Former Syracuse basketball Assistant Coach Troy Weaver has been hired as the new GM for the Detroit Pistons. Here’s why he’s perfectly suited for the job.
Troy Weaver, the assistant coach known around Syracuse as the main recruiter of Carmelo Anthony, is now in the high ranks of the NBA. The former Oklahoma City Thunder executive will have a new position as the GM of the Detroit Pistons.
Weaver, who coached at SU from 2000 to 2004, was most known for his ties to the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area, where he helped recruit Carmelo Anthony from Baltimore to Syracuse. Head Coach Jim Boeheim joked about the first time Weaver brought him to see Anthony, saying they should have gone to see him play in high school a bit earlier.
Boeheim recently claimed that if Weaver had stayed with Syracuse longer than 2004, the Orange would have landed Kevin Durant. Instead, Durant, also from the DMV, chose the Texas Longhorns, before becoming an NBA Champion and MVP.
Weaver left the Orange for the NBA, where he began climbing the ranks, starting as a staff member with the Utah Jazz.
After a few years there, he became an executive for the Oklahoma City Thunder. According to Yahoo Sports, Weaver was key in drafting Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams, a duo that helped the Thunder reach the NBA Playoffs for multiple years.
However, after 12 years in OKC, Weaver has been given his first GM job, with the Detroit Pistons.
The Syracuse history already runs deep in the Motor City, as Orange legend and NBA Hall of Famer Dave Bing played for the Pistons and is the former Mayor of Detroit.
While Weaver’s position doesn’t entail governing the city of Detroit, he does seem to have a knack for making improvements – something the Pistons are in dire need of. The Pistons have only reached the playoffs twice since the 2009-10 season, where they were eliminated in the first round.
Before that, the Detroit Pistons were one of the best franchises in NBA history, winning three NBA Championships between 1989 and 2004, and featuring some of the toughest teams in league history.
It’ll be interesting to see how Weaver can begin to turn around a franchise that has had its’ struggles for over a decade. However, given his track record, and especially with Syracuse, we give a big nod of approval on this hire.