The Detroit Pistons drafted Cade Cunningham first overall in 2021 hoping he would be the savior that would pull the franchise out of the trash heap.
It’s safe to say that hasn’t happened.
The Pistons have miraculously gotten worse since drafting Cunningham, culminating in last year’s shameful display of 14 wins, the worst in franchise history.
While some of this can be put on their star’s shoulders, the biggest problem is that Troy Weaver did nothing to help him, taking on busts and salary dumps for nothing rather than guys who could, you know, play basketball.
You only have to look at some of the players who were in the starting lineup with Cade Cunningham regularly to know the Pistons haven’t done nearly enough to build around their star.
Here are the worst starters of the Cade Cunningham era so far. For this exercise, I only chose players who played and started a fairly significant number of games, so you won’t be seeing the motley parade of g-leaguers and plumbers the Pistons have had in their starting five to finish the last four seasons.
Let’s move our way from best to worst.
#5: Troy Brown Jr.
This one is a bit unfair, as Brown Jr. didn't play much with the Pistons, though he did start over half the games he played for Detroit last season, a testament to just how bad things got.
Brown Jr. was playing around 20 minutes per game, so he got a chance to show what he can do and it was not impressive.
He shot just 29 percent from the floor, averaged just over four points per game and grabbed three rebounds.
It wasn’t just his 3-point shooting (28 percent) that was bad, he was also terrible from 2-point range, hitting just 31 percent from inside the arc.
A once-promising 3-and-D prospect that the Bulls traded away Daniel Gafford to get (nice move, Bulls!), Brown is now looking for a job.
He is in a long line of draft busts that Troy Weaver thought he could rehabilitate, and as usual, he was wrong. But I’m only putting Brown Jr. 5th because he didn’t play enough games to do real damage.
The rest of these guys did.
#4: Marvin Bagley III
Another draft bust, another whiff for Troy Weaver.
Weaver not only traded assets to get MBIII in the first place, but gave him an absurd 3-year extension based on nothing, a deal so bad he eventually had to attach picks to it just to give Bagley away.
There’s an argument that MBIII was Weaver’s worst overall move, as he reached, doubled down and then got fleeced in a trade again. Few GMs can get robbed twice trading the same guy.
If you only look at numbers, MBIII wasn’t that bad, as he could score and grab rebounds in bunches. But he was terrible defensively, loafed around half the time and couldn’t stay healthy, which was probably a blessing.
He was never the floor spreader the Pistons thought he could be (28 percent from long range) and he basically just wasted time, cap space and a roster spot the entire time he was in Detroit.
He now plays for the Wizards who also employ Saddiq Bey, Eugene Omoruyi and, you guessed it, Troy Weaver.
How this man still has employment is beyond me. Good luck, Washington!
#3: Killian Hayes
I’m sure some fans would put Hayes higher on this list, but at least he played and contributed some of the time.
Hayes is one of the worst shooters in modern NBA history, and his alleged defense and passing were never able to make up for the fact that no one had to guard him.
He threw up epic bricks from 3-point range, airballed floaters in the lane and forced his team to play four on five on offense as teams invited him to shoot at will.
Because Hayes never improved, the Pistons kept drafting guards instead of 2-way wings, a mistake that is still hurting them today.
His ineptitude on offense didn’t stop him from getting minutes, as Hayes was actually starting over Ivey for much of last season, a tactical catastrophe that was likely used as evidence to fire Monty Williams.
Hayes has now been given a chance by the Nets, who are tanking and obviously wanted to bring in a guy to ensure they max out their losses.
#2: Isaiah Livers
Troy Weaver had a brilliant plan when it came to the second round of the draft: Select older players to complement his core instead of signing impact free agents.
Livers was already 23 when he was drafted and coming off a major injury, not exactly the profile you are looking for in a draft prospect.
He barely played in year one because of said injury but he did shoot 42 percent from long range in the 19 games he did play, showing some promise as a 3-and-D wing.
It all went downhill from there.
Livers didn’t provide the 3 or the D in his final two seasons in Detroit and got worse every season, culminating last year when he shot just 34 percent from the field and 28 percent from long range.
What do you call a 3-and-D wing who can’t shoot or defend? Just some guy.
A guy Weaver had to pay to give away to the Wizards, where he didn’t play a single minute for a team that wasn’t much better than Detroit.
Livers is now out of the league, another second-round flop for Troy Weaver. Trajan Langdon has already bested Weaver in second-round picks just by taking someone who actually has upside in Bobi Klintman instead of another journeyman college player who was one of the older players on the team as a rookie.
#1: James Wiseman
If you just went by looks, Wiseman would be one of the top players in the NBA, as the dude is athletic, ripped and looks like the prototype for the modern center.
But then you see him try to play basketball.
Wiseman is one of the least instinctual defenders I've ever watched, even for a young big, which is the reason the Warriors traded him in the first place.
Another bust that Weaver gave up assets to get, Wiseman averaged around the same number of combined fouls and turnovers as he did defensive rebounds last season for the Pistons.
He had his moments, and when he did, you’d wonder how this guy wasn’t a star or at least on his way to becoming one, as Wiseman can do things few seven footers can do athletically.
But he was lost on defense and more or less a parking cone on offense who couldn’t set screens or do anything but dunk.
The Pacers are the latest team to roll the dice on the Wiseman experiment, giving him a two-year minimum deal with a team option in the second year. My guess is that option will not be exercised, and like most of the guys on this list, Wiseman will soon be out of a job.
Who knows, maybe the Pacers can get the most out of Wiseman and if so, good on them, but they have their work cut out for them.