Free agents, unhappy stars and tax teams: Is there a mystery star for the Pistons?
The Detroit Pistons are worse than they were last season, which is not a great sign when you are in year four of your rebuild.
The most optimistic fans keep telling me (repeatedly) that I am just impatient and that everything will fall into place 3-4 years from now when all of their current players are 25 and have reached their potential. So if you are into eight-year rebuilds that include historic losing streaks, good news! The Pistons are right on pace.
But for those of us who would like to see this team win at some point before society collapses, the Pistons need to do more than just add another Joe Harris veteran and hope the young players magically get much better over the next five months.
The Pistons need to shake things up, even if that means trading one of the vaunted "Core Four" and losing the youth shield they've been using to protect the front office from any criticism.
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But is there a star out there? The Detroit Pistons have plenty of places to look, but getting what they need won't be easy even if they try, and there is no guarantee they will.
The Detroit Pistons in free agency
If the Pistons want to just add a few role players and run it back with the cast they have, then free agency is their best bet.
There aren't any stars, so even if the Pistons were to land several of the top guys, it would likely be via overpay and not enough to matter. Is adding 32-year-old Tobias Harris (who will be eating up more of the cap space than Cade Cunningham) really going to make that big of a difference? And what happens the following season when Ivey and Duren get their extensions and you have a ton of money locked into four guys who just led a team that won 25 wins?
Would adding role players like Grayson Allen and Andre Drummond move the needle?
The Pistons haven't signed a meaningful free agent in years and going this route isn't likely to yield the type of change they need to be competitive in the near future.
But they do have other options.