What the heck? I’m looking at the Pistons roster right now. As I type these words. I’m looking at it, and I’m wondering why the heck there aren’t any changes to it? Where are the new names? Why are all the old names still there? It’s not like the Pistons have a championship core right now or anything. They need something different, or they’re going to be stuck in 8th seed purgatory forever. Maybe bump it up to 5th seed or so if things go well.
Was a trade for Paul George or Jimmy Butler really that hard to pull off? The Pistons have assets. Their assets aren’t the question here. Henry Ellenson is an asset. Beno Udrih is an asset. Kendavious Caldwell-Pope? He’s like two assets combined into one because of how good he can shoot the ball sometimes. Finding a trade for either one of those players, while an uphill battle because of the whole “never trade inside your division” thing, would have propelled them to almost-contender status.
Andre Drummond is an asset as well, don’t forget. Sacrifices must sometimes be made.
Anyway, the Pistons stood pat, content with their current collection of role-players, slightly better role-players, and slightly worse role-players. They did end up winning this game, coming back from a big deficit, but only because KCP was a clutch maniac at the end of regulation. As you will soon see, if you didn’t already.