Pistons clinch!
What a long year. Let’s hope the balls bounce correctly.
Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren both had a great game. It went off the rails when Casey subbed out Omruyi for Wiseman for a 2 bigs lineup. The Heat went on a run to pull away from the game. Jimmy Butler shotmaking won them the game.
If the Pistons get Wemby, the lineup would be very good with:
Cade
Jaden
Bogan
Wemby
Duren
with Bagley, Wiseman, Livers, Omruyi and Burk off the bench. They still need a wing to backup Bogan. I think Weaver should trade one of the two between Wiseman or Bagley to see if team will bite in the off-season
Wiseman is a FA, right?
I think simply not signing him may be the way. Trading Bagley will cost them assets. I also don’t think you’d play Wembayana next to another center.
I read something yesterday from a Pistons writer saying they should dump Bagley and Omruyi in the offseason for sure. Was very critical of their two way and finishing contracts even knowing they were in tank mode.
Omoruyi just isn’t an NBA player. I mean, I don’t think that’s a shock, he’s a 26 year old with 640 career minutes played. It’s fine he’s been around - they needed to lose games, whatever.
Wiseman is a weird player - he’s pretty good at at post up jump hooks…he makes like 49% which is really high for that sort of thing…it’s just the least efficient form of scoring on earth, and he’s not very good at the other ones.
I won’t get into Bagley, I will save you all.
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Wiseman has one more year left since the Warriors already exercised the team option before he was traded.
I think Wemby can play next to a center because Wemby isn’t a C. He’s an oversized wing player to me
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I think he’s definitely a center on defense. Offensively he can play the 4. I think the plus of Wemby is that you get a defensive center that can play offense like Kevin Durant, playing him at the 4 blunts that a bit
I think there’s a path for Wemby/Duren pairing. Wemby is too skinny to be guarding a center. It’ll be similar to Mobley/Allen with the Cavs IMO.
To me, Cade, Jaden, Bogan, Wemby, Duren are a very workable lineup.
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Sure, but I think long term you devalue him (or Mobley) by making them a 4. Their skills aren’t nearly as unique there.
That’s a good question and something I wonder about. My instinct as well, but I don’t watch enough NBA to comment. I do see that Mobley’s playing as a 4 and the Cavs are just fine.
Just to be clear: I am not saying that Mobley is not a positive player at the 4. I am saying that he, personally, would be a more valuable player at the 5. He is, however, the best 4 on the Cavs, who are good, so he plays there.
Similarly, I think the 7’5" kid who can handle and drive and shoot preesnts a near impossible puzzle for the opposition at the 5, a near historic one. At the 4, he’s big Kevin Garnett. Kevin Garnett ruled! But he was also like the 40th best player ever? 30th?
No, I got your point, and I do agree. I’d also really value keeping him healthy, because if the Pistons do win the lottery, within a minute I’ll be embarking on years of anxiety about foot/leg issues. One thing I like about him is that his camp shares that same anxiety and they’re out there on the frontiers of conditioning. Sleeps 11 hours a day. I would want to scale up minutes at a measured pace.
He’s played in 78 games since 2020 (assuming basketball reference is complete), and 27 this year. So a slightly lighter load than a college freshman.
Yeah, Wemby will play a lot of 5 (and in theory is most effective there) but not every matchup is high leverage or a playoff game so he’ll play a ton at the 4 also. Feels beside the point to write his name down in pen as one or the other.
The best part of having him on your roster is that he can be a mismatch at the 4 or the 5. Even Durant, who isn’t a center, plays some at the 5 when they want more scoring. I think you could easily start him at the 4 and then side him to the 5 at times to play with matchups or shift from scoring to defense. Obviously I don’t want him trying to guard Embid at the 5 so then you slide him down a spot.
How about the Pistons win the lottery and we see how it all plays out!! (come on…ping pong ball luck)
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I think if you play Wemby at the 4, you want a defensive 5 though, and thus far, short of rebounding, that is absolutely not Duren. The Mobley/Allen pair works between the two of them, they just eliminate the rim.
Wiseman you can hold onto for a year. Bagley could possibly be traded in a scenario where the Pistons take back more salary from a team looking to reboot. He only makes 12mil and the Pistons have a ton of cap space.
By the way, the new annual Pistons draft board poll will start soon. I’ll probably put the first one up tomorrow. Now that we know we only need to go 5 deep.
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personally i am curious about this Marvin Bagley fellow and would like to hear more
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Been really pleased with Ivey and Duren’s development. Both pass the ball much better than I expected. And Ivey’s shooting 34% from three which is well ahead of where I thought his shot would be.
The only thing I’m aware of is that, one time, he and Killian Hayes were seen continually punching @mgl’s dog in the face. But they were forgiven immediately.
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I absolutely have not forgiven, as my son says thats cap
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