The Detroit Pistons didn't hold back in the weeks, days and hours leading up to the NBA trade deadline, as they swapped out more than half of their roster in an effort to shed the stink of a miserable season.
We've only had one game so far, but the results were encouraging, even in a loss. Simone Fontecchio looked like a nice fit, the Pistons' defense was more active and they were quicker in the half-court and in transition.
With Quentin Grimes joining the team soon, we'll get a good look at what the Core Four looks like with a couple of 3-and-D wings around them, something we've been waiting for all season.
In the long term, most of the acquisitions the Pistons made aren't going to matter, as they won't be on the team next season, but in the short term, we could see some players changing roles as Detroit tries to figure out what they have and which players to invest in moving forward.
3 Detroit Pistons whose roles aren't safe after the trade deadline
Mike Muscala
Muscala wasn't playing big minutes anyway, but he has been an impact addition to the Pistons, as their offense took off after the trade to bring him in.
He still started against the Clippers but only played 10 minutes, which might be a theme for the rest of the season.
The Pistons inexplicably kept James Wiseman at the trade deadline, choosing to make their cuts elsewhere by waiving Joe Harris, Danilo Gallinari and Killian Hayes.
Since the season is lost anyway, Monty Williams might be under a directive to play Wiseman more to see if the Pistons might want to re-sign him as their third center in the offseason. Troy Weaver invested a lot in Wiseman, trading Saddiq Bey to get him, so will likely want to see him get some minutes in a season that has shifted to the future.
Muscala is still going to play, but I would guess he loses a few of his minutes to Wiseman and could see a lesser role when Isaiah Stewart returns.
It's been a hard year to be a Pistons fan, but you have a chance to cash in on Detroit's woes thanks to FanDuel! All you have to do is sign up, deposit $10 or more and then bet $5 or more on Detroit to lose to LA. If your wager wins, you'll get $150 in bonus bets! Sign up for FanDuel with this PistonPowered link today.
Stanley Umude
Umude has been the defacto G-Leaguer that the Pistons brought up whenever they needed a body this season.
He's been okay in the few games he's gotten and has shown in the G-League that he can be the type of high-volume 3-point shooter the Pistons need.
But the Pistons recently signed Tosan Evbuomwan to a 10-day contract, which was kind of surprising. Detroit had an open roster spot after the trade deadline, and I could see them using it to try out different G-Leaguers over the rest of the season.
Umude will probably be one of them, but for now, he is back to the G-League, where he is averaging 17.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while shooting 37 percent from 3-point range on over nine attempts per game.
Marcus Sasser
Initially, I thought Sasser would be one of the big beneficiaries of the Pistons' trade deadline moves and I still believe that.
But we may see him sharing more minutes with Shake Milton as the Pistons try to figure out whether to keep Milton around. Shake has a non-guaranteed year left on his contract at $5 million, so might be worth having as a deep-bench reserve.
The only way to find out is to play him and see what happens, which could come at the expense of some of Sasser's minutes. In the loss to the Clippers, Sasser played 14 minutes, while Milton played 12, though Sasser did pick up four quick fouls which may have led to him spending most of the night on the bench.
That could (and should) be a one-off, as Sasser was red-hot coming into that game and is just a smidge away from becoming the first rookie to join the 50/40/90 club.
But in the short term, we may see some of the new guards get a shot, as Sasser is already a part of the Pistons' future, while they've not seen how Milton or even Malachi Flynn might fit in.