Let’s take a walk down memory lane and review some team-building trends in the NBA over the last 20 years. Let me take you back first, to the 2010s, where the NBA was dominated by the “big three.” After LeBron James famously took his talents to South Beach, the name of the game in the Association became trying to get a trio of star players in one place and fill out the rest of the roster with veterans willing to sign lesser deals for a ring chasing opportunity. Sometimes it worked, most of the time it failed.
But the truth remained it was the best, and perhaps only viable path to winning a championship.
Fast forward to today, and roster building looks completely different. Out is stockpiling stars, and in its place is depth and culture. Over the past few seasons, this has become the gold standard of team building. Don’t get it twisted; stars still matter, but it is equally important to have a stockpile of versatile role players and a locker room that emphasizes the team as a whole.
Successful teams now have 10 players who buy into their specific roles. Deep, versatile benches were on full display in the NBA Finals, as the Indiana Pacers, a team without a top-10 player, were not just making an appearance in the NBA Finals, not just making it competitive, but within reach of hoisting the trophy.
They played a unique style that featured a fast-paced offense and guards picking up their opponents 94 feet away on defense. In some ways, they were reminiscent of a tenacious college program.
The team they lost to? The Oklahoma City Thunder. Yes, they have a generational talent and MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but tune into any postgame interview and you quickly see the unique culture the Oklahoma City Thunder has built on full display.
As a Detroit Pistons fan, why is this important? Well, for the first time in nearly a generation, Detroit has correctly aligned itself with how forward-thinking organizations are constructing their teams in the modern NBA. Of course, they have a superstar in Cade Cunningham. But last season, the team had depth, a palpable culture, and plenty of wins. Those things are all related.
It was the culture that was so jarringly different from so many seasons past. For many years, the franchise and its top players possessed poor body language, lacked leadership, and often appeared to sleepwalk through winnable games (sorry, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson). As I wrote last season, the culture that permeated through the walls of Little Caesars Arena was real and tangible. The fans could feel it as much as the players. While Cunningham is the unquestioned leader and best player, and younger players like Jalen Duren and Isiah Stewart grew louder voices last season, so many ingredients went into the culture the Pistons built and are building.
First and foremost, the Pistons finally got the right veterans in place. The impact made in the locker room by Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Dennis Schröder was obvious. Tune in at any point last season, and you’d see the four elder statesmen mentoring younger teammates during timeouts and leaping off the bench to celebrate the team. And more importantly, when they talked, you’d see Cunningham and the rest of Detroit’s young core listening intently.
Make no mistake, this has not always been the case. In fact, for many years in Detroit, it was as rare as a Josh Smith 3-pointer. As fans, we cannot take for granted how rare that is, as the organization has seen firsthand with this same young core how bleak things can be without a strong culture, and veterans that actually command respect.
Trajan Langdon expressed a desire to run it back next season. Continuity and internal growth laying the groundwork to build on last year’s success. A funny thing happened along the way, however. The Pistons lost nearly all of last year’s critical veteran additions.
Only Tobias Harris and, if we’re being charitable, Paul Reed, remain. Make no mistake about it, the Malik Beasley situation is unfortunate and out of the Pistons’ control. In addition to having a historic season from three-point land, Beasley was arguably the Pistons’ most vocal leader. It is a monumental loss. Beasely aside, however, turning Schröder and Hardaway Jr. into Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert is a risk going into a critical season in which the franchise expects to take a step towards contender status in a depleted Eastern Conference. The risk comes both on the court and in the locker room.
For starters, the Pistons often turned to Hardaway Jr. for his steadying veteran leadership in the locker room. Like Beasley, he had roots in Detroit (his parents live in the area and attended most home games), and by all accounts, he wanted to be here. On the court, his fit was seamless in Detroit, and he played an underrated role. He provided immediate spacing for Cunningham and Jaden Ivey, and had a penchant for heating up at the right time. While he will never make any All-Defense teams, Hardaway Jr. demonstrated an understanding of the team’s scheme and provided a level of resistance on D that the players replacing him have not shown. In this exercise, thinking of Robinson replacing Hardaway Jr. is at least worth questioning. While Robinson is the superior shooter, Hardaway Jr. brings more defensively, is a better driver and pull-up shooter, and is a known commodity in the team’s cultural infrastructure. Not to mention, he is on a cheaper contract. While Robinson is by all accounts a respected player around the league, his fit in the locker room is unknown.
Schröder’s return always seemed murkier than that of THJ or Beasley. He was a mid-year addition and didn’t have as clear a role or path to minutes with the expected return to health of Jaden Ivey. By replacing him with Caris LeVert, the optimistic viewpoint of the move would be that Detroit is swapping Schröder’s tertiary creation with a taller player who provides a bit more reliable perimeter shooting. However, the numbers indicate that he is a spacer more in theory than in reality, as his career average of 34% from deep is the same as Schröder’s.
LeVert also carries a reputation amongst many who cover the Association as a ball stopper and someone who has yet to prove himself as a winning player. The defensive dropoff from Schröder to Levert is significant, and gives Detroit one less option to throw at an opposing team’s best perimeter player. It is not that long ago that Schröder was arguably the team’s second-best player in a hotly contested playoff series. That loss is significant, even if the situation and price point made his return unlikely.
In the end, the primary source of the team’s growth next season was always going to come by way of their young players improving. There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic about that. However, I wonder if the Pistons will regret not bringing back THJ over one of the fellow University of Michigan products that replaced him on the roster. With Ivey returning as a secondary creator, it’s fair to ponder if swapping Levert’s creation for Hardaway Jr.’s more reliable spacing while still replacing Beasley with Robinson may provide more defensive upside and floor spacing. It may have been the most financially prudent move for this roster. As we enter the back half of the summer, and training camp becomes less and less distant, how the Pistons can maintain their positive culture will be a storyline worth monitoring.
Share your thoughts: did the Pistons get it right with these off-season moves?
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