Pistons transferring on from Sekou Doumbouya is a head-scratcher
The Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons struck a strange deal on Friday.
No, it’s not because it was a “wage dump,” one of the most common maneuvers of unfortunate front offices in the NBA. It was rather weird because the team moving up from a player with a bloated salary rarely wins such deals.
In that deal, the Nets saved $ 47 million in salary and luxury tax fines by sending DeAndre Jordan and four future second-round picks to Detroit. That’s a hell of a move from Brooklyn’s general manager Sean Marks, considering Jordan, who earned about $ 10 million annually, didn’t appear in a single playoff game for the team. Sure, Marks had to add design capital to get another team to accept his contract, but it more than paid off in the end.
That’s because the Pistons were trading Sekou Doumbouya and Jahlil Okafor. Apparently, Detroit’s Front Office thinks a quartet of late selections will be more valuable than their number 15 overall rating from two years ago.
Okafor’s dispensability is understandable given a crowded forecourt and its journeyman character in recent years. However, Doumbouya wasn’t a player to be included in this type of deal, especially if the talent they received in exchange was bought out immediately.
Sure, his role with the Pistons would have been non-existent or further diminished with the inclusion of Cade Cunningham in last summer’s draft. As a team in asset accumulation mode, wouldn’t it be best for them to try and develop Doumbouya behind the scenes and get him back on the rotation? He’s shown signs of an upward trend before, and folks, he’s not even the legal drinking age in the United States! You can never have enough wings in today’s NBA.
It’s not that Detroit paid him a lot of money, nor would he hold the organization back. He seemed to have a great attitude, despite seeing sporadic minutes from game to game. Why move away from Doumbouya so rashly if you don’t get anything substantial back now or later? (Unless one of those second rounds hits or leads to a bigger deal – then we can take it up again and laugh).
Understanding that what was written was on the wall makes it feel like there is a better way to deal with it. Honestly, with all due respect to Pistons General Manager Troy Weaver, it seems like a situation where a player left over from a previous regime pulled the short end of the stick and didn’t fit into the current team’s vision. It’s tenable to say that Doumbouya hasn’t lived up to expectations up to this point, and maybe that was to blame for his Detroit expulsion, but the team didn’t give him much room for error in the first place. either.
If Brooklyn decides to keep Doumbouya on the team or develop its game with its G League daughter – the Long Island Nets – who knows how much that could pay off? And let’s face it – the Nets probably didn’t expect to get back a young player with untapped potential on a deal like this.
Should the Pistons have sent in their first round from two seasons ago? As a team embarking on a rebuild, you should want to have as many young, talented players as possible, and depth is never a bad thing. It’s surprising that by this point they gave up on a raw, 20-year perspective.
At his age, Doumbouya could take a few years before he gets a constant chance. He almost certainly won’t be part of the rotation of the Nets from the start. However, it’s hard to imagine a better way to spend this time than learning from the greats of the game and the veterans currently on this Brooklyn roster.
Doumbouya has shown promise in spurts. He’s quick and furious and has the athleticism. It’s about putting everything together with its physical framework. There’s no guarantee he’ll make it, but why go ahead now before you find out?
Marks and the Nets made a low risk, high reward decision to get him, while the Pistons may have lost a prospect who hasn’t even scratched the surface of what it can be.
