No love for plumlee?
Heās JAG to me. If thereās an upgrade at C, I wouldnāt hesitate to do so.
Plums is a solid role player thrust into a starting position. Heās okay and plays hard but nothing more.
The two moves that Troy has made that I donāt 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, wouldnāt 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 wouldnāt change much. I get low-balling Wood a lot more than these two moves.
All in all, I like what Weaverās done. Maybe Plums is the ultimate locker-room guy?..I donāt know.
Anyone who will not be around when the Pistons get good are either a bridge guy or a trade piece. Iāve 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 thatās 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.
Iām 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.
Watching Plumlee play more has brought me around on the idea of adding him. Heās a solid passer and does a bunch of dirty work. I think heās a good pro for someone like Stewart to observe. But I donāt 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 thatāll keep me up at night.
Weāre pretty much on the same page here about Plums. However, with some of that timely passing comes a fair amount of turnovers. Heās under a 1.5/1 A/TO rate, so thatās not ideal.
I get what youāre saying about Bruce but he is slowly becoming a valuable piece for the Nets. Itās fun to see fliers pay off for us and he was a guy that had that Pistons-DNA vibe. Iād certainly much rather see him out there, being a disruption to the other team than Rodney McGruder.
I think because heās 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 donāt see his offensive numbers looking much different than they were last season. By the time we got the pieces needed for him to succeed, heād no longer be as cheap of an option.
But I enjoyed watching him on the defensive end. Like you said, a Detroit type player. Iād take someone like him in the second round in a heartbeat again this next draft.
Yeah, I liked Brown and felt he fit Weaverās rhetoric about the Pistonsā best teams having a certain identity. I get lost in all the moves so at the end of the day, Iām 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 heās playing big minutes for your team, then your team is more than likely to be bad. Iām fine with Weaver trading him away for a 2nd round pick. He isnāt the type of guy that would make me mad that Weaver would let him go.
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 canāt imagine that Brown is thrilled to see the Pistons groom multiple players to take his starting job and minutes. Itās best to move him to another team where heās 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 āintentionally tankingā is to do so in a way that doesnāt corrupt the long-term future of the franchise. If the team becomes a mess and guys arenāt trying, arenāt learning, arenāt getting better, and the culture sucks - you are the Sacramento Kings. The elusive goal is to bottom out for picks but make sure thereās 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.
I think thatās right. Bringing in vets that want to be there during the rebuild seems like the best way to go.
Heās not shooting well from 3 but heās hitting at 67% inside the arc. Both sample sizes are small this year but thatās pretty efficient. Bruce did shoot .344 from 3 last year, which is not very good but itās 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.
The problem with Bruce Brown when he was with the Pistons is opposing defense does not respect his shooting especially when heās playing off the ball which muck up the spacing. Thatās largely why Weaver shipped him out. Thereās value for a defensive specialist but heās useless on a non-contending team IMO.
Isaiah Stewart, only 19, great block and hit a 3 pointer tonight
Great game for Bey too. He checked Harden in the 2nd half, dunked on Joe Harris, and didnāt miss a shot! Nice win!
p.s.-Bruce Brown was the main reason the Nets made a comeback in the 3rd. Four steals.