NBA playoff teams like Heat, Celtics highlight what Detroit Pistons miss with roster
As Jimmy Butler sat in street clothes, the Miami Heat’s homegrown secondary stars and role players stepped up.
Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, selected by Miami with the 13th and 14th overall picks in their respective drafts, combined for 45 points. The former dished 14 assists, and Adebayo grabbed 10 rebounds.
Rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr., drafted 18th overall last summer, chipped in 14 points and a trio of 3-pointers. Nikola Jovic, taken 27th a year prior, stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block. Caleb Martin, who went undrafted in 2019 and joined the franchise on a two-way contract in 2021, knocked down five 3-pointers en route to 21 points.
The end result was a 111-101 upset over the Boston Celtics in Game 2, toppling the top-ranked team at home despite Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday all suiting up.
The playoffs have highlighted the value of nailing the margin roster-building moves. The Detroit Pistons’ repeated failures to do so are one of many reasons the franchise’s playoff victory drought turned 16 years old this April.
The star-studded Celtics are playing both Payton Pritchard (drafted 26th in 2020) and Sam Hauser (undrafted in 2021). The Oklahoma City Thunder have five rotation players (Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Joe, Jaylin Williams, Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams) selected in the second round or went undrafted.
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Look at any playoff roster, and you’ll likely find at least one contributor the team developed out of the proverbial scrap heap — Austin Reaves with the Los Angeles Lakers, Herb Jones and Jose Alvarado with the New Orleans Pelicans, the list goes on.
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It’s not due to a lack of effort on Detroit’s part, as taking swings has been a staple of the current front office led by Troy Weaver. Yet, the team has little to show for its bevy of draft selections and midseason acquisitions over the last four years.
The Pistons have taken 13 players in the draft since 2020, eight in the first round. Six remain on the roster — lottery picks Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, and late first-round picks Isaiah Stewart and Marcus Sasser.
Saddiq Bey (19th, 2020) was traded for James Wiseman, who is entering restricted free agency and seems unlikely to return with Duren on the roster. Killian Hayes (seventh, 2020) was cut in February. The remaining five players were all taken in the second round and all are no longer in Detroit — Saben Lee (38th, 2020), Isaiah Livers (42nd, 2021), Luka Garza (52nd, 2021), Balsa Koprivica (57th, 2021) and Gabriele Procida (36th, 2022).
Most second-round picks don’t pan out, yet Miami has consistently hit home runs not just outside of the lottery, but also with unheralded free agency signings and players who weren’t drafted at all. Their rotation against the Celtics was rounded out by Michigan alumnus Duncan Robinson, who signed a two-way contract after going undrafted in 2018 before emerging as a rotation player a season later, and Kevin Love, who was glued to the bench with the Cleveland Cavaliers but reemerged in Miami as a productive shooter after Cleveland bought him out in 2023.
The Heat are outliers when it comes to scouting and player development, as this list hasn’t included some of their recent successful swings. Gabe Vincent and Max Strus, both former undrafted free agents who signed two-way contracts with Miami before emerging as key role players, were poached in free agency by the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers last summer.
Despite a rotating door of two-way players, propped by their G League affiliate Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s yet to develop one into a nightly contributor, though Tosan Evboumwan, Jared Rhoden and Stanley Umude all had solid numbers this past season. The trade deadline gambles — most notably, Wiseman and Marvin Bagley III — haven’t panned out either.
It all explains why the Pistons, after a conservative offseason, slumped to a franchise-worst 14 wins after four years of building. The front office banked on internal improvement last summer, rather than pursuing substantial roster upgrades through trades or free agency, and ultimately settled for a roster that lost 29 of its first 31 games.
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Detroit’s issues with drafting and player development predate both Weaver and owner Tom Gores. It’s on the latter to figure out how to fix it. The Pistons are in the midst of searching for a head of basketball operations who will be the front office’s new signal-caller, with the authority to reshape the staff.
Whoever is in charge will have to solve the franchise’s inability to find value on the margins. There’s a long list of issues to fix, but Detroit’s repeated failures in the draft and free agency are among the more urgent.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NBA playoffs highlight Detroit Pistons inability to win on the margins
