The Detroit Pistons have plenty of exciting young talent with Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, but so far it has not translated into wins, as they are riding a 12-game losing streak and have the worst record in the NBA.
It's not just that they are losing, but this team hasn't been very fun to watch. We knew they weren't likely to be a playoff team with such a young roster, but thought they'd be a fun and exciting team that got up and down the floor and gave opponents fits.
Part of that has been the injuries, as Detroit has been missing a lot of key players, but even without their veterans, we should be getting a heavy dose of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey together with Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren, as this is the foundation Detroit is building around.
But we've seen little of this group together, as head coach Monty Williams has had his own ideas about how the core should be deployed.
Some are blaming him for this messy start, while others are putting it at Troy Weaver's feet for building a team with too many guard options.
Some are blaming both, including two national talking heads who have already seen enough of the Detroit Pistons.
Is it time for the Detroit Pistons to make a trade?
In a recent episode of "The Mismatch" podcast with Chris Vernon and Kevin O' Connor, the two hosts went in on the Detroit Pistons, who they called "disgusting" while calling on Troy Weaver to make a trade.
The two lamented that the Pistons should be one of the most exciting teams to watch, and blamed Monty Williams for not making the proper adjustments, something he's been criticized for in the past.
"They have Jaden Ivey, Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren. This should be the most fun team to watch of young talent, going up and down the court, giving good teams problems...This is Monty Williams; fault. They buried Ivey — they brought in Kevin Knox and gave him more minutes than Ivey and he wasn't even on a team (until last week)."
They also went on to blame Troy Weaver for building a roster with so many guards, as there aren't enough minutes to go around for Jaden Ivey, Killian Hayes and Marcus Sasser, saying that they need to "break up the guards" by trading either Killian or Ivey.
Trading Jaden Ivey at this point would be a risky endeavor, as this would certainly be selling low on a guy who is still on a rookie contract and has shown a lot of potential. Shipping him off for a guy like Zach LaVine could be a move that the Pistons regret in the near future.
But I do agree with the hots that the Pistons are not getting the most out of this roster and are sucking the life out of what should be a very entertaining team. Trading a player like Killian Hayes may not yield much return, but it would clear some of the logjam at guard, give the remaining guards more defined roles and hopefully force Monty Williaims to unleash the young group we've been waiting all season to see.