Detroit Pistons Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Central Notes: Pistons, Williams, McConnell, P. Williams, Toppin

October 29th, 2023 at 8:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

It’s only three games into the season but Pistons owner Tom Gores is already impressed with the impact head coach Monty Williams has made, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. Gores coaxed Williams into coaching the team with a six-year, $78.5MM contract.

“He’s made a real difference,” Gores said. “We’re organized. What makes the most sense with Monty is he threads the needle everywhere. He knows how to have discipline, but he knows how to have compassion. He really threads the needle to me. He’s an experienced coach, but at the same time he’s modern and listens.”

Gores said he didn’t hire Williams to go through another rebuilding season.

“We wouldn’t bring somebody like Monty in if we had a bunch of players who weren’t ready,” he said. “It took us a bit to create this foundation – Cade (Cunningham), (Jaden) Ivey, (Isaiah) Stewart. This is a very strong foundation. They want to win as bad as anyone. Patience with progress, right? We need to make progress this year, absolutely.”

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T.J. McConnell got a chance to play with the Pacers’ second unit on Saturday and immediately provided a spark. He delivered eight points and eight assists in 19 minutes, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star notes. “This morning I talked to the staff about, ‘Hey, let’s keep our eyes open and if there’s a point in the game where T.J. is the right guy, we have to pull the trigger decisively,'” coach Rick Carlisle said. “It was pretty clear in the first quarter that we needed him and what he brings.” McConnell is signed through next season but his $9.3MM salary for 2024/25 is only partially guaranteed for $5MM.
Patrick Williams didn’t receive a rookie scale extension from the Bulls and he hasn’t done anything to improve his value in the early going, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times notes. He was limited to no points, three rebounds and one assist in 21 minutes in the Bulls’ 118-102 loss to Detroit on Saturday. Coach Billy Donovan isn’t ready to bench him. “I wouldn’t do it from the standpoint of, ‘Oh, I’m just taking him out of the starting lineup because he’s got to do this, this and this, and he’s not doing it,’ ’ Donovan said. However, a lineup change may be in order if Williams doesn’t deliver more production, with Torrey Craig or Alex Caruso among the candidates to replace him.
Pacers forward Obi Toppin, another player who didn’t receive a rookie scale extension, feels more comfortable with his new team. He believes limited minutes with the Knicks held back his development, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “I can learn from mistakes. I can get better,” he said. “I feel like it can take my game to another level.”

Jalen Duren Showing He Can Be Cornerstone Player

October 29th, 2023 at 10:50am CST by Luke Adams

Pistons center Jalen Duren is off to an incredible start in his second NBA season, averaging 18.0 points, a league-leading 15.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.7 blocks in three games, including two wins. The big man, who doesn’t turn 20 until next month, is quickly blossoming into the sort of player who can help key the Pistons’ resurgence, says John Niyo of The Detroit News (subscription required)

Central Notes: Pistons, Carlisle, McConnell, Harden

October 28th, 2023 at 11:49am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Pistons are trying to build a team that could epitomize both the “Bad Boys” teams of the ’80s and ’90s, as well as the “Goin’ to Work” Pistons of the 2000s, according to The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III. Defense is the key to doing so and, through two games, Detroit’s defense is forming its identity.

The Pistons held the Heat to 103 points in a narrow one-point loss on Wednesday and limited the Hornets to 99 points on Friday, one year after the league-wide scoring average was 114 points per game. Still, there’s plenty to clean up, Edwards writes, as the Pistons have committed 39 turnovers in two games.

“When you have those kinds of turnover numbers and fouls, you have to do something to offset it,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “It was the defense tonight. I mean, (the Hornets) shot 37 percent from the field. You don’t see that much in an NBA game. I thought our physicality had a lot to do with it, guarding the ball had a lot to do with it.”

The Pistons have one of the youngest rosters in the league and the oldest player in the starting lineup is 22. Still, they’re buying into the system Williams is setting in place, according to Edwards.

“I credit the guys we have, we understand the game more, but Monty coming in, putting in a system that we can follow easily, and the standard he’s set on the defensive end,” center Jalen Duren said. “Everyone is buying into it. We’ve got guys taking that end very seriously. When everyone is buying into that side of the basketball, this is the outcome.”

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Pacers coach Rick Carlisle signed a contract extension with the team on Thursday and he’s looking forward to be around the team for the long haul, Dustin Dopirak of IndyStar writes. “I’m excited to continue the challenge here,” Carlisle said. “It’s really not a day to celebrate. It’s a day to be reminded of the daunting responsibility that me and my staff have to continue to develop this group. We’ve done some pretty good things as an organization the last couple of years and we have to keep pushing forward.“
The Pacers are deep at the guard positions, leading Carlisle to make some difficult rotation decisions, including leaving T.J. McConnell out of the 10-man rotation, Dopirak details in a separate piece. “It was obviously a tough conversation as a competitor,” McConnell said. “But I’m just here to do my job. Whatever he thinks is best for the team, he’s got to do. I just have to stay ready.“
The Bulls could benefit from exploring a swap involving Zach LaVine and James Harden, Scoop Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times opines. Chicago is 1-1 after an overtime victory over the Raptors on Friday, which came on the heels of a players-only meeting on Wednesday.

Pistons Notes: Cunningham, Williams, Rotation, Defense

October 26th, 2023 at 7:39pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Pistons guard Cade Cunningham made his return to regular season NBA basketball on Wednesday against the Heat after missing most of last season due to a shin injury. He didn’t take long to get into form, finishing with 30 points and nine assists in a narrow 103-102 loss to Miami.

Despite the loss, Cunningham made a statement in his return, orchestrating a 27-9 closing run that almost allowed Detroit to steal one from the Heat, as Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press writes.

“It’s crazy to be back on the court, back with my brothers competing,” Cunningham said. “I’m just thankful and lucky to be doing what I do. I just kinda carried that with me and just wanted to play hard and stay in the moment and let the game be what it is.”

According to Sankofa, Cunningham spent most of the offseason rehabbing in Miami in preparation for his return to league play.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we came back here for the first game,” Cunningham said. “It was meant to be for me, myself. I couldn’t be more proud of the team that I’m a part of, and just excited about the teammates that I have. I’m lucky to be around them every day. I don’t really think about my leg every day. I just think about what can I do for my team, and how can I help us.”

While Cunningham made his return to NBA action on Wednesday, it wasn’t his first organized five-on-five playing experience this year. Cunningham played for the USA Select Team, scrimmaging against the USA Basketball World Cup Team this summer in front of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whom his team squared off against on Wednesday.

“He made everybody watch, you remember that,” Spoelstra said. “But that’s what you expect when you’re a No. 1 draft pick. You have size, you have the full skill set, the vision, the handle, shooting. The way he plays the game offensively, it belies the years of his experience.”

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Head coach Monty Williams has experience in raising the floors of NBA teams, bringing the Suns from a 19-win team to a 34-win team in 2019 and taking the Pelicans to the playoffs. Now, he’s being tasked with bringing one of the winningest franchises in league history back to the top with a young roster, The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III writes. Williams took the time to discuss whether players would be held to a higher standard this season than in the past. “I wouldn’t say shorter leash,” Williams said. “I’d just say it’s about growth. I’m not one to say you just play through mistakes. I don’t think that’s how players grow. I think too many guys, and this is just my opinion, have played through mistakes and picked up habits … Sometimes you got to pull [players] talk to him, show him and then get him back out there. Just allowing guys to play through repetitive mistakes, I’m just not sure that’s a recipe for success.”
Williams started Cunningham, Killian Hayes, Ausar Thompson, Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart on Wednesday, and stuck to a 10-man rotation even with players absent to injury, Mike Curtis of The Detroit News observes. Curtis also notes Cunningham’s dominant return along with Stewart’s promising offensive and defensive play at the power forward position.
Even though the Pistons committed several self-inflicted wounds in their one-point loss on Wednesday, including 14 first-half turnovers, they finally feel like they’re turning the corner, Edwards opines. The Pistons’ 13 blocks and late-game run were bright points, as was holding Miami to 103 points, setting the expectation for what the defense will look like for the rest of the season. “I’ve said it a couple of times that, when you guys show me that you can play that way, that’s what I expect every night,” Williams said.

Pistons’ Bogdanovic, Morris To Miss Multiple Weeks

October 24th, 2023 at 11:10am CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons will be missing multiple rotation players to start the season, announcing today in a press release (Twitter link) that forward Bojan Bogdanovic, guard Monte Morris, and forward Isaiah Livers will all remain sidelined for at least the next few weeks.

According to the team, Bogdanovic will be reevaluated in four weeks due to a right calf strain, while Morris will be reevaluated in three weeks after straining his right quad during a recent rehab session (he had been recovering from lower back soreness).

It’s an unfortunate turn of events for a Pistons team that enters this season with aspirations of moving up the Eastern Conference standings after winning no more than 23 games in each of the past four seasons. Cade Cunningham is back in action this fall after a leg injury limited him to 12 appearances a year ago, lottery pick Ausar Thompson appears poised to play a significant role, and new head coach Monty Williams has a track record of turning lottery teams into playoff contenders.

Bogdanovic’s and Morris’ injuries won’t necessarily derail the Pistons’ year – they could both be back in action before the end of November – but the two veterans had been projected to play key roles for the team to open the season.

Bogdanovic led the Pistons in 2022/23 with 21.6 points per game, posting an impressive shooting line of .488/.411/.884 in 59 games (32.1 MPG). Morris, acquired from Washington in an offseason trade, averaged 10.3 PPG and 5.3 APG on .480/.382/.831 shooting in 62 games (27.3 MPG) and brought some additional veteran stability to Detroit’s backcourt.

As for Livers, his diagnosis – a Grade III left ankle sprain – isn’t new. Detroit announced at the start of training camp that he would miss at least six-to-eight weeks as a result of the injury. The club’s announcement today indicates that Livers will be reevaluated in four weeks, at the same time as Bogdanovic.

Three Players On Exhibit 9 Contracts Make Opening Night Rosters

October 24th, 2023 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

As we explain in a glossary entry, Exhibit 9 contracts are generally handed out by NBA teams to players who will only be with the team during training camp and/or the preseason.

The Exhibit 9 clause protects the team in case the player suffers an injury before the season begins. In that scenario, the club wouldn’t have to pay him his full salary until he gets healthy enough to play — it would only have to pay a maximum lump sum of $15K when it waives the player.

While most Exhibit 9 signees were released in advance of the regular season, three NBA veterans who signed Exhibit 9 contracts survived the cut and made their respective teams’ regular season rosters. Here are those three players:

Ryan Arcidiacono (Knicks)
Harry Giles (Nets)
Lamar Stevens (Celtics)

Note: Hornets guard Edmond Sumner was initially included in this list, but Charlotte waived him on Tuesday ahead of its season opener.

These three players will now be on one-year, minimum-salary contracts that will remain non-guaranteed until January 10. In order to secure their full-season salaries, they’ll have to stay under contract beyond January 7 (a player cut on Jan. 8 or 9 wouldn’t clear waivers prior to the league-wide salary guarantee date of Jan. 10).

As our list of non-guaranteed contracts by team shows, Arcidiacono, Giles, and Stevens are three of the 31 players on standard deals whose salaries for the 2023/24 season aren’t fully guaranteed.

Several of these players will receive partial guarantees by remaining on rosters through the start of the regular season, and a few more have November or December trigger dates that will increase their guarantees. However, none of those 31 players will lock in their full salary until Jan. 10.

Here are a few more items of interest about the NBA’s opening night rosters for ’23/24, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link):

The Spurs have the NBA’s youngest roster, while the Clippers have the oldest.
Players are earning a combined total salary of $4.8 billion for the 2023/24 season. The Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Heat, Bucks, Pelicans, Sixers, and Suns are the biggest contributors to that pool, as they’re all currently over the luxury tax line.
As our roster counts page shows, there are 12 open spots on standard 15-man rosters around the NBA. Those openings belong to the Celtics, Bulls, Cavaliers, Pistons, Warriors (two), Lakers, Heat, Timberwolves, Pelicans, Trail Blazers, and Kings.
The Nets and the Suns are the only two teams that haven’t filled all three of their two-way slots, as our tracker shows. They’re each carrying a pair of two-way players, meaning 88 of the 90 spots around the league are occupied.

Pistons Notes: Bogdanovic, Morris, Hayes, Umude, Predictions, Thompson

October 23rd, 2023 at 9:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bojan Bogdanovic (right calf soreness) and Monte Morris (lower back tightness) won’t play in the Pistons’ opener in Miami on Wednesday, according to Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.

Bogdanovic’s absence will alter the lineup, as he’s penciled as the starting small forward. Morris, acquired from Washington in a trade, is expected to play a key role off the bench.

Killian Hayes, who has been dealing with a left knee sprain, practiced in full on Sunday after missing Friday’s preseason finale. He might fill in for Bogdanovic in the starting lineup.

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Detroit converted Stanley Umude to a two-way contract on Monday and it was a popular move in the locker room, Sankofa tweets in a video link. “That was probably the best part. seeing how happy they were for me. .. seeing that they knew how hard I worked for it,” Umude said.
Will the Pistons make a trade packaging multiple players? That’s one of the predictions James Edwards III of The Athletic makes, among nine others, regarding this season. Edwards also believes Ausar Thompson will be a All-Rookie First Team selection.
Expanding on that topic, coach Monty Williams marvels at how Thompson has an uncanny ability to snatch rebounds, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com notes. “Some of the rebounds he comes up with, I mean, you catch yourself on the bench, like, ‘Did you see that?’ ” Williams said. “I think there’s some stat about since Summer League, he’s gotten eight-plus rebounds every time he steps on the floor.”

Maxey, Quickley, Williams Among Players Who Didn’t Sign Extensions

October 23rd, 2023 at 7:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

An unusual number of players who were eligible to sign rookie scale extensions prior to Monday’s deadline inked new deals. A total of 14 players received rookie scale extensions in 2023, blowing away the previous single-year record of 11.

However, nearly half of the 27 eligible players didn’t sign a contract and thus will head to restricted free agency, if they are extended qualifying offers by their respective teams after the season. Otherwise, they’ll be unrestricted free agents next summer.

Perhaps the biggest name on the list is Sixers star guard Tyrese Maxey, though that comes with an asterisk. The Sixers front office and Maxey mutually agreed to put off an extension so that Philadelphia could maximize its cap room next summer.

Immanuel Quickley and Patrick Williams are two of the other big-time names on the list who didn’t reach agreements with their teams. While the Knicks and Quickley’s reps — as well as the Bulls and Williams’ reps — held extension talks as the deadline neared, they couldn’t come to terms on the numbers.

Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn (Raptors), Saddiq Bey (Hawks), James Wiseman and Killian Hayes (Pistons), Kira Lewis (Pelicans), Chuma Okeke (Magic), Isaac Okoro (Cavaliers), Aleksej Pokusevski (Thunder) and Obi Toppin (Pacers) are the other eligible players who didn’t sign extensions.

A full list of the players who did, or did not, sign rookie scale extensions this offseason can be found here.

Stanley Umude Gets Two-Way Contract With Pistons

October 23rd, 2023 at 11:37am CST by Arthur Hill

11:37am: The Pistons have confirmed Umude’s two-way contract (Twitter link).

7:58am: The Pistons will convert Stanley Umude‘s Exhibit 10 contract to a two-way deal, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The 24-year-old shooting guard signed with Detroit last fall after going undrafted out of Arkansas. He spent most of the season with the team’s G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, but made a brief appearance in one NBA game after signing a 10-day contract in February. He also played for the Pistons in this year’s Summer League.

Umude earned the two-way slot with a strong preseason, averaging 9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists in four games while shooting 45.5% from the field and 43.8% from three-point range.

Detroit now has all its two-way spots filled, with Jared Rhoden and Malcolm Cazalon holding the others. With 14 players on standard contracts, the team has one opening on its 15-man roster.

Pistons Sign, Waive David Nwaba, Three Others

October 21st, 2023 at 4:41pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons have completed a series of signings ahead of the regular season, announcing today (via Twitter) that wings David Nwaba and Treveon Graham, forward/center Nate Roberts, and forward Ryan Turell all received Exhibit 10 deals from the team.

All four players were later waived, per NBA.com’s transaction log. According to the Pistons (Twitter link), camp invitees Buddy Boeheim, Tosan Evbuomwan, Jontay Porter, and Zavier Simpson were originally cut to make room for the new signees.

Of the four newly signed players, Nwaba has the most NBA experience, having appeared in 237 regular season games from 2017-22 for the Lakers, Bulls, Cavaliers, Nets, and Rockets. He averaged 6.8 points and 3.7 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game at the NBA level, but didn’t play in the league last season, instead spending most of the season with the Motor City Cruise’s Detroit’s G League affiliate.

Nwaba put up 15.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG, and 3.1 APG in 27 games (32.1 MPG) for the Cruise last season and appears likely to rejoin the team in 2022/23. His Exhibit 10 contract will put him in line for a bonus worth up to $75K as long as he spends at least 60 days with the club. Graham, Roberts, Turell, Boeheim, Evbuomwan, Porter, and Simpson figure to be headed to the Cruise as well.

Graham, who will turn 30 next Saturday, has 180 games of NBA experience under his belt, but hasn’t been in the league since the 2019/20 season. The former VCU standout has played in the G League and in the Canadian Elite Basketball League since then.

Roberts and Turrell – who went undrafted in 2022 out of Washington and Yeshiva, respectively – were both role players for Motor City last season. The Cruise still control their returning rights.

Notably, Detroit’s series of roster moves didn’t involve Stanley Umude, a training camp standout who was also on an Exhibit 10 deal. The Pistons still have one open 15-man slot and one open two-way slot — Umude looks like a prime candidate to fill one of those openings.