CAN YOU RE-BUILD A REBUILD?

December 22nd, 2023, roaring around Little Caesars Arena, “Sell the team” chants erupted amongst the Detroit faithful. Players, coaches, and a community of fans hid their heads in collective shame. Now, the Pistons sit at twenty-six losses in a row. Almost sixty days since this team has won a basketball game. An unfathomable losing streak that seems more absurd as the losses continue to tally. A passionate and proud city of Detroit that has supported this team through the good and (mostly) bad times of the last decade, when no other fanbase likely would have, is giving up. They are at their wits end, are sick of being the NBA’s punching bag, and their demand for change has never been louder and more publicized. What does that change look like, how did the Pistons arrive at the precipice of a rebuild, and is there a way out? Let’s discuss.

DISSECTING WEAVER’S TENURE, HOW DID THE PISTONS GET HERE?

June 22nd, 2021 a city rejoiced. The Pistons won the 2021 NBA Draft Lottery, and the ‘Fade for Cade’ sweepstakes. There were countless videos of fans crying tears of joy and even Pistons head coach (at the time) Dwane Casey was seen leaping with glee at the announcement.  In what was considered the strongest top three of any draft since 2003’s class, the Pistons had been awarded the best pick. They could have anyone in the draft, but the tagline for fanbases all year wasn’t, “Fade For Cade,” for no reason. The Oklahoma State Guard was seemingly made to lead a team in the modern NBA. From his 6’7 frame, Cade was shooting 40% from three, was a crafty playmaker, and was seen as a true franchise changer. Hell, Pistons’ Vice Chairman compared Cade Cunningham to the late great Kobe Bryant.

Almost exactly a year before, the Detroit Pistons fully embraced a rebuild for the first time in Tom Gores’ tenure as the owner of the Detroit Pistons. Hiring former Oklahoma City Thunder executive, Troy Weaver, to steer the ship as their new general manager. Weaver dubbed the rebuild a restoration and promised to bring the team back to being what they used to be in decades prior. Weaver entered his first year as GM with three first-round picks (Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart, Saddiq Bey), a Jerami Grant who had something to prove, and an allegedly healthy Blake Griffin. In the last year, it was told to Bullyball that this team was expected to be a playoff team. Gores and Weaver thought they had properly re-tooled this roster rather than starting a losing-filled process like the 76ers before them. Instead, it quickly became apparent that this retooling was not so quick and painless. Although competitive, that Pistons team was not winning many games and Blake Griffin emerged as a shell of the player that carried them on his back into the playoffs two years prior. A Blake Griffin buyout, Killian Hayes injury, and Derrick Rose trade request later and the Pistons knew it was time to punt on this season. Soon enough Jerami Grant was resting, even a player like Hamidou Diallo was resting so the team could secure a top pick. The 2020-2021 Pistons finished with 20 wins on the season, the second-best record of Weaver’s time in Detroit.

Enter Cade Cunningham. The Pistons savior has allegedly arrived, and a competitive young team the year before has seemingly gotten the piece to carry them into the future. The roster Weaver gave their prized rookie to begin the turnaround?

PG: C. CUNNINGHAM, C. JOSEPH, S. LEE

SG: K. HAYES, H. DIALLO, F. JACKSON, R. MCGRUDER

SF: S. BEY, J. JACKSON, I. LIVERS

PF: J. GRANT, T. LYLES,

C: I. STEWART, K. OLYNYK, L. GARZA

That roster was not moving much of anybody on paper, and it also did not on the court. The team was struggling with injuries, Covid outbreaks, and just a lack of synergy prior to the trade deadline. At the deadline, it was Josh Jackson and Trey Lyles who were sent out for Weaver’s first infamous ‘restoration’ project, Marvin Bagley III. Cunningham needed the vertical spacing Bagley provided and Weaver believed in Bagley, the second pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. For the most part, this was a successful swing, Cunningham’s play improved drastically post-deadline, and looked every bit of the franchise savior he was made out to be. The Pistons finished the season with 23 wins. The best record of Weaver’s tenure.

The 2022-23 season was seen as the time for the Pistons to make the play-in jump, and not just by Weaver and company. National pundits, moved by Cunningham’s rookie campaign, and now seeing the additions of Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, Bojan Bogdanovic, Alec Burks, and Nerlens Noel saw this team as one ready to stop being at the bottom of the NBA. Instead, Cade Cunnigham’s season ended within the first month, losses avalanched, and quickly this prediction had been spoiled. By the last game of the regular season, Dwane Casey announced he would be stepping down as head coach and entering a role within the front office. The team finished the season with 17 wins.

Fear not though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel because a 7’6’ unicorn was the new franchise-changing prospect the Pistons had set themselves up for. Right? Wrong. The Pistons were the first team in NBA history to have the worst record and fall to 5th in the NBA Draft. Now, the pressure was on Weaver to get crafty once again. There was no Victor Wembanyama walking through that door to justify a quiet off-season. The Pistons started with a coaching search that became heated and contested within the front office. Arn Tellem, Troy Weaver, and Tom Gores could not agree on a candidate. Eventually, Tom Gores called an iso and knew he wanted Monty Williams.

The issue was, initially, Monty Williams wanted a break from coaching in general. Still, Gores aggressively pursued and Weaver followed suit and eventually Williams agreed on the largest coaching deal in NBA history at the time. After this move, Weaver drafted Ausar Thompson and Marcus Sasser and signed…nobody. There were a handful of free agents that summer that were available that fit the Pistons direction and could have raised the ceiling of the team. Most notably, Cameron Johnson, a former Monty Williams student was hitting restricted free agency. As a matter of fact, a source told Bullyball, Johnson had interest in reuniting with Williams in Detroit. However, the interest was not reciprocated. Instead, the Pistons helped the Nets re-sign Johnson by taking on an aging and oft-injured Joe Harris. Following this, the Pistons traded a second-round pick for Monte Morris, a veteran backup point guard who was great at controlling the pace and spacing the floor. Weaver, for the most part, decided to run back a roster that had won 17 games. The thought process was that a healthy Cade Cunningham, new head coach, and internal development would lead to far better results. Notice a pattern?

Jaden Ivey against the Cavs, shot by Zariq Turner for Bullyball

THE DIRECTION MOVING FORWARD, IS THERE HOPE?

Here we stand now, the Detroit Pistons are not only the worst team in the National Basketball Association, but American professional sports. A losing streak that has tied the single-season NBA record set almost a decade ago, with no end in sight. On top of this, the Pistons set this record with 4 wins in their last 50 games. This is year four of Weaver’s tenure, going into his fifth. Rebuilds take time, and they can be ugly while growth occurs. The issue is, this has not been a normal rebuild. In their fourth year of (purposely) rebuilding, the Pistons are only getting worse. A healthy Cade Cunningham has put his heart and soul into this team, and still he alone cannot win a game for this team.

Cade Cunningham against the Suns shot by Zariq Turner for Bullyball.

The unfortunate reality is, a 22 year-old Cade Cunningham is not, and cannot be your savior. A 22 year-old who is really in his second season of play, cannot be expected to save an NBA team alone. A player like Isaiah Stewart, who only began playing the power forward position after 2023’s trade deadline was expected to be a starting level stretch four coming into the 2023-2024 season. If a player is to make a transition like Stewart has, he needs to be eased into it with room to grow and learn. The only veteran help the Pistons have been able to (sparingly) call on are Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. This Pistons roster completely relies on young, inexperienced players to know how to win in the NBA, while only experiencing losing and dysfunction throughout their brief NBA careers. If Cade Cunningham is expected to be the franchise player of the future, he needs someone he can rely on until he is that guy. Jayson Tatum had Kyrie, Luka had Kristaps, Zion has Ingram, Ja has Jaren Jackson, Anthony Edwards has Karl Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert. Cunningham is hurt, not physically, but mentally by this season. 

The Pistons’ franchise guard entered the Little Caesars Arena Media Room fighting back tears in his eyes, and a dejected perspective following loss 25 in a row.  “I’m kinda sick right now. I am sick right now.. We’re trying to build something that’s sustainable. It’s not like we’re trying just go out there one game. We wanna win multiple games. To be on the wrong side of history, nobody wants to be there,” Cunningham told the press after the loss to the Jazz on December 21st.

The Pistons are now realizing they are at a point of no return, and that change needs to be made imminently. It is believed Tom Gores will give Troy Weaver the rest of the season to right his wrongs, to steer the ship towards a horizon that includes winning and a culture shift. If he can’t, after the season, the expectation is Weaver’s seat won’t be hot, it will likely be empty. This isn’t new information however, this decision was not made after loss 26 in a row. Early on this team could see the writing on the wall, and once the streak reached double digits, this understanding was made very clear.

The unfortunate truth is, Weaver is not solely to blame for the Pistons historically bad season. This Pistons roster has not bought into head coach Monty Williams, displaying the worst body language of any roster constructed throughout this lengthy rebuild. Players like Jaden Ivey have had their minutes erratically staggered, starting one game and being the 7th man the next. There is not enough consistency within the rotations, and players are unable to know what role they need to play if that role changes on a nightly basis. At 2-27, on the cusp of history with the possibility of the worst losing streak of all time right around the corner, most head coaches would have their seats on fire by now. For Williams though, his history is his best ally. The fact that he’s known as one of the best coaches in the league prior to this Detroit disasterclass, makes Williams far less likely to receive any sort of pressure or feel a lapse in job security. Williams has turned around bad teams before. So for the Pistons’ brass the hope rather, the prayer, is that this losing streak will be seen as a necessary evil in his turnaround of the franchise’s luck.

Now, Weaver will likely do about anything he can to change the tide of this team and not end as the worst team in NBA history (which they’re currently projected to do). There is no one trade that can save this team, and there is no one player that can walk through that door and change their fortunes. The issue is, more than ever, the Pistons must find players who are leaders. People who won’t be looking at the exit sign as soon as their agent tells them they’re heading to the worst team in sports. Great skilled players aren’t going to change a mentally broken young team. Either the Pistons need to find the rare combination of skilled and poised players that can change the culture, or they need to punt on the direction the last four years have gone down. The young Pistons may need to pivot to a more veteran-led roster. It’s more than possible this Pistons’ front office only identifies a handful of players such as Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren as the absolute foundation of what they want to build around.

For perspective — based on discussions between Bullyball and sources close to the situation — the Pistons 2024 trade deadline activity might align with the Timberwolves deadline haul in February 2020. At that deadline, the Timberwolves acquired D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Jared Vanderbilt, and Juancho Hernangomez. Another blueprint for this stage of the rebuild would be the Atlanta Hawks around that time period, when a disgruntled sophomore star Trae Young demanded the front office supply him with help. The Hawks got Clint Capela at the deadline and then went out and acquired the likes of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari in the off-season.

This is the most crucial time in the last decade and a half for the Detroit Pistons. Cade Cunningham’s second contract is nearing, and the time for being the NBA’s punching bag has ended. It’s time the Pistons rebuild their rebuild, with or without Troy Weaver.