I never bothered to weigh in on this and will do so now. As a self proclaimed Pistons fan, I'm on the fence. Yet understand it at the same time.
It's absolutely true that Detroit, much less many other teams, would never be able to sniff a Blake Griffin unless via trade. The three championships Detroit has won were comprised of trades and draft picks. That's just how the league works.
Griffin will bring more star power, something Detroit hasn't seen since Grant Hill, and that will certainly boost attendance. Which being in a new building certainly played a role. But I'm not exactly worried about that as the Pistons will draw once they start putting a consistently good product on the floor. Something they have only been able to accomplish once in the past ten years.
They were off to a great start, albeit playing over the heads. Then proceeded to lose Bradley, Johnson and Jackson for multiple games. Reggie Jackson being the killer as he finally looked 100%. Once he went down, Pistons went into a deep funk and lost about 8 games in a row until the trade. They were before and still are a playoff team in an improved East. But I like their chances of moving forward now than I did before.
Griffin's injury history is a huge concern to me. Then again, as I already stated, there was no way in hell a team like Detroit was going to land him in free agency. Bradley has struggled since getting hurt in December(?) and wasn't getting paid by Detroit. Tobias Harris is good, if not one-dimensional. But is playing like an all-star this year. That said, I'm okay with selling high on Harris. Detroit obtained him for peanuts as it is and he'll be looking to get paid in another year. Draft pick could come back to bite us however if the Clippers hold out enough.
Clippers getting out of Blake's contract is good as they'll attempt to thrown that money at George and others. This can work as they reside in an attractive market. Despite being the Clippers. But I wonder if there will be any repercussions from dumping Griffin's contract to free agents. Such as a No Trade Clause or it's no dice, Clippers.