Immediate Deadline Reaction.
There will be plenty of content about what is going on here and one will be a “meet James Wiseman” but I wanted to get some quick thoughts down about the whole deal in no particular order.
For anyone who was not paying attention (which I’m guessing most people who would bother to read a niche blog like this were). The Pistons traded Saddiq Bey and Kevin Knox for James Wiseman. That’s it, that was the trade. The Warriors flipped Bey to the Hawks and it looks like Knox will end up with Portland. So lets react.
1. Yet another objectively poor value deal
This trade could possibly end up working out, I’ll talk about that more in a bit, but there is no way around this being yet another deal in the Weaver era that is objectively poor asset management and the list is getting longer. Weaver has had a few good moves, I wouldn’t give him much credit for drafting Cade or Ivey because they were the obvious picks, but Duren seems like a steal, snagging Bojan for so little this past Summer was a tidy bit of business. But the lack of ability to work teams for value is obvious at this point. Like did we really need to give the Clippers 3 2nd rounders to take Luke Kennard? Was it worth tying up your ability to trade a first-round pick for like 5 years to draft Isaiah Stewart? Why did he overpay white centers in back-to-back offseasons?
I’ve never made a secret of the fact I never saw much in Bey as a player, but he is a proven NBA player who will likely slot somewhere in the back end of the Hawks rotation who also has a skill set that, while limited, is easy to fit into just about any team. They traded him for a guy who is talented but has been totally incapable of getting on the floor for a team that desperately needed someone of his skillset/build in the Warriors. Golden State desperately wanted him to work out, which is why they initially started him when he arrived. It is fair to assume that if he was anywhere near capable of being a viable NBA rotation player they would’ve been playing him. In their last game, Kevon Looney only played 14 minutes due to foul trouble as their season is potentially spinning out of control and they still would rather fill those extra minutes by putting center minutes onto Draymond and having some combination of JaMychal Green and Jonathan Kuminga play make-believe. That is pretty damning.
The fact that the Pistons also tossed Kevin Knox into this deal is even worth noting. Does Kevin Knox really matter? Not really. But why is he the guy tossed in as salary filler? Knox is young, played okay when he’s gotten a chance this year, on a cheap contract for next season, and with the departure of Bey would’ve had a good chance to get back into the rotation for the rest of the season. The Warriors were desperate to get off of Wiseman due to luxury tax issues, so do you really think you couldn’t have convinced them to just eat Cory Joseph or Rodney McGruder to make the salaries work? These sorts of marginal things matter in the long run and the Pistons have made it abundantly clear that they don’t think they do. It reeks of “smartest guy in the room” syndrome. The front office thinks Wiseman is a better player than Bey so that’s a good trade is as far as they are concerned. And worth remembering that this isn’t new, I said this after they traded Bruce Brown for nothing:
And if you want to include the Stefanski time as the current regime (which by all accounts we should. Weaver is obviously in charge but Stefanski/Tellum are very much here and involved still) this was after the 2019 draft
So not to toot my own horn but just want to make sure it’s clear that this isn’t a brand-new thought here.
The talk of there being significant pressure on the front office to not suck next season is true
Its not exactly a secret but a number of people plugged in have brought up the fact that the Pistons have pressure to win next season when previewing the deadline and talking about Bojan Bogdanovic. We also know from those same insiders that Bojan was highly sought after by multiple teams. The fact they held firm pretty much confirms that it wasn’t an act. Weaver and the entire front-office is likely working for their jobs from now to the Summer and they clearly looked at the free-agent class of this Summer and didn’t like what they saw.
To be clear, they may not be wrong about that. There’s only a handful of players that are really worth throwing money at and it isn’t clear how likely they would be to leave. Harrison Barnes would be an awesome addition to this team, but the Kings love him and by all accounts, he’s thrilled to finally be on a winning Kings team. Kyle Kuzma would be fun but the Wizards seem intent on making him a core player going forward. The list goes on from there.
It is, of course, worth remembering that the front office is not some innocent bystander in this predicament. They wasted a bunch of cap space and draft equity trying to get big men who, outside of Duren, have all pretty much missed. If they had taken say, Kenyon Martin Jr, instead of Isaiah Stewart in 2020 they might not have had such a desperate need to keep the only viable NBA wings, regardless of their age or trade value, at this deadline. But instead, they effectively have to double down on past mistakes. Forget about the fact that Bojan is nearly 34 and could see a significant dropoff in effectiveness at quite literally any moment, or that there are several attractive wing options you can throw money at this Summer. This front office knew they, quite literally, cannot afford the risk of whiffing on free agency and going into next season without Bojan and Burks so they kept the prices way high for both players.
On that note, my guess would be that the Pistons will still try and throw some money at other wings this offseason and could still trade either one of Burks or Bojan if they hit on someone, but the return then will likely be smaller then than it would’ve been now.
3. They are 100% going to try and start Duren and Wiseman
No two ways around it at this point. The Pistons organization is obsessed with having two big men in the starting lineup. This is a very bad idea, but they clearly want to do it. I have no other comment on this other than good god I hope I’m wrong.
4. Despite everything, Wiseman could still work out.
Wiseman has played just over 1000 minutes in his career and just 262 since his rookie season. He was thrust into a team that didn’t have any time to let him develop after he basically missed his entire college season due to recruiting crap. He was clearly a raw talent and the Warriors didn’t have the time to wait for him. Some of the numbers look okay if you squint, his career per 36 minutes line is 19.4 points and 9.8 rebounds, and a true shooting percentage of 57.4%. If you watch his highlights from his rookie season:
Its easy to see why he went 2nd overall and why the Pistons looked and said “I can fix him”
He is a dude who genuinely has all the tools, a legit 7 footer simply isn’t supposed to be that smooth with the ball and there are so few guys with that kind of leaping ability and athleticism who also have such soft touch at the hoop.
Basically, it’s easy to paint an optimistic picture for Wiseman. A super raw talent who was thrust onto a title contender that didn’t have time for him to develop, then he gets a nasty injury and by the time he comes back, they truly have no space for him. There is a world where, now allowed to play through his mistakes and try to develop outside of the exceptional scrutiny that comes with being on the most successful franchise in of the last decade allows him to suddenly thrive.
Initial Verdict:
If you think back to my initial reaction to the signing of Kevin Knox this Summer, this deal is basically that but flip-flopped. My reaction to the Knox signing was that I totally get why they did it and think it is exactly the sort of thing they should be doing, taking a flyer on a wing player who can theoretically shoot and defend. My issue was that I just thought Kevin Knox was basically worthless as a player who while I thought the idea was right the execution was bad.
With Wiseman, the process here is awful. Bey is objectively a more valuable asset than Wiseman and tossing in Knox as a salary filler only makes that worse. The fact that Bey and Knox both play the position/role that the Pistons need the most while Wiseman joins a front-court that was already too crowded only makes it worse. Despite that, Wiseman is a guy that I like. Before Duren’s emergence I really wanted the Pistons to go for him and even though Duren means Wiseman makes less sense, it doesn’t change that I still see a world where he works out.
There will be far more in the coming days on the whole topic.