Monty Williams' firing after just one year on the Pistons bench was somewhat surprising. In fact, it was inevitable. With a new president at the helm of the franchise in Trajan Langdonthe temptation of a thorough overhaul quickly presented itself, and the new strongman therefore took advantage of it to put a new coach in place, JB Bickerstaffwho succeeded under similar conditions in Cleveland. Another mission: to reshape the franchise's organizational chart.
The moves were significant, with only Dwane Casey, Monty Williams' predecessor, remaining in place as “management advisor.” Son of franchise vice president Arn Tellem, Eric Tellem, was promoted to “Vice President in charge of player personnel”while George David, who had been assistant GM to Troy Weaver since 2021, was promoted to senior vice president of administration.
For the rest, they are just “new” faces. Trajan Langdon's two new assistants are named Michael Blackstone, vice president in charge of the financial part, and Dennis Lindsey, vice president in charge of the basketball part.
“The thing I needed most, especially coming into this situation, was a strategist.”, Trajan Langdon had declared about Michael Blackstone, who became the franchise's number 2, with whom he had already worked at the Pelicans. “He’s someone who understands the payroll system. He has a lot of experience negotiating and he’s very thoughtful in his approach to what we need to do every day, not only from a roster-building perspective but also from a staffing perspective. He’s someone I trust. If I’m away or can’t make a meeting, I can count on him to implement what we’re talking about and get us moving in the right direction.”
The promotion of a former LFB player
Among the newcomers, we find Trajan Langdon's former teammate at CSKA Moscow, JR Holden hired as vice president in charge of player development after having held various roles in scouting from 2014 to 2018 for the Pistons. Also noteworthy is the presence of a former professional player, Mistie Bass-Boyd, who notably spent five years in the LFB from 2010 to 2015 (Challes-les-Eaux, Lyon Basket and Montpellier). She arrives as executive director in charge of player engagement and the basketball part.
Former “head of basketball strategy” for the Clippers last season, Marshall Smith will occupy the same role at the Pistons, and Cory Schlesinger will be responsible for physical preparation after having been an assistant and director of the health and performance department at the University of Texas. The latter will be supported in particular by Greg Smith, hired as vice president in charge of health and player care, after having been a physical trainer for 18 years in the NHL.
Finally, Gianluca Pascucci was named senior director of global scouting after having worked for the Wolves for 22 years, but also for the Bulls, the Nets and the Rockets.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Cade Cunningham | 62 | 33.5 | 44.9 | 35.5 | 86.9 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 7.5 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 22.7 |
| Bojan Bogdanovic | 28 | 32.9 | 46.8 | 41.5 | 77.9 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.0 | 20.2 |
| Simone Fontecchio | 16 | 30.3 | 47.9 | 42.6 | 84.6 | 0.8 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 15.4 |
| Jaden Ivey | 77 | 28.8 | 42.9 | 33.6 | 74.9 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 15.4 |
| Jalen Duren | 61 | 29.1 | 61.9 | 0.0 | 79.0 | 3.1 | 8.5 | 11.6 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 13.8 |
| Alec Burks | 43 | 20.9 | 39.4 | 40.1 | 90.3 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 12.6 |
| Isaiah Stewart Ii | 46 | 30.9 | 48.7 | 38.3 | 75.3 | 1.6 | 5.0 | 6.6 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 10.9 |
| Chemistry Metu | 14 | 29.4 | 50.0 | 30.2 | 95.2 | 1.2 | 4.8 | 6.0 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 10.5 |
| Marvin Bagley Iii | 26 | 18.4 | 59.1 | 16.7 | 82.0 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 10.2 |
| Ausar Thompson | 63 | 25.1 | 48.3 | 18.6 | 59.7 | 2.0 | 4.3 | 6.4 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.8 | 8.8 |
| Danilo Gallinari | 6 | 14.9 | 54.5 | 58.3 | 87.5 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 8.7 |
| Marcus Sasser | 71 | 19.0 | 42.8 | 37.5 | 87.9 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 8.3 |
| Malachi Flynn | 24 | 14.3 | 43.0 | 31.6 | 68.4 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 8.0 |
| Jaylen Nowell | 4 | 14.4 | 52.2 | 33.3 | 66.7 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 7.5 |
| Kevin Knox | 31 | 18.1 | 46.2 | 33.0 | 90.9 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 7.2 |
| Evan Fournier | 29 | 18.7 | 37.3 | 27.0 | 79.4 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 7.2 |
| James Wiseman | 63 | 17.3 | 61.3 | 0.0 | 70.6 | 1.7 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 7.1 |
| Tosan Evbuomwan | 13 | 22.5 | 57.1 | 41.7 | 68.0 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 7.0 |
| Killian Hayes | 42 | 24.0 | 41.3 | 29.7 | 66.0 | 0.3 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 4.9 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 6.9 |
| Shake Milton | 4 | 15.8 | 42.3 | 33.3 | 66.7 | 1.8 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 6.8 |
| Quentin Grimes | 6 | 19.2 | 21.4 | 14.3 | 90.9 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 5.3 |
| Stanley Umude | 24 | 12.8 | 44.0 | 45.3 | 90.6 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 5.3 |
| Isaiah Livers | 23 | 20.4 | 34.5 | 28.6 | 66.7 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 5.0 |
| Jared Rhoden | 17 | 14.4 | 50.0 | 38.7 | 62.5 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 4.9 |
| Monte Morris | 6 | 11.4 | 36.4 | 18.2 | 50.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 4.5 |
| Taj Gibson | 4 | 9.8 | 57.1 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 4.5 |
| Troy Brown, Jr. | 22 | 18.9 | 29.6 | 28.1 | 86.7 | 0.5 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 4.2 |
| Mike Muscala | 13 | 13.2 | 34.1 | 38.2 | 50.0 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 3.5 |
| Buddy Boeheim | 10 | 8.4 | 31.0 | 32.0 | 80.0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 3.4 |
| Joe Harris | 16 | 10.6 | 35.9 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 2.4 |
| Malcolm Cazalon | 1 | 2.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
