Team needs another big and another scorer. Hopefully ivey can be that scorer. Frustration aside, that was a good season. Gotta keep improving
They need Cade to take a big step in becoming more efficient, stopping the stupid/sloppy turnovers, and getting better in 4th quarters at putting games away. It's been a problem most of his career to this point. He made incremental improvements on all of them this year, but if he's a top 15 guy he has to improve significantly in all those areas. They need someone who is reliable that gives them 18+ a night. Maybe Ivey is that guy. It really sucks that he got hurt and we didn't get to see if he's ready for that. The numbers were a big improvement this year pre-injury, but he does so much stupid shit that I wonder if he's mature enough as a player to be that guy on a winning team. I don't know what they do if he's not ready for that. They need Duren to take a significant step forward on defense. They need to decide if Ausar and Duren can play together on a contending team. I really like them both, but the two of them together is always going to be a problem on offense. And with the CBA rules now they kind of need to make a decision there sooner than they used to before they have to get paid.
Assuming no trade for Zion or Booker, next year i think they got to let THJ go, bring back Beasley, and possibly Schroder Starting 5 of Cade/Ivey/Ausar/Tobias/Duren Backup 5 of Schroder/Beasley/Holland/Stew/Legit Big Man addition Also wouldn't mind if they tried to package a couple guys together to go after a second star. Will be an interesting offseason
I can't tell if Cade is exhausted at end of games, if the extra focus on him because lack of other threats gets to him, or if he just isn't up for the moment but he obviously has to improve in clutch. Maybe having another reliable scorer can help take the pressure off him.
Zion is a non-starter for me. Even if you believe in him figuring it out and he was cheap, you're adding another non-shooter to a frontcourt with Duren and Ausar. Booker is really interesting. If he was available I think you have to pursue it but I'm not sure we have enough around him and Cade to empty the assets to get someone like that and still be able to contend in the long run. Biggest question is how attached Langdon is to Beasley and Harris, and to some degree Schroder. Beasley was awesome this year but I'm not sure how likely he is to repeat it and him leaving opens the door for $20M in cap space for someone else. Would we rather have Beasley or someone like Nickeil Alexander-Walker or Ty Jerome? Or if we moved some $$ around, maybe Naz Reid? I think all of them are better players than Beasley but it's hard to let go of someone who was that good and loves it here. Also, it would be cool if Cade didn't get All-NBA and thus didn't get $9M extra next year with the super max. We would have around $30M in cap space if that happened, but instead it's around $20M.
What would Jabari Smith cost? Because he seems like a great fit and appears to be under appreciated in HOU.
He is my dream trade target for this summer. I think he probably costs Duren or Ivey in some sort of 3 way deal, though.
Bill Simmons trying to will into existence the Pistons acquiring Kuminga. That sounds fucking terrible imo.
Cade was 7th in the MVP vote. He is the first Piston to receive an MVP vote since Rasheed Wallace in 2008. His 7th-place finish is tied with Ben Wallace in 2004 for the third-best MVP finish for a Piston in the last 40 years. Billups got 5th in 06 and Grant Hill was 3rd in 97.
Contract wise, you would have to move either Tobias, Stewart or Fontecchio to do it. I'm not sure he's an upgrade over Tobias at this point. Same with Stewart because of the defense. Fontecchio would be interesting but almost certainly costs us the chance to resign Beasley. We have cap space, but pretty any move we make to fill it means we likely lose Beasley unless he's willing to come back at $8.5M per.
If you believe in his shooting numbers, which are nice, and his health. Depending on the contract he wants, I could see him as a Tobias replacement at the 4. Still 27 until September.
Freep story on where the cap stuff is going into the summer that can be helpful if you're interested in such things. They guy being quoted is cap nerd Keith Smith: Spoiler How Cunningham’s All-NBA pay raise affects cap space Cunningham’s third-team All-NBA nod earned him an extra $45 million on his rookie extension, raising the total of the five-year contract from $224 million to $269 million. It reduces the Pistons’ cap space this offseason by about $8 million, bringing their available space from roughly $25 million down to $16.9 million, according to Smith. It won’t prevent the Pistons from re-signing their core veterans — Malik Beasley, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schröder — if that's the priority. But it would limit the team’s financial flexibility if they instead prioritize the market over their own players. “This is where it’s really hard for a front office,” Smith said. "No one would ever admit this on the record, but there’s part of them that are like, do we really have to have him on the All-NBA team? Not to save money because they’re trying to be cheap, but, 'man, that would’ve created a lot more cap flexibility for us!' “In the end, the massive step forward he took, going to the playoffs and everything that’s going on with our team now, we’re OK with the $8 million more we have to pay him in starting salary.” How Pistons may re-sign Beasley, other veterans The Pistons can pursue two paths — ink Hardaway and Schröder to new deals using their "Bird rights" (allowing teams to exceed the salary cap up to the veteran maximum to re-sign a player with three years with a team, or a player on at least a three-year contract acquired via trade) and use the $14.1 non-taxpayer mid-level exception to re-sign Beasley, or renounce rights to Hardaway and Schröder to access $16.9 million in cap room, which would also enable the use of the $8.8 million room exception to re-sign or replace Hardaway and Schröder in free agency. Both Schröder and Hardaway arrived to the Pistons via trade with their “Bird Rights” intact from prior stops, enabling the Pistons to re-sign them without worrying about exceeding the cap space. But because Beasley signed a one-year, $6 million free-agent deal last summer, the Pistons have to sign him either with cap space or an exception. Smith said if the market sets Beasley’s salary higher than the $14.1 million non-taxpayer MLE, the Pistons could instead tap into their $16.9 million in cap space to offer a bigger contract, and risk losing Schröder and/or Hardaway in free agency. However, only the Brooklyn Nets have enough money to make such a competitive offer. More than likely, the Pistons will be among a group of teams — including the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers, who can offer an equivalent $14.1 million MLE to try to pry Beasley from Detroit. “If you stay over the cap, everything’s just easier to do this summer with everybody except for Beasley,” Smith said. “But if Beasley says $14 million out of the non-tax MLE is enough for me … done. You get that. “If you go under the cap, your cap space is going to go to Beasley. Then it’s, is $8.8 million enough for Schröder? And if it isn’t, now it’s, well who’s next? The good news is this point guard free-agent class is very deep in backup-level point guards that are good. You can probably make it work. If you really want to run it back, that’s the way you do it, is you stay over the cap, re-sign Beasley using the non-tax, Bird rights on the other guys and then move forward filling out your roster the rest of the way you need to.” How Duren, Ivey extension talks could go The Pistons’ 2022 first-round picks — Jalen Duren and Jaden Ivey — are extension-eligible heading into the 2025-26 campaign, their fourth seasons. If the Pistons don't sign them to extensions before the October deadline, they would be restricted free agents ahead of their fifth seasons for the 2026-27 campaign. Between the two, Smith is higher on the Pistons locking Duren into a long-term extension before the deadline. The 21-year-old big improved as the season progressed and played perhaps the best basketball of his career in Games 4-6 of the Pistons' first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks, averaging 12 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.3 blocks. Ivey also had a career season but was limited to 30 games after suffering a broken left fibula on Jan. 1. Smith, who is a fan of Duren’s game, said he would aim for a five-year contract in the range of $25 million-28 million annually for the center, and could see Ivey’s contract situation resolving in restricted free agency in 2026. “Duren’s the easier one because we’ve seen him play more recently,” he said. “We’ve seen what he’s become. I think he took massive steps forward as a defensive player last season. I think he was a lot better. It’s clear he’s got great pick-and-roll chemistry with Cade. He’s become a really good finisher. And there’s a chance, if you told me he won a couple of rebounding titles I’m not going to argue with you. “With Ivey, I’d say lower here, somewhere in the $18-20 million range. And that’s the number where a lot of guys say, I’m going to bet on myself and carry this over to the summer of 2026. And the good news for the Pistons is, you made them a restricted free agent and you’re still in control and can offer the exact same thing.”
Cliffs: - We have $16.9 million in cap space currently - With cap holds to Hardaway, Schroder and Beasley, we can act as either above or below the cap - If we act as above the cap, we can pay Beasley the $14.1 million exception and also resign Hardaway and Schroder if we want - If we act as below the cap, the max we can pay Beasley is $16.9 million - If we use the $16.9 million to do other things in FA or trades, the most we can pay Beasley would be $8.8 million - Duren much more likely to get extended this summer than Ivey. He would offer Duren something like $25-30 million per over 5 years.