Guys trading down in order to deal Plumlee is basically a self-admission by Weaver that it was a bad contract (one he needed to stretch a player to accomplish). We should be happy the cost of escaping it (other than the stretch) was so low. It’s ok to acknowledge it wasn’t a good move - the Bey and and Stewart picks would indicate he has a good eye for talent (less sanguine on Hayes but not sure what else they were supposed to do there other than trade down).
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Curious why you think Isaiah will shoot 3s better? Not saying he can’t but Wieskamp seems like the better shooter to me?
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And they say alcohol ads don’t play with children! Hmmm! 
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Plumlee was NOT a bad contract. 8mil for 3 years is not a lot of money for a quality rotation center. More likely is that Weaver wanted the 8.1 million dollar trade exception and there’s another deal coming.
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There are also a lot of threes who just stand on the perimeter and shoot threes. Livers won’t be exploited defensively by guys like that, especially the bench versions of those guys.
I consider myself as a fair weather fan of the Pistons since the end of the bad boys era. I’m bustin with excitement that the Detroit didn’t F up the first pick and picking Zay and Garza. Zay will get a good chance to make his mark and Garza the type of player that could learn to play defense, is enough for me to follow them again. Is it just me that wonders why NBA teams don’t pick local players for their teams with 2nd round picks? With the Pistons picking Zay the Pistons have another fan who may go to the games again and for sure watch on TV.
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Until Garza removes the forty pound weights from his shoes I don’t think he can learn to play defense.
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Giving up assets to dump it would pretty much define it as negative value.
Regardless, if you add up what they are paying per year (for five years) to stretch Dedmon and Zhaire Smith and Plumlee’s deal, you get about what Christian Wood signed for. They could have traded Wood this off-season for positive value, opposed to Plumlee, who they had to add assets to in order to get out of.
I applaud Weaver for recognizing a sunk cost and acting on it (many GM’s don’t, and every GM is going to do something wrong).
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I honestly think he can play 4. NBA 4’s aren’t Kevin Willis and Larry Nance anymore.
@kturnup - maybe he’s not. They were pretty similar quality over the past two years, both showed an ability to shoot on the move (amusingly both shot 41.2% from 3 on a similar volume over their careers). Weiskamp’s FT struggles this year were concerning but maybe nothing. Maybe I’m pumping sunshine but I have more faith in Isaiah’s defense.
Totally agree. I think Stewart outplayed his draft position, earned the bulk of the minutes, and Weaver would rather use the money in a different spot than what is now a now backup center. Plumlee isn’t a valuable commodity so they had to swap picks to get rid of him, but that doesn’t mean he was a bad signing in the first place.
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Houstan at 7 for Vecenie and 5 for Givony in their 2022 mocks that just dropped
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And Davante Jones even sneaks in at 59 on Givony’s. He really loves that guy
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He also seems to hate hunter, I know he says this is his last year but you have to wonder if a kofi situation plays out
This is a great analysis. The point that Joe is better than Livers w ball in his hand is indisputable. But better enough that it matters? I’m not sure he is either.
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Tangentially to all this - I’m pretty surprised Ayo didn’t finish in the first round. I know his shooting will be a question, but getting a guy with that much ability to create separation with the ball in his hands at an ideal positional size is pretty good. Other than age,like, what does Suggs have on him?
Hunter’s athleticism and defense are a big question mark in the next level. Juwan did a good job of hiding his deficiencies and college rules helped him as well. In the NBA, he’ll get exposed one on one against quicker players. C like Hunter are a dying breed and they require C to be able to move especially on defense in order to survive in the NBA.
Keegan Murray at #18 (!) in Vecenie’s 2022 mock.
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I don’t think he hates Hunter. Vecenie doesn’t have him top 50 either. Hunter will have to prove he’s worth drafting. But the likely outcome is he leaves either way. Kofi waited til the very last day and threatened transfer, Illinois got pretty lucky he ended up coming back to them.
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As a starting center in the NBA you are correct. But I think every team has a back-up spot for someone more conventional. Guys like the Lopez brothers, Kaminski, Zubac, Drummond, Boogie, etc. The issue is that there are only about 30 of them so replacement value is low and thus it is unlikely someone spends a first round pick on those guys. Did any conventional centers get picked last night? Almost none until a couple in the later second round.
I think Dickinson is going to leave and give it a shot no matter what…but maybe if he makes solid NIL bank this year he’d consider coming back if the NBA still has little interest.
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I agree he can play the four, and have said as much before. Just saying I don’t think he’s a huge defensive liability against a lot of NBA threes either. He’ll be able to play a 3/4 hybrid role.
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