The best part of being a younger generation Pistons fan is I have no deep lifelong connection to them so I get to basically be a free agent fan every season!
The All-Time Pistons lineup that I have watched:
Reggie Jackson/Brandon Jennings
KCP/Kennard
Cade/Josh Smith
Blake Griffin/Kyle Singler
Drummond/Monroe
there was an owner-involved firing
Not a Tobias Harris fan?
Langdon is having his introductory press conference tomorrow.
Micah Nori and Sean Sweeney may be great coaches, but Iâd say the fact that they coached on recent Pistonsâ teams in addition to the good teams they are with now suggests that itâs really impossible to triangulate team success to coaching acumen of assistants.
The fact that their list is so heavy on âguys we know personallyâ suggests a process problem.
I know. He canât still be, although anyone signing a contract of that size should have some sort of representation. But, yeah. Didnât like that. Some proper reporting about who exactly it is now would be good.
This is called making your bed and then having to lie in it.
Iâm not defending Monty, of whom Iâve been extremely critical. He deserves to be fired.
But this smells like a Gotes decision, not a Langdon one. Langdon knew Monty from prior jobs, and hired an assistant (Vinson) who knew them both. I just donât see a month long âevaluation processâ required to pull this trigger: This seems like it wasnât him, which speaks to process.
What also speaks to process is hiring a President of Basketball Operations who was represented by your âsenior advisorâ and a head coaching candidate list populated with former Piston assistants.
I am not saying that you canât hire well by hiring people you know but âwho has worked hereâ should not determine the pool from which you hire.
Not saying youâre wrong, but the beat writers said that it was a Langdonâs decision. Langdon interviewed Monty then made the decision to fire him which Gores signed off on it. It was 100% a Langdonâs decision
Who knows with this organization? Which is, of course, the whole problem.
I donât think thatâs what the beat writers are saying. But it speaks to the coherence of the strategy that before they hired someone they were stressing to media that that person would have full control over these decisions, and after one of those decisions was made, they made the point of letting those beat reporters know that Gores was involved in the decision.
This is not a coherent approach.
Woj:
New Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon, who was hired a month ago, had been meeting regularly with Williams about the franchiseâs future, but the decision to dismiss Williams was directed from the ownership level with Tom Gores, sources told ESPN.
This is the opposite of what the local beat writer wrote in his article:
After taking over, Langdon had sit-downs with Williams and the rest of Detroitâs staff. The question that needed to be answered: Is Williams the right person to lead the rebuild? Cracks in the partnership began to show early last season, as the Pistons were mired in an NBA single-season record 28-game losing streak that forced questions about Williamsâ leadership and game management.
There was talk of giving Williams another year to figure things out, but the organization wanted to make a final decision before next weekâs draft and the bulk of the teamâs free agency negotiations. Talks accelerated after the Boston Celtics won the NBA Finals on Monday, and Langdon ultimately wasnât convinced that Williams was the right coach for the next five years and felt that a young Pistons team needed a new voice.
Langdon wants to prioritize player development, as evidenced by last weekâs hire of former New Orleans Pelicans assistant coach and shooting guru Fred Vinson. Williams also has a relationship with Vinson, as he was formerly on Williamsâ staff in New Orleans. Williamsâ exit days after Vinsonâs hire illustrates the lack of confidence in Williamsâ ability to manage an inexperienced roster.
I think youâre reading into it incorrectly. Langdon has the authority and Gores has to sign off on it because heâs the owner of the team since he ponied up the money to lure Monty to Detroit.
If this is true, itâs an odd set of handcuffs to put Langdon in
Yes. It also contradicts the idea that Langdon had final say? You have a choice between x and y BUTâŚ
âŚ.you have to make a 5 year commitment today or else
The only person in the org that knows how to communicate is Cade Cunningham, the only person (besides Monty who gave confusing answers) with the guts to speak to the media during the long losing streak.
Interesting thread on Giddey.
https://twitter.com/stephnoh/status/1804185622791270576?s=46&t=pI3vfmsWTFNvkSEe6OFpuA
Wonder if his game is one that jukes box score metrics somewhat. AST% and TO% are probably the things driving most of his value from those. Could be that the skills those stats proxy for are in fact super valuable tho too, I dk.
If it werenât the Bulls and AK Iâd have more optimism. Seems like the kind of guy who could have a lot more success being handed the reins to drive offense with shooters around him? Meanwhile hopefully he figures out how a jump shot works over the next 3-4 years? Heâs already made a ton of progress in his FT%.
