This week’s edition of Pistons Mailbag kicks off thoughts on Cade Cunningham’s All-Star future, fixes for the bench unit and Jalen Duren’s ankle injury.
@jacebauer/IG: Could Cade Cunningham be an All-Star?
Langlois: Yes! It won’t be easy, but it can be done. The competition is going to be extraordinary this season. The NBA has never had such packed rosters in its history, a byproduct of the game’s continued expansion around the world and the fact that there were 120 international players representing 40 countries beyond the borders of the United States on opening night. And whether Cunningham isn’t voted out by a combination of fans, players and voting media as a starter will depend on how NBA coaches vote. There’s a long-recognized bias for players on winning teams, so Cunningham will face a tough climb if the Pistons aren’t .500 or better by the end of January. But if he’s going to average something like 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists — which has become quite a routine night for him — I don’t know how you can keep him out. We’ve seen Cunningham look almost hesitant in the preseason and for the first regular season games other than the flurries where he’s dominated, but for the last handful of games – with the exception of Wednesday’s rematch at Milwaukee – he was simply dynamic. It reinforces the belief that he is simply one of the most intuitive players of this generation, someone who measures things and quickly finds ways to solve problems. We saw that happen last year after a slow start made worse by losing all of training camp to an ankle injury and we’re seeing it again. Great players recognize great players and Cunningham already has the respect of the All-Stars. He has All-Star games — lots of them — in his future. Whether it starts this season is the only real suspense.
Langlois: I don’t foresee any immediate changes to the starting five. It looked like Dwane Casey was considering starting Marvin Bagley III alongside Isaiah Stewart until Bagley suffered a knee injury in Game 3 of the preseason. Bojan Bogdanovic has come off the bench in two of those first three games. But with Bogdanovic playing so well and giving Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey some breathing room, I don’t know if he would want to tinker with that unit. The bench has been the biggest problem and the return of Bagley (and that of Alec Burks) should go a long way to solving his scoring issues. Once Bagley and Burks are back, if the bench unit still seems out of sync, then at least Casey would have options to change the starting formation in an effort to strengthen the bench. If Noel plays more, it’s hard to see how that doesn’t come at the expense of Jalen Duren. If the Pistons were at a different point, more heavily invested in the present than the future, that might tip the balance more in Noel’s side. As it stands, given how well Duren has done, I don’t think the Pistons are ready to make that call. If Burks and Bagley both come back and no one else is hurt by then – fingers crossed, but there’s almost never a time when the whole roster is available – then someone has to get out of the current rotation. Dwane Casey went with nine players in Monday’s game at Milwaukee and again in Wednesday’s first half, dropping minutes to Cory Joseph. Burks would probably take 10e place. Bagley needs to punch someone. It will be interesting to see how Casey uses it. Playing Bagley with Duren or Noel will emphasize shooting at other spots. It would seem to argue for Isaiah Livers over Hamidou Diallo as the last man, but we’ll see how that plays out. They could mitigate some of that by doing a little more staggered minutes, like Casey recently started doing to give Ivey and Saddiq Bey time with the bench unit. As for Hayes, Troy Weaver and Dwane Casey remained resolutely in his corner. They were optimistic heading into training camp and Hayes showed good signs in the preseason. It’s a big “if,” I know, but if Hayes can get some traction as a scorer — off the 3-point line and in the paint, in particular — he can become a force for good. His defense, game and rebounds are all on track for a 21-year-old. I don’t expect Hayes to be kicked out of the rotation any time soon.
@josipgs79/IG: What do you think of Bojan Bogdanovic?
Langlois: Excellent player. Great shooter. Can blend into any roster with his versatile skills, basketball IQ, and sense of how he can complement his teammates. I loved the trade and thought the extension reported this week should only be seen as a ringing endorsement from the Pistons of Bogdanovic’s side. He had seen enough in a month to determine that he would give up free agency to sign at a price that surely seems like a risk-free deal for the Pistons. Bogdanovic’s 3-point shooting and offensive acumen make him an ideal complement to young guards like Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Killian Hayes.
@cloudy_days: Is it worrying that there hasn’t been a statement about Jalen Duren’s ankle injury yet?
Langlois: There’s nothing wrong with the Pistons not providing an update on an injury that happened just days ago. It was reported as a sprained left ankle which occurred on Sunday night and he missed two games. Dwane Casey said Monday the swelling has gone down since Sunday’s injury and left the door open for him to get to Milwaukee in time for Wednesday’s game. Duren was then ruled out for Wednesday. Casey then said Wednesday that Duren was around 75 or 80 percent and hoped he would be available as soon as this weekend. I don’t read anything disturbing in there.
@PatrickFoley: Which teams are required to report injuries? When? It seemed difficult to get information about Duren.
Langlois: I’m a little puzzled by the confusion surrounding Duren’s injury. It is a well-trodden garden variety. If this was something the team expected to sideline long-term, there would almost surely be an announcement. That’s what happened when Marvin Bagley III suffered a bone bruise and a stretched medial collateral ligament in his right knee during pre-season. He had an MRI the next day and the team announced less than 24 hours after the incident that he would be ruled out for three to four weeks. If it exceeds that, I would expect an update. An injury like Duren’s, to all appearances, is a daily occurrence. We will therefore give updates as the official NBA injury report is released until its status changes. Teams are required to submit daily injury reports and NBA updates literally every hour, 24 hours a day, throughout the regular season. From the NBA: “NBA teams must report player injury, illness and rest information for all NBA games. By 5:00 p.m. local time the day before a game (other than the second day in a row), teams must designate a participating status and identify a specific potential player injury, illness or case in good resting health for any player. whose participation in the game may be affected by such injury, illness or rest. For the second game in a row, teams must report the above information by 1 p.m. local time on game day. Reports are updated continuously throughout the day. Teams are subject to fines if they violate the spirit of injury reports. The 76ers were fined $50,000 last spring for signing Joel Embiid “out” for a playoff game in which he was eventually cleared to play. The root of injury reporting in all major sports leagues is to provide equal access to information for all on the theory that it would otherwise incentivize gaming interests to engage in espionage to verify medical data.
Darrell (Detroit): The Pistons could have used Bol Bol’s production at $2.2 million a year. Why is the team allowing talents like Bol and Christian Wood to slip through their fingers just as the player is thriving and at a bargain price, no less? Is the team overestimating its talent assessment process? And while I appreciate the work that Troy Weaver does, my stomach churns every time I see Tyrese Haliburton perform, like every time I watch Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker and – dare I say? – Carmelo Anthony.
Langlois: I would disagree with saying that Bol and Wood slipped through their fingers. Bol missed his physique. If your medical team says a player is coming in with a problematic injury, you better take that advice. Bol is a unique talent, that’s for sure. He does things that players as big as him shouldn’t be able to do. But he has been plagued by physical frailties for years. He was considered a top-five prospect, but missed nearly all of his freshman season at Oregon and then was knocked out of the first round largely out of fear of how someone so thin that would hold him in the NBA. He’s played a total of 61 NBA games and is in his fourth season, so it seems those concerns were legitimate. Wood was a free agent. There were reports that the Pistons had made an offer, but Wood got one he felt was more attractive from Houston. Weaver ultimately used Houston’s interest in Wood to secure the sign-and-trade deal for the pick he used on Isaiah Stewart. Stewart epitomizes the tenacity and selflessness that Weaver and Dwane Casey want to be the benchmarks of Pistons culture. It’s not a trade Weaver would want to make. There isn’t an NBA general manager, currently employed or not, who doesn’t have a list of decisions he would execute differently given hindsight. This is the very nature of personnel appraisal. No one can predict the future or say with absolute certainty how a prospect will develop. No one can know for sure how reaching the NBA – the ultimate goal for some, as opposed to making a lasting impact – will affect a player’s motivation. That was true when GMs were recruiting 22-year-old prospects with four years of college experience, and it’s even more true in a time when prospects are often drafted at 18 or 19. Every franchise could field a championship-worthy roster if they played the “what if” game.
