Detroit Pistons & NBA Talk

No love for plumlee?

Heā€™s JAG to me. If thereā€™s an upgrade at C, I wouldnā€™t hesitate to do so.

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Plums is a solid role player thrust into a starting position. Heā€™s okay and plays hard but nothing more.

The two moves that Troy has made that I donā€™t understand are trading Bruce Brown for nothing and paying Plumlee 2-3 mil more a year (or one year too many) than we probably had to. And, if we needed to offer him that 3rd year to come here, wouldnā€™t we have been better served bringing John Henson back for the league minimum? Is the difference between the two that great? We could be 5-18 with just about anyone in the middle. Maybe the games would be slightly less competitive but the record wouldnā€™t change much. I get low-balling Wood a lot more than these two moves.

All in all, I like what Weaverā€™s done. Maybe Plums is the ultimate locker-room guy?..I donā€™t know.

Anyone who will not be around when the Pistons get good are either a bridge guy or a trade piece. Iā€™ve always viewed Plumlee as a trade piece. While I agree that his contract pays too much or lasts too long (or both), I try to remember that in a potential trade the Pistons need to be able to send enough salary the other way for a trade to work. Some guys are just here today to be gone tomorrow.

Think Plumlee is more of a bridge guy. Someone they brought in to help Hayes and Stewart learn the nuances of pick and roll. At least thatā€™s what I gather from the beat writers.

I guess I see the bridge as shorter, or at least I hope by Year 3 of Plums, they are expecting to be a playoff team again.

Iā€™m sure Stewart will have replaced him in the starting lineup by then. And maybe as an 8mil expiring contract they can move him if need be.

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Watching Plumlee play more has brought me around on the idea of adding him. Heā€™s a solid passer and does a bunch of dirty work. I think heā€™s a good pro for someone like Stewart to observe. But I donā€™t quite get paying what we did for him. Maybe that was the only way to get a veteran big, who knows. Think I would prefer a 2 year contract to a 3 year one however.

Bruce Brown tradeā€¦yeah. I get he was not a part of the future but could have gotten something better than just a second essentially (consider we waived Musa a month later). But at the end of the day, not a move thatā€™ll keep me up at night.

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Weā€™re pretty much on the same page here about Plums. However, with some of that timely passing comes a fair amount of turnovers. Heā€™s under a 1.5/1 A/TO rate, so thatā€™s not ideal.

I get what youā€™re saying about Bruce but he is slowly becoming a valuable piece for the Nets. Itā€™s fun to see fliers pay off for us and he was a guy that had that Pistons-DNA vibe. Iā€™d certainly much rather see him out there, being a disruption to the other team than Rodney McGruder.

I think because heā€™s so limited offensively, he would never be that player on the Pistons. Having KD, Kyrie or Harden on the floor have to help someone like Brown. If he were still here, I donā€™t see his offensive numbers looking much different than they were last season. By the time we got the pieces needed for him to succeed, heā€™d no longer be as cheap of an option.

But I enjoyed watching him on the defensive end. Like you said, a Detroit type player. Iā€™d take someone like him in the second round in a heartbeat again this next draft.

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Yeah, I liked Brown and felt he fit Weaverā€™s rhetoric about the Pistonsā€™ best teams having a certain identity. I get lost in all the moves so at the end of the day, Iā€™m not sure what came back for him after the dust cleared.

Bruce Brown is the back end of the bench guy who can play defense but he is a bad shooter in a tweener role. If heā€™s playing big minutes for your team, then your team is more than likely to be bad. Iā€™m fine with Weaver trading him away for a 2nd round pick. He isnā€™t the type of guy that would make me mad that Weaver would let him go.

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Agreed. Brown is a great guy to have on your roster in a certain role. Starting for your team exceeds that role.

The Pistons are so bad now that Brown (and his agent) may have an overinflated sense of his value to the franchise when it comes time to sign his next contract. Plus I canā€™t imagine that Brown is thrilled to see the Pistons groom multiple players to take his starting job and minutes. Itā€™s best to move him to another team where heā€™s happy to accept his role as 9th player on a better roster.

I think the biggest challenge for a team like the Pistons who are ā€œintentionally tankingā€ is to do so in a way that doesnā€™t corrupt the long-term future of the franchise. If the team becomes a mess and guys arenā€™t trying, arenā€™t learning, arenā€™t getting better, and the culture sucks - you are the Sacramento Kings. The elusive goal is to bottom out for picks but make sure thereā€™s a good foundation in learning, growth, fundamentals, and the system. Few franchises have been able to pull that off in any sport.

I think a guy like Plumlee is at least an attempt to provide that solid foundation on which to grow the youth.

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I think thatā€™s right. Bringing in vets that want to be there during the rebuild seems like the best way to go.

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Heā€™s not shooting well from 3 but heā€™s hitting at 67% inside the arc. Both sample sizes are small this year but thatā€™s pretty efficient. Bruce did shoot .344 from 3 last year, which is not very good but itā€™s respectable.

Yup, the best thing about the Pistons is they are competitive but still tank. They got some young guys playing well which is exactly what you want to see from a tanking team.

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The problem with Bruce Brown when he was with the Pistons is opposing defense does not respect his shooting especially when heā€™s playing off the ball which muck up the spacing. Thatā€™s largely why Weaver shipped him out. Thereā€™s value for a defensive specialist but heā€™s useless on a non-contending team IMO.

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Isaiah Stewart, only 19, great block and hit a 3 pointer tonight

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Great game for Bey too. He checked Harden in the 2nd half, dunked on Joe Harris, and didnā€™t miss a shot! Nice win!

p.s.-Bruce Brown was the main reason the Nets made a comeback in the 3rd. Four steals.

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