The Detroit Pistons made sweeping trade deadline changes and the reviews are still pending, as they've only played one game with their new cast and three of them were not yet available.
I gave the Pistons middling grades for their deadline, as I liked the players they brought in (Simone Fontecchio and Quentin Grimes) but had to knock them for asset management, as they probably waited too long to trade their veterans and could have made similar moves at the trade deadline without subjecting the fans to a 28-game losing streak.
I am Homer #1, so tend to skew optimistic until I have a reason not to be, but some national pundits were not nearly as generous with the Pistons.
Bill Simmons calls the Detroit Pistons the "dumbest team in the NBA"
Simmons is known for his hot takes and for making superlative statements, often declaring something the "best" or the "worst," so you always have to take his opinions with a grain of salt.
In a recent episode of the Bill Simmons podcast, he went in on the Pistons, calling them the "dumbest team in the NBA" while citing several of their past moves, including:
-The Marvin Bagley contract
-The Monty Williams contract
-The early season benching of Jaden Ivey
I can't argue with those. But he did make some assessments that are debatable.
The Detroit Pistons at the trade deadline
Simmons bemoaned that Detroit wasn't able to get more for Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks than Quentin Grimes and a couple of second-round picks, and again, he may have a point. But that point was more valid last year than this one, as it became clear that the Pistons weren't getting a first-round pick for either of them.
While I agree the Pistons could have gotten more last season (Troy Weaver admitted as much), this was about as good as it was going to get in this one. Bogdanovic is nearly 35 years old, and while he played a big role on a bad Detroit team, he won't be playing that role with the Knicks, especially once they are healthy.
He'll be a bench sniper who comes in to score points and the Knicks have the defense to cover him. You can't call Bojan a "20ppg scorer," as he likely won't be on the Knicks. No one is giving up a big haul for a one-dimensional bench guy in the latter stages of his career.
And Knicks fans are already complaining about his defense (this has been fun to watch on Twitter) and some are wondering if they should have just kept Grimes, who was a fan favorite. Knicks fans are much like Simmons, prone to exaggeration and superlative, but they might have a legitimate point, especially in the playoffs, when teams are going to target Bogdanovic on the wing when he's in there.
I already like Simone Fontecchio and think he's going to give the Pistons most of Bogey's offense with much better defense and fewer turnovers, so it could be a net gain for Detroit.
Same with Grimes, who can get after it on the defensive end and isn't a bad 3-point shooter himself. The Pistons needed defensive upgrades and got them without having to sacrifice any of their future.
To someone who doesn't watch the Pistons every day, it may look like they got swindled by the Knicks, and maybe they did, time will tell, but they weren't winning anything with Bogdanovic and Burks, wanted to get younger and more athletic and they did.
The Pistons may still be the dumbest team in the NBA, but I didn't hate their trade deadline moves and never thought they were going to get much more for Bogdanovic after they didn't trade him last season.
Will the Pistons fire their front office?
Simmons went on to say that the Pistons were likely to fire everyone after this season anyway, so the current regime "shouldn't have been allowed to make trades," as they will likely bring in new people with a different vision.
I'm not so sure about that either. Gores has been reluctant to fire Troy Weaver and it's always been my feeling that the GM will get the summer to sort this roster. He got off to a good start by shedding some of the dead weight and hopefully, Weaver has learned from past blunders.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Weaver is the one spending their cap space this summer, so I'll have to respectfully disagree with Simmons there.
What Simmons is correct about is that the Pistons have been a trainwreck with little vision over the last several seasons, but hopefully, these latest moves put them in a better position to climb out of the cellar and take off the dunce cap.