Detroit Pistons: Tough conversations with Troy Weaver

Tough conversations with Troy Weaver

5. Why did you trade Saddiq Bey for James Wiseman?

I gotta tell you, Troy, this one didn't make any sense at the time and makes even less now. Your team lacked forwards before you traded Bey, so if you were going to trade him, then you had to do something to address that in the aftermath. You added Joe Harris.

Bey isn't great, and I don't blame you for not wanting to pay him, but you didn't have to! You could have just ridden out his rookie deal or even traded him before this year's trade deadline. What was the rush? This team could desperately use a big forward who is an above-average shooter and not a complete sieve on defense, which pretty much describes Bey. Did you ever consider that he wasn't in the proper role? That making him a high-volume shooter was a bad idea? The Hawks did, as they put Bey in his proper role and he is thriving in Atlanta, shooting 51 percent from the floor and over 40 percent from long range off the bench. This is the proper role for Bey and he is doing well, in fact, he has the third-best +/- of any bench player in the league this season while James Wiseman has been one of the worst players in the entire NBA.

At one point, Bey looked like part of this team's future, so what happened? Was it his "insane" salary demands? He can demand all he wants, but that doesn't mean he's going to get it. There won't be many teams with cap space next offseason, do you really think any of them were going to tie it up for Saddiq Bey? You could have matched any salary or just walked away. Did you really like James Wiseman this much? Why? What did you see that the Warriors, the best franchise in the NBA, didn't? Why did you instantly lose faith in Bey as a bench player and jettison him for Wiseman?

6. Why the early extension for Isaiah Stewart?

This was another decision you didn't have to make right away, as Isaiah Stewart would have been a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so if you wanted to keep him, you could have, as no other team was going to offer what you gave him. So what was the hurry? Wouldn't it have been better to wait and see how he worked out at power forward? To see if he can be a long-term complement to Cade Cunningham? From an outside perspective, it looks as if you are building your team and making roster decisions around a guy who is a fringe NBA starter at best. Why? There was no rush to extend Stewart, just as there was no rush to trade Bey. Both decisions are looking extremely questionable, as Stewart doesn't help Cade much and the Pistons have a big hole in their rotation where Bey should be. Can you explain these two decisions?