The Detroit Pistons will hold their official media day today and unlike past years, this one should be entertaining, and team president Trajan Langdon will be on the hot seat.
After all of the rumors and speculation, the Pistons have had a relatively quiet offseason that has been dominated by the Jalen Duren contract negotiations that have still not been resolved.
Duren will be the obvious elephant in the room for Langdon, but there will be other questions about how he handled a vital offseason with the team hoping to contend for a title after winning 60 games last season.
How close were the Pistons to landing a star?
There was a lot of smoke around this offseason and we heard trade rumors involving just about everyone, including marquee names like Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant, along with restricted free agent Austin Reaves.
Was the Pistons' reported pursuit of these players real or were they just poking around? Does Langdon see such a move coming soon for the Pistons or does he really believe the group he's assembled can compete for a title as is?
The rumors about star trades would say otherwise, so how long before Langdon finally puts a real stamp on this roster instead of just adjusting the fringes?
How concerned are you that Cade Cunningham doesn't have enough help?
The obvious need for the Pistons after their playoff collapse was another player or two that can take the burden off Cade Cunningham to create all of the offense.
We can talk about leaps from Ausar Thompson and Daniss Jenkins (which I am sure he will) but the Pistons didn't do anything else to address one of their biggest needs.
Does Langdon believe the improved shooting will be enough to offset the lack of secondary creation? This question is going to hover over the Pistons until they answer it internally or go out and get someone, which goes back to the first question.
Why didn't you just offer Jalen Duren more if you knew you were going to anyway? And why add a weight clause to the deal? Do you feel like the Pistons mishandled these negotiations and can this relationship be repaired?
Ok, so that's a lot of questions, but Langdon can expect most of the talk today to revolve around Duren.
If the Pistons were going to offer Duren $200 million anyway, then why not just do it right away and get him signed and into camp happy? They are now in the position where they might actually have to pay him more just to get him into camp late and irritated.
The weight clause just seems odd for a guy who never struggled with his weight, so why even worry about that?
Most importantly, how do bridges get mended? We don't know that they need to be, as we've not even heard from Duren, but how are the Pistons going to make this right? If they can't, are there alternatives?
Do the Pistons have a Plan B with Jalen Duren?
I still don't think Duren will take the qualifying offer, but if he is seriously considering it, what is the Plan B for the Pistons?
The QO would hurt any chance the Pistons have of trading Duren and getting any kind of equal value, so do the Pistons have a contingency plan? Is there a trade in place they can execute quickly?
It's hard to judge the Pistons' offseason at this point, but if things don't work out, the heat will be on Langdon and I am sure he'll start to feel some of it today.
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