The Detroit Pistons have the young talent, draft picks and financial flexibility to make a big trade, but it’s difficult to come up with one that doesn’t involve Tobias Harris and doesn’t decimate the Pistons’ already thin power forward depth.
Masters of fake trades Bleacher Report came up with a trade for Tyler Herro that sent the Heat Tobias Harris, Ron Holland II, and one protected first-round pick. Herro would be nice next to Cade Cunningham and satisfies their need for a second scoring option who can also create.
But I don’t know if anyone else noticed that this trade would leave the Pistons with exactly zero power forwards. Detroit is already small and now would have to run out a lineup with both Jaden Ivey and Tyler Herro (two defensive liabilities) along with Ausar Thompson at the four, which might make for a fun offense, but might be one of the worst starting defenses in the league.
A new trade idea from Bleacher Report tries to address that problem by adding power forward Nikola Jovic to the trade, along with another first-round pick and a swap from the Pistons. Here is what they came up with:
At least the Pistons end up with a power forward in this iteration of the trade, but there is still a giant elephant in the room, one that is going to make it difficult for Detroit to make a trade like this.
Detroit Pistons rumors: The power forward dilemma
Tobias Harris’ expiring contract is the biggest financial asset the Pistons have, but it will be difficult to trade it away, as it would leave the Pistons with just Ron Holland II at power forward.
As exciting as Holland is, he’s 20 years old and not ready to assume full time power forward duties and is better suited playing the three, at least until he bulks up.
This trade moves both of them anyway, and takes back only Nikola Jovic, so even if you envision him being a starter (I do not), the Pistons are down to one power forward again and have no backup.
Jovic has shown some flashes, but he’s only 22 and has never played more than 46 games in a season. He did average double figures in his 46 appearances last season, but even if you believe in Jovic, he’s unproven and would be a huge downgrade from Tobias Harris in the short term.
This isn’t a knock on Jovic, who is the type of young, floor-spreading big the Pistons covet, but it would leave Detroit with no big man depth. If one of their bigs got hurt, they’d be in trouble quickly.
You then have the issue that both Herro and Jovic will be up for new contracts and getting big raises, so the Pistons would really have to believe in their futures with the roster to give up a cost-controlled young player like Holland.
Trading for Herro really only makes sense if Jaden Ivey is the young player going back and maybe not even then. Herro is certainly a better offensive player than Ivey right now and Ivey may never reach his level, but if he can give you the majority of what Herro does for $10-15 million less per season (on their next contracts, respectively) then there are likely more efficient ways to invest that cap space.
I love the idea of Herro with Cade, but the Pistons can’t trade away the little power forward depth they have to get him.