During his time with the Pistons, then-GM Troy Weaver committed fully to the rebuild process by acquiring young talent and allowing the roster to tank for better draft position. His draft picks are now leading the Pistons to the East's top seed, but they were never able to have similar success with Weaver at the helm because he struggled to put competent pieces around them. His struggles with building a winning team have now transferred to his new team, the Pelicans.
Pistons fans aren't surprised by Weaver's disastrous decisions
Weaver definitely has his strengths when it comes to identifying potential and young talent. Many of his Pistons draft picks are now exceeding expectations and proving him correct for taking them. Even the one that hasn't contributed much to the Pistons' recent success, Jaden Ivey, is looking great since returning from injury. But that same young core had a historic losing streak when Weaver was calling the shots.
His biggest weakness has always been surrounding young talent with the right veterans. The Pelicans are now seeing this first-hand as they struggle to win any games in a loaded Western conference. They currently sit at 3-15, last in the conference, after Weaver traded away their first-round pick for next year. It was another risky gamble that Weaver took to move up in this year's draft and select Derik Queen, reminiscent of the move he made for Jalen Duren years earlier.
Weaver also did a poor job of acquiring talent in any other avenue besides lottery picks. Trajan Langdon has already proven much better in this capacity with the play of Daniss Jenkins. Jenkins' breakout has been one of the league's best stories recently and gives the Pistons a major advantage on a cheap contract. Langdon was able to find him on a two-way contract and allow him to develop in the G-League, something that never happened during Weaver's tenure on the Pistons.
Troy Weaver's weaknesses have put the Pelicans in a very tough spot. His woefully bad roster-building was fine for the Pistons when they were rebuilding around a 20-year-old Cade Cunningham, but the Pelcians are not in the same position. Instead, they have a disgruntled 25-year-old star in Zion Williamson who has been an enigma for the franchise for his whole playing career.
The Pelicans still have not made the move to shift away from Zion, but Weaver is going all in on young prospects in Queen and Jeremiah Fears. However, Weaver is not putting them in a position to succeed with his struggles to build a solid roster around them. Even after the debacle in Detroit, Weaver has failed to realize that young players need guidance from winning veterans to reach their maximum potential.