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A roll of the dice might have been one of the best things to happen to the Detroit Pistons after an underwhelming season in 2016-17. The front office started small, acquiring reserve point guard Langston Galloway in a three-year deal early in the free agency window before gambling in a trade with the Boston Celtics that saw them net defensive hawk Avery Bradley and a future second-round pick for power forward Marcus Morris.
“We were just lucky to have him be available and that sort of changed our plans,” head coach Stan Van Gundy told Rod Beard of the Detroit News.
“Our plan was basically to get Langston as protection and then we were in the KCP thing — that’s where we were headed — and then Avery Bradley became available and it was just too good to pass up for us.”
Bradley is an upgrade from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in more than one area. He's an excellent one-on-one defender with a gift for spotting up holes in passing lanes, and he's an even better shooter than KCP from everywhere on the perimeter, shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 39 percent from beyond the arc last season.
The Pistons shortly renounced the rights to Caldwell-Pope after making the trade, knowing they'd found their starting shooting guard and ridding themselves of complications of offering him the max deal he reportedly wanted.
“(Not having KCP) wasn’t even something that we had talked about, to be quite honest. What happened was the deal with Boston with Avery Bradley there,” Van Gundy said. “What we had to weigh there is Avery comes in and he’s only got one year on his contract, against where KCP’s contract could potentially go.
“If you sign him, you’re well into the tax and now have significantly less flexibility going forward.”
