Outside of Jerami Grant, the Pistons‘ starting lineup is made up entirely of first- and second-year players. And while the franchise is high on the long-term prospects of those players – Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes, Saddiq Bey, and Isaiah Stewart – head coach Dwane Casey acknowledged that there will be growing pains as Detroit goes through what general manager Troy Weaver has called a “restoration” process.
“It’s called restore or rebuild. It wouldn’t be a rebuild if we had veteran guards and veteran wings,” Casey said on Monday, per Rod Beard of The Detroit News. “Those are the guys we’re building with, and they’re kind of the cornerstones right now, so that’s what you go through. We didn’t go out and bring a 10-year vet in to star in that position.
“So, that’s part of the growth, and with that growth comes trials and tribulations, and it’s not always going to be pretty.”
At 1-8, the Pistons are in dead-last in the Eastern Conference and are unlikely to make a push for a play-in spot this season. Still, as Beard relays, Casey doesn’t sound all that concerned about the club’s win-loss record.
“Your wins may not be winning the game; you may win by getting better defensively or getting better offensively, getting better connected as a group,” Casey said. “We do all those things; if we grow in those areas, winning will take care of itself. Those guys are our cornerstones and that’s the thought process about keeping those guys together — let them grow.”
Here’s more out of Detroit:
- In an interesting piece for The Athletic, James L. Edwards III breaks down some film from Cunningham’s first few NBA games with the help of Cunningham himself, discussing certain plays and strategies with the No. 1 overall pick.
- The Pistons are already seeing the benefits of having their G League team based in downtown Detroit, according to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press, who notes that the team sent Cunningham to the Motor City Cruise for rehab purposes and is able to shuttle young players like Luka Garza and Saben Lee back and forth between the NBA and NBAGL. Lee scored 42 points in Motor City’s season opener. The Pistons’ G League affiliate was previously located in Grand Rapids.
- In a mailbag for The Detroit News, Beard fields a handful of Pistons-related questions, examining Cory Joseph‘s role, checking on Isaiah Livers‘ status, and explaining that it’s way too early to second-guess the Pistons’ pick of Cunningham at No. 1 in this year’s draft.
From what I’ve seen of Killian Hayes, he is never goin to be what they thought, I like Cunningham Bey and Stewart though although I’m not sure what’s goin on with Stewart right now, had a rough start
Any approach can be called a rebuild or restore. This particular approach is more specifically called tanking. Hapless losing isn’t a good building block for much of anything, other than improving the team’s lottery chances. Certainly not player development. Not sure that the GM and HC agreeing that losing isn’t really losing (until they say it is) helps much there, though if the owner buys in, it’s likely good for their job security.
It’s a great way to keep a GM job… just say it’s about a rebuild and one should wait 5 years to get frustrated. Certain of the more devoted fans will back up such talk, which has the advantage of not being wrong. But is the GM making the right player investments? If not, oh well, a hapless effort gets high picks.
So cynical lol!
I think this is a glorified tank by Detroit but it’s just an alternate version. Instead of getting a bunch of crappy older players, they are tanking with young guys that will make up the core of the future roster. I don’t think Hayes is gonna be much of anything but I really like Stewart, I wasn’t a huge fan of Cade as #1 but I think he has potential. The guy they have I’m the biggest fan of though is Bey. He obviously doesn’t have the pedigree or ceiling of Cade, but he is the kind of player you need on your team to win titles.
Yeah Bey has been great. Looks like a vet out there.
When all is said and done, the Pistons will wish they’d taken Green.
Lol can’t just be happy with having Green. It’s only good if another team regrets not taking him. Lol typical loser rockets fan take.
Saddiq is a credit to east coast college basketball… or Jay Wright.