It likely wasn’t by Troy Weaver’s expressed design, but it’s also no surprise that for the road ahead of the Pistons they’ve imported a few members of recent Miami Heat vintage to the roster.
Rodney McGruder and Wayne Ellington were members of the 2016-17 Heat – the year after Dwyane Wade left in free agency and Chris Bosh was forced to retire – that relied on toughness, discipline and work ethic to preserve what they proudly refer to as “Heat culture” in Miami. That team began the season 11-30 – then ripped off a 13-game winning streak, finished the season at 41-41 and finished out of the playoffs only because it lost a tiebreaker with Chicago.
“I’m excited about the core guys we have. I think it’s a bunch of hungry guys,” McGruder said of this year’s Pistons. “That’s what I look forward to. Reminds me of the team I played on my rookie year in Miami – maybe only four or five returning guys, a lot of young guys. Guys like Jahlil (Okafor) and Josh (Jackson) who really want it and want to get better. You can see it on their faces. They want to get out there and get better.”
McGruder’s NBA debut came three years after he went undrafted and required detours to Europe and the G League. His greatest NBA success came with a Miami roster in transition and a front office that stressed the same qualities the Pistons identified in a roster retooling that leaves only four players – Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, Svi Mykhailiuk and Sekou Doumbouya – from last year’s team.
“Rod is on point,” said Ellington, who helped the Pistons make the 2019 playoffs when he signed in February after being waived by the Heat in a move to avoid luxury tax. “We both had a lot of fun and a lot of success on that Heat team. Those are some of the characteristics we instilled. We continued to work and grind, never giving up, never making excuses. It paid off for us. This is the type of team that can be like that. We’ve got those type of players and then some. I think this team is even more talented than that team.”
Dwane Casey says he wants a training camp steeped in a competitive atmosphere and there won’t be anyone more prepared for what that entails, it seems, than the 29-year-old McGruder.
It didn’t long for McGruder to grasp his mesh with what the Pistons at their best have embodied – the very traits that Weaver is open about emulating – and the opportunity ahead of him.
“When I first heard I’d be a Piston, I thought about the Bad Boys, that style of Detroit-brand basketball,” McGruder said. “I thought of Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman – guys like that who came out and fought every night and played with their heart and soul. I just thought about that. And I want to put that feel back, that style of play back into the Detroit Pistons.”
Ellington was the final addition after Weaver had landed three other free agents, swung a handful of trades and picked up four players in the draft. He liked the team he saw Weaver putting together and likes it even more after going through Sunday’s first practice of training camp.
“I see a lot of length, a lot of athleticism, a lot of will to work and get better,” the 12-year veteran said. “And a lot of guys that want it, that have chips on their shoulder, that have something to prove. These young guys, I really like the group of young guys that are here. I really enjoy what we saw today in that first practice.”
McGruder came along with the No. 19 pick – the one Weaver used to draft Villanova wing Saddiq Bey – in the deal that shipped Luke Kennard to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers picked up McGruder in the last week of the 2018-19 season when Miami – as with the Ellington move, strictly motivated by a desire to avoid being a luxury tax repeat offender – waived him. The waiver pickup allowed the Clippers advantages to sign the 6-foot-4 McGruder in free agency and he agreed to a three-year deal with them in July 2019.
On a deep roster, McGruder averaged 16 minutes a game for the Clippers. Around an injury-riddled 2017-18 season, McGruder was a rotation staple in both 2016-17 and 2018-19 with the Heat, starting 110 games, splitting time between small forward and shooting guard and providing reliably tough defense.
For a franchise looking to re-establish its identity as a blue-collar bastion, McGruder is eager to grab a lunch bucket and get to work.
“I see it as a great fit for me,” he said. “Knowing what my strengths are and seeing the guys around to the All-Stars we have here in D-Rose and Blake, I think it’s going to be fun. I do see this as like my rookie year – some guys had been counted out on other teams and they come here and have a chance to make a name for themselves. It’s going to be like the Detroit Pistons of old because guys want to compete and have fun and win. That’s all we can ask for from one another.”