When Troy Weaver first took over as GM of the Detroit Pistons, the phrase "Trust in Troy" became common among fans.
I always thought it was a little cult-ish if I'm being honest, but most fans believed Weaver was the guy who could finally turn the franchise around.
Even though Weaver still has some blind supporters among the Pistons faithful, even his Tex Watsons have dropped the corny hashtag and are unsure if he's the right guy to fix this. Even the Manson Family started to wonder if old Charlie had lost his marbles.
And why would they be? Weaver did the easy part of tearing down the roster, losing on purpose and collecting top-five draft picks, but has done painfully little else.
He's never had a coherent roster or built around Cade Cunningham like he is their franchise player even though he repeatedly said that he was. He's whiffed on free agency, made bad (not catastrophic but bad) trades, gotten fleeced on salary dumps and collected bad centers.
Weaver has yet to show he can do the second part of the rebuild, which is the building part. Anyone can tear down a dilapidated house, but it takes skill to make it a home again.
The Detroit Pistons are in a bad spot and have to either put their full faith in Weaver again, or let him go.
Time is of the essence with Troy Weaver and the Detroit Pistons
Even if the Pistons weren't on an epic losing streak, this is a roster that was going to have to be rebuilt either way. The Pistons have seven expiring contracts, so it's likely that close to half their roster was going to turn over at the end of this season even if they weren't the worst team in the league.
The Pistons will once again have cap space, even more than last season, and do have some trade assets they could unload at the deadline.
So this will be a drastically different roster again next season, likely with 7-8 new faces on it. That makes this a crucial offseason for Detroit, and whoever remakes it will have their fingerprints all over the next 4-5 years.
As others, and myself, have said repeatedly, Tom Gores had better be certain he trusts Weaver to do this, as the wrong moves can make this embarrassing franchise even worse if that's even possible.
And if Gores is not certain, then he should fire Troy Weaver now. If you read my stuff regularly, then you know I don't come after people's jobs. I want Troy Weaver et al. to succeed, but if you aren't sure he's the guy for the next rebuild, he has to go.
Firing Weaver now would give the Pistons time to research and find the next person for the job while allowing that person maximum time to learn the roster and figure out how to fix it.
Waiting until the end of the season is just going to hamper the next person and it's dangerous to let a GM on the hot seat make major roster changes just before you show him the door.
I'm not sure what else Tom Gores has to see, but if Weaver is the guy, he needs a public display of confidence from the owner, and if he's not, he needs to be let go, it's that simple.