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Das Ende für Troy Weaver!? In jedem Fall der Anfang einer Offseason mit jeder Menge Veränderungen für Detroit. Ich sags mal so, schlechter kann es nicht mehr werden.
5. Detroit Pistons
Matas Buzelis
G League Ignite
SF/PF
Age: 19.5
The Pistons are the NBA's worst 3-point shooting team and among the league's worst defenses, meaning they could be attracted to the combination of perimeter shooting, explosiveness, defensive versatility and youth Buzelis offers. He made 45% of his 3-pointers as a high school senior, but saw that number drop significantly with G League Ignite. Buzelis looks like a strong fit positionally with the rest of Detroit's core and is the type of player who doesn't need plays called for him, but still has significant upside to grow into. -- Givony
Zufälligerweise ist Buzelis Agent der Sohn von Arn Tellem.5
Detroit Pistons
Matas Buzelis
G League Ignite, United States
Point Forward
Height 6'11" Weight 195
Age 19.7 Wingspan
Detroit Pistons
It’s not the end of the world that the Pistons fell all the way down to fifth (although it may feel like that for Detroit fans). Buzelis may end up being the best player in the class, and he could be available here. He’d add a ton of versatility alongside Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren. And if his offense keeps progressing, he could become a great running mate for Cade Cunningham.
Connective playmaker with size, shooting, and the ability to play anywhere on the floor.
Shades Of
Lamar Odom
Spacer
Feel for the Game
Float Game
Off-Ball Defense
PLUSES
- Versatile offensive player who can be used in any scheme because of his high feel as a passer. He isn’t a savant playmaker who will lead an offense, per se, but he’s the type of player who could thrive in a two-man game with other like-minded players.
- Boasts upside as a shooter. He’s fluid dribbling into his stepback from both midrange and 3, and he loves utilizing shimmies and ball fakes to create space from midrange. He shot far better from 3 as a high school senior than he has with the Ignite.
- Displays soft touch on in-between shots like hooks from the post or floaters. If a defender tries to take a charge, he can stop his dribble on a dime and just flip the ball up.
- Savvy player without the ball who communicates with teammates to help the offense flow and always looks for chances to cut. In a motion system, he’d thrive in dribble handoffs either as the person receiving or delivering the ball.
- Great transition player. He runs the floor hard, making himself available for kickouts. And since he can handle the ball himself, he’s always a threat to take it coast-to-coast or make a play off a rebound.
- Good team defender with a high motor and feel for off-ball help. He frequently logs weakside and chasedown blocks, in addition to altering shots.
MINUSES
- Who is he really as a shooter? Buzelis was a streaky shooter until his final high school season, when he made 43.1 percent of his 3s, hitting a variety of shots off movement with smooth mechanics and a high release. But he’s back below 30 percent during the G League season.
- Loosey-goosey ball handler who has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio largely because he often gets stripped or dribbles into trouble. Even if he's not a primary playmaker who runs a heavy dose of pick-and-rolls, he needs to improve his handle.
- Finishing at the rim needs a lot of work. He shies away from his off hand, he struggles against contact, and he isn’t explosive without space to launch. There are times when he tries turning the corner on drives but he can’t dislodge his defender when driving due a lack of muscle.
- Subpar defender containing dribble penetration. He isn’t switchable against quicker players and he has a hard time fighting through screens.
- Needs to get significantly stronger, but he has a lanky frame. How much weight can he actually put on?
Man will uns klein halten…
Anhang anzeigen 47227
Hab’s aber im Draft-Thread geschrieben, dürfte kaum ein Jahr geben, in dem es so egal ist, wann man pickt - tendiere weiter zu einem Trade für eine einigermaßen sinnvolle Soforthilfe mit Erfahrung…
Part of the hold up, league sources say, is that Detroit appears interested in making a run at Minnesota Timberwolves head executive Tim Connelly, whose team is in the midst of a second-round playoff matchup with Connelly’s former team, the defending-champion Denver Nuggets.
Whether or not Connelly returns to the Timberwolves, league sources say he is likely to opt out of the final year of his contract. It seems likely that Connelly will return to Minnesota, but if Pistons owner Tom Gores is willing to offer something like $15 million annually, that could be enough to pry him away.
The Pistons were denied permission to interview Milwaukee’s Jon Horst last week, league and team sources tell The Athletic. It is possible that the Bucks were posturing to get assets from Detroit in order to take Horst, who signed a multi-year deal with Milwaukee in 2021. However, the Pistons have decided to move on to other candidates.
New Orleans’ Trajan Langdon, Dallas’ Dennis Lindsey and Chicago’s Marc Eversley, among others, have established themselves as viable targets for the role, league sources tell The Athletic.
Langdon was a scout for the San Antonio Spurs from 2012-15 before becoming the assistant general manager of the Brooklyn Nets in 2016. He held that role through 2019 until he became the general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans, where he has helped build the Pelicans into one of the more intriguing young teams.
Lindsey is currently in an advisory role with the Dallas Mavericks. He held several roles with the Utah Jazz from 2012 to 2021, including general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations.
Eversley, the general manager of the Chicago Bulls, was on the Pistons’ radar in 2020 before they hired general manager Troy Weaver. Eversley has worked in NBA front offices for over 15 years, including stops in Toronto, Washington and Philadelphia before Chicago.
Seht's positiv. 3-4 Mios mehr Cap Space
Anhang anzeigen 47243
Could the No. 5 pick be more valuable than originally thought?
The Pistons dropped as far as possible in one of the weaker draft classes in recent memory. However, because of the jumble of prospects at the top, could the No. 5 pick be a little more valuable than originally thought?
In talking to people around the league prior to the NBA Lottery, it was believed that the No. 5 pick in this draft would be equivalent to the ninth through 12th pick in a normal class. While that feels right, it should be noted that because there aren’t clear-cut prospect tiers this time around, teams could covet the fifth pick over, say, the second or third pick. Of course, that is working under the assumption that there will be a few teams with interest in moving up. In talking to people around the league after the Pistons’ fate was revealed, a few of them said they could see the No. 5 pick being decently valued if teams do, in fact, like a prospect or two enough to move up.
Let me explain.
There is a world where front office and evaluators see the prospects expected to go in the top five or seven all in the same tier or with very little separation. The difference in rookie pay between the No. 1 and No. 2 picks vs. the No. 5 pick is pretty significant. For example, 2023 No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama will make between $12 million and $16 million annually for the remainder of his rookie deal. No. 2 pick Scoot Henderson made $9.7 million his first year and will make between $10 and $13 million yearly from next season on. Ausar Thompson, who the Pistons took at No. 5 in 2023, made $7.9 million this past season and will make between $8.3 million and $11.1 million annually during the duration of his rookie deal. So, there is a difference of a few million dollars when examining the difference in rookie contracts based on where they’re picked.
It wouldn’t be far-fetched to think that a team that wants to move up believes it could get the best player in the 2024 NBA Draft at No. 5 instead of at No. 2 or No. 3 — and maybe even No. 1 — while saving money in the process.
Wenn Gores Connelly mit Geld überschüttet, gibt es vielleicht ne kleine Chance auf einen der besten GMs der Liga wenn Minnesota knausert... Lindsey und Eversley sind jetzt weniger sexy Namen, dann lieber Langdon.
Der 5. Pick könnte in diesem komischen Draft ohne Tier 1 & 2 Spieler und quasi 7-8 Tier 3 Spielern vielleicht sogar mehr Value haben als Pick 2. oder 3.
Ich kann mir auch nicht vorstellen, dass es viel Nachfrage danach gibt hochzutraden und wenn dann dürfte der Gegenwert in diesem Draft überschaubar sein. Zumal die Picks von Hawks und Rockets wohl auch für direkte Verstärkung zu haben sein könnten glaube ich. Naja, mal abwarten.Sehe ich auch so. Wenn jemand einen Need hat und die Position mit genügend Value + Upside für 7 Mios Gehalt besetzt bekommen möchte, dann hat euer Pick vielleicht sogar mehr Wert als einer der darüber.
Aber wahrscheinlich nur ein schwacher Trost. Keine Ahnung wie die GMs das sehen. Die sind generell wohl sehr pessimistisch bei diesem Draft und dementsprechend bleibt ihr wahrscheinlich am Ende auf dem Pick sitzen, weil ihr euch mehr Gegenwert erhofft, als jemand bereit ist zu bezahlen.
This is a fact. A guy I worked with was the Marketing VP of the Pistons when SVG was coach. He told me that Tellum and Stan would be screaming at each other over personal moves. Tellum would get in Gores ear before Stan could state his case on a move and they'd be battling it out in front of Gores. One time he told me that about was when Al Horford was a free agent and went to Boston, Tellum had Gores convinced that Horford was coming to Detroit and Stan argued for days that he said he wasn't coming so they needed to make another move. After screaming in front of the executive staff SVG said, get him on the phone then and let's see where his heads at. They called Horford and he was trying to politely tell them no, then his wife got on the phone and said, they're not raising their kids in Detroit so they're not coming. --He said this was the kind of shit that happened constantly. (They panicked and signed John Leur instead.)
Connelly war wohl eh ein Pipedream, von den gehandelten Namen fand ich Langdon am besten. Aber auch Weaver kam als rechte Hand von Presti mit viel Vorschlusslorbeeren. Also mal abwarten. Wichtig wäre es jetzt aber das Langdon volle Kontrolle bekommt, und ihm kein Tellem oder Gores reinquatscht was Kader & Coach anbelangt.
Ich finde es schade, dass er bei uns geht. Seit er da war, ist der Draft record deutlich verbessert gewesen. Da hatte er glaube ich das meiste Sagen. 2021 war mit Trey Murphy (17), Herb Jones (35) und José Alvaroado (undrafted) ein absoluter Volltreffer und auch 2022 und 2023 (Dyson Daniels (8) und Jordan Hawkins (14) brachte Roation Spieler mit Potenzial für mehr hervor. Auch wenn die beiden letzten Picks mit Leuten verfügbar wie Jalen Williams (12) und Jalen Duren (13) in 2022 sowie K. George (16), Jaquez (18) und Podziemski (19) in 2023 natürlich nicht unumstritten sind. Ein bisschen wundert mich sein Move, denn er wird ja vermutlich unter Weaver eine ähnliche Rolle haben wie in NO unter Griffin. Aber vielleicht mit mehr Chancen zu übernehmen, sollte sich Detroit von Weaver trennen. Oder er hatte andere Vorstellungen davon wie mit dem aktuellen Roster zu verfahren ist als Griffin. Oder er bekommt einfach mehr Geld Egal, alles Gute ihm im Detroit.
Ah, okay. Das würde es natürlich erklären.Er soll der Chef von Weaver werden, also der gesamtverantwortliche für den Basketball wie Griffin in NO. Habe gelesen, er kann wenn er möchte auch beide Weaver und Monty feuern, das dürfte in den nächsten Wochen geklärt werden, wo da die Reise hingeht.
While in Detroit, Weaver’s draft evaluations were hit or miss. The franchise was fortunate enough to land the No. 1 pick in 2021 and selected Cade Cunningham, who had a breakout year after missing all but 12 games his sophomore year due to injury. Isaiah Stewart was a good find outside of the lottery in 2020. Players like Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren and Marcus Sasser all have potential, but are still in the early stages of development. Then there was the selection of Killian Hayes at No. 7 overall in 2020. Detroit took the point guard over Tyrese Haliburton. Hayes, who has one of the worst true-shooting percentages in NBA history (min. 5000 minutes played), was waived in the middle of this past season after starting 145 games over four seasons. Weaver also drafted Saddiq Bey but traded him for James Wiseman two seasons ago. The Pistons also didn’t hit on any second-round picks during the Weaver era.
Ultimately, Weaver’s downfall in Detroit was due to the lack of asset management and team building. Most rebuilding teams use cap space to take on bad contracts to get extra first-round picks. The Pistons didn’t go that route. Instead, they signed and traded for the likes of Jerami Grant, Bojan Bogdanović and Alec Burks, all of whom are good players, but Weaver and Co. held onto them too long and their values dropped. As for team building, Detroit does have several promising young players on its roster, but many haven’t yet developed the way they need to in order to be a competitive team night in and night out. Over the last few seasons, Detroit’s rosters have routinely lacked proven shooting and reliable wing defense. Players like Bogdanović could shoot but struggled defensively, while someone like Thompson could defend right away at an NBA level but has a lot of work to do on his shot. The roster balance was not ideal.
The Pistons are in serious talks to hire Pelicans executive Michael Blackstone as the No. 2 decision-maker under Langdon in Detroit’s front office, league sources said. Blackstone has served as the Pelicans’ VP of basketball administration over the last several seasons. He also spent time as an assistant GM with the Hawks and executive director of basketball operations with the Cavaliers.
Im Prinzip geht es ja wieder bei Null los. Ich sehe eigentlich auch nur einen spannenden Spieler für die Pistons, wo man aber auch ein wenig Glück braucht in seiner Entwicklung. Das ist Buzelis. Sollte der weg sein, muss man eigentlich downtraden.
In der FA's hat man wohl ehrlicherweise kaum Chancen auf einen impact Player. Die Top 10 der FA's werden entweder zu max Contracts bei ihren Teams bleiben, oder zu Contender Teams wechseln.
So heißt es dann wohl wieder ganz tief in den Tank Modus zu wechseln.