Inside the Article:
He was at it yesterday with one Detroit general manager, and now he’s at it again with another. 97.1 The Ticket host Mike Valenti ripped into Detroit Pistons GM Troy Weaver this afternoon shortly after the news broke that the team had traded for Joe Harris of the Brooklyn Nets and his expiring contract.
The acquisition of Joe Harris took place earlier today
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news, stating that Harris was picked up by Detroit from the Nets, along with a pair of second-round draft picks:
“Along with Harris and his $19.9M expiring contract, the Nets are sending the Pistons a 2027 second-round pick via Dallas and a 2029 second-round pick via the Bucks,” Wojnarowski wrote.
Valenti took Troy Weaver to task soon after
But in typical fashion, Valenti wasn’t exactly filled with positive thoughts on the move, stating that Detroit taking on Harris’ contract does nothing but help the Nets and essentially end any chance of the Pistons landing Cam Johnson.
“What the hell is Troy Weaver doing?” he demanded to know.
“He’s a terrible defensive player. So, you made this big hullabaloo about drafting Ausur Thompson and Sasser and ‘reclaiming the past’. Here’s the best part – you just used a vast majority of your cap space in helping the very team you wanted to ravage with Cam Johnson. You helped them and took on a player they didn’t want, used your cap space, and took yourself out of the market for Cam Johnson.”
“Eff this,” he continued. “Honestly, this Troy Weaver thing of always taking on garbage, there was a nice opportunity to go out and get a nice player. And the best part is that even if Harris having a good year, you’re not re-signing him. He has no future here. You didn’t make yourself better.”
“You helped the team you were trying to kill. You handed the lion the rifle. What are they doing here?”
“This is not a home run,” his co-host Rico Beard added. “He said he’d hit a home run, this is not a home run.”
Valenti then really twisted the knife:
“Do you understand how stupid it is?” he said. “I hate saying this because these are all intelligent people. But for a moment, indulge me. Do you know how stupid Troy Weaver is in this regard? You only made the Nets give you two second round picks to save their offseason?”
Key Points
- The Pistons acquired the expiring contract of Joe Harris today
- Mike Valenti ripped Pistons GM Troy Weaver
- In Valenti’s mind, this move does nothing to help Detroit and only aids the Nets
Wrapping It Up
In typical fashion, Valenti didn’t exactly endorse a move made by one of our local teams here. Is he out of line with his comments?
Could have been so much worse. Troy has given the Pistons tons of young assets to build around, signed/traded for/extended veterans on reasonable contracts with valuable terms and/or duration, kept the cap sheet flexible, and roster spots (ultimately, playing time) open for the young and talented assets to develop. Cameron Johnson got 4 years for 108 million dollars from the Nets. He wasn’t coming to Detroit for less than $30mil/year and the Nets still could have matched, so that was NEVER a viable option. They aren’t ready for that piece yet anyway and he would be turning 30 when the rest of the young core are just starting their primes. He with him and Bogdanovic on the team it would have taken a lot of improvement developmental minutes away from all of the former 1st round draft picks on the team who are still in desperate need of “time on task” training, still figuring out what kind of NBA assets that they are going to become. Have you seen some of these free agency deals today? It could have been so much worse. They could be like Houston, paying one of the least efficient scorers in the league (and a horrible defender) in Fred VanVleet $43.34mil/year for the next 4 seasons. Troy having to fortitude to stay out of handcuff deals and keep the Pistons future extremely flexible remains a clear indication of his positive value as GM. Did Troy not just sign the coach that EVERYONE wanted, who was even totally unavailable for a time? You want the Stan Van Gundy version again? A bunch of quick fix garbage that only ends up setting the team back a decade when it’s all over. Naw. Kick rocks with all of that.
Fuck Valenti ???????? He’s a closet racist
Mike.Cryplenti is a stooge shock jock sports radio announcer, nothing more nothing less. While admittedly knowledgeable about sports, it (his knowledge) is on par with most beer drinkimg bar patrons who aren’t paid to know these things.
What i do know is extremely stupid is the Ticket paying this loudmouth to put them in awkward positions when trying to secure broadcast rights to local sports teams. Who knows though, maybe Weaver is in charge of that contract too.
But i disgress….Cryplenty is not worth listening to for any opinion EVER on sports teams. He can only find flaws however small (“that clown Dan Campbell needs to be run out of town because he can’t in game manage” “Man”) trying to drive ratings by entertaining the simple minded to casual sports fan, with a constant barrage of b!tching with the loudest voice in the room delivery. Very sad