We are only 11 games into the 2023-24 season and the Detroit Pistons are already in desperation mode.
Riding an 8-game losing streak, the Pistons have had a lot of positives this season, but none of them are translating to wins.
Troy Weaver talked endlessly about how this would be the season the Pistons would finally be competitive, yet here they are with the worst record in the NBA. It’s certainly not over yet, and Weaver has to be given some slack for all of the injuries, as it is not his fault that half of his roster and all of the veterans went out at the same time.
The Detroit Pistons have also had arguably the toughest schedule in the NBA, so the league didn’t do them any favors. But the excuses are starting to get old.
The Pistons aren’t in full-blown desperation mode yet, and who knows, they may never get there, as it’s not readily clear if owner Tom Gores knows that losing is a bad thing, and so far he’s extended endless patience to Weaver and his rebuild.
Here are three possible solutions that don’t involve just waiting around for guys to get healthy, each one progressively more radical in approach.
Unleash Jaden Ivey already
Jaden Ivey returned from illness last night, but only played 11 minutes, which you might expect as he tries to ramp up after what was reportedly a very serious viral infection that had him knocked off his feet.
But he wasn’t playing much before the illness, averaging just 19 minutes per game. One thing that has become abundantly clear during this losing streak is that Cade Cunningham needs some help. Cade is leading the NBA in minutes, has over a 30 percent usage rate, and his shooting numbers have been in a freefall as the minutes and workload pile up.
The Pistons clearly need another player who can break down a defense, as right now, teams are just focusing on Cade and not scared of anyone else. Ivey has shot the ball well in limited attempts this season, but more important is that he can break down a defense off the bounce, get out in transition and get the Detroit Pistons some easy buckets that don’t involve Cade having the ball in his hands for 23 seconds of the shot clock.
Killian Hayes has actually played well of late, but defenders aren’t scared of him and his defense isn’t good enough to offset that fact. Ivey has been competing on defense and even though he still needs improvement, the effort is there.
Detroit needs a secondary scoring option who can get them some easier buckets, so it’s time to unleash Jaden Ivey, enough is enough already. But there is another, more desperate option.
The Detroit Pistons could trade Jaden Ivey
I told you the solutions would get more radical.
To me, the biggest failure of Troy Weaver’s rebuild so far is that the Detroit Pistons have close to zero assets after all of this losing. Outside of the players they have identified as “the core,” Detroit has little but aging veterans who couldn’t even get them a first-round pick.
Speaking of first-round picks, Detroit doesn’t have any extra ones, and in fact, still owes one to the Knicks that looks like it may never convey the way things are going. This isn’t all Weaver’s fault, unlike some rebuilding teams, the Pistons didn’t have a star to trade to kick things off and build a largess of assets.
Detroit isn’t going to trade Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren or Ausar Thompson, which leaves Jaden Ivey as their only real trade asset.
I don’t think the Pistons are going to trade Ivey and I don’t think they should, especially now, as he has barely played this season and his value on the trade market is as low as it’s ever been.
But if Monty Williams isn’t going to play him much, and Marcus Sasser continues to play like a solid backup, trading Ivey might be the only move the Pistons have if they want to improve the roster this season.
Could they put together a package to go after OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam? I’m not so sure, especially with Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks (who returned last night) nursing injuries all season.
What is certain is that there isn’t a trade out there that is going to make the Pistons much better unless Jaden Ivey is a part of it. Unless…
The Detroit Pistons could clean house
If trading Jaden Ivey as part of a package for a better-fitting player isn’t radical enough for you, how about the Pistons just clean house?
That would include trading all six of the players they have on expiring contracts, moving Bojan Bogdanovic and everyone else not named Cade, Jalen or Ausar.
Most of these players are going to be gone next season anyway, so why not just get a jumpstart on the future now? Reap as much as you can from the veterans, trade Ivey, trade Killian, trade pretty much everyone and start over.
There are two reasons this isn’t going to happen: The first is that none of these players have value right now, but come see me at the trade deadline. The second is that this would be a tacit admission that the rebuild has been a failure and would basically be putting the Pistons back to square one.
Even though this strategy would potentially open up a treasure trove of cap space, does it really matter? Do you trust Troy Weaver to actually use it and use it wisely? After the Harris fiasco, I’m not so sure about that either.
Unfortunately, if the Detroit Pistons want to save this season, they are likely going to have to do it with the players who are currently on the roster, so this is going to take some shuffling by Monty Williams and for some of these guys to finally get healthy.
There is no easy way out of this mess, so get a shovel, Pistons, and start digging.
No one wants to hear this during an 8-game losing streak, but the only real option Detroit has right now is to be patient and hope they can get hot if and when they ever have their full roster.