Trajan Langdon's worst move so far is debatable

Trajan Langdon hasn’t even completed his first offseason for the Detroit Pistons, so it will be months before we know how his first wave of moves panned out. 

He’s mostly gotten middling grades for veteran additions of Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr., but if you look at a bigger two-year picture those additions make a lot of sense, as they can help the Pistons now and are all on short-term deals that keep Detroit financially flexible for the future.

And he did it without disrupting the young core. 

Not everyone was impressed with the Tim Hardaway Jr. trade, and Bleacher Report named it as the Pistons’ biggest offseason loss in a recent article, saying: 

“Sending out Quentin Grimes when you're doing Dallas a favor is tougher to reconcile. This felt like a weird to bad move at the time. It looks even worse after Charlotte got more to take on Reggie Jackson, who's earning roughly one-third of what THJ takes home.” 

I must agree that I didn’t like this deal at first either, as Grimes is a better defender than THJ and also much younger. But there were rumblings that Grimes wasn’t happy in Detroit, so there was a good chance he was going to leave anyway. If Langdon didn’t envision him as part of the future plans, then it made sense to cash in. 

It does seem as though the inclusion of Grimes should have netted the Pistons another pick, but they did get three second rounders for taking on THJ’s contract, so I’m not sure how much more they were going to squeeze out of Dallas, especially given Grimes' injury history.

This might be residual trauma from the Troy Weaver era when he often took on salary dumps that helped other teams for virtually nothing in return, but this deal wasn’t that, and even calling it a “loss” is debatable. 

The Tim Hardaway Jr. trade was not a “loss” for the Detroit Pistons 

Whether the THJ trade was a loss for the Pistons depends on who you ask. 

A case can be made that they should/could have gotten more for taking on a $16 million salary, especially when Grimes was included in the deal, but I am not sure I agree with the rest. 

Charlotte didn’t really “get more” for taking on Reggie Jackson. They got Jackson, Josh Green and two second-round picks. They’ve already waived Jackson, so they really just got Green and two picks. 

Depending on how you feel about Josh Green’s future, that’s pretty much the same package, except THJ is actually going to play for the Pistons unlike Jackson for the Hornets. 

He may not be in his prime, but Hardaway Jr. does fill a need and should help the Pistons’ second unit with his 3-point shooting. This deal wasn’t only about the picks. 

He’s on an expiring deal that the Pistons will almost certainly be able to flip at the deadline for another second-round pick or two, so the return they’ve gotten from this trade will continue to grow. 

If the Pistons flip him for picks, it’s possible they will end up with 4-5 second-round picks total just for taking on one season of a guy they needed anyway. Last offseason the Pistons took on $20 million for Joe Harris, a player who was completely washed and contributed nothing, for two second-round picks, so this looks like a steal in comparison.

THJ's contract could also be useful if the Pistons make a bigger trade, as they can add his salary to their current cap space and take back a player in the $25-30 million range if one were to be made available. 

We can’t fully judge this move yet, as there is likely more coming back to the Pistons. 

Renting cap space for second-round picks is not the most exciting aspect of team building, but for a rebuilding team with few first-round draft assets at its disposal and no star to trade, stockpiling second-round picks is smart, as they may be able to turn them into first-rounders when some team over the apron needs financial relief. 

It’s possible the Pistons should have gotten more for taking on one year of THJ, but this isn’t a Joe Harris situation, as Hardaway Jr. is still an NBA rotation player and the Pistons will be able to fatten their return at the deadline.