The Pistons went 11 deep into their rotation through the first 13 minutes of their Thursday loss to the Pacers. According to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, it felt like Detroit was auditioning for players who might be on next season’s roster, even though coach Monty Williams denied that was the case a day earlier.
“I’m not going to be throwing combinations on the floor to just be looking at certain combinations,” Williams said Wednesday. “We’re done with that, in my opinion. We’re trying to develop guys, for sure, but we’re going to try and win every game we can so that we can create what we feel [will give us momentum] going into the summer.”
In Edwards’ view, it doesn’t feel like there’s much synergy with the rotations Williams is putting on the floor. If the team is prioritizing winning, Edwards writes, it doesn’t make sense that James Wiseman is earning minutes over Mike Muscala and there’s been no staggering the minutes of franchise guards Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. But it doesn’t feel like development is the priority in the rotation either, according to Edwards, because rookie Marcus Sasser played fewer minutes than Evan Fournier and Malachi Flynn.
The deep rotations and new faces are making it difficult for any consistency to develop in Detroit and too many minutes are being given to players who might not be on the roster next season, Edwards writes.
In response to questions surrounding his 11-man rotation on Thursday, Williams explained that he told the coaches he’d prefer to run with about nine rotation players but Sasser bumped his knee and that’s why he ended up using Flynn more (Twitter link via Omari Sankofa II of Detroit Free Press).
We have more Pistons notes:
- Williams also explained his decision to play Wiseman over Muscala (Twitter link via Sankofa). “I like what he’s giving us, especially on the defensive side,” Williams said of the former No. 2 overall pick. According to Sankofa, Williams said that the rim protection Wiseman provides is more important when smaller guards like Sasser and Flynn are on the floor.
- Wiseman is hoping to shed the bust label he picked up after being traded away for a modest return at the 2023 deadline after he was drafted second overall in 2020, according to FOX Sports’ Melissa Rohlin. “I believe I can be a great player,” Wiseman said. His career has been derailed by a combination of injuries, illness and a lack of NBA preparedness, Rohlin writes.
- Quentin Grimes, acquired by the Pistons at the deadline, is listed as probable ahead of their Saturday matchup against Orlando, according to Sankofa (Twitter link). Grimes hasn’t played since being traded due to a right knee sprain, but averaged 8.6 points per game while connecting on 37.9% of his three-pointers in his first three seasons in the league.
I wonder if Warriors offer Wiseman a minimum deal next year. I don’t see the Pistons offering him more than a minimum deal because lack of playing time. He first should consider the team that gives him the most minutes on the court who to sign with.
James doesn’t have basketball iq. He’s physically amazing and shows it all the time but has no idea where to be on the floor, Nor when to be there.
The hope is he can be a Kwame Brown and figure it out on defense and provide value at that end and have a nice 10 or 12 year career. Plus he gives a little more than Kwame in this day and age because he can shoot it a little bit.
I think everyone’s pulling for him so the hope is that it all comes together.
Popovich project in the making?
he knows the warrior’s system so maybe they can make him a better defensive player. Took Kuminga a lot of work to get better.
Most so-called Warriors fans are completely unaware of this. They keep saying Kerr refuses to play young players. Pete Newell, who is in the Basketball Hall of Fame because of his history in developing big men, said it takes 3 years to develop Centers. They brought in Deki to work with Wiseman. He had previously developed Jokic and Zubac. No college, Covid, knee injury, and a NBA Finals got in the way of him getting playing time.
Injuries did get in a way of him. The win now is why he was traded for Payton and that $10 million a year contract warriors needed to shed. His problem is he fouls a lot. Same problem Kuminga had and the reason Lester took a long time time to get a NBA contract.
@arc By win now, don’t you mean a Finals to defend? They needed Payton to stabilize a 2nd unit that sucked that season. It really wasn’t about shedding a contract.
They couldn’t take on Payton’s contract without shedding another contract. Wiseman made the most sense because he wasn’t being used.
Stick to baseball. Cause you’re the one who doesn’t have a clue.
Al I’m worse at baseball. So many nuances of the game and many detailed statistics I don’t quite have a clue about.
@gary Baseball is a harder game to master than Basketball. Look at Jordan’s AA stats.
Knowing and playing are two different things.
Well said Gary
This past weekends dunk contest shows that important distinction between elite pro athlete and
The savant that is requisite to be one of the 500 nba players
It’s the head on a swivel / baseball analogy of positioning
Faster than a brain can think and awareness to adjust
Constantly that defines a successful nba big who does not shoot 55/40/80%
He should go to Europe. He can make up for the missed time there.
He’d fit right into hornets culture ..:..
Warriors lost their clout
Bob Myers walked as result of their mojo Philter malfunctions
Their best draft in last 10 years without Myers. Myers gave Poole that huge contract when he should have waited.
Only Cunningham, Thompson, Ivey, Stewart, Duren, Sasser and Grimes have guaranteed money for next year. These 7 players should be playing maximum minutes.
Brown Jr. has 4 million non guaranteed.
Wiseman is also expiring. And they never give him a qualifying offer of over 15 million. So could go to any team with cap room if he wants. Or in a sign-and-trade.
They should/could look to buy out Fournier for sure.
And some teams are looking for a big guy: why not let Muscala go to a contender as well if it saves them some money and creates a roster spot?
The team stinks why would they play a 33 year old muscala over a 22 year old wiseman? Might as well play young guys as much as possible and see who might be a decent long term option
Wiseman is useless. How can people not see this?
Nikola Jokic and Ivica Zubac were also considered useless. Look how there careers turned out.
Jokic was 41st in his draft class but if he was ever considered useless it wasn’t for that long. He finished third in ROY voting followed by second in MIP his in his second season and then has been in the MVP conversation from his fourth season on.
I hesitate to call him useless as any player who plays in the NBA is amongst the elite players in the world but Wiseman was the second pick in his draft and in his fourth season on his second team and he’s barely cracked the rotation of the team with the worst record in the league.
I Agrizzle
Go
Enjoy the Balkan coast and all
It’s glory and live your prime in
Italy big man
Especially with about 20 non rostered vets just training n waiting for opportunities
I am so amazed at how bad Monty has been. I never thought he was some elite coach or anything but this has been atrocious.
Worst part is because of his gigantic contract he probably gets at least one more season if not two to completely screw up the development of all their young guys.
Any coach who willingly plays Malachi Flynn and James Wiseman, beyond as injury replacements, doesn’t deserve to be a coach in any league nevermind the NBA.
The bigger problem is him worrying about wins instead of playing the young players. Cunningham has a lot of talent but under Monty has not improved very much in his 3rd year. Monty needs to give the young players most of the minutes to improve their game.
To be fair Wiseman is only getting regular minutes because Stewart is injured/suspended and Muscala shouldn’t be playing during anything beyond trash time at this point in his career either.
Wiseman is gone after this year and Stewart will be the guy. If I was the Piston’s GM buy out the old players and just play out the season with the raw talent. Find out if the young players can keep up in the NBA.
Wiseman was brought up to early by the Warriors. The expectations were there for sure but then he got hurt and traded. It’s not an easy transition for a 22 year old. Golden State should give James another try to see how it goes!!
Monty sucks ….. his ego is killing this team. He should be fired.
Any one have intell into any Hayes was cut?
5 assists with 1 steal
And .6 blocks is pretty helpful even if in (an appropriate)
8/9th man role
Hmmm
Coach Williams is clueless!
DET must fire him asap or they will never be out of the tanking phase!
There is no dichotomy between prioritizing development and prioritizing winning. At least among people who understand development. Giving young players unearned mintues because they’re young has a purpose. Exercise, and its healthy. But, sorry 2k’ers (in and out of FO’s), it doesn’t facilitate player development.
DET’s roster is a mess that only a 2k’er could love (although more recently even they are turning on Weaver). Still, there is nothing Monty can do about that. I haven’t followed Monty’s decisions in DET closely, but nothing I’ve heard (here or elsewhere) precludes the idea that Monty may be giving roles and minutes to players based on their earning them in the context of trying to win games. This idea used to be defined as coaching. Monty’s there for the long term, so why not get started. Why continue with a myth that’s been glorified for 3 years with only bad results.