He likely told Weaver that he doesn’t want to come back so there’s not much Weaver can do on Wood but was able to get value out of him instead of losing him for nothing
I saw that but didn’t see what led up to it, just the argument after. Loved he was coming at the Greek Freak like that and wouldn’t back down. Gotta love the heart from a 19 year old, then again its easy to have heart like that when your built like a tank. Not sure too many Nba players would want that smoke with Isaiah
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Stewart is an easy player to like - super high motor, visible emotions, etc.
I think he will be a solid offensive player and a good rebounder. I’m not sure he will ever defend ok.
Enes Kanter maybe?
This is what Stewart looked like as a freshman in college. Oh to imagine what Howard could have done with him
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Not a perfect fit, bit close enough:
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Brutal loss tonight. Battle back from a big deficit and have the ball, down one with a few seconds left. Drive from Grant that draws a foul…but both his layup and the foul come after the buzzer. Gotta get a shot off at least.
I thought it looked like Tucker fouled on the floor
It was close, but didn’t expect the refs to make that call in that situation. It was a great attacking drive…if there were two more seconds
This is the kind of outcome I’d take every night, for the most part. Show some fight, build Jerami Grant’s value and then ultimately lose for draft position. Would like to see more of Bey, Stewart and Sekou, but Casey seems intent to make them learn from the bench for the most part.
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It looked like he was fouled 3 times but they only reviewed the one that came after the buzzer.
I would say the Stewart got in Cousins’ head but he often has such bad body-language on the court that I can’t give Isaiah all of the credit. Stew still played a strong game with 7 points, 10 boards and 2 blocks. Cousins shot 2-16, BTW, with several misses coming vs. Stewart.
I would say that the Pistons deserved to win, coming back from a 20-point deficit in the 2nd quarter to eventually take the lead. However, they did miss 4 FT’s in the last 2 minutes, which led to that bad no-call being a deciding factor.
The game also did showcase Wayne Ellington, who’s been on fire from 3 over the last few games. Actually, I just looked at his splits and he’s shooting 51% from deep for the month of January, with 6 attempts a game.
I don’t think we’d ever get a first round pick for him from a contender but maybe a 2nd rounder or two? Or maybe a 1st if we were able to package him with D-Rose. I really like having Derrick on the team but unless he’s willing to resign in Detroit for a lowball salary, there’s not much point in keeping him for the season. It made more sense when he was mentoring Killian Hayes. Now Hayes won’t be back until March, at the earliest.
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And down go the…Lakers?
Yep, the Pistons beat the Lakers. Granted, they were without AD but still. This was a close game for 3 quarters and change but the last 10 minutes were all Detroit.
Blake played like it was 2018 again but my favorite part was Isaiah Stewart. He really seemed to get in Montrez Harrell’s head. Trez only scored 4 points while they were matched up against each other and looked very frustrated. Morris and LeBron also seemed to exchange some words with our rookie big. Stew just kept playing and coming at them. His stats weren’t anything special (8 points, 6 boards, 1 block) but he definitely had an impact on the game. The verbal exchange with LeBron came after Stewart forced a miss out of him.
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Hey, I missing UM hoops !
But I’m watching the Pistons and Zion every chance I get. Piston are fun to watch (for a losing team). I’m worried about Josh Jackson…something doesn’t seem right.
Zion is improving on free throws and looks to have his quickness and explosiveness back. I like that he is trying a few 3pt shots, seems like he should be able to hit 1/3 on 3pt shots.
Josh Jackson has been a bit of a roller-coaster since coming back from his ankle injury. I don’t know if that’s the injury or just indicative of his whole career. However, he’s usually playing good defense out there. He’s averaging a hair under a block and a steal per game in 22 minutes of court time.
The offense is erratic. He’s a streaky shooter but is a good slasher. He’s also had some sensational passes but turns the ball over a lot too. That may just be the kind of player he is. He’s fun to watch when he’s on, though.
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How are people feeling now? I obviously was very critical of the Piston’s off-season, but curious to see what people feel about the various moves now. Obviously, the record stinks, but we can all agree that the record wasn’t the goal this year. I guess this is where I see it:
-Jerian Grant signing - this is far and away the biggest success they had. He’s scoring 23 a game, and doing so at somewhat above league average efficiency. He’s not the passer you’d ideally want your #1 option to be, and this team is sorely missing someone who can help others on offense, but he’s been an unqualified success so far.
-Mason Plumlee signing - I trashed this badly, and I think it’s still a bad idea no matter how well he plays (getting a 2nd capable PG would have been a better use of funds), but he’s played far better than I expected (I just don’t think he has any place in their future). His passing (best skill) offsets the void they have at PG.
-Killian Hayes - a mulligan at this point.
-Isaiah Stewart - I think he’s a fun player, and has played capably so far. I don’t think he has dispelled the idea that he’s destined to be a backup.
-Saddiq Bey - got off to a crazy hot start shooting 3’s, and since then is shooting under 30% from behind the arc - I’m willing at this point to just say the 36%, and not the crazy start or cold run lately, is indicative of his ability. His utter inability to cash in a basket inside the arc is a concern. Defense has looked solid…he seems like he has a shot of being a rotation player.
-Delon Wright and Josh Jackson - Jackson got off to a good start, but he’s been miserable lately, and I think given his career so far it’s reasonable to think that continues. I just think Wright is trash generally. They got these guys for flipping Ariza, so it’s basically free money - if they don’t work out its not a big deal.
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Not trading Derrick Rose last year - whooooo this looks like a big mistake, as peak value seems to be in the rearview mirror.
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Not retaining Christian Wood - this was, I contended at the time, a big mistake, and it certainly seems to be now. I called him a walking 20/10 (he’s at 22/10 on excellent efficiency) - his defense was always a question, and it’s not good, but thus far his offense has been positive enough to outweight his defensive foibles on a +/- basis. The rockets are managing to stay over .500 so far despite a disaster of a year from a continuity standpoint - Wall’s injuries, Harden’s dramas, the introduction of a new high usage player (Oladipo), and Wood is the biggest constant they’ve had.
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Hard to say that it’s a mistake not to retain Wood when Wood doesn’t want to come back to play for the Pistons. The Pistons did as well as they could’ve to salvage assets by not letting him go for nothing
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It’s been explicitly reported he went to Houston because they offered more money.
BlockquoteDuring this process, the Pistons also offered Wood a contract, per sources. Detroit wanted him to be part of this retooling, as well. However, there was a specific price in mind. Detroit had Wood’s “Early Bird” rights, which meant that if it were able to sign him to a deal that paid, roughly, $10 million annually, Wood’s salary would only count as $1.7 million against their cap. Anything more would count toward the cap in full. Per sources, Detroit didn’t offer more than the annual amount that it would take for the smallest cap hit. The priority for the Pistons under Weaver was to acquire Grant, who, especially defensively, fits more of the mold of what the revamped front office was looking for.
They “wanted him” assuming he’d take a contract that wouldn’t reduce their cap space. Which was far under-market, as it turns out.
I agree with most of what you’ve said here.
However, I still think letting Wood go was a fine move and I think it’s been completely justified by the start of this season. To me, it’s a choice between keeping Wood or signing Grant. Getting them both disrupts a rebuild. Having them both puts on on the bubble for the playoffs, which is where we’ve been for a while. But I also don’t think the combo of Wood and Grant is good enough to attract a big time FA when Griffin’s contract comes off the books. The team is committed to a rebuild, so you can’t keep both as that combo is not good enough to build a contender around. Wood is younger, but big men are a riskier investment. Wood’s defense is bad and I’m not sure it gets a ton better. I think he will always be a good scorer. But in the playoffs, it’s hard to keep someone on the floor if they can’t contribute to stopping the opponent. Gotta be quite the scorer to offset the defense in the playoffs. So give me the choice of Wood at $13-15 million a year or Grant at $20 million a year and I’ll take the latter. A little order but he’s a better trade piece if you ever move on because even if he did not work out in terms of expanding his game, he was still always going to be a very good 3&D player, which contenders are always coveting. If he does expand his game, $20 million is a steal. So far he’s done well but we will see if he can keep it up.
People will say well they gave Plumlee around the same money that Wood would have been given. Obviously Wood is a better player overall. But you know Plumlee is not part of the long term future and he’s also not good enough to push your team from bad to mediocre.
That said, this will all be moot when the Pistons somehow fall out of the top 5 in the lottery.
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I don’t disagree with most of this, but “attracting a bigtime FA” should be out of the plan for the vast majority of the NBA, including the Pistons.
I would also just argue that having Wood at $13 million is an asset that is easily traded for more than Josh Jackson and Delon Wright.
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Agreed, but what are your other options to get a top player when you’re too good to get a top pick? It’s sign a FA or make a trade.
So I basically just view signing Wood as keeping the team in no-man’s land, which is where they’ve been since they traded Chauncey.
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I’m high on Stewart. Can guard on the perimeter decently and bang down low. He was so productive in college. And I’ve seen footage of him warming up and he can really shoot.
High on Josh Jackson and Jeremi Grant too (great interview with him and Chris Webber on The Lowe Post.)
They can trade Rose and Ellington soon right? Thought I read that Feb 6 was when Ellington would be eligible to trade.