Pistons' messy 6-team trade distracts from the elephant in the room

The Detroit Pistons completed a loud six-team trade yesterday that you practically need a spreadsheet to sort out. 

The end result was the Pistons sending out Isaiah Stewart, Caris LeVert and Marcus Sasser and bringing in John Collins, Taurean Prince, Gary Harris and one extra second-round pick by my count. 

If you just look at the three players, you could argue the Pistons downgraded here, as Stewart is probably the best player of the group, and both LeVert and Sasser were at least rotation players at times last season, which may not be true of Taurean Prince and especially Gary Harris. 

But all three of these guys shoot the 3-ball well, and with the addition of Isaiah Joe, the Pistons have improved their 3-point shooting, which they hope will have a ripple effect on other parts of the offense. 

I broke down the Pistons’ revamped depth chart yesterday and they definitely have more shooting and versatility, but I'd be lying if I said I thought this was a championship roster. 

The six-team trade wasn’t enough for the Pistons 

There are some readers who take any criticism or worry about the Pistons’ offseason as some kind of personal attack on Trajan Langdon. It’s not. 

You need to find other teams willing to make trades, and I don’t doubt Langdon’s sincere desire and effort to improve the team, but this is a results-oriented business, not one where you get credit for trying hard. 

While I didn’t think the Pistons needed to completely tear down their roster after winning 60 games, they do have clear weaknesses that will once again get exposed in the playoffs. 

Detroit still lacks dependable ball handlers and may end up putting a lot of pressure on rookie Ebuka Okorie to provide some. Additional spacing should help, but this problem has not been seriously addressed. 

The Pistons still don’t have another player other than Cade Cunningham who can reliably create a shot for himself. This was the single biggest problem the Pistons had in the playoffs, and sorry, but John Collins isn’t going to solve that. 

Tobias Harris was the Pistons’ second-best shot creator last season, and they swapped him out for a guy who rarely dribbles. 

Who are the Pistons going to in crunch time other than Cade? What have they done to ensure he’s not trapped and double teamed every time he touches the ball? As far as I can see, not much. 

I do think Langdon has won most of the fringe moves he’s made this offseason, but the same problems and questions linger even after improving the shooting. 

The offseason isn’t over yet, so it’s no time to panic, but Cade Cunningham is entering year six and Detroit is still looking at the same issues. 

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