If there was one word to describe Trajan Langdon’s short tenure as president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons, it would be patience.
Langdon didn’t take a flame thrower to the roster in his first offseason, instead choosing to augment what he had and see what happened.
He turned out to be right, as the Pistons’ young core has developed rapidly with more help around them, particularly Cade Cunnigham, who should be on his way to an All-NBA selection.
While fans and media were talking about big trades the Pistons might make, Trajan Langdon was thinking about the future, about financial flexibility and about building a deep and talented roster. It was not what fans wanted to hear after a historically bad season, but he was right.
It was the same at this year’s trade deadline, as many fans and media members dreamed of the big move the Pistons could make to propel them up the standings, a move it turned out they did not need, as they are the 6th seed with five-game cushion with 14 games remaining in the season.
We saw one name in particular in weeks of speculation and Trajan Langdon turned out to be right once again.
The Detroit Pistons and Brandon Ingram
I got so sick of writing about Brandon Ingram rumors, mostly because I didn’t want him and didn’t think the Pistons would pursue him.
But that didn’t stop the speculation, which did make some sense, as he would have potentially been a nice complement for Cade Cunningham, and because the Pelicans waited too long to trade him, they didn’t get a ton in return.
Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk and a first-round pick is not a steep price for a former All-Star who gets you 20+ points per game when healthy.
When Healthy should be Ingram’s middle name, as he never is, a problem that Langdon clearly wants to avoid after having to try and build a team around BI and Zion Williamson as the GM of the Pelicans, two players who spend more time on the injury list than not.
The Raptors were willing to take that risk, even complicating it by giving Ingram a new contract before he had even played a game for them.
He still hasn’t, as Ingram has an ankle issue that has kept him out since December. You have to wonder if Toronto already regrets that contract, as they will be paying $38-41 million per season for the next three years for a guy who has played all of 18 games this year.
The moral of this story is that we should all be glad that Trajan Langdon doesn’t pay any attention to trade rumors or speculation, as he has twice exercised patience in the face of a lot of pressure to make a bold, but ultimately stupid move.
Fans who will again hope and speculate about another star this summer (Devin Booker) will probably be disappointed, as Langdon isn’t going to gut his roster to chase one guy. He’s in no hurry to fast track a team whose best players are all 23-years-old or younger, and so far, that patience has been the right call.