The Detroit Pistons hope to enter the next phase of the restoration next season but still have important questions hanging over the roster.
Perhaps the biggest is what they plan to do with all of these centers, as they have four of them, and so far none have proven they can shoot consistently from the outside.
Troy Weaver has the misguided notion that the Pistons need to play bigger to compete in the Eastern Conference, one of the reasons he made the trade of Saddiq Bey that eventually landed James Wiseman.
The two-big lineup experiment was an abject failure last season, especially on the defensive end, and it didn’t look any better in Summer League, where the combo of Jalen Duren and James Wiseman grabbed a few offensive rebounds but allowed more points on the other end on run outs and wide-open 3-point shots.
And if you paid attention in the playoffs, most teams were going the other direction, using versatile bigs in small-ball lineups that didn’t even feature one traditional center, much less two.
This is what led to one NBA writer to plead with the Detroit Pistons to end the two-big disaster.
Sam Vecenie pleads with the Detroit Pistons
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic recently took to Twitter/X with a tongue and cheek request for the Detroit Pistons: Kill the two-big lineups forever.
I'm not asking a lot from the Pistons, but I am going to need them to kill the idea of playing Jalen Duren and James Wiseman together with fire and never allow it to be seen again. It only happened briefly last season, but it also happened at Summer League and it needs stop. pic.twitter.com/TJVDzOSsvL
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) August 30, 2023
A quick look at the comments shows that most fans agree with this assessment and are hoping we never see these two on the floor at the same time unless it is during warmups.
We didn’t see a ton of two-big lineups last season, but the ones with Marvin Bagley III and James Wiseman let up a staggering 134 points per 100 possessions, which is, ummmm, not good. Duren and Wiseman weren’t much better, and there is little indication that either of them will ever be able to shoot well enough to spread the floor on offense or have the ability to adequately defend the perimeter on the other end.
Writers can see it. Fans can see it. But can Troy Weaver? Hopefully Monty Williams will have the final say on how he uses his collection of centers and puts an end to this nonsense right away.