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Hardwood Paroxysm Presents: What does your team need?

By HP Basketball Network

Nov 15, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (left), forward Kevin Love (center) and center Anderson Varejao react while sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 15, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (left), forward Kevin Love (center) and center Anderson Varejao react while sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 6, 2014; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Josh Smith (6) during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2014; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Josh Smith (6) during the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports /

We’re at the midpoint of the season. The trade deadline is less than a month away. A lot could still change between now and the playoffs. With that in mind, the Hardwood Paroxysm tackled a tough question: What does your team need? Not only teams like the win-now Cleveland Cavaliers, who are struggling to put the pieces of their championship puzzle together, but those that have their eyes set on the future. The NBA is marathon, not a sprint, after all.

The Pistons got Not Josh Smith, but they still need Better Players

By Ian Levy (@HickoryHigh)

The Detroit Pistons resurgence has been great. It’s always fun watching a team shed a multi-season shroud of misery and frustration. With any luck it will sustain across the rest of the season and the Pistons will get to do some memory-making in the playoffs. Releasing Josh Smith was clearly the turning point, and whether the effect of his absence was functional or psychological is immaterial. They are better without him. Unfortunately, they are not nearly good enough.

As well as the Pistons are playing, they aren’t nearly good enough to compete for a title which, I assume, is the ultimate goal. Project this team into the future and they are still mostly Andre Drummond and a bunch of empty roster spots. Brandon Jennings is shooting the lights out but it won’t last because he’s Brandon Jennings. Greg Monroe has played like a man-possessed but I find it hard to believe that he and the Pistons will mutually agree to continue their partnership next season, let alone settle on a price agreeable to both parties.

It’s going to be hard to shake up this party, but if the Pistons are really interested in moving forward they should be looking upgrade their future while the present is hot. There are all sorts of fantastical possibilities. Perhaps Monroe could snag a long-term point guard answer from the Phoenix Suns. Maybe a team in need of some bench scoring like the Portland Trail Blazers could be goaded into taking Jennings in exchange for some youthful potential.

It’s easy to draw parallels between this Pistons team and last year’s Toronto Raptors squad, who went on a bender after sending Rudy Gay to Sacramento. But continuity is not going to serve the Pistons well. They don’t have the talent of the Raptors and simply showing up next season with the same guys and bushel full of good vibrations is not going to do the trick. Now is the time to strike, to move, to embiggen even the smallest spot on this roster.

Don’t let a win streak stop you from doing the right thing, Stan Van.

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