After years of looking the other way, Tom Gores read the writing on the wall. And now another message is taking shape: the Pistons might be ready to tank.
Not a 76ers-style tank that spans multiple years. Not a Knicks-style tank -- and re-tank and re-tank -- that eats away at a fan base. The Pistons won't go down the road of long-term losing as long as Gores owns the team.
But for the rest of this season? It's starting to feel like that's the plan.
Gores sent the first signal last week when he suggested the Pistons could take their foot off the win-now gas. After all, it's led them nowhere. In fact, it's led them somewhere worse, stuck in the mushy middle of the NBA where both the present and the future go to die.
The next day, wouldn't you know, word leaked that the Pistons are engaged with multiple teams on an Andre Drummond trade. Drummond's future was always going to be the main subplot of this season. With Gores and the Pistons apparently ready to move on, the focus shifts to Blake Griffin.
Hampered by a bad knee, Griffin's played in just 18 games this season. He hasn't been close to the player he was last season. And now he's contemplating season-ending knee surgery, prepared to chalk up 2019-20 as a loss. If he goes through with it, the Pistons will be punting on the season, too.
So maybe that's a better word than tanking. Whatever you want to call it, the intention is clear: lose for a higher pick. The draft is the Pistons' most viable vehicle toward building a winner. Finally, led by Ed Stefanski, they're operating with that in mind.
As it stands now, the Pistons (13-24) are seventh in the draft lottery. If they play the bulk of the second half without Drummond and Griffin, they could climb into the top three. At that point, they'd have about a 50 percent chance at a top-four pick, and a 14 percent chance of picking first. That's as good as it gets in today's NBA.
And that's just their own pick. The Pistons could feasibly add two first-rounders if they trade Drummond and, say, Derrick Rose. Detroit might not be inclined to ship out Rose, who's signed on the cheap through next season, but his value right now is about as high as it's going to get. And Rose's injury history makes him a volatile stock. It's time for the Pistons to cash in.
Neither first-rounder for Drummond or Rose would be all that high, certainly not in the top 10. But it's been 13 years since the Pistons had multiple first-round picks. (It's been more than 40 years since they had three.) It's the kind of luxury that a talent-strapped organization can't pass up, especially one that doesn't move the needle in free agency.
Speaking of extra picks, the sell-off shouldn't stop with Drummond and Rose. Langston Galloway, Markieff Morris, Tony Snell and Reggie Jackson's expiring contract should be up for sale as well. Detroit has the makings of a young core, starting with 19-year-old Sekou Doumbouya. The more they can add to it, the better.
Gores and the Pistons never wanted to tank. Stefanski didn't either, for that matter. They recoil from the idea like they're dealing with the devil. But they've tried to do it Gores' way, building around the cumbersome core they have in place. It's left them here, with no way out but down.
So that's where they'll go for a few months, and hope they emerge on the way up.
