Troy Weaver entered this offseason wanting to add shooting and perimeter defense to the Pistons roster. He drafted Marcus Sasser Thursday night and accomplished both.
With the first round winding down, the Pistons sent pick No. 31 and two future second-rounders to the Celtics to jump six spots and take the 6'2 guard from Houston and the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
"We’re really excited about adding Marcus to really shoot the ball, to really defend," Weaver said Friday on the Stoney & Jansen Show. "He’s tough. Biggest thing is that this guy’s a winner. He brings a winning attitude, he’s a stabilizing personality. Even though he’ll be a young player, he’ll be a stabilizer for us. That’s the way he plays. He can play with all our guards because he can space the floor and shoot it and he can guard the ball. He’s going to bring a lot of great Pistons qualities to Detroit."
Sasser, 22, was a four-year player at Houston who averaged 17.0 points per game and 40 percent from three over his final two seasons. He has a smooth stroke and NBA range. He's also a feisty defender who, much like fifth overall pick Ausar Thompson, fits Weaver's vision for the Pistons as "a disciplined defensive team that brings it every night and plays unselfishly."
"He brings great intangibles to our group, that really stood out. He’s one of those foxhole guys," Weaver said. "He brings it every day, he’s ready to play, he’s going to push the group forward. You always want guys who add to the group, and these two young men add to the group. We won’t have to bring them along. They’ll jump right in and add to the culture and help move us forward."
As for Thompson, Weaver said the Pistons believe "he has a chance to be a big-time two-way player. He has all the ingredients to be successful in today’s NBA with his size and versatility and athleticism."
The 6'7 wing has drawn frequent comparisons to four-time NBA champ Andre Iguodala.
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"He gives us versatility that allows us to play big or small," Weaver said. "We really didn’t have an athlete (on our roster) with that kind of size. He can take a lot of pressure off our perimeter players being able to stick the best player (on the other team), giving us another wing defender that can guard on the perimeter and another player that can make plays with the ball and get downhill. We think it’s a great fit with our young core."
Other highlights from Weaver's interview on 97.1 The Ticket:
On whether they'll target a 3-and-D player in free agency: "We’re definitely going to be active in free agency and try to continue to add to the ballclub. Every NBA team wants to add shooting, we will as well. We like our veteran shooters with (Bojan) Bogdanovic and (Alec) Burks, but we’d like to add some more shooting if we could. Sasser adds to our shooting, getting (Isaiah) Livers healthy for a full season will add to our shooting, getting Cade (Cunningham) back, but a shooting profile is definitely something we’ll vet out."
On whether No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama has Hall of Fame potential: "That’s at minimum. I think this guy can be as good as we’ve seen. I’m happy for the league, I’m happy for him and his family, but I’m happy for the players to get a chance to compete against this kind of player. The guys that played in the Jordan era all talked about playing against him, and now this group will talk about being able to play against this guy. It’s exciting times in the NBA to welcome this guy to the league, and I know our guys will be excited to play against him as well."