The Detroit Pistons are in the middle of what has undoubtedly been the worst four-year stretch in franchise history. Since Troy Weaver took over as general manager, Detroit has a 70-229 record. They have 17 fewer wins than any other NBA team in that span. Earlier this season, they broke the record for the longest single-season losing streak in league history by racking up 28 straight defeats. While Detroit has accumulated some promising talent in that stretch, its young players have failed to coalesce, and at this point, the Pistons still seem far away from high-level winning.
All of that losing has taken its toll on everyone involved. That apparently includes not only Weaver, but Detroit's fans as well. On Sunday, a video surfaced that showed an altercation between Weaver and a Pistons fan that got quite heated. The exact context of the incident is unknown, including how or why it started. More so, the audio isn't fully clear for all of it. However, Weaver can be heard apparently saying the words "beat your ass" to the fan, who was wearing a Detroit Red Wings jersey, who responded by saying "you suck at your job."
It is hard to imagine a scenario in which it would be acceptable for an NBA general manager to threaten to beat up a fan, though without knowing what was said before the camera started rolling, it is impossible to really judge what happened. Regardless, tensions are justifiably quite high in Detroit right now, and logic would dictate that Weaver is on quite a hot seat at the moment.
His overall performance as Detroit's general manager can't be measured as simply as that fan would have us believe. His draft picks, overall, have been successful. Cade Cunningham appears to be on an All-Star trajectory. Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson have all shown quite a bit of promise as well. These aren't the Process-era 76ers. There is talent here.
Further complicating matters is the coaching search that Weaver was reportedly overruled on. The Pistons ultimately hired Monty Williams last offseason and gave him a six-year, $78 million deal despite reporting that indicated that Weaver's preferred choice was Kevin Ollie, who is now the interim head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Williams has been widely criticized for his performance in his debut season in Detroit.
Many of the problems the Pistons have dealt with this season can be traced back to both of them. The Pistons have struggled most this season when they've put out lineups without enough shooting. To some extent, that is on Williams, whose Suns teams were notoriously mid-range heavy in their shot-selection. But Weaver also ignored shooting far too much in selecting his young players in the first place, and the veteran shooters he put around them all represented poor asset valuations.
The Pistons took on the poor contract of Joe Harris this offseason in a move that limited their flexibility. Harris has dealt with the same injury issues that ruined his previous two seasons in Brooklyn. Detroit held onto Bojan Bogdanovic until the 2024 trade deadline despite reportedly getting offered first-round picks for him in 2023.
Weaver clearly has an eye for talent. That's what got him the Pistons job in the first place, and he's more or less delivered on that promised through four years. But he's struggled at almost every other element of the job. He hasn't settled on a cohesive vision for the franchise as a whole that puts his young players in positions to succeed.
He either couldn't identify the proper coaching candidate or couldn't sell ownership on hiring that candidate. Now, it seems, he's even struggling to maintain his composure in the face of criticism from fans. We don't fully know what provoked this incident, but no matter what it was, no team ever wants to see its top basketball executive get this heated with fans.