Trajan Langdon took a measured approach in his first offseason as team president of the Detroit Pistons.
He resisted the urge to make drastic changes, instead choosing to keep the core he inherited, complement them with better veterans and use the season to evaluate what he had.
Instead, Detroit defied all expectations and is now fighting for playoff seeding in April, not something most people expected.
Once again, Langdon will enter an offseason with temptation dangling in front of him, as the Pistons now seem closer to title contention than anyone would have imagined, and it is going to be tempting to try and finish the job in one offseason.
But team building and success are often defined by the moves you don’t make as much as the ones you do, and with stars possibly available this summer, Langdon will have to decide when and if he should pounce.
One name we’ve heard connected to the Pistons is Zion Williamson, which does make some sense, as he’d be the second star they need and is the type of talent that can make a good team great.
There was already ample proof that this is a bad idea, but for those who still stubbornly hold onto this dream, there was more added yesterday.
Detroit Pistons rumors: Zion Williamson ain’t it
The Pistons are currently going through injury issues after having avoided them for most of the season.
It’s been a big part of their success this year, and Langdon clearly made availability one of the key attributes he was looking for in the veterans he signed and traded for, as Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. are guys who haven’t missed many games in their respective careers.
You can’t blame him, as Langdon was previously the GM of the Pelicans, a team built around two injury prone players whose inability to stay healthy consistently submarined his team’s chances of competing even though they’ve had some stacked rosters over the years.
Yesterday it was announced that the Pelicans are shutting down Zion Williamson for the rest of the season after he suited up for just 30 games. Zion stacked numbers in those 30 games and at times looked like an All-NBA talent, but it doesn’t much matter if he’s not in there.
People have used Langdon’s connection and relationship with Zion as a reason the Pistons might try to trade for him, but I think it’s the exact opposite, as Langdon knows exactly what he’d be getting into and likely wants no part of that trainwreck again.
For my part, I hope the Pistons run it back with the addition of an impact role player or two (preferably a power forward or big wing who can shoot) and bypass the big names like Zion and Devin Booker, who would gut their depth.
They absolutely cannot trade for a star who is never healthy. Ask the Pelicans how that is going. Ask the 76ers. So please stop with the Zion Williamson rumors, as it is not happening, nor should it.