Pistons second-year forward Sekou Doumbouya has received limited playing time in the early going, Rod Beard of the Detroit News notes.
The Pistons’ first-round pick in 2019 has not played more than 13 minutes in the team’s first four games. Dwane Casey said that Doumbouya has to deal with the fact he’s backing up Blake Griffin, who missed Friday’s game against Boston with a concussion.
“Blake’s going to get the majority of those minutes and (Doumbouya’s) got to make his minutes count. If Blake’s not going, (Doumbouya’s) minutes will get ratcheted up,” the Pistons head coach said. “It’s that situation, where he’s behind an All-Pro guy, and that’s his challenge right now.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- Pistons lottery pick Killian Hayes has struggled thus far as the starting point guard and Casey isn’t surprised, Beard writes in a separate story. The lack of practice time due to the shortened offseason put Hayes in a difficult situation, since the Pistons are intent on giving him experience. “We threw him in the fire — which was really unfair to him, because there’s no Summer League, there’s no August or September (workout time),” Casey said. “You’re going right from working out in Florida to going against NBA players.”
- The Cavaliers have lost two straight after starting out 3-0 and coach J.B. Bickerstaff believes his young unit is still learning to handle adversity, according to Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “There was doubt as a unit. There was doubt as a team. And you can’t survive playing against good teams without that belief,” Bickerstaff said. “We have good players. … When they play together, with confidence and a belief, they can be a good basketball team. And that’s what we have to get to. But it takes time.”
- The Bulls defeated Washington on Thursday despite being shorthanded and Zach LaVine feels the team is showing more resolve, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic writes. “This team is tired of being labeled losers and underachieving,” LaVine said. “Everything is not going to be perfect. We’re not going to go out and win every game. But our demeanor has been a lot better than it has been the last couple of years.”
Pistons need to trade Griffin to open up minutes.
Currently they have Grant Doumbouya Bey and Jackson who should be the main forwards.
Then have Plumblee Okafor and Stewart as the main centres.
I’d flip Griffin for a SG like Buddy Heild or Gary Harris or something..
1. Blake Griffin for Heild and Parker.
2. Blake Griffin and D. Rose for Mike Conley and Joe Ingles
3. Blake Griffin and Jahil Okafor for Terry Rozier and Cody Zeller
Either of these three would be good for clearing cap space or just going younger.
Of all these I can’t any of the other teams yelling no.
The kings lose some spacing but get more minutes for Haliburton and getting another all star level player like Griffin could be great.
The Jazz might think hell no but on second thought it’s going to be hard for them to add a third star with Mitchell and Goberts new deals this gives them exactly that. Plus between DRose and Clarkson your going to be good at PG.
Lastly the Hornets get Griffin, this probably increases these playoff odds Graham Ball Hayward Griffin plus another (Washington, Bridges, Bihambo or whoever).
I do get where you’re coming from, especially having two former all-stars on a rebuilding team doesn’t make sense (might as well develop players), but I don’t think your 1st and 3rd ideas make sense for the other teams. Why trade for an older guy at a position you have you already have young talent at (Bagley III, and P.J. Washington). Sure both could use an upgrade center, although Holmes looks great, but having those teams give up players not in their prime yet for one who is past his probably won’t work. And neither of those teams are in win now mode. The 2nd trade would’t make sense for the Pistons, because why get older?
I think they should give them up for picks. They don’t need players back right now. Just get a solid first rounder from a win now team, and develop current core. Just thought I’d share my two cents, because I agree Blake and Rose don’t fit into their plans.
The first trade, probably doesn’t make the most sense I agree why get older when you have Bagley and Holmes looks great not to mention you have good back ups in Bjlica and Whiteside.
But it just seems like a Kings move. I think they believe they are in win now mode and Griffin on that team makes them better and his pick and role/2 man game with the Fox would be worth it.
Just a Kings move I could see happening but one I don’t think makes a ton of sense.
The second one makes the Pistons get older but Conleys deal is 34mil expiring so. Conley would be gone next year cleaning a bunch of cap space for the pistons which either means they can chase free agents or take on bad deals and get some picks.
The last one again yes they have Washington but the hornets also aren’t the smartest franchise. They hugely overpaid for Hayward for no apparent reason so chasing Griffin to win more games wouldn’t be a huge suprise.
I could see Griffin going there and playing some centre some PF and the hornets actually being a playoff team in the east for a year or two. But again not the smartest move but I could see it happening.
Lastly with your suggestion of just getting back picks. Can’t see a team giving up firsts for Griffin and trying to match salaries that’s just not going to happen. They definitely don’t need players back but they do in order for trades to work. No win now team can just absorb that 30+ mil for a first and I don’t think they would want to if they could either.
You make good points. I didn’t realize Conleys contract was expiring so that does make sense. And i guess youre right, I kinda forgot the Pistons used all their cap space so they can’t take on excess salary. The pistons are in a weird place
I hope you realize that Griffin’s contract is awful and you would have to attach picks to get rid of him, right? If they could make a deal like the ones you proposed, they would have already. No one wants an expensive, injury prone has-been until you take on an even worse contract or attach an unprotected first round pick. There was a major reason why the Pistons got him so cheap from the Clippers to begin with.
If you want, you can have Julius Randle for Blake and two unprotected 1sts. Maybe get a trade exemption out of it too.
Exactly. Nobody is taking Griffin, nobody. Just stop it. Stop fantasizing about video game trade scenarios, it isn’t going to happen.
Buddy Is going no where. The Kings are playing well!!!
Dwayne Casey doesn’t seem to be struggling to find minutes for both Derrick Rose and Killian Hayes…so I’m just going to assume that Doumbouya isn’t meeting Casey’s standards with his play.
And I’m not making excuses but the Cavs have been without Kevin Love, Isaac Okoro, Kevin Porter Jr., Dylan Windler, and Matthew Dellavedova for the past two games soo… we got to get healthy
Pistons have a lot more forwards (Grant, Doumbouya, Bey, Griffin, Jackson, and others) then guards (Rose, Wright, Hayes and Svi)
Hence more minutes for Rose and Hayes.
Hayes I think has really underperformed so far. I mentioned pre draft Cole Anthony is going to be the pick of the ping guards aside from maybe Ball. Anthony is a natural scorer, has a great IQ and is just a winner. Lots of teams chose upside Hayes, Haliburton etc over what they are actually getting.
When we beat the pistons, Hayes barely played because he didnt make any impact. Or at least didn’t contribute a lot. With that being said, it is his first season and cavs fans know what its like to have a first year point guard look bad their first year, but progress in their second (Garland). So we’ll see how he turns out.
I like what I see from Doumbouya though in his limited play, so I hope he finds the playing time he needs to learn.
Tazza was right about Anthony, and he landed in a good spot for his first seven years anyway. I don’t think Hayes or Doomtooya will amount to much, and Saddiq is okay but more of a college star. Players were chosen for strength and attitude more than talent so they should be more than the sum of their parts, but still not that good. Griffin & Rose still have a tone-setting role with them.
Garland has really turned out! I knew he wasn’t as bad as everyone and statistics indicated after last year.
Bulls showed more dissolve than resolve tonight against the Bucks.
Ha!
So much for that new attitude.
I’d like to see the Bulls trade LaVine. Wonder what they’d get in return?
I really rate LaVine just hate that he’s stuck on the Bulls.
He’s still only 25, has freakish athleticism. Has grown a lot as a shooter and scorer, can play either guard spot and just improves his whole game every year.
He doesn’t have much defence at all but he kind of reminds me a little of Kobe. Just a little. Both have that athleticism, both were 13th overall picks that had to really practice a lot to get better. Both came into the league more drivers and dunkers but developed a very good shooting game. LaVine is developing a winning mentality just in the wrong team and has that willingness to work hard.
I’d love to see him on a team that appreciates him more and a team he can win more.
Don’t think they’d get anything but draft picks and expiring contracts tbh.