Detroit, MI
Should the Detroit Pistons go star hunting this offseason?
It is clear that Cade Cunningham need help and that it is unclear if there are more than two or three players on the Detroit Pistons’ current roster capable of giving it to him. Maybe two or three years down the line, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, and Ausar Thompson put it all together and create a perenial playoff team. Do the Pistons have that kind of time to wait? Cunningham is eligible for a max extension soon, and after so much losing it is unclear how much more patience he has for development.
The next question then becomes, what kind of help does Cunningham need? There are two primary avenues here. Down one road, you self off the remaining upside of some your young players, you attach some draft picks, and you grab a star to play as a 1B beside Cade’s 1A.
The other path is to forgo big-game hunting and instead sign players who are much more likely to be named a “Luke Walton All-Star” than to make an actual NBA All-Star team.
This debate had been rattling around in my head for a while when news first started bubbling that Trae Young might be on the trade block in Atlanta. After another disappointing season, it’s clear the Hawks are ready to change the chemistry of the team in a significant way, and moving on from their All-Star point guard for a haul of assets is one path they could take. The Pistons, meanwhile, will always be lumped in as a possible destination because “they have to do something” and “are so desperate they would overpay.”
When this news hit Pistons fans on social, I was a bit taken aback by how people were firmly on the side of trading for Young if it was possible. If it costs you Ivey and Duren and other assets, be damned. Cade needs someone good to play off of because that will finally turn Detroit’s ship back toward relevance.
Maybe that’s all correct, but my gut instinct is to say no way. Regarding Young, both he and Cade feel like players whose games would be diminished by having to split possessions and both being weaker defenders. It feels like it amplifies weaknesses instead of maximizing strength.
Perhaps another star disappoints in the playoffs and hits the trade market. In fact, can Devin Booker please shoot 8-for-100 in a Suns sweep that also somehow culminates in him getting in a shouting match with both Kevin Durant and Mat Ishbia? Please?
If no stars emerge then what is the optimal pathway for the Pistons? For me, it’s to go the Luke Walton All-Stars route.
I have no illusions about Detroit’s young players being some crop of great young assets. But I do think they’ve all shown signs, and are all so young that you don’t know who or how each player will work alongside Cunningham.
The problem is not that you have a bunch of 22-year-olds who are not good enough alongside Cade. The problem is that your 22-year-olds are all somehow the best players on your team so when they are struggling you can’t swap them in for something better.
Duren just delivered an atrocious defensive performance for a center, but he spent the entire season with James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley as his backups. Jaden Ivey’s shot frequently abandoned him and his decision-making left a lot to be desired. His backup was Alec Burks, who hemorrhaged points on defense, and Evan Fournier who did the same.
Cunningham had some remarkable turnover issues early in the year and sometimes went very cold from deep. His backup was Killian Hayes (when he wasn’t starting next to him), and he ended up being one of the least efficient guards in NBA history.
I’m not sure the Pistons need a Trae Young. What they need is four more Simone Fontecchis. Players who are capable scorers who complement Cunningham’s (and other young players’) strengths and are natural to above average on defense. They need players better, or at least more reliable on both ends, than Duren, Ivey, Thompson and Sasser.
They need vets to set a standard that the young guys know they need to surpass to get or keep a starting role or to play crunch time in the fourth quarter.
They need a quality defensive center, an above-average backup point guard, a starting two-way forward, and one or two more depth pieces. The good news is that the team has $60 million to make all that happen. The bad news is that I’m not sure there are $60 million worth of capable free agents who would take their money.
But I don’t personally need a Trae Young trade. I don’t need a Zach LaVine trade. I don’t need Paul George.
Look to the Houston Rockets model. Yes, they spent $200 million in one free agent period and they missed the playoffs. But they didn’t sacrifice young assets, they improved to 41-41 and the vibes are good.
The Rockets didn’t sacrifice much young, but Amen Thompson, Tari Eason and Cam Whitmore started a total of 25 games. That’s fewer games started than Killian Hayes.
What about players like Isaiah Hartenstein and Malik Monk? Both are free agents around 26 years old you could reliably offer a big paycheck to and not expect an immediate fall off. Tyus Jones was a forgotten man in Washington, but he had another excellent season. Nic Claxton is a 25-year-old defensive force who might be done in Brooklyn.
When engaging in what I would call a healthy dialogue about Trae Young and whether he made sense for the Pistons, I floated the idea of a threshold of 2500 total minutes and averaged about .100 win shares per 100 possesions, which is about starter level while not making an All-Star team in the past three seasons.
Some names that stood out: Clint Capela, Nic Claxton, Tobias Harris, Isaiah Hartenstein, Harrison Barnes, Andre Drummond, Isaac Okoro, Cam Johnson, Mortiz Wagner, Payton Pritchard, Collin Sexton, Dean Wade.
Lots of centers (Detroit needs one) and solid veteran wings (same)
— Sean Corp (@sean_corp) April 16, 2024
Some players might be too old and clearly on the downswing, others might be great stopgap candidates. Maybe a buy-low opportunity or a guy like Okoro worth taking a real swing on in a trade.
Is this a reasonable path or is this just a road to nowhere? Generally curious where people fall. I’m all for making a huge swing if the person is right, but I don’t see Young being that guy. Conversely, it’s easy to say a new smart GM can target a bunch of worthwhile free agents, but those guys will have offers from other, much better teams.
What path do you hope the new president of basketball operations takes?
Detroit, MI
Bruce Campbell announces cancer diagnosis; ‘Fear not,’ he tells fans
Treatment will delay the Royal Oak-born actor’s plans to tour his new film ‘Ernie & Emma’ this summer.
Royal Oak-born movie star and cult hero Bruce Campbell announced on social media on Monday that he has been diagnosed cancer — a type that is “treatable” but not “curable,” he said.
“I apologize if that’s a shock — it was to me too,” the “Evil Dead” star, 67, wrote in a message posted to Instagram.
He went on to say “I’m not gonna go into any more detail,” and he didn’t. He said the public announcement had to do with scaling back appearances on his schedule, including tour dates behind his latest film, “Ernie & Emma.”
Campbell planned to show the movie June 5 at the Redford Theatre; as of Monday night, that date is still on the Redford schedule, but Campbell wrote in his note he plans to get “as well as I possibly can over the summer so that I can tour with my new movie ‘Ernie & Emma’ this fall.”
The movie is written, directed by and stars Campbell as a man who goes on a journey following the death of his wife. Campbell produced the movie alongside his wife, Ida Gearon, and filmed it in Oregon, where he now lives.
Campbell told The News in January he dedicated “Ernie & Emma” to his childhood moviemaking pals, including Scott Spiegel, who died of a heart attack in September 2025.
“It’s a callback to the carefree days of Super 8, where we could do whatever the f–k we wanted to do,” Campbell said of “Ernie & Emma.” “So I thought, ‘All the boys are responsible for this,’ so they’re all in there.”
Campbell got his start making movies around Metro Detroit with his childhood pal, Sam Raimi. Campbell starred in Raimi’s “Evil Dead” trilogy and has since appeared in most of Raimi’s films; Campbell makes a brief appearance in a photograph in the background of an early scene in Raimi’s latest, “Send Help.”
He’s also an author; Campbell’s autobiography “If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor” was published in 2001.
In his post on social media, Campbell thanked fans and said he was not out to elicit sympathy.
“Fear not, I am a tough old son-of-a-bitch and I have great support, so I expect to be around for a while,” he wrote.
agraham@detroitnews.com
Detroit, MI
Michigan State Police sends message to drivers after trooper involved in hit and run:
“Slow down and move over” is the message that Michigan State Police is sending to drivers after one of its troopers in a parked patrol car was struck while investigating a crash this weekend. The driver of that vehicle fled the scene.
Michigan State Police tells CBS News Detroit that we’re two months into the year, and it has had six incidents across the state where patrol cars were struck by oncoming vehicles. One of those incidents occurred on Sunday evening.
“Could have been much more tragic,” said MSP Lieutenant Rene Gonzalez, First District public information officer.
Gonzalez says on Sunday, an MSP trooper was near M-10 and Schaefer Highway in Detroit, simply doing his job, when his patrol car was hit from behind.
“Trooper was out there, and he was investigating a crash when, at the time, a Jeep SUV drove into the rear of the parked vehicle,” Gonzalez said.
The impact slid the trooper’s car into a concrete wall. The 29-year-old Detroit woman driving the Jeep SUV struck the center median, got out of the vehicle, and ran away.
“Not sure why they did it. Maybe not paying attention if they were distracted. They’re attempting to locate her at this time,” said Lt. Gonzalez.
The trooper walked away with minor injuries. Gonzalez says this incident is an example of why Michigan’s Move Over Law was put in place many years ago. The law, which went into effect in 2019, requires drivers to move over into the next lane and reduce their speed by at least 10 mph when emergency or service vehicles — police, fire, rescue, ambulance and road service — have their lights activated.
Drivers who are not able to move over are still required to reduce their speed.
“Trying to do our jobs, however, people are not paying attention. The law is easy. It’s simple. You see us, you see our lights activated, you have to slow down ten miles below the posted speed limit, and then if able, move over to the next occupied available lane,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez says crashes like this can be deadly and often avoided.
“One life lost over something that was a totally preventable crash, it’s way too much. We’re asking that you slow down and move over when you see our lights. It’s a simple message that we’ve been pushing out for years,” he said.
Sunday’s crash remains under investigation. Michigan State Police detectives are still working to track down the 29-year-old suspect.
In the meantime, police are out enforcing the Move Over Law.
Detroit, MI
Rex Satterfield’s 1956 Bel Air takes 2026 Ridler Award in Detroit
The impact and history of autos in Detroit, The Motor City
Here are some facts about Detroit’s auto industry.
Rex Satterfield hoped to see his 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible snag one of the BASF Great 8 finalist spots at this year’s Detroit Autorama. But winning the Ridler Award — one of the highest honors in the custom car business — was something he didn’t foresee.
“It’s just overwhelming right now,” said the man from Russellville, Tennessee, as he left a ballroom at downtown’s Huntington Place and made his way back to the show floor on Sunday, March 1. “We weren’t expecting this.”
Getting a car recognized as one of the BASF Great 8 vehicles is a win in and of itself as they are considered the “absolute pinnacle of custom automotive craftsmanship worldwide,” according to the show. The cars undergo an intensive judging process.
And this effort had an unexpected and emotional complication with the passing in December 2024 of the original builder, Jeff Wolfenbarger, who was battling cancer even as he continued working on the car named “Elegant Lady.”
Kevin Riffey of Kevin Riffey’s Hot Rods and Restorations in Knoxville stepped in to finish the work Wolfenbarger started. He’d had two other cars in the past make the Great 8. He said the goal with this vehicle was straightforward, calling it a “purpose-built show car.”
From its prominent spot at the front of the show floor, “Elegant Lady” sported a creamy exterior, dubbed Light Coffee. The car carries a 1,000 horsepower Don Hardy race engine. The gauges, wheels and gas tank are custom, and the dash is from a 1956 Pontiac.
Satterfield plans to show the car around some and enjoy the moment with it. He said he’s been a car guy since he was a little kid.
The Ridler Award, named in honor of Detroit Autorama’s first publicist, Don Ridler, comes with a $10,000 prize. It was awarded on the final day of this year’s Detroit Autorama, which ran Friday, Feb. 27-Sunday, March 1. This was the event’s 73rd year.
Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Send your tips and suggestions about cool automotive stuff to elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
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