The Detroit Pistons completed media day yesterday and will now move onto the first day of training camp.
This should be a competitive one, as the Pistons have more depth and there are some interesting battles for spots in the rotation.
Those battles changed somewhat with the announcement that Isaiah Livers was going to miss 6-8 weeks with a sprained ankle.
That leaves the Pistons thin at power forward, and fans wondering what new head coach Monty Williams is going to do about it.
Williams answered the question, and in doing so, set off a wave of panic from Pistons fans.
Monty Williams’ media day response was Pistons fans worst nightmare
Pistons fans have been waiting to hear how Monty Williams plans to use all of his bigs, a question that is even more important with the loss of Livers. Williams’ response did not get a positive reaction from fans:
Williams said he believes there's a chance Duren could log minutes at the 4 if they go big.
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) October 2, 2023
You can read the comments below James Edwards III’s tweet and you’ll see that not a single one of them is positive.
Fans have been talking about the chance of using two bigs since the Pistons inexplicably traded for James Wiseman last season. The two-big lineups have been a disaster when they’ve been used, as none of the Pistons’ big men can really spread the floor and none of them are elite rim protectors, though that will hopefully be coming for Duren.
Even national writers begged the Pistons to “kill the idea with fire,” especially with Cade Cunningham coming back and the need to spread the floor around him.
The time for experimenting with things that don’t work is over, as Detroit needs to start winning games, not try to change the league by going back to two bigs. Troy Weaver has pointed out the need to “go big” against teams like Cleveland and Milwaukee but fails to recognize that the reason those teams can do it is that they have dynamic bigs who can either shoot or protect the rim and perimeter at a high level on defense.
Duren is a promising 19-year-old center who should be focused on the things he already does well and improving the things that could make him an elite center, which are rim protection and being better at switching on the perimeter.
To be fair to Williams, he probably didn’t realize what a sore subject this is for Pistons fans, and if you look at what he said in context, it was really just a way to offer praise to Duren, as he was saying the youngster has the athleticism and ability to defend on the perimeter like a four.
He didn’t definitively say we’d see Duren in that role, so the reaction probably wasn’t warranted.
But I think the reaction speaks to where we are as fans, which is that we’re sick of experimenting, sick of losing and sick of the Pistons acting like they know something no one else does when it comes to playing two centers together who can’t shoot.