At 6 p.m. Friday, as traffic begins to back up from the Mackinac Bridge to the Detroit riverfront and 99 percent of America embarks on the extended holiday weekend, NBA front offices will be ordering pizzas and making sure the coffeepot is up and running.
That’s the opening of free agency and the Pistons – armed with more cap space than all but four of the NBA’s 29 other franchises – could be one of the teams at the forefront of activity.
But there is sometimes an ocean between “could” and “will” and it’s anybody’s guess which direction the Pistons will go and what pace they’ll set when the race goes off Friday.
Did Troy Weaver give any clues last week when the Pistons general manager seemed to tamp down expectations he’d be shopping from the top shelf? Or was he throwing head fakes at the competition?
“We want to see Coach (Monty Williams) coach this team and really get a feel for those guys,” Weaver said, referencing all the young players he’s drafted and otherwise acquired in three years since becoming Pistons general manager. “How we fill out the rest of it in free agency, whatnot, is not pressing right now. Because I think you can add and subtract from some of these young guys growing into becoming who they are. So we’re going to be careful with that before we bring in guys that can kind of deter us from really finding out who these guys are.”
You can parse that to glean what you want, but I’m inclined to take Weaver at face value because he doesn’t have a history of double talk. And at face value, his words certainly seem to indicate the Pistons are more inclined to work at the fringes of free agency rather than jumping in with both feet.
They’ll have something like $28 million in cap space after accounting for the first-round guaranteed slots for first-rounders Ausar Thompson and Marcus Sasser.
The trade to get back into the first round to assure the Pistons they’d come out of the night with Sasser shaved about $2 million off what they could have had in cap space, one indication they aren’t fixated on creating as much room as possible to pursue top-tier free agents. There seemed a reasonable chance the Pistons could have stayed at 31 and landed him, but they were so intent on getting Sasser they gave up not just two future second-rounders but ceded $2 million in cap space. (Sasser’s rookie contract wouldn’t have been included on their cap sheet as a second-rounder, if the Pistons chose to sequence their deals a certain way, to allow for maximum room.) That’s a pretty good indication that creating maximum space isn’t a priority this summer.
Another: They’ve reportedly exercised options on both Alec Burks and Isaiah Livers, as widely expected, when declining would have created about $12 million more in cap space for them if that was their primary motivation.
With eight first-round picks from the four drafts since Weaver took over on the roster – six of them lottery picks, four of them top-five picks – plus Livers, Burks, Bojan Bogdanovic and Marvin Bagley III, the Pistons have 12 roster spots filled, leaving only three more. Given everything Weaver has said about his desire to have strong veterans in place and the franchise’s enormous regard for Rodney McGruder, he’s a decent bet to return.
That leaves two open spots. Eugene Omoruyi could well be one of them, though it’s also possible he’ll eventually be signed to a two-way contract. NBA teams can have three next season, up from two, and the Pistons don’t have any two-way slots committed yet.
At any rate, spots are tight, Weaver is bullish on his young players and the first wave of them – Isaiah Stewart, Killian Hayes and James Wiseman – are coming up on the last year of their rookie deals with Cade Cunningham a season away from that phase.
Cap space isn’t only a concern for next season. Smart teams look at what the outlook will be two, three and four years down the line. Splurge on a premier free agent this season on a long-term deal and it runs the risk of boxing in the Pistons beyond next season.
There’s a compelling case to dabble at the fringes of free agency this season with one- or two-year deals for role players, get a better idea of what long-term needs are as the young players blossom to varying degrees in 2023-24 and then attack free agency with a little more certainty – and, likely, a stronger product to sell – a year from now.
Weaver hasn’t been one to engage in much subterfuge. He guards information as well as anyone, but hasn’t made a habit of deliberately misleading or blowing smoke. It seems appropriate to take him at his word on being cautious in free agency.
That said, don’t doubt for a second he and his team haven’t vetted every NBA roster and considered all possible additions – from each team’s free agents to the possibility that each team’s particular situation might make desirable players available via trade for a variety of reasons. Opportunities he might not have anticipated could come to him as agents reach out to teams with cap space to spark action.
Don’t read his comments on free agency and underestimate Weaver’s desire to make the Pistons competitive all 82 games next season. At the root of it, he’s a believer in the talent already on hand and its ability to achieve that end. He’s more than willing to augment the roster, but not to do anything to impede pathways to growth for the key pieces who comprise it. The right free agent at the right price, sure. Spending every cent of $28 million and committing to big deals for multiple seasons, not unless it makes sense on all levels.
So get your popcorn ready. There’s no guarantee there will be fireworks from the Pistons over the weekend, but if the conditions align just right, you never know.