Drummond traded to Cavs for basically nothing
They get Henson and Knight back as well as a 2nd.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:32 PM ^
Shows you his value I guess.
February 6th, 2020 at 5:29 PM ^
Value is a funny thing. Not too many guys in the league can give you 15 and 15 every night.
Detroit will discover really quickly that there's no easy way to replace his production. And they certainly won't even approximate it from their current draft slot.
February 6th, 2020 at 5:37 PM ^
No they won't. They have been playing with the most energy when Dre has been on the bench and letting Sekou and Christian Wood play.
He had his chance here. He is good at putting up empty numbers. When the lights were brightest last year in the playoffs, he was incredibly average.
Drummond had his time here. They did nothing with him.
February 6th, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
15 & 15 doesn't do much for you if you can't defend the perimeter at all defensively, and you can't stretch the floor offensively. Guys like have had their value plummet. Whiteside isn't helping a team with Dame and McCollum even reach an 8 seed. Capela was dealt in favor of PJ Tucker playing center. Tristan Thompson is on the team that added Drummond. And Drummond didn't make the Pistons competitive. I can't really think of a non-stretch 5 who a team is having success with. Gobert I guess, buy he's not the focal point of the team at all, and he's an elite defender.
February 6th, 2020 at 5:47 PM ^
I mean... You can't seriously think that they plan to? This was about not risking Drummond using his player option for another $28 million year (which seems likely to happen given how comically low his value is). They get two expiring contracts for a guy with almost no trade value in today's NBA. Not only that, but they're fully committing to a total rebuild. Why the hell would they want to replace his production?
February 6th, 2020 at 6:38 PM ^
Sure, if you only look at the box score. Guy gave zero effort most of the time and didn’t play winning basketball. He’s the basketball equivalent of Matthew Stafford putting up stats late in games that are already out of hand. Numbers looked good on paper, did nothing to make the team better.
February 7th, 2020 at 9:08 AM ^
Stafford is one of the best 4th quarter come from behind qbs in NFL. Plus he's way better than Drummond overall. The whole garbage stats thing with him isn't true.
February 7th, 2020 at 1:43 PM ^
His nickname is Stat Padford for crying out loud. Stafford is well-known for padding his stats when games are over. Having a good number of fourth quarter comebacks is cool and all, but there are also quite a few games where those comebacks came up short and his stats were padded in the process. Guy had 4,967 yards in a season where we won 4 games for crying out loud.
I didn’t say Stafford and Drummond were the same talent. I said they had similar instances where they put up meaningless stats that don’t have impact on winning games.
February 7th, 2020 at 11:59 AM ^
Why do people like you think drummonds elite? I’d rather have Steven Adams over Drummond 7 days of the week.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
SVG made a lot of personnel mistakes in (1) drafting and (2) managing contracts.
February 6th, 2020 at 8:23 PM ^
(3)Trading for often injured, shell of his former self, MAX contract Blake Griffin.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
Drummond essentially had no value. I'm surprised the Pistons were able to get what they could. Especially surprised that they would make the trade with someone in their division.
February 6th, 2020 at 6:34 PM ^
Why not? If the Cavs re-sign him this offseason, they're destined to the same mediocrity the pistons have endured with him on the roster.
With that being said, so much of me is remorseful that this didn't work out with him. He was the only glimmer of hope in a dark, dark period of pistons basketball. He'll always hold a place of appreciation from me for that, but I think the front office smartly decided it was time to move on. The game changed so much and with his style of play he just couldn't keep up. Best of luck to him in Cleveland (and not his team).
February 6th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
Didn't Brandon Knight die years ago in a game vs the Clippers?
February 6th, 2020 at 2:41 PM ^
He plays a position that the league no longer values that much and he has an AWFUL contract. This clears up a ton of cap space and adds a future draft pick to your assets.
The Pistons weren't winning and aren't going to win with him, might as well free up that cap space. Great deal
February 6th, 2020 at 2:51 PM ^
Him not being able to opt in is huge.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
This is the key. He will find that his value on the open market is low and thus will opt in.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:00 PM ^
Plus Beilein and Andre’s laziness will lead to some epic interactions.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:08 PM ^
#sluglife
February 6th, 2020 at 3:30 PM ^
Too soon
February 6th, 2020 at 3:23 PM ^
I know this is the right take but it sure seems like this is the message we're supposed to swallow with EVERY SINGLE Detroit sports team in the past 3 years!? When is it our turn to escape this?
February 6th, 2020 at 3:45 PM ^
the literal second one of their draft picks hit.
February 6th, 2020 at 6:38 PM ^
It seems like every team but the Lions are taking the right steps in terms of front office decisions. Detroit has always seemed to have a history of never trying to bottom out until they are literally forced to because their contracts are so bad (which usually makes the rebuild next to impossible to accelerate). The Pistons, Tigers, and Wings are all in a stage where they are trying to stock up on young talent and draft assets and not meaninglessly hoping for improvement from a middle aged roster on bloated deals.
February 7th, 2020 at 2:07 PM ^
Except Al Avila has no clue what he's doing so the Tigers have very few prospects that actually have a chance of making a difference.
February 6th, 2020 at 5:27 PM ^
Wasn't his contract only for one more year (player option that he likely would have exercised) or was it worse than that?
February 6th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
Yessss!. Don't care what they got for him
February 6th, 2020 at 2:46 PM ^
If memory serves people had been complaining for a while about what he was doing to Detroit's cap situation, and given that Detroit isn't winning anything with him anyway, I'd think this makes most people happy.
Freeing up cap space, and get a draft pick back to try again on some new blood.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:27 PM ^
Not to mention that Reggie Jackson and Langston Galloway contracts expire in the off season and last but not least no more Josh Smith after this offseason either. Pistons are in a great situation with cap space. But, this free agency class this offseason isn’t very flashy. Pistons are going to make a ton of small moves and wait for the 2021-22 season to make a splash.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:48 PM ^
Hopefully they use their cap space the way Memphis did this summer. To acquire draft assets for eating useless players on expiring deals.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:51 PM ^
"Nothing" describes his value in the trade market. He's not worth the $28mil player option he could have signed this offseason. And no team was going to give up a first round pick for him. I wish him the best though. He was ridiculed for his poor free throw shooting and dramatically improved. He even tried to add an outside shot to his game. Unfortunately, it just didn't work despite all the double-doubles.
February 6th, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
Dude, he's shooting 58 percent from the line and is a career 46 percent. I sure as shit expect him to improve from 40 percent; that's something you have to try to be that bad at.
No he didn't. He took a midrange shot the other night without a soul in his presence and it fell 2 feet short. There was not an ounce of improvement in his midrange, from the first day he played here till now.
Body language tells me a lot about players and their passion. Dude got rebounds and putbacks because he's just so GD big and strong. I did not get a single iota of his caring or passion to be out on that court.
He had his chance. Let the youngens go now.
February 6th, 2020 at 6:15 PM ^
I said he tried to improve his shot, not that it actually worked. Also, he was a sub 40% FT guy for five years. The next three: 60%.
But yeah, you can say he didn't have passion. I'll just say he was the softest big man I ever saw. It is what it is, but I wonder how he would've fared with better coaches and ownership. Better coaches may have been able to push him. An owner who was more than a rich fanboy might have demanded better.
February 6th, 2020 at 7:20 PM ^
Well, fair, but this is professional sports. Trying and doing it are two very different things.
I'm not sure. I just think he is who he is. Kind of an archaic big man who would have been much better served in the 80s and 90s compared to now.
February 6th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
1 8-7-7 Crap-4-Picks
C-R-A-P Crap 4 Picks
1 8-7-7 Crap-4-Picks
Rebuild your team today.....
February 6th, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
I love Beilein but the thought of him trying to gameplan for Andre Drummond, of all players in the NBA, makes me laugh.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:01 PM ^
Beilein has had non shooters at C before and succeeded. Dre is not a chump when it comes to skill, nor is he a playmaker or anything like that. The only real negative about Dre is his contract being a little too much for his on court value. But it's not all that disastrous.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:01 PM ^
Totally!! I think Drummond is going to drive Beilein nuts!
February 6th, 2020 at 3:02 PM ^
Drummond is basically a nothing player. So they got an even trade.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:03 PM ^
I don't like this trade for the Pistons. Dre obviously didn't have that much value on the market. But I think it would have been worth the risk to see if he was bluffing when he said he'd test FA instead of taking the one year player option on his contract. The $28 million of his player option is surely more than he would get in FA, so I don't think it's that unrealistic to think he would have opted in. Then you could see if you could get a little more for him in the summer or during next season.
Oh well.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:29 PM ^
They wouldn't get more from him in the off-season or next year either. He would be on an expiring contract, a year older, and still play a position that no one values. This is only a good thing.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:33 PM ^
His age is not a problem at all. He's been in the league a while but he's still in his mid 20s and would be next year. I don't think they would get a lottery pick out of him or anything like that. But trades usually garner more in the summer and maaaaybe they get a second rounder and a role player. Or two second rounders. I think that would have been worth the risk, but I'm not mad at this trade, just a little disappointed.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:42 PM ^
Didn't want him to opt in. They can use that cap space to sign a 21st century center or draft one.
February 6th, 2020 at 4:10 PM ^
They've already got one on their roster in Christian Wood. Should use some of their new found cap space to give him a long-term deal this summer. In games where he plays at least 20 minutes, Wood is averaging 15.4 PPG 7 RPG, 1 BPG in 25 MPG on .543/.391/.743 shooting. I'd have no qualms with a 4y, $50M deal for him.
February 6th, 2020 at 6:13 PM ^
Wood can be signed for a lot less than that. He's a rotational player who was living under a bridge in the off-season. Although 97.1 today said the Celtics were rebuffed on a trade effort last night and were trying hard today to get a deal done.
February 7th, 2020 at 4:42 AM ^
I'm willing to bet he signs a deal worth at least $9M AAV for a minimum three years this summer. Underwhelming free agent class and what he's done this year hasn't gone unnoticed.
February 6th, 2020 at 4:56 PM ^
They can use some toward a contract with Wood, but him getting more minutes isn’t an improvement on Dre unless he gets a lot better on defense and the boards. Either way, the idea wasn’t to keep Dre not long if he opted in. Pistons aren’t contending for a playoff spot unless Blake Griffin is healthy for an entire season (like last year).
February 6th, 2020 at 3:07 PM ^
Basically nothing is still better than nothing.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:10 PM ^
Somebody on the radio said it right - Andre Drummond is a good player getting paid like a top grade elite player. As such, not having the Player Option $28 million dollar contract hanging over your head is worth getting rid of a good player for.. nothing.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:16 PM ^
Not necessarily. Pistons won't be playoff contenders again until Blake's contract is off the books, which won't be feasible for another couple of years because Griffin has a $32 million player option available for 2021-22 that he will absolutely take. So Dre could pick up his player option this summer and his trade value is potentially better and at worst, the same.
The only positive is that if the NBA allows HS players to declare by this time, this second rounder (assuming Cleveland still sucks at that point) is going to be about same value as a late first rounder in the next couple drafts.
February 6th, 2020 at 3:14 PM ^
Cavs fan here. I have no idea what they are thinking. The pick is worthless either way but Drummond might be just enough to give them a couple extra wins the rest of the year and that is not what they should be trying to accomplish.