The NBA Draft. Free agency. Your Detroit Pistons.
Why are you rolling your eyes? What’s with the bitter beer face?
It’s time for the Pistons to raise a sunken ship.
Ah, come on, stop laughing. At least Trajan Langdon sounded coherent at his introductory news conference. That’s more than could be said at times for his predecessor, Troy "You're Lucky I Don’t Kick Your Ass” Weaver. As for owner Tom Gores, well, you be the judge.
There are many things to like about Langdon, but being a client during his playing days of former agent Arn Tellem, now a high-level Pistons’ executive, doesn’t pass the smell test. Tellem’s stint with the Pistons, dating back to 2015, has paralleled their ineptitude.
From the ultimately ill-fated trade for Blake Griffin on forward, the Pistons have been an unmitigated disaster. It’s a misnomer to suggest Gores “cleaned house” by sacking Weaver and coach Monty Williams. Evidence suggests Tellem is still lurking in the shadows and has the ear of Gores, whose tenure as owner has been beyond dubious.
Tellem’s son, Eric, is the Pistons' senior director of player personnel. Why? He had little experience in that regard when hired in 2016. Yet, he has been promoted multiple times. Player personnel hasn’t exactly been a Pistons’ strength. Is there a snowball’s chance in hell he would be in such a position were it not for the influence of his father?
It’s a fair question.
Now you’d think Langdon would bring in his own choices for such positions, but is that going to happen when his former agent was a part of his receiving this post?
It’s a fair question.
The Pistons hold the fifth overall pick in this week’s NBA Draft. The player most frequently linked to Detroit is Matas Buzelis, an athletic 6-9 forward. He is intriguing. He didn’t shoot as well as anticipated playing in the G League against grown men, but he has a decent stroke and certainly a projectable NBA body.
Yet, his agent is Mike Tellem, another of the Pistons’ vice chairman’s sons. It’s another potential conflict of interest on multiple levels. Do the Pistons exist to win games, or are they primarily an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine" entity?
It’s a fair question.
The Pistons are a once shining piece of property that’s been abused. Nobody is cutting the lawn, pulling the weeds, attending to the peeling pain or taking the trash out. The Pistons are nonetheless waterfront property because of the exorbitant manner NBA franchises have risen in value. Conservatively, the Pistons are worth at least three times more than the reported $335 million Gores paid to acquire the team a dozen years ago.
Tellem is a version of what Russ Thomas and Matt Millen were to late Lions’ owner William Clay Ford. He is the primary influencer on a clueless owner, but the difference is it comes from the shadows rather than out front.
Player agents play an important and necessary role in the sports food chain, and Tellem was among the very best at his craft. This is different. To say he’s hands-off involving basketball is not true. To suggest Gores bringing him aboard was a wise move is false.
Pointing to blatant potential conflicts of interest is just presenting the obvious. So is questioning why this has not been pulled out of the dark and into the light.
And why Arn Tellem is a Teflon man never held accountable for the Pistons’ woes.
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