DETROIT _ Trade Blake Griffin. Trade Andre Drummond. Trade Reggie Jackson, they say.
Heck, trade the Pistons' mascot, Hooper.
Trade everybody for first-round picks and vaporize the roster.
Play the young guys _ Luke Kennard, Sekou Doumbouya and Christian Wood _ and see what happens. Actually, trade them, too, if the return package is good enough.
The more vocal portion of the Pistons' fan base is beyond frustrated _ and rightfully so. Through 30 games, the Pistons are 11-19, a season-worst eight games below .500. And even before Saturday's 119-107 loss to the Chicago Bulls, the vitriol had been reverberating throughout sports-talk radio, social media and casual conversations.
Any optimism for this season has been muted by injuries, with Griffin missing half the season because of knee issues; Jackson has missed 28 games and Derrick Rose six. Only Bruce Brown and Langston Galloway have played in all 30 games.
On one hand, the Pistons are in 11th place in the East, but on the other, they're two games out of the eighth and final playoff spot. This isn't a roster _ with a payroll of $132 million _ that should be content with chasing a No. 8 seed. Realistically, the goals should be higher and the long-term direction should be clearer, based on the experienced playing rotation and the 11 years of languishing of mediocrity without a win in a playoff game.
Change is coming. It just might not be the sweeping change that some desire _ and maybe not as swiftly as they want. The reality of the NBA trade market and the value placed on some of the Pistons' top players don't match up in a way that'll make it a rapid rebuild.
The fallacy is that the Pistons can just put a garage sale sign out and teams will drop down draft picks like Monopoly money, ready to make a deal. The same fans who grouse about Griffin, detest Drummond and joke about Jackson want to get maximum value in a trade for players they readily admit are flawed.
The reality is that opposing general managers see the same faults and will send low-ball offers _ if there are any offers at all. Drummond and Jackson have been rumored to be available via trade in recent years, with underwhelming trade packages in return. Those were in years that they were highly productive. Jackson has had a back injury for most of this season, so even with his expiring contract for $18.1 million, his trade value is depressed.
The same goes for Griffin. When the Pistons traded for the six-time All-Star in January 2018, the implicit understanding was that his contract would be hard to move. After an All-NBA season last year, Griffin's trade value was its highest, but the Pistons' outlook was for another playoff appearance, not an immediate overhaul.
Griffin's contract has two more years and $75 million _ equally yoked with his injury history _ making him highly unlikely to trade before the Feb. 6 deadline, unless team owner Tom Gores is willing to part with his stars for fractions of their value, simply to remake the roster.
