The organization valued Booker and Bridges more than him. They valued Ayton enough to pick him 1st but not enough to get a contract done. I would be pretty miffed as well.
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Do you think they should have valued Ayton more than Devin Booker? Does anyone?
If you guys think signing the 7th best center in the NBA to $37 mil a year is a good idea, I guess I wonât argue. The calculus is different for Phoenix, who, if they let him go, have only the minimum to chase a replacement (so they wonât let him go). The Pistons hands are not tied in the same fashion.
EDIT: I actually looked at a list. I will give him â6th best centerâ.
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I wonder what extremely reliable defensive metric shows that he was âquantifiablyâ awful?
7th best center? I can think of Jokic, Embiid, Gobert and uh�
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Aytonâs worth a max to me as a Pistons fan solely because I think Cade + Saddiq + Ayton + Ivey or Sharpe or Keegan Murray is probably a playoff-worthy core for the next five years, with championship upside pending Cadeâs ceiling, all on similar timelines and thatâs better than whatever else I think they could do with the cap space.
Alternatives would beâŚsign worse players for less than the max? Donât think that moves the needle. Might have to throw a max at Brunson or Bridges which is way worse than Ayton IMO. Also could use the cap space to try and move up? Maybe flip 5 for Houstonâs pick at 3 and eat a contract like John Wall in order to get Banchero? But Iâd rather have Ayton + Sharpe/Ivey/Murray than Banchero. Might change my mind on that if it was Smith or Chet instead.
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BPM, RAPTOR, Cleaning the glass all agree on the basic gist.
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Jokic, Embiid, Towns, Gobert, Bam
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I donât think they should count on building through free agency, I think they should pursue sign and trades at the max for players closer to being worth it. Heâs the 6th best player at the least valuable position.
I think itâs a moot point really, because Iâm roughly 90%+ sure that Phoenix is matching any offer.
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No but Bridges? I like Bridges but Ayton shouldnât let that go by. Ayton refused to go into the game but they let CP3 soil himself on the court?
I wouldnât hate that. Counterpoint, he was just the third best player on a title runner-up at age 22.
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I donât know if Bridges is better, but his set of skills is certainly in much higher demand. There arenât many elite defending wings who can knock down 63%+ true shooting.
I think Sarver is an idiot and evil, and I donât agree with what they did with Ayton, but I played two college sports, and I can tell you that if a teammate of mine did what Ayton did, there would be extremely large problems for him with the rest of team, possibly permanently. His teammates didnât negotiate his contract.
Last thing: I think we are 2/3 years away from the point where signing expensive FAâs is the best thing for the Pistons to do. The basic path here is to get to being a solid team with your young core, then go hunting S&Tâs when youâre actually appealing.
What teams are looking to dump max players who are worth it? The only reason teams are looking to dump salary is for guys who are not worth what they are being paid. I think the best pistons can do via the trade market is getting more players along the lines of Marvin Bagley who may be talented, but have fallen out of favor and are not in future roster plans. Eventually you need to spend some money to improve your team or else your young talented players are going to get sick of losing and want to leave themselves
I mean, prominent players get mad and want to leave several times a year. Davis, Harden, Kawhi, Chris Paul, Kyrie, etc.
Those players are not asking to be traded to Detroit though lol. Nowadays the stars practically pick which team they get traded to. Also, Iâm not interested in guys like Harden and CP3 who are paid handsomely but are past their primes.
I agree with this.
We talk a lot about the Pistons young core but we donât really have a young core yet. We have Cade Cunningham and MAYBE Bey as quality players to build around, thatâs it.
Weâre still so early in the rebuild to talk about being sick of losing, feels like this is less about players being sick of losing and more about fans. This is Cadeâs first year losing, and he has, what, 4 more years left with the Pistons. Our window is 4 years to put a good team together, weâve got time. We need to keep tanking because the draft is the only way the Pistons will ever become a contender.
It doesnât really matter if theyâre asking? Itâs a trade.
So we tank again next year and donât win the Wemby lottery and then what? Just keep tanking until we land another star in the draft? 2 years of tanking turns into 3 and then 4 and then eventually itâs determined that you just stink and whatever good players you have now want to leave.
Also, if the pistons stink again next year then it probably isnât a great sign that Cade is who we think he is. Pistons shouldnât be the worst team in the league again next year. A hypothetical team of Cade, Ivey, Bey, Grant, Stewart/Bagley is likely winning some more games and the lottery odds likely wouldnât be great.
We maybe get a Scoot Henderson or some other top 5 pick.
âŚyes.
As opposed to being what, the Indiana Pacers or the 15th worst team in the league? You pick up as much high end talent as you can before you make a serious push to climb the standings and before Cadeâs contract expires. Cade is the only good player we have worth placating here.
If Cade isnât who we think he is, we should keep tanking.
That team is not winning squat if our 5th pick guy is not an instant impact player. You look at teams in the Pistonsâ bracket and youâll see they probably have just as much if not more talent than the Pistons have. Rockets, for example, have Green, Sengun, KPJ, Josh Christopher. Magic have Franz, Suggs, and will now have Chet. OKC will have Shai, Giddey, and Jabari Smith.
Look, this team flat out sucks. We are desperatley lacking in talent. We are no where near being ready to say we should stop tanking and acquiring assets.
I think you just play the young guys and see where it goes. I donât think Ayton is sufficient a talent to speed up your process. What does Cade/Rookie Guard/Bey/Something/Ayton get youâŚ7th seed? Iâd contend that the fact that people are straight-facedly discussing starting Bagley is an issue.
In the end, Ayton isnât coming. Heâs either going to accept the qualifying offer and go to FA (at which point the Suns will desperately try to sign and trade him), or heâs going to shop for a deal and the Suns will match it (and trade him if heâs upset). They cannot, literally cannot, let him walk.
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Hawks were absolutely awful Trae Yongâs second year. Just depends on what other pieces the Pistons get. But if they just run it back with what they have plus like Shaedon Sharpe theyâre still a lottery team.
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Itâs hard to gauge the Pistons because they so rarely played their whole team. They were very quick to sit players (except Saddiq Bey who refused to sit.)
I think theyâre done tanking - Cade is too good, and it is time to start competing all in. Making the playoffs might be a tall order next to your, but I think a good sign if theyâre in the race down to the end.