It has been an active offseason of change for the Detroit Pistons. After a painful 14-68 finish to the 2023-24 regular season, there was a desperate call for numerous improvements. The front office wasted little time and made significant moves to restore hope in the franchise direction. Detroit's offseason motion was under the lead of new President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon.
The Pistons hired him back in May with a big checklist of necessities to accomplish. Owner Tom Gores raved about the leadership of Langdon while assuring belief in his abilities to turn things around.
Langdon embraced the idea of remaining patient as they develop the young nucleus of the franchise. There has been a continuous emphasis on not rushing their process. While it may take a while to revive the winning ways of the Pistons, Langdon and the front office have taken some promising steps of progression this offseason.
5. Not trading core pieces yet
Langdon has proved so far that he is sticking to his plan of not rushing steps to winning. With much anticipation of Detroit's turnaround came the thought of dealing away players of their young core. The Pistons have gone 15 straight seasons without a winning record but resisted the urge of flipping young talent for veterans to accelerate their trajectory.
So much wrong happened last season that it is hard to know how the core fits with one another. Injuries and questionable rotations limited the team's ability to develop and gel.
It appears the Pistons have no plans on moving players like Jalen Duren, Jaden Ivey, or Ausar Thompson. Each of these players was drafted with high hopes of becoming foundation pieces for the franchise. Langdon appears to be willing to take some time to see if this core can reach their potential together.
4. Removing Troy Weaver and Monty Williams
Detroit badly needed to find new voices in leadership after the hardships of 2023-24. With one of the youngest rosters in the NBA last season, lots of the team's development relied on the production of their leaders. It was evident the Pistons needed to bring in new voices for assistance.
The team tallied a win-loss record of 74-244 under the leadership of former general manager Troy Weaver. After taking over the Pistons in 2020, Weaver managed to balance the team's cap space and acquired some promising talent through the draft. Detroit struggled to utilize that cap space on veterans to keep long-term, missed on bad trades like Saddiq Bey for James Wiseman, along with big draft misses like Killian Hayes.
The extension of the troubling leadership continued when the team hired Monty Williams for a six-year coaching deal worth $78.5 million. Despite leading the Phoenix Suns to an NBA Finals appearance and winning 2021-22 Coach of the Year honors, Williams was not a good fit with the Pistons. He decided to start Hayes over Ivey in the backcourt, refused to stagger his starting guards, and leaned heavily on all bench lineups. Williams' issues played a significant role in Detroit's NBA record-setting 28 consecutive game-losing streak.
Langdon opted to move quickly in search of new leadership for the Pistons. He has added experienced front office voices to Detroit such as Michael Blackstone and Dennis Lindsey. Langdon also hired J.B. Bickerstaff to lead the team's rebuild as the new head coach after he was let go by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
3. Adding veteran shooting
Another priority for the Pistons this offseason was to add veterans and shooting depth to the roster. Detroit's spacing has been poor in half-court sets with limited playmaking and scoring threats. Langdon worked hard on the free agent market to fill that gaping shooting void.
The Pistons entered free agency with roughly $60 million to spend. Langdon did a sharp job of adding quality shooters on inexpensive deals when struggling teams regularly have to overpay to attract free agents. Detroit acted quickly signing Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, and Simone Fontecchio to short-term contracts. Langdon also acquired Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round picks from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Quentin Grimes.
2. Acquiring shooting guru Fred Vinson
Another hopeful sign in addressing the Pistons' shooting struggles was prying assistant coach Fred Vinson from the New Orleans Pelicans. Vinson's 16 seasons in the NBA are highlighted by his ability to develop players into better shooters. That credit in shooting growth pins back to Pelicans players like Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Herb Jones, and others.
The Pistons would benefit greatly from better shooting consistency from three. Detroit finished 25th in the NBA averaging 34.8% from deep last season. If Vinson can work his magic with Detroit's young core, the team's upside can grow exponentially under his tutelage.
1. Max contract for Cade Cunningham
Langdon expressed how highly he thought of Cade Cunningham as Detroit's face of the franchise during his introductory presser. He backed up those words through action by coming to a five-year max extension worth $224 million with the Pistons' franchise point guard.
Cunningham is coming off a career-best season despite the team's losing problems. He averaged 22.7 points and 7.5 assists along with career-high shooting efficiency. Cunningham finished the season averaging 45% from the field, 35.5% from three, and 87% from the free throw line.
So much of the Pistons' hopes rely on the development of their 2021 No. 1 overall selection. With the most promising core around him so far in his career, Cunningham could be set to take another leap in production for the Pistons.
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