The Detroit Pistons are moving quickly toward potential change as the worst season in franchise history comes to an end Sunday.
as The Athletic It was reported over the weekend that owner Tom Gores was strongly considering hiring a president of basketball operations who would have final say on all roster decisions. athletic Shams Charania reported on Monday It's really going to happen. Team and league sources say Gores and others are considering moving quickly to fill the position, which has been vacant since 2018.
The futures of both general manager Troy Weaver and head coach Monty Williams depend not only on whether Coach Gores hires a new top decision-maker in his front office, but also on who that person is. There is a possibility that We can assume that person would want full authority to hire their own general manager and coach to take on the job.
Detroit is currently in a vulnerable situation after finishing with the league's worst record (14 wins, 68 losses) for the second year in a row. But the Pistons have talented young players, led by 2021 No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, about $60 million in cap space this summer, and a top-five pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. .
There are elements in place that have the potential to get this issue back on the right track sooner rather than later.
As Detroit considers its next steps, let's take a look at some of the people who could lead its basketball operations.
John Horst
If I were the Pistons, I would keep a close eye on the situation in Milwaukee. Mr. Horst has served as general manager since June 2017. He won the NBA Executive of the Year Award in 2019 and built a Bucks team that won the NBA championship in 2021. .
He also has ties to the franchise. Horst, a native of Sandusky, Michigan, less than two hours north of Detroit, served as the Pistons' director of basketball operations from 2007 to 2008.
The Bucks have had a strange season this year, to say the least. The team clinched the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference on Sunday with a 49-33 record, but hasn't played impressive basketball for most of the year. Milwaukee fired head coach Adrian Griffin in January, even though the Bucks were 30-13 at the time. They replaced him with Doc Rivers and have gone 19-20 since then.
Given how blame tends to play out in the NBA, it's possible Bucks ownership will turn to the front office if the team disappoints in the postseason.
John Hammond
Hammond is the man Horst replaced in Milwaukee, but before that he made two of the most important moves in franchise history. It was Hammond who drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo in the summer of 2013 and acquired Khris Middleton in a trade with Detroit. Like Horst, he was also named NBA Executive of the Year, winning the award in 2010.
Hammond, who served as the Pistons' assistant general manager from the late 1990s to 2000, left Milwaukee in 2017 for Orlando, where he played a central role in building the Magic team and became a regular with a 47-35 record after winning the championship. Finished the season. He played 34 games a season ago. Hammond took over as Orlando's general manager in 2017, drafting players such as Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jonathan Isaac, and Jalen Suggs, as well as Nikola Vucevic, one of them Wagner) and Wendell Carter Jr. to Chicago.
Under Hammond, the Magic have acquired a plethora of long, long forwards between 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-10, the epitome of coveted players in today's NBA. Orlando boasted one of the best defenses in the NBA during the regular season.
Last summer, Hammond moved from general manager to senior advisor to president of Orlando's basketball operations.
Neil Olshey
Olshey, a longtime NBA executive who never won a big game in Portland and before being fired in 2021 following an investigation into allegations of a toxic environment within the Trail Blazers organization. had only sustainable success during his time with the organization. Olshey became general manager of the Trail Blazers in 2012 after two seasons in the same role with the LA Clippers, building a roster that won 50 or more games three times and 40 or more games four times. Portland reached the Western Conference Finals in 2019.
Olshey drafted Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Anfernee Simons and others.
Bryson Graham
Perhaps the least known name on this list, Graham has been one of the NBA's up-and-coming executives in recent years. He started as an intern with the New Orleans Hornets 14 years ago and worked his way up to assistant general manager of the Pelicans (formerly the Hornets).
New Orleans has been one of the better draft teams in recent years, stocking up on young, productive wings like Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III to complement Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson.
Dwane Casey
Perhaps the most well-known name on this list is Casey. He coached the Pistons from 2018 until his departure in 2023 to make way for Williams, and has decades of NBA experience that would make him a strong candidate for the position. Casey has deep ties to the NBA and overseas. Although Casey is best known for his coaching, he was heavily involved in scouting and talent evaluation while coaching both the Toronto Raptors and Pistons.
Casey is still in Detroit and working with the organization in a front-office role, so it would be an easy transition for Gores if he had such an idea.
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(Jon Horst Top Photo: Stacey Revere/Getty Images)