Tag: Ed Stefanski

Pistons adviser Ed Stefanski on LaMelo Ball: ‘He has a lot of talent’

The Detroit Pistons are a team in desperate need of a point guard like LaMelo Ball and are also one of the few teams that scouted him in-person.

The Detroit Pistons were one of a few teams heading into the 2020 NBA Draft Lottery with a need for a point guard. With teams in varying parts of rebuilds across the lottery, the Pistons are at the beginning stage of their teardown.

A player like Ball, then, would have been a great asset to start off with. However, the big jumps from the Hornets and Bulls came at the expense of the Pistons, who dropped from No. 5 to No. 7.

Still, Detroit was one of the few teams that got a firsthand look at Ball and remain high on him heading toward the October draft. Pistons’ senior advisor Ed Stefanski spoke this week on a local radio show about Ball.

“I would just say, that young man has a lot of talent. There’s no question about it. And we were able to see him early, we had a scout for a while overseas in Australia to watch. So we were fortunate there, where some teams were going to go over in the spring to see him play and obviously that’s not going to happen now.”

Stefanski has spoken about Ball on the same radio show in the past. He noted then that the team had a chance to scout Ball and that the team wouldn’t be turned away from LaMelo because of LaVar.

The problem for the Pistons is that they will be forced to trade up if they want a chance at Ball. The team isn’t due any first round draft picks in the coming year but doesn’t owe any either. Despite both Markieff Morris and Reggie Jackson being on title-contending teams in Los Angeles after starting the year in Detroit, the Pistons could not manufacture a trade for either.

With a lack of young assets to trade, though, it would require a healthy amount of draft picks to move up into the range to get Ball, a risk that may not be worth taking for a team only starting a rebuild.

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Stefanski and his staff were able to …

Stefanski and his staff were able to keep the Pistons afloat, navigating through the salary cap and staying away from the luxury tax. They also added a couple of young pieces in the draft and through shrewd trades to buoy their future hopes. “Ed has come in and done a great job of stabilizing our front office and cleaning some things up,” team owner Tom Gores said this week. “We just felt it was time to go big or go home. Let’s just go get the best. We have a great coach ready to go. Dwane (Casey) and Troy have a great chemistry that they’ve built — that was important to me.”

When Gores targeted Weaver, it was with …

When Gores targeted Weaver, it was with the understanding that he would fit within the existing structure and utilize the experience and feedback from the key stakeholders. Weaver brings the eye for talent, but working with the other key pieces helps to solidify everything and ensure everyone is going in the same direction. “There’ll be a nice divide-and-conquer coming in and again that’s why I trust Troy to come in as someone smart enough to leverage resources,” Gores said. “At a high level, we’ll work all this out in the detail. Really, Troy, and Ed and Dwane will work on a day-to-day basis with each other, and Troy will have normal — and even higher than normal — GM responsibilities and he’s got a lot to learn. He’s going to get on the ground and know each player well and connect with (Casey) and so on and then as it bubbles up to ownership, Arn and I — if there’s big decisions that need to be made — we’ll all gather.”

With Weaver in place, the Pistons could …

With Weaver in place, the Pistons could have a more traditional structure for the first time since 2018, with plenty of input from the other involved parties. It meant making room for Weaver’s expertise and agreeing to work collaboratively to make it work. “They all had reasons not to like this, because we’re bringing in a very powerful person in Troy,” Gores said. “Troy’s got a lot of responsibility and power in this team. I’m just really happy that he’s going to leverage all the resources, but at the end of the day, I think Troy will work with Ed on a day-to-day basis and coach, and as things bubble up that need Arn and I, obviously we’ll, you know, we’ll step in there.”