ROUNDTABLE: Who Do They Trade For?
December 2nd 2023 | Pistons Fleet Team
The Pistons are on a 16-game losing streak. Agony, despair, and gloom are all words the fans have become accustomed to over the past month and it is warranted. It has been rough for fans, but if you are anything like the psychos here at Pistons Fleet, you’ve watched every game and there were a lot of games where it felt like the team needed a couple of changes here and there to bolster their execution in-game.
Even though the Pistons have been riddled with injuries, there is still a young nucleus on this team worth building around and that has been clear from the losses. We here at Pistons Fleet believe in that sentiment and our writers have come together for this Round Table article to come up with some changes to the roster that could help in the short term and long term for this young squad.
Bryce - Kelly Olynyk
While a Kelly Olynyk return to the Motor City isn’t a move that will single-handedly turn around a season filled with many questions and an apparent lack of immediate answers, it is one that would help clear things up.
In 21.4 minutes per game this season for the Utah Jazz, Kelly Olynyk is averaging 7.6 / 5.6 / 3.8 on 58 / 43.8 / 87.9 % shooting splits. Despite his scoring volume currently being at a career-low to start the year, Kelly is having his most efficient season to date.
One of the many discussions regarding the current state of Detroit Pistons basketball is the lack of shooting/spacing on the entire roster, especially in the front court. Kelly is someone who can slot in as either the 4 or 5, depending on the matchup, and provide exactly that.
As a proven shooter and DHO hub, Kelly can force defenses attention in a multitude of actions and scenarios. Just having another offensive threat in the front court, on or off the ball, will open up easier opportunities for the young guards to get downhill in space to score or kick out.
It is also painfully obvious the Pistons need some reliable veterans in the building, and Kelly would be a familiar face. At this point of the season, the entire Piston’s roster looks unsure, confused, and almost helpless at times. A steadying presence who can help steer the ship is desperately needed.
With on/off splits of +3.2, +3.6, and +4.1 over the last three seasons, Kelly Olynyk is a proven, quality NBA player, something that this roster lacks at its edges.
At this point, I am not sure there is a trade the Pistons could make to completely turn around the season without moving a core piece and sacrificing the future, and even then, there are no guarantees. However, a few smaller individual trades and roster improvements could take this team from historically bad to just normal young team bad.
Yes, unfortunately at this point, the bar is on the floor.
Rohan - Immanuel Quickley
While the Pistons have somewhat of a minute(s) log jam across the roster and the guard position in particular, the addition of a younger guard who has showcased significant improvement across his career and could serve as a very solid rotational piece should be welcomed as the Pistons look to identify who all is in their roster building plan(s) for the foreseeable future.
Quickley’s ability to fill many areas for the New York Knicks has made him a 6MOY finalist in the 2022-23 regular season and a very good candidate throughout this current year as well. The numbers certainly back this up, as Quickley has had a +9.3 net-rating swing per 100 possessions through his four years in the league - with the Knicks outsourcing opponents by 7.0 points/100 in minutes he has been on the court.
Since seeing his responsibility increased as a 6th-man swing player in 2022-23, Quickley has averaged 15.1 / 4.0 / 3.4 on 44.7 / 37.1 / 83.2 % shooting splits (57.9% True Shooting) while bringing superb turnover control to the table.
With rookie guard Marcus Sasser due for some more development and learning, Immanuel Quickley on the Pistons could come in and play the de-facto combo guard role effectively. His ability to play off the ball and make decisions within the flow of team offense while offering self-creation juice as a pull-up three-point shooter and short mid-range scorer, primarily operating as a pick-and-roll ballhandler, fits well with the perimeter talent Detroit currently has.
The fun doesn’t stop there, as Quickley has offered solid defensive value each of his four years as a New York Knick. His ability to navigate screens, chase defenders off the ball, and make timely rotations has helped the Knicks fare well on that side of the ball. Such a toolkit could serve as a great fit alongside franchise cornerstone caliber defenders like Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren.
Matt - Muscala & Gallinari
If your first reaction is “Why would anyone want James Wiseman” I understand, and that thought is valid, BUT! If there were another team that desires the services of Jimmy Wise, it’d probably be the 3-14 Wizards who may foam at the mouth to add Wiseman’s theoretical upside and practical tank commanding to kickstart a rebuild that was long overdue. Plus, Connaughton could possibly be flipped for a pick or just play! You also get a couple of second-round picks for what that's worth.
If your first reaction to this trade is “just, why?” I understand, it is totally fair. But, two legitimate spacers who have an understanding of how to gel an NBA offense could provide a level of stability around our creators that is currently lacking. While Mike Muscala may just seem like another fringe rotational stretch big, I present to you: the last three full seasons of Mike Muscala on/off data:
2020-21: +13.7
2021-22: +11.6
2022-23 (OKC): +11.4
2022-23 (BOS): -1.4
That man was winning possessions with the tanking Thunder! Consistently making your team double-digit points better per 100 possessions has to mean something, and keeping up with all the talent Boston can throw on the court is a good sign. Now obviously there’s a ton of extra noise in simple on/off +/- stuff but he IS a big who shot just under 40% from three over that stretch, Muscala can provide the young piston ball handlers with competent screening, the ability to roll and pop, and blends activity with size on defense to counteract the limited athleticism the 32-year-old Muscala possesses.
Muscala is a perfectly fine complimentary role player who fits seamlessly into several different lineup identities, and I’d imagine Monty would look forward to dusting off the old Pheonix Dario Saric Google Doc in light of the acquisition of Muscala and Gallinari
The evolution of Danilo Gallinari is finding even more usefulness as a screener: decisively finding his pockets to drive a closeout off of a pop, where he’s a threat to pull up or deliver a well-timed skip pass, when unbothered he’s prone to shoot a soft catch & shoot 3, or even bully a mismatch, using his size and touch to get to his mid-post-game, where he’s made his bread and burro.
The addition of John Butler Jr is to fulfill Troy Weaver’s insatiable lust for tall projects, and to make pistons blowouts maybe 15% more interesting? The 20-year-old Butler Jr. is an extremely lean and lengthy 7-footer who resides on the perimeter.
Butler Jr’s 3&D centric toolset keeps some sickos invested, Butler slides his feet with surprising fluidity and is able to use his length to impact shots as a weakside rim protector. A UDFA, Butler Jr. has never quite found his footing in the NBA, but there certainly is talent to tap into.
Lastly, Free Delon Wright! That man is quietly a borderline All-D guard, Giannis needs him! Washington does not!
Roshan - Zach Lavine
If there was one thing the Pistons need more desperately than anything, it’s scoring gravity. The halfcourt creation is stagnant and stale with barely any movement off the ball, with the Pistons ability to run in transition dominating the way that they stay in games without most of the rotation depleted to injuries.
With recent games like the Knicks game, The Pistons have found ways to get Cunningham easier baskets off the ball in tough spacing by letting him attack defenses when they are in rotation, and this has also allowed Cade to preserve his stamina through games better as well because he’s not asked to create every halfcourt possession for the team.
Bojan returning should help take some of the emphasis off of Cunningham and Ivey should be able to get the team into its halfcourt sets while effectively getting Cade these easier shots throughout the course of the game. Ivey has the highest pull on the court, which I outlined in my article on him, but Monty’s overreliance on other guards in the rotation has put Ivey in spots that can only be defined, in the nicest way possible, as sub-optimal. The other thing here is that the burden of being a primary should not be on Ivey either, he’s still growing as a playmaker, and if you want to break this losing streak and make his life easier too you need another scoring threat that every defense in the league will respect outside of Bojan.
Enter Zach Lavine.
Before Bulls fans yell at me, I am just going off of the idea that Lavine has become undervalued in the trade market because of his contract and injury history, and if there is any weight to the reports Adrian Wojnarowski has reported, I think this is a deal that works for both sides.
Most patient Pistons fans would say, “Don’t use your assets in a trade like this, go for someone like OG, Lauri, or Siakam.” The grim reality of the Pistons is that they are in a tight spot with assets to trade with, their main options being the lottery draftees from the 2021-23 draft classes, which the Pistons are unlikely to do which means they can be easily outbid if those names become available. If Lavine’s value is that low, it should be a move the Pistons make to improve their roster on the edges because making a move for a scorer like Lavine would open the court for every young player and reduce the level of responsibility the young players are held to every night.
I personally want the Pistons to continue to build around those four players but putting the main onus on these four to create everything for you is a tough proposition. My idea with Lavine is that, yes he will take some creation reps away from Ivey and Thompson, but Monty is not doing that with those young guys regardless. Why not use those same minutes that are distributed amongst Burks and Killian to Lavine to help improve that spacing issue while leaving fewer guards to take away minutes from Ivey and forcing Monty to use Ivey more consistently.
In this trade, the Bulls, get a 2029 Pistons first, which could be valued highly because of how far out it is, an open cap sheet for this summer, and two young players in Killian and Wiseman to take fliers on without having to be attached to longterm contracts with the two. The Pistons get back Lavine and Julian Phillips (the Bulls 2023 draftee.) If the market is that low for Lavine, this offer could outbid other teams and help land a situation that helps both sides: The Pistons start helping their young guys and solidify their rotation while the Bulls finally pull the plug and start looking out of mediocrity.
