Pistons GM Troy Weaver press conference after trade deadline

Pistons GM Troy Weaver press conference after trade deadline

Thanks for coming everybody um we get started TR will give some general comments on trade dead mind all that stuff um hasn’t happened for a while but with our beats on the west coast uh those three are on Zoom so what I’ll do is when I open it up for questions I’ll

Those guys chime in uh with a question that they have first and then I’ll open it up to the room so yeah good morning before we get started I just want to um say what uh from the Pistons and the Detroit Community um how heavy our hearts are recent

Passing of U Earl Kon who was U DM member of the community um piston Community city of Detroit um so uh to him and his family uh you know our condolences and look forward to um celebration uh this weekend uh but Earl was U tremendous to to all of us and

Um my short time here I’m just thankful that uh I got to know him and um he was always there for me I got to know Earl through Maurice Cheeks uh who’s a teammate of his with the Sixers and uh uh he and Maurice were really good

Friends and um that was kind of our connection but I want to start off um with that first um trade dayline um just another um mechanism for us to um improve the team um whether it’s trade free agency draft day um obviously uh because of where we uh have been with

Our record um changes needed to be made and we wanted to uh make some changes and uh shift the energy uh but we work in a way at uh making sure that we um continue to um build the roster but more importantly compliment our young Corp

Um that didn’t happen uh the first half of the season um for various reasons but we’re not going to cow with spilled milk we didn’t we didn’t get it done and um we wanted to make sure we uh continue to add uh to our identity uh defense and

Shooting um doing this trade day line um as you seen in the last couple nights young C really stood up and um that’s on me that um we didn’t do a good enough job complimenting them uh first half of the Season injuries uh defense whatnot uh just

Wasn’t there uh I own that I own was behind us uh but the last couple months um will catapult catapult us going forward uh and fortifying the team um it’s a few important things uh that we wanted to make sure we got done during the dayline

Um one was to I mean we obviously lost shooting um with Burks M Don so we wanted to make sure we we we added that as well uh but we want to improve our defense uh I said it at nauseum we won’t be the Pistons until we defend um and we

Want to make sure we add to that identity um as we go forward um couple quick points and then we’ll open it up we’ll open it up to the beat guys so uh if you guys have anything go ahead hey s this is James I appreciate

You doing this um you don’t see that much change in season often when it comes to to rosters and you mentioned Shifting the energy um did you think that the losing streak kind of getting to that point uh impacted just the the mood of the team more so than this team

Being necessarily A three- win team a month ago uh I mean his streak took on his identity of himself but um Shifting the energies more to our identity like I said we we we had injuries a lot of veterans we depended on weren’t there and uh we needed to uh

Get some more energy in the building and and continue to build like we we didn’t that’s so me we didn’t support the young Corps well enough early on and we wanted to make sure we we change that thank you right thank you for doing this uh

This is Omar from the Free Press uh if you look back at the factors that kind of led to the team not beting expectations this season uh what would you pinpoint as being the reasons behind that um I I’ll start um we um we just haven’t been a cohesive

Unit um and it starts with our defense our defense started off well and then it just took nose die but a lot of it is you know the Young The Young core uh being in and out with injuries but the veterans um being out of the lineup I

Mean it’s it is what it is um I want to keep a laboring the point I mean we know donov pretty much missed the first 20 games and Morris missed probably the first 40 gam so um that’s for me uh we didn’t and our defense didn’t hold up um

We just we just haven’t been a cohesive unit and uh it’s important that um as you go through this we we gain some cohesion and so some momentum uh as we try to forge Forward hey short it’s Mike from Detroit news thanks for doing us um since you traded for l last season um we know there’s been a significant amount of interest in them from rival um teams and contenders um why would you say now is the time to trade banovic and how would

You assess the return of what you received for him versus what you may have gotten over the past year so yeah I mean if like I said last year we would have traded Burks and MC donovic you know going into the summer uh you know you would have looked at our

Team and say okay these guys need add some veterans so we kept those guys um and now uh getting to this trade deadline um I think it was important that we fortified the team with younger younger version of those guys um and I think we did that um to return

I mean did we have better offers last year the deadline I mean yeah you could you could say that but uh this is where we are now and uh I like where we got in return for those guys as players uh for sure um got coveted players that we wanted

Um draft Capital we didn’t uh get it first but uh I like adding to the I like the players we added to our young group so um the return all that plays out on the floor um and hopefully that plays out to our favor to Troy it appears that maybe you

Were trying to threat a needle um by by getting You’ got a lot of young guys that maybe another draft that wasn’t as as attractive as getting young controllable players like the two you got with crimes in ponio but also you you were able to do that without without

Cutting much into the cap space was that kind of the thing you were trying to accomplish absolutely we didn’t want to um take away from our core um we want to stay true to that I mean we’re excited about uh young cord and we wanted to add to that some uh Young

Veterans um like I say younger version of the guys that uh that were here and uh we think we did that but absolutely um supporting and adding uh to the core was um the goal uh during this dayline Troy what ultimately led to the releasing of kilan Hayes was there like

Any type of trade value for him on the market like what is ultim let with the out release yeah I mean it was a numbers game um with the trades we had to uh take in a certain amount of players and uh there was a limited amount of uh guys we

Could choose from to release um and killing got caught in that um you know we we wish him well I’m excited for what’s ahead of him um tremendous young man still 22 uh hopefully he can uh find his footing somewhere else and and carry on his uh professional

Career ultimately why didn’t I don’t that was your first draft pick it was in the co year but ultimately why didn’t that work for Killian here is that a pick I want say in hindsight you would have done something differently or you know your your scouting and your Intel

Wasn’t as great as what happened when he came here but ultimately Why didn’t it work for Killian Hayes here no I mean it didn’t work but no um I mean he show I mean he’s yeah size versal Defender playmaker the ball it didn’t work cuz his shooting he never

Got his shooting I mean the guy can really defend we’ve seen that uh we’ve seen the playmaking ability um but if you’re a guard in NBA you got to make shots the further away from the basket the more skilled you have to be the closer to the basket the less skilled

You can be and if you’re a guard you got to make shots and I’ve talked to Killian uh at nausey about that improving his shooting and that that was uh ultimately why he wasn’t as successful as a player that he should be but he has all the

Attributes of um being a good player but when you’re a guard shooting his Paramount and um the other guys that are stepping up as we seen uh whether sassy and I their shooting is is is there and it’s coming um but if you look at the demise

Of um any guard in the NBA propelling himself to be a really good player you have to improve the shooting I mean guys like Marcus Smart came in non Shooters turned himself into 36 38 three-point shooter if you don’t come in you have to turn your weaknesses into

Strength and ultimately that’s uh he couldn’t get there on his shooting which um really didn’t bow well for him and uh to to your question why it didn’t work it it it was it was shooting you mentioned of not getting a first round pick how how hard did you

Try and how disappointing is it you couldn’t get a first round pick you know that’s for everybody to determine the pick or what have you like I said whether you have the third pick the fifth pick the 55th pick you want to try to get a good player absolutely we

Tried to get uh you know premium value for our players but I wouldn’t call it disappointing at all I mean the capital we got picks may be further out but that might add to uh being able to get us net of some other players I mean we we added

Seconds to get Sasser like you you need that Capital to get you so um I I wouldn’t call it disappointing that we didn’t get it first I mean everybody hops on that but he whatever picks you get um you have to if you pick you have to draft and draft

Well and then having that Capital to add to whatever transaction you make can can uh also help you so no I wouldn’t I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed we didn’t that at first that’s that’s uh talk for everybody else do you tro do you think um that man

Is connected enough to the the team and fig figured out the the roster in a way that you’d like to see rotations that sort of thing is it where you’d like it to be well he’s a coach um absolutely um I’ve said this like Monty has you know this year pain like

But all of us have been here have a different level of pain whether it’s one two three my case three my fourth season so I’m coming from a different place like he has to learn a team and learn the players and figure that out uh how it works

And how to connect a group and write combinations Etc so uh everybody that’s been watching and been around going to have their view how things should look and how they should play out but he’s fresh into this uh and so that takes a little time uh and uh he’s sorting

Through it and uh yeah I mean you never know your team and your players until you coach them and uh it it’s painful as we’re going through it but that’s just where we are um we got to go through the Rough Waters to get to Smooth Sailing and win and Rough Waters and

Um looking forward to smooth sail one day Troy can you uh give your message to piston fans that might not have a whole lot of confidence in what’s going on with this team right now and and why are you the right guy to kind of build this

Thing back up and maybe what is the timeline to get to where you want to get to well absolutely I’m the right guy um I sat here um June of 2020 and said we’re going to Res restore the Pistons that’s what we’re going to do

Uh we have a plan in place we have a young core that’s um showing that um they’re growing and they have a chance to be special players and it’s it’s on us to continue to fortify that group um we have things in place uh our cor is in place

Uh got a coaching place to lead us but absolutely excited about the future uh like I said we we’re own what’s behind us uh but more importantly we’re excited about uh what’s ahead of us um if you watched the last two nights you should feel good

About um what’s ahead of us and the young core and the guys we believe in and uh we’ll continue to for ify this group but like I said from day one like I’m unwavered I’m On Assignment to restore the Pistons and that absolutely will happen um taking a little longer

Like I said we’re in Rough Waters but that’s only going to make us stronger and uh we’re looking forward to uh brighter days and uh that will happen uh soon enough um I know the uh the fans have been tremendous uh and they hurting and they want a winner on the floor and

Uh know more than than we do and we’ll make sure that we’ll turn over every stone and work our tails off to put a team out there on the floor that they can uh be proud of and uh continue to come to uh LCA and supporters Troy seems like you’re

Putting a lot on the young players that you drafted the you know core assar and Jaden and jayen and K you’re expecting them to grow quickly I would assume so with that said is the objective for the rest of the year to see how Jaden and

Kade can play together and mesh on the floor at the same time cuz Jaden looks totally different when K isn’t out there yeah I mean when you going through I call it restoring retooling reboot rebuild the thing that people don’t like to give you as time and to be

Honest those guys just haven’t played a lot together I I mean young Court just hasn’t um due to injuries um and know K was out 60 70 games last year um Ivy was a rookie durren was a rookie I mean like this group just hadn’t been together and

Um yeah these last 30 games we like to see this young core jail and work together and find themselves but um you know time together many minutes together games together is extremely important and um you can’t uh you know take for granted uh how important that that that

Time together on the floor and those minutes together to figur it out I mean yeah you can say that uh Jaden has look different without Kate on the floor but I I don’t know how many minutes they’ve played together so we’ll figure it out

Last night was a big step um of that but they’ll figure it out um good players always do and we’re confident in that and so yeah we we need time served and um to your point uh these last 30 games we hopefully that we can build on that

What’s your vision for Grimes here with this group with this with that core and what’s the difference between this year’s Grimes and last year um Grimes is a three INE guy um Kelvin Samson spoke with him about sassin he said his two hardest workers were Sasser and Quinton

Grimes um so no we we’re excited about Aden Grimes uh he fif the profile that we need uh doesn’t need the ball makes shots defends at a high level uh great teammate um I mean we expect him to step into um a road to to to help um support uh

The young core he’s young so he’ll be part of that group and for him to continue to grow as well so um excited to um add him to the group he he was a huge Target for us how about Fontano what what do you like

Like a lot he was huge uh this guy’s made a huge huge strides from his first year in the NBA to this season um versatile his shooting um toughness um the Vigor he plays with um we’re excited about what he has young veteran uh even though he’s second in

NBA uh he 28 uh he has a maturity about him that um that we like uh that will miss with Bach dynames that he’ll bring uh but he’s a great team guys shoots the ball uh very high level complimentary player we we’re excited about um adding him to the group as

Well what’s your uh conversations been like with Tom goris and how confident is he that this thing can get kind of turned around and where do you think his patience is at how how disappointed is he no I mean we all have been disappointed with was behind us but uh

We’ve been added all year about improving and working hard and uh no doubt we need a change and uh we’ve done some of that but um extremely confident in what we have going forward um like I said it’s it’s been tough times but um you fight through it and we’ve done

That and um he’s given us um everything we need to be successful uh tremendous support uh leadership guidance uh through it all and you know like I said we we’re we’re excited about what’s ahead of us but definitely uh confident he uh wanted to make sure that we stayed on it he stays

On uh me every day on making sure we uh get this thing uh in the right direction and we’re excited about that challenge Troy you mentioned that it’s taken maybe a little bit longer than you thought it would to restore this team guess what has led to those setbacks in your mind

And where did you expect to be in this season before yes I mean it’s taken a little longer because of injuries um but that’s part of the game so I’m not crying over spilled milk um we’ve had a lot of change uh whether it be on the floor uh

Coaching but we we expected to take a step forward this year um that didn’t happen early on so now uh we had to change the energy and uh shake up a few things to get us going again but the the core is here and um excited about moving forward

But you know these things are never linear so um getting our feet under um now is um what we’re looking forward to The Challenge and uh I think we uh proving to be going in the right direction at waiting last few nights you’ve taken a lot of chances on former High Drive

Picks Bagley Knox wisman where situations that didn’t work out for them for one reason or another will that part of the strategy change if you’re taking will you take a flyer on a different type of player moving forward to try to fortify the back end or is that still

Something you’re looking for to be more I would say maybe more opportunistic and hoping that this environment will be better than previous environments yeah we we haven’t taken a big swing on those I mean they’ve been all lowrisk uh High reward type of things but yeah you always and that’s a part of

The to box that we always look at you know can you take a swing on a guy that hadn’t had success one somewhere else that won’t cost you um so no we we we always look at those opportun these whether um long as it doesn’t hurt the

Group uh and infringe on what we’re trying to do uh would definitely continue to look at that um that platform and that that box of player um the problem is when you when you do it and you um you know throw big money at them um when

They haven’t uh proved themselves so no we’ll stay away from that but I do like to uh profile of um looking at young players that um giving them a second chance in their footing as long as it’s it’s lowc cost High reward a couple of weeks ago Monty Williams alled to a organizational

Meeting about the usage of jayen iy just what exactly what was said about how you guys you his usage like thereof I mean we talk all the time in the meeting we just I mean that’s the meeting but we just talked about you know getting him um

More usess with the ball um just like any other meeting I mean uh we talk about the team and um how to be uh more useful with the players but yeah in that particular meeting we talked about him having the ball more in his hands and to Vince’s um

Question early about Kate and Ivy figuring now that’s that’s that’s part of it um when they on the floor together um splitting those guys um so yeah definitely had that conversation but it’s I mean improving the team is always ongoing uh conversation you do you feel like you’re

Changing your thoughts about spacing and shooting and you for a long time you talked about a couple of big guys and you would give other having two bigs on a team and you give other examples of teams that have done it not necessarily when either one can shoot but since you

Move Bagley in particular and got mcal and the way the spacing is kind of open up the offense is is this something that you feel like you’re you’re looking a little bit differently now moving forward in terms of the kind of bigs you want or just players in

General no I mean r scal is Big he he can just shoot no but I mean I I never said uh I wanted to be smaller I mean you have two bigs on the floor you need one that can shoot I mean Stewart’s been out and uh his shooting continues to to grow

So I mean I consider him a big um but mcal is uh playing their role yeah ideally you you play you want to play as much size as you can um and as much scale as you can um so um bagle um happy for him and what he’s doing in

Washington um but no um Steward enduring work because of Steward shooting and um whether it’s muscala ginary whoever it is you um he definitely went to shooting but uh before you get to the shooting you got to you got to get to the defense and that’s what I continue to stand on WE

We’ll continue to fix the shooting as you can look at our shooting numbers have been pretty decent but his defense that we need to hang our hat hats on hey Troy it’s Mike again um is there a chance that you’re not done adding to the roster this season especially since

It appears as if you’ll have a open roster spot yeah Mike we we’re never done we we’ll always continue to look at trying to add players so yeah it’s a possibility that we could add as well just you talked about the plan and that you’re the right guy for the job

Can you what do you think the timeline is I know you probably can’t answer exactly but what do you think the timeline is to when this team is back in the postseason maybe making deep runs in the postseason as we know it’s I mean

Not all on you but it’s been a long time for this organization since they’ve had some success well I mean when I came in I said we had to restore the Pistons and that’s that’s not changing so timeline uh I don’t have the exact answer to that

But we had a lot to clean up and get an order first and um we’ve done that um we had to draft these young players uh we have a young cord now that we really like and now uh we can move forward with him but um a

Timeline I mean we got the core together now for fortified a group and you know Monty and his group bill but uh I don’t know but I can’t give you exact date but the concrete has been poured we’ve we’ve we’ve got it uh to a place now um

Where we got the young Corp and we’ve um cleaned up a lot of things we got great books um so it’s there I mean we got great books and we got a young core and that’s exciting and um looking forward to but a timeline of when we’ll um be

Restored um is ongoing and we’re working ourselves off to to get us there so um you’ll know you’ll be the first to know uh when we hit it all right guys thank you appreciate it thanks thanks

Pistons GM Troy Weaver press conference after trade deadline | Feb. 9, 2024