The Troy Weaver era with the Pistons looks like it’s coming to an end.
According to James Edwards and Shams Charania of The Athletic, Pistons’ new President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon will begin to “reshape” the organization how sees fit by first parting ways with general manager Troy Weaver.
The decision to let Weaver go comes a week after the Pistons hired Langdon to be their new president of basketball operations, giving him free rein to make big changes to both the front office and coaching staff, with owner Tom Gores telling him that money is no object, per team sources.
The Athletic
Furthermore, according to The Athletic, the team did offer Weaver who still has multiple years left on his contract an offsite scouting role with the team which he declined.
In the meantime, the Pistons are believed to be in serious talks with Pelicans executive Michael Blackstone to fill the No. 2 role under Langdon having served as the VP of Basketball Operations for the Pelicans the past several seasons. Blackstone was also formally an assistant GM with the Hawks and executive director of basketball operations with the Cavaliers.
Weaver had to go
The Pistons finished a league-worst 14-68 this past season setting a record for consecutive losses while also setting a franchise mark for futility. Coming off a previously bad season the year prior there was simply no justifiable avenue for Weaver to return to the team in the same role. Not to mention it would’ve been criminal to allow Weaver to oversee another draft especially an offseason where the Pistons have roughly $60M in available cap space. Meanwhile, Weaver did little to improve the team’s shortfalls especially when it came to finding a proven shooter or wing defense. Instead, Detroit was laden with an unbalanced roster which ultimately led to not only massive failures on the court but the downfall of Weaver himself.
The next question is what happens with head coach Monty Williams and the loads of money still owed to him. Given owner Tom Gores’ willingness to let a new regime clean house, you have to think that Langdon and whoever takes over GM will have free reign to make any final decisions when it comes to the head coach. Whether Williams is in their final plans is yet to be seen.
