While there are now not many people left on the free agent market and the workforce, except for upheaval via the expected trades of Damian Lillard and James Harden, is almost complete, it is time to make a first summer assessment for the 30 NBA franchises.
And we start with Detroit, the dunce of the last season, who poached Monty Williams to finally bounce back…
SEASON 2022/23
17 wins – 65 losses (30th)
28th attack: 109.9 points scored on 100 possessions
27th defense: 117.8 points conceded on 100 possessions
ARRIVALS/DEPARTURES
Arrivals: Ausar Thompson, Marcus Sasser, Malcolm Cazalon (two-way), Joe Harris, Monte Morris
Departures: Cory Joseph, RJ Hampton
WORKFORCE 2023/24
Leaders: Cade Cunningham, Monte Morris, Killian Hayes, Marcus Sasser
Fullbacks/Wingers: Jaden Ivey, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Harris, Alec Burks, Ausar Thompson, Isaiah Livers
Interiors: Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, Marvin Bagley III, James Wiseman
THE OBJECTIVE
Inevitably, when we finish in last place, the objective is first to let go of this dunce cap and leave the depths of the NBA. The passage of Dwane Casey will remain a bitter failure because, after the first year, the coach has not succeeded in advancing this group of young people, in a reconstruction operation which was floundering.
With 20 wins (from 66 games) in 2019/20, another 20 (from 72 games) in 2020/21 then 23 in 2021/22 and finally 17 in 2022/23, the Pistons have been languishing for several seasons, and after recovering the first pick in 2021 to get their hands on Cade Cunningham, they would undoubtedly have been very happy to obtain once again the first choice in 2023, to form an extremely promising leader/interior duo with Victor Wembanyama…
Bad luck, the team only inherited the 5th choice. A hard blow for the GM, Troy Weaver, who therefore set his sights on Ausar Thompson and above all recovered Monty Williams at a golden price to lead this group.
THE BIG QUESTION
Will the Monty Williams effect work in Detroit? By offering him a contract that can reach 100 million dollars, a fairly incredible amount for a team in reconstruction, the Pistons hope to experience the same thing as the Suns, a franchise that seemed to be in decline until 2019, and the arrival of Monty Williams.
The coach had thus succeeded in bringing Devin Booker’s band to the “bubble”, with a perfect passage to Disney which had not allowed Phoenix to play in the playoffs, but which had served as a mental shock.
Enough to attract Chris Paul and send the franchise to the Finals, finally lost to the Bucks.
Two seasons and two eliminations in the conference semi-finals later, Monty Williams paid the price for the arrival of the ambitious and impatient new owner, Mat Ishbia, the limits displayed in the playoffs and a group that he no longer had fully in hand. As John Gambadoro, a local Phoenix journalist, summed it up quite well, the technician is a “player’s coach”, that is to say that he is close to his players and that he manages to push and use them well, but he is a “player’s coach” for the players he likes, and he therefore has difficulty working with certain basketball players who are more complicated to manage, such as Deandre Ayton and Jae Crowder in Arizona.
The good news for him is that with the contract offered to him by the Pistons, he should have control of his workforce in order to find the hard core with which he can build in the short, medium and long term.
QUESTIONS
– What level for Cade Cunningham?
His sophomore season weighed down by a broken tibia, the 1st choice of the 2021 Draft will relaunch as Team USA’s “sparring partner”. Its level next season will determine the ambitions of the club, which has recovered veterans (Monte Morris, Joe Harris) to relieve it in terms of experience and “spacing”. His understanding and complementarity with Jaden Ivey will also be worth watching.
– What hierarchy inside?
Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, Marvin Bagley III and James Wiseman. The Pistons have four young interiors that need to be developed. We can therefore ask ourselves the question of the hierarchy, even if the extension of Isaiah Stewart and the very complimentary statements of Monty Williams on Jalen Duren give some answers…
“I think Jalen can be one of the ten best players in this league. When I look at his talent, the way he integrates things, the ferocity with which he plays, I think he can be one of the best interiors in this league. It is certain, but it can evolve into a different category depending on its growth”.
Annoyed by the nonchalance and lack of toughness of Deandre Ayton in Phoenix, it is difficult to imagine Monty Williams first trusting James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley III, who displayed the same limits in the NBA.
“And Killian Hayes?”
On the French side, the future of Killian Hayes can be questioned. The Athletic doesn’t even include the point guard in Monty Williams’ future rotation, as rumors send him away from Michigan.
It is that after three seasons, the 7th choice of the 2020 Draft has failed to solidify his place, his qualities displayed at creation but also in defense not catching up with his recurring and worrying inefficiency in shooting (38% success in shooting since his arrival in the NBA, including 27% from afar…).
With a new coach and a club that can no longer afford to leave its young people freewheeling, plus the return of Cade Cunningham and many arrivals on the backcourt (Monte Morris, Marcus Sasser or even Ausar Thompson and Joe Harris), Killian Hayes is indeed not at all certain to be part of Monty Williams’ plans.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE PISTONS NEXT YEAR?
