The Pistons roster has seen a lot of change in the past year, including trading away some of their former first-round picks. But even more painful than the beloved players who have been traded are all the busts that never worked out in the NBA, highlighted currently by Killian Hayes and Isaiah Livers. Both were drafted with valuable picks - No. 7 overall in 2020 for Hayes and No. 42 overall in 2021 for Livers - but neither is on an NBA roster despite being in the prime years of their athletic ability.
Drafting busts like Hayes and Livers set the Pistons back
In the last decade of Pistons basketball, perhaps no player embodies the word "bust" more than Hayes. Other players have been drafted higher and also amounted to little on the team, but Hayes frustrated fans like no other. The fact that he was given a starting spot during the franchise-worst 2023-24 season over more deserving players only made the vitriol worse.
Eventually, the Pistons chose to straight-up waive Hayes during the middle of that season after having him start earlier in the year. His lack of any scoring aggression has made him practically unplayable in the NBA. Over the last two years, he's only gotten opportunities with the Nets and Kings - two of the worst teams in the league.
Drafting and starting Hayes for so long stunted the development of the Pistons' actually talented prospects like Cade Cunningham. Cade might be even further along as a player now if he didn't have to play with such a negative as Hayes when he first entered the league. It's not a coincidence that the Pistons finally found their groove after getting rid of Hayes.
Livers is not as extreme of an example, since he was drafted in the second round. But he came in with expectations of being a 3-and-D wing, exactly the kind the Pistons still need to round out their roster. However, his play on both ends wasn't good enough in Detroit. By his last season with the Pistons (also the disastrous 2023-24 campaign), Livers was a weak defender shooting 29% from three.
The Pistons need to be more diligent in their draft picks going forward
As we've seen all offseason, the Pistons are now very limited in ways to add talent. For the most part, they don't have trade assets that are valued highly around the league, since Detroit's players function in a different system from most other teams. At the same time, the Pistons are still likely to win a lot of regular season games, so their future picks aren't highly touted either.
One of the best ways for Detroit to get cheap talent going forward will be hitting on draft picks, even if they come later in the draft. That's a tall task in the NIL era, since many of the most talented upperclassmen are now choosing to stay in college longer rather than declare for the Draft right when they're ready.
But the Pistons must find a way. They'll have few other opportunities to upgrade the roster without giving up something in return. And whatever they do, they can't draft more busts like Hayes and Livers.
