Former Detroit Pistons make debuts for the Wizards

When the Detroit Pistons traded Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Livers, it was more about the money than the players exchanged.

The Pistons took back two expiring contracts in Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala, sending the Wiz two second-round picks for the cost of the final year of MBIII's contract.

It was an admission of failure for the Pistons, as they gave up picks and one rotation player to get Bagley III in the first place, and now had to give up two more just to get rid of him. That's some asset management!

I wondered why Monty Williams was playing James Wiseman over MBIII, who had a decent start to the season and is a better player than Wiseman on both ends, though both of them are terrible defenders.

That reason became obvious when Bagley III was traded, as he's an injury-prone player and the Detroit Pistons were holding him out to keep him healthy.

The two made their debuts for the Washington Wizards last night in a loss to the New York Knicks and had very different games.

MBIII started for the Wizards and finished the game with 20 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Isaiah Livers caught a DNP CD, which shows you just how bad the Pistons are, as he was playing big minutes off the bench for Detroit and couldn't get any run with the lowly Wizards.

Some fans got overly excited about MBIII's big game while ignoring the obvious.

Do the Detroit Pistons have seller's remorse on Marvin Bagley III?

The short answer to this is, absolutely not.

MBIII had one big game, but he also added three turnovers to his totals, a problem he's had all season, even in limited minutes.

We have always known that Bagley can score, that has never been the issue. It's that he can't defend or stay healthy long, can't shoot outside of the paint and doesn't have the highest basketball IQ.

I am not trying to crap on Bagley here, as he can be a guy who gets you buckets off the bench and he does have a future as a backup center, though it's doubtful anyone will give him as much money as the Pistons did. He was also a good lockerrom guy in Detroit, and well liked by his teammates, so I wish him nothing but the best in his future.

Even though he had a great debut for the Wizards, they still lost and it's still good that he won't be on the Pistons' books for another season.