Detroit Pistons: Will another terrible season get Troy Weaver fired?

When Troy Weaver took over as GM of the Detroit Pistons, he inherited the worst roster situation in the entire NBA.

Not only were they not good, but the Pistons didn’t have a real asset to jumpstart a rebuild. They didn’t have an Anthony Davis or James Harden to trade, so there wasn’t any big package of young players and draft picks coming to Detroit.

Instead, they had to trade Andre Drummond for peanuts and literally pay Blake Griffin to go away.

Weaver was given a tall task indeed.

But we are now three years into it and the Detroit Pistons still haven’t made any progress in the win column, so is Troy Weaver’s job at stake in the 2023-24 season?

Detroit Pistons: Yes, Troy Weaver’s job is at stake next season

There are those who believe Troy Weaver should be fired if the Detroit Pistons don’t show marked improvement next season and they might have an argument.

Weaver has made some savvy moves (trading to get Jalen Duren, Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks) but he’s also made some questionable ones, including signing Marvin Bagley III to a three-year guaranteed deal when no one else was bidding, trading for James Wiseman (pending) and drafting Killian Hayes.

He hasn’t made a catastrophically bad move, but he hasn’t put together a balanced roster and the team still has no identity, clear philosophy or path. He’s paid a lot of lip service to restoration, but other than losing for draft picks, hasn’t done much to actually do it.

Cap space and draft picks have been wasted and the Pistons somehow still owe a first rounder to the Knicks even though Detroit has been abysmal for four straight seasons.

For all the talk about “Trader Troy” he’s played it safe so far, and mostly done the things (purge the roster,draft Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey) that could be viewed as no-brainers.

The Pistons need to win 30+ games this season and show they are on the right path, or Weaver could be let go.

No, Troy Weaver is still safe

It’s tough to build a team from scratch with absolutely no assets, which is what Troy Weaver has been trying to do.

No, he hasn’t built a cohesive roster because he’s been in asset acquisition mode since he’s been in Detroit, trying to make up for the lack the team had when he took over. He’s got a solid core of young talent in Cunningham, Ivey, Duren and Ausar Thompson, and if Isaiah Stewart and James Wiseman work out, this could be one of the best young groups in the NBA.

He hasn’t made a signature move yet, but he’s also not tethered the team to mediocre players on bloated contracts, which along with terrible drafting, is what got them into this mess.

The Detroit Pistons might have made a leap last season had it not been for the injury to Cade Cunningham, and if they had won closer to 30 games last year, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Whether you approve of Troy Weaver’s job so far or not, one thing is clear: He won’t have excuses forever. He got his head coach. He’s gotten some young talent. Now it is time to build a real team or eventually, it will be someone else’s job.