Fans of the Detroit Pistons will enter next season with cautious, even skeptical optimism.
And you can’t blame them.
We’ve been sold this bill of goods before, the talent evaluating guru who is going to turn it all around, who finally has the magic formula to get the Pistons back to where they belong.
Trajan Langdon is the latest carrot to be dangled in front of the donkey.
The skepticism is warranted after four years of Troy Weaver, who talked a big game but never delivered, a modus operandi Langdon is actively trying to avoid.
So far, so good, as Langdon has differentiated himself from his predecessor in several ways.
#1: Trajan Langdon is not selling a “restoration”
One of the biggest mistakes Troy Weaver made as GM was using the word “restoration” in one of his first press conferences, as it was a word that would haunt him throughout his time in Detroit.
It was like he skipped a step rhetorically, selling fans on the idea that the Pistons could be the “Bad Boys” again, that the “Goin’ to Work” vibe could be resurrected in a city that hasn’t seen a playoff win since Flo Rida and T Pain were at the top of the charts.
It was a classic case of overpromise and underdeliver, as it turns out building great teams with sustainable winning isn’t as easy as Jack McCloskey made it look.
I don’t think Troy Weaver knew what he was up against.
He talked about a “restoration” as if it were a foregone conclusion, but conducted business as if he had a world of time to do it, as if he were building a pyramid instead of a basketball team.
Langdon hasn’t given us any of that nostalgic heroin (The Bad Boys ain’t walking through that door) and instead has preached patience as the path toward sustainable success.
He could have come in and torched the roster, or made some big, risky move towards short-term gains, but instead did the right thing, took a measured approach and didn’t make any silly promises.
This is smart politicking even though some of the more impatient fans may not like it.
#2: Fit or ceiling in the NBA Draft?
Troy Weaver got a lot of hype for being a talent evaluator but we never really saw it. The best player he drafted, Cade Cunningham, was an obvious choice, and you could argue the same about Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson.
You never knew what Weaver was up to, as he certainly wasn’t drafting for fit, putting non shooters around Cunningham, and many of his picks were not of the high-ceiling variety either.
This was especially true in the 2nd round, where Weaver mostly selected older players who he thought could come in and immediately help his young core.
The draft is not where you should be looking for complementary role players, as you can find those in the ranks of veteran free agents. But Weaver didn’t see it that way. He traded up to get one of the older players in the draft in Marcus Sasser.
He took older prospects like Isaiah Livers and Luka Garza, whose ceilings were fringe NBA rotation players at best.
We already know where Langdon stands in this debate, as he went for ceiling all the way with his selections of Ron Holland II and Bobi Klintman. Klintman may not play right away, or ever, but at least he’s a high ceiling guy, not a 23-year-old journeyman who is older than the rest of the roster as a rookie.
Weaver’s picks were inexplicable from both a talent and team building perspective and I’m already more excited about Klintman than anyone Weaver chose in the second round.
#3: You’re not the smartest man in the room
Another of my big beefs with Weaver was that he always thought he saw something that other people couldn’t.
While the rest of the league saw players like James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley III as busts, Weaver saw them as untapped projects that only he could identify and develop. He fell in love with players as prospects and that love never wavered, as he was still excited to give up assets for James freaking Wiseman even though there was ample evidence he wasn’t any good.
Weaver consistently took risks on over-the-hill veterans and 1st- round busts the rest of the league had forgotten about and got predictable results.
Trajan Langdon didn’t add any superstars this offseason but he added veterans who can still play in Tobias Harris, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Malik Beasley, guys who will help add wins and complement the young players.
These aren’t players who are going to lead Detroit to a title, but they are safe, known commodities that will make the Pistons a better team. You don’t have to dream to know what you’re going to get. You don’t have to hope everything falls into place for these signings to work out.
And they are all short deals anyway, so there won’t be a bunch of dead money sitting on the bench or guys in the rotation that shouldn’t be in the league. Langdon did it modestly, but actually tried to build a team, whereas Troy Weaver just kept adding parts like a distracted kid throwing busted toys into a shopping cart while his mom wasn’t looking.
#4: It’s not all on the youngsters
All Detroit’s young guys know right now is losing and how to do it together, as Weaver never gave them any help.
Far too much pressure and responsibility was put on young guys, who were never flanked by veterans who could stay healthy or contribute much, and whose development was stunted because of it.
You could see the frustration on Cade Cunningham’s face at times last season when one of his young teammates made a mistake that a veteran probably wouldn’t make. There were often games with all young guys on the court at the same time, young players who make mistakes, who turn the ball over and who don’t have the experience to carry the kind of burden they were asked to carry.
That’s how you win 14 games.
Langdon has made it so that never has to happen next season. The Pistons won’t be forced to play five inexperienced players at a time. They can always have a veteran or two on the floor, always have a shooter or two on the floor, which will ease the unrealistic responsibilities that were put on the young players.
This is not to pile on Troy Weaver, I have nothing against the man personally, but his approach was flawed from the beginning and it’s good to see Trajan Langdon avoiding some of the same traps.