PHILADELPHIA — During his introductory press conference in June 2020, Troy Weaver laid out a clear and unique vision for the Detroit Pistons. He vowed to “restore” the team back to its former glory — the Bad Boys and Goin’ To Work-type of glory — and expressed his belief that Detroit is a great city that deserves a great basketball team to root for. When Weaver was hired as general manager, the franchise hadn’t won a playoff game in 12 years. He acknowledged that to build a winning franchise, he’d have to build a winning culture first.
More than two years after Weaver’s hire, the Pistons have stuck to his plan. The “restoring,” as Weaver calls Detroit’s rebuild, has yet to produce winning. But the franchise is now flush with young and veteran talent, plus a clean cap sheet moving forward.
It’s why Tom Gores and the rest of the Pistons ownership were happy enough with Weaver’s leadership to sign him to an extension this past offseason, league sources confirmed to the Free Press on Wednesday.
THE NEW KID:Pistons’ Jaden Ivey didn’t sweat hitting rookie wall. He’s starting to show us why
HEADED FOR THE HALL?Pistons advisor John Beilein 1 of 3 1st-time Basketball Hall of Fame coaching nominees
The franchise will almost certainly miss the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, and 12th time in 14 seasons. But Gores knew the team was likely undergoing a lengthy rebuild when he hired Weaver. Despite the losing, there is belief that the team is still well-positioned for future success.
When he was introduced, Weaver emphasized that the organization would prioritize drafting good people, rather than just good players. And in subsequent availabilities, he has made it clear he won’t shortchange the organization’s long-term goal to win sustainably. While eying that, he has made his imprint on the roster, and then some. There are 10 Pistons 24 or younger; seven were drafted during Weaver’s regime. Six were drafted in the first round, and three — Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Killian Hayes — were top-seven picks.
“I think we’ve got great people,” Gores said during halftime of the Pistons’ opening-night win over the Orlando Magic. “We’ve got a bunch of great players, great leaders in Dwane (Casey) and Troy, who I have tremendous confidence in. I’m a very optimistic person. But these guys, they’re showing it on the floor. Just having had dinner with them the other night, I had great confidence in them.”
The news of Weaver’s extension, broken by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, didn’t come out until Wednesday. It’s unclear if the news would’ve come out at all otherwise, because the Pistons declined to announce the extension. In doing so, the news ended up being somewhat awkwardly timed, just hours before the Pistons were blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers by 20 points.
Rebuilds are fickle, as this season has plainly illustrated. Long-term optimism doesn’t always hide the short-term warts that come with building a team with young players. The Pistons — who own the NBA’s worst record, are on pace to win just 19 games and have yet to top 23 wins in a season during Weaver’s tenure — have experienced more than their share of warts. From an optics standpoint, it’s not hard to see why Weaver might’ve been concerned about how the extension would be perceived.
The Pistons are in the in-between stage of a rebuild — there’s enough young talent to build on, but not enough proven talent to win. Cunningham’s season-ending surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left shin hurt Detroit’s floor and ceiling this season, and the team has clearly missed him. Rebuilds require skill and luck, and the Pistons haven’t been lucky this season. Despite growth from Killian Hayes and Isaiah Stewart and exciting play from the rookie duo of Ivey and Jalen Duren, the Pistons ultimately need a superstar to get over the hump. Cunningham may be that soon, but they’ll have to wait until he returns to know for sure.
Weaver understands that things don’t always go according to plan. He has positioned the team well now that Blake Griffin’s mammoth contract is off of the books. They’ll have another lottery pick in the summer, plus cap space and a healthy Cunningham fortifying the roster. Does that mean a run at the playoffs in 2023-24? For now, it’s tough to say when the Pistons will turn the corner. Rebuilding teams are typically bad until they’re suddenly good — the Cleveland Cavaliers averaged 20 wins for three seasons (2018-21), then broke out with 44 wins during the 2021-22 campaign — and without Cunningham this season, Detroit’s suddenly is at least a year off.
The Pistons were supposed to be ready to compete this season, but injuries have altered their best-case scenario. Wednesday’s loss and the extension, in the grand scheme, have nothing to do with each other. Losing is typically a side effect, if not a feature, of rebuilding. Without Cunningham, the Pistons will be at a talent and depth disadvantage almost every night this season.
FIRST-NOTCH SECOND UNIT:The one bright spot for Pistons: They may have the NBA’s best bench
Weaver’s extension speaks to the direction in which he has turned the the franchise — and it’s a direction with upside. Few teams in the NBA have as much young talent as Detroit. The tough part is developing that talent and fortifying that talent with the right auxiliary pieces. Bojan Bogdanovic, acquired in an preseason trade and already signed to an extension, has been one of the Eastern Conference’s most efficient scorers this season. Alec Burks, acquired in a trade in July, has given the team a go-to option in the second unit. You don’t have to squint hard to see how a healthy Cunningham and additional good depth pieces could move up this team up the standings next season.
There are reasons for optimism in Detroit, even as losses pile up this season. Gores has seen firsthand how get-rich-quick rebuilds can backfire. The two biggest moves of his ownership — signing Josh Smith in July 2013 and trading for Griffin in January 2018 — produced just four playoff games with either on the roster, no playoff wins, and millions of dollars of dead cap space that further limited the team’s ability to bring in talent.
Gores owes it to Weaver, the fanbase and to himself to see this rebuild through. With the added security that comes with his extension, Weaver can continue wheeling and dealing — and sticking to the plan he announced 30 months ago.
“I feel like we finally have a full complement of players,” Weaver said during this season’s media day. “First two years, we didn’t. It’s my job to make sure we have a roster in place that can go out and compete. I feel like we have a full complement of players, so we can go compete every night now. We’ll be short on experience in some areas, but excited about the roster and where we are.”
As he alluded to, he spent two full seasons cleaning up a roster cratered by bad finances. Eventually, he’ll have to prove his blueprint can “restore” an era of championship contention. But more than anything else right now, Weaver needs time to see his vision through. The contract extension is a start.