The knock against GM Troy Weaver when he was with the Detroit Pistons was that he drafted well but didn’t know how to put together an NBA roster that could actually win games. I hate to break it to you, Pelicans fans, but it looks like he’s back up to his old tricks.
Weaver’s influence was obvious this summer, as he did most of the things he did when he was with the Pistons: Trade up to draft a guy from the DMV (more on that in a minute), trade for a player that was one of “his guys” (Saddiq Bey, shout out and good luck, Saddiq!) and took a flyer on a player that had disappointed in Jordan Poole.
As a diehard Pistons fan who used to cover the Pelicans for a living, I am paying close attention, as I know a lot of fans over there and they deserve a winner after all the grief they’ve been through the last few seasons, watching what was once one of the most promising rosters in the NBA devolve into the mess it is now.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s likely to get worse before it gets better, NOLA, as Troy Weaver may draft well, but can he actually build a successful team? He’s not off to a great start.
Troy Weaver: The benefit of being bad
To Weaver’s credit, he drafted nearly all of the young players on the current Pistons’ roster, a team that made the playoffs last season and has aspirations of going further next year. He drafted well, though that job is much easier when you are perpetually in the top five, a caveat most people leave out when talking about his tenure with the Pistons.
Whether he drafted well this year is yet to be seen, but the trade he made to acquire Derik Queen has already had devastating effects on the future of the Pelicans. Not only did he give up an unprotected pick in 2026, which is insane for a rebuilding team like New Orleans, but Queen is already injured.
As the hosts said on a recent episode of The Hoop Collective, the Pelicans won’t even benefit from being bad. Weaver made a similar trade while in Detroit, and the pick just finally conveyed in the 2025 draft. It worked out for Detroit, but if the Pelicans are bad next season they are going to lose a high pick in a loaded draft.
The most Weaver-y move of the summer was the trade for Jordan Poole, as Weaver loves nothing more than taking flyers on guys who might just need a “new environment.” Weaver did this plenty of times with the Pistons, acquiring guys like Marvin Bagley III and James Wiseman, talented players who had yet to live up to the hype.
Poole has already achieved more than either of those guys, but the Pels took on an extra year of salary to get him and he’ll be making over $30 million. Does anyone think Poole is a 30+ million guy? Me either. The only way this can get worse is if Weaver gives him an extension (like he did MBIII), as Poole has never affected winning and has spent a career putting up inefficient chucker numbers on a bad team.
I wish Troy Weaver success, as I am not a hater, and do appreciate some of the things he did for Detroit, but it’s not shaping up that way already as Weaver makes some of the same team building mistakes (giving up assets too easily, overpaying mediocre players, making bad trades) that he made in Detroit.