t rushed things during their rebuild.

This summer the question came up again: how much would the Pistons prioritize winning this year vs building the best possible long-term core? Armed with the No. 5 pick (not the top pick they hoped for) and plenty of cap space, how did they approach the summer?

How did the Detroit Pistons do this offseason?

Let’s walk through each move that they made this offseason, grading the Pistons on their signings, hirings, trades and draft picks. We’ll use a scale where an “A” was an excellent move, a “B” was a move worth making, a “C” was questionable and a “D” was a clear mistake; we’ll leave “F” moves for franchise-damaging disasters.

With that in mind, how did the Pistons grade out? Let’s look at their Offseason Report Card in detail, starting with the best move they made this summer.