DETROIT — Troy Weaver called this “ground zero” back in September, and he meant it in the best way possible. The Pistons’ general manager was talking about his “restoration” project in Detroit reaching a new stage, with the foundation laid and the substructure settling into place.
He’d built up a young core of talent here with a half-dozen first-round selections, including four lottery picks, over three successive drafts. And while all that youth — 10 players on the roster age 24 or younger — likely meant playoff contention was still another year off, the days of talking about tanking were supposed to be in the rearview mirror.
“I feel like we're at level ground right now, so I'm calling it ground zero,” Weaver explained when the Pistons opened training camp this fall. “And at ground zero, we’re not jockeying for position or trying to manipulate anything. I feel comfortable with the roster and where we are, and now we’re ready to take a step forward.”
But now the ground has shifted underneath the Pistons, who currently own the worst record (7-22) in the NBA more than a third of the way through the regular season. And with Monday’s long-awaited announcement that Cade Cunningham will undergo season-ending surgery later this week — he’d been sidelined for the last month with a stress fracture in his lower left leg — it raises questions about what kind of construction delays Weaver expects moving forward.
On Tuesday, he offered a blunt answer.
“It doesn't change anything,” Weaver said, as the Pistons wrapped up practice ahead of Wednesday night’s game at Charlotte. “It changes for Cade, as far as right now. But not for what we're trying to accomplish. We're trying to continue to grow the program, restore the program and compete every night. And we've been doing that. Cade hasn't played in (the last) 15 games, so we've been doing that. And we expect to continue doing that.”
'Guys are growing up'
And what’s left unsaid here is that this program might come out ahead in the end, assuming all goes as expected with Cunningham’s surgery and rehab. Another season of growth for this young roster will happen organically on the court, and odds are, so will another shot at hitting the lottery next spring, with no jockeying or manipulating necessary.
Weaver won’t say this, nor should he. But another season that ends with only 20-25 wins would give the Pistons a real chance to add another franchise cornerstone in a 2023 draft class that’s headlined by a transcendent talent in 7-foot-4 French star Victor Wembanyama and a point guard (Scoot Henderson) that most scouts have pegged as a future All-Star. That prospect is enticing enough that NBA commissioner Adam Silver “put teams on notice” about tanking before the season tipped off in October.
And somewhat surprisingly, the race to the bottom that many anticipated out of the gate hasn’t really materialized. But it’s early still, and some of the teams that were expected to be in the lottery mix again — Orlando, Houston and San Antonio, among them — are starting to settle to the bottom of the standings, where the Pistons have been from the start.
Dwane Casey’s team has shown some encouraging signs over the last month despite its dismal record. The Pistons are 4-13 since Cunningham exited the lineup in early November, but only three of those losses were by double digits and the wins have been noteworthy: on the road at Denver, Utah and Miami and at home against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks.
So there’s a decent chance this team will turn a corner even without Cunningham this winter. Killian Hayes has seized a big opportunity as the Pistons' starting point guard, and he's finally showing consistent signs of being the player Weaver thought he was drafting No. 7 overall in 2020. Over the last 16 games, Hayes is averaging 11 points and 6.6 assists while shooting 39% from 3-point range, in addition to his above-average defense.
And while rookie Jaden Ivey is coming off probably his worst week as a pro, it’s worth remembering he played some of his best basketball in the eight-game stretch immediately after Cunningham was sidelined. Right before he, too, had to sit briefly with a knee injury.
“You've seen it: These guys are growing up,” Weaver said. “It’s big for them. It gives everybody an opportunity. All the young guys, even veteran guys.”
Planning ahead
Guys like Jalen Duren, who suddenly finds himself in the starting lineup despite being the youngest player in the league. And Isaiah Stewart, who is starting to look like a viable stretch four now that he’s knocking down 3-pointers regularly. And certainly a guy like 33-year-old Bojan Bogdanovic, who is well on his way to a career year as the Pistons’ go-to player offensively, averaging 21 points and shooting nearly 44% from deep.
His 38-point night against the Lakers on Sunday will only fuel trade rumors as playoff contenders look to bolster their rosters ahead of the league’s Feb. 9 deadline. But the luxury Weaver has now is that he only has to listen. There’s no desperation in Detroit anymore, no need to hoard draft capital or clear the books. The Pistons have one of the more enviable young cores in the league and they’re flush with salary-cap space heading into next summer.
They do have some trade chips, and this week marks the unofficial start of the NBA’s silly season, as the dozens of players who signed free-agent deals in the offseason become eligible to be traded starting Friday. I’d expect Weaver to find a new home for veteran center Nerlens Noel at some point. And the Pistons should continue to listen to offers for the likes of Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, who has helped make Detroit’s bench a real strength, the record notwithstanding. But it’ll take more than just a protected future first-round pick to part with a player like Bogdanovic, who already has become a leader here and recently signed an extension.
The Pistons probably aren't headed to the playoffs this season. But they’re planning on being in the hunt a year from now. That was the realistic timetable before Cunningham’s injury, and listening to Weaver talk Tuesday, it’s clear that hasn’t changed.
The shin soreness that had been nagging last year’s No. 1 overall pick for months finally became too much to bear after a Nov. 9 loss to Boston, and as Cunningham and the team weighed their options in recent weeks, common sense ultimately prevailed.
“We want to get him healthy so he can continue to be the player that he and the organization wants him to be,” Weaver said. “So having this procedure right now helps him get back to where he needs to be, so this summer he can not only recover, but continue to get better and work on his game and be ready for next season.
"We expect him to be ready to go when the season's over, full-blast, and have a great summer and get ready for ’23-24.”
More important, what happens between now and then with the Pistons doesn't have to be all bad.
