Trade deadline truth Pistons fans don't want to admit

The Detroit Pistons are down 3-1 in their first-round series to the Orlando Magic, and if they lose, there will be plenty of finger pointing. 

A lot of the blame is already being aimed at Trajan Langdon, who had a lackluster trade deadline that only brought the Pistons Kevin Huerter when there were clearly bigger holes to fill that have now been exposed. 

Huerter has barely played in this series and hasn’t given the Pistons’ bench the offensive boost they were hoping for. 

There are many out there saying Langdon should have done more, using hindsight to throw out names like Luke Kennard, Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White and CJ McCollum. It’s certain possible that one of those guys could have helped, and it’s easy to say they should have gotten Kennard, McCollum or Dosunmu after the three of them have been great in the playoffs. 

But if this first-round disaster has shown anything, it’s that Langdon probably did the right thing, as this team is far from one minor trade from being a contender. 

The Pistons didn’t have the assets for the kind of move they needed 

Sorry, if Dosunmu or Kennard were needed just to not get dog walked by the 8th seed, then this team had no business selling off the few assets they have to make a big trade. 

These are all role players, and there is no way the 60-win Pistons should have needed Luke freaking Kennard to beat an 8th seed. 

If anything, this series has shown how far the Pistons are from being true contenders, and there is no way one fringe role player was going to change that. The big trade that the Pistons likely need wasn’t there, so why waste draft picks and assets on a guy who isn’t going to move the needle anyway? 

Do you really think the Pistons would be winning right now if they had Luke Kennard? It’s absurd. 

The Pistons are not losing because of their team president, they are losing because their best players are playing poorly, it’s that simple. Cade Cunningham is turning the ball over at a historic rate. Jalen Duren has been garbage. Duncan Robinson is unplayable if he’s not making shots. 

Yes, you can argue that Trajan Langdon should have done more to patch these holes in the offseason or even at the trade deadline, but there wasn’t one role player who was going to change this outcome. 

Trajan Langdon deserves some credit for being honest, as he is doing what he said he was going to, which is evaluate this team in the playoffs and go from there, but that credit is going to wear thin quickly if he doesn’t make changes now that he has seen what isn’t working. 

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