We get the report from the Athletic’s James Edwards III:
The Detroit Pistons and assistant general manager Dave Mincberg have mutually agreed to part ways, sources tell The Athletic.
— James Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) June 10, 2021
First off; Excellent timing by the Detroit Pistons, doing something like this directly in advance of Game 3 of Milwaukee-Brooklyn. The NBA at large is not thinking about the Pistons, and DEFINITELY not thinking about the Pistons right before a playoff game with league-wide implications.
Secondly, this is a little different than Ed Stefanski’s three-year contract as senior advisor for the Pistons expiring and no one saying much of anything about what’s next for him, or even the recent report about the Pistons parting ways with senior director of player personnel Gregg Polinsky. Mincberg, hired out of the Milwaukee Bucks front office, is no holdover – his hiring was presumably signed off in some capacity by Troy Weaver, to be the guy directly under him. And a season later, he’s gone. That’s … eyebrow raising.
There’s no reason given in the report for the break. Mincberg could have found a more desirable position, much like Sachin Gupta did when he left the Pistons after only a year to become the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves. He could also just want something different, like Malik Rose did when he left the Pistons to work for the NBA directly.
Lastly, I echo the tongue-in-cheek comments from my podcast cohost:
Even when we wrote up Mincberg at Detroit Bad Boys initially, it was not immediately clear what his focus as the assistant GM would be. And a lot of the reporting around the team was (deservedly!) about Troy Weaver explaining, then executing, his plan for the Detroit Pistons. Fans did not necessarily get a window into the contributions the individuals under him were making to that execution.
But like, we KNEW who Sachin Gupta was – he was the dude who made the ESPN Trade Machine. We KNEW who Malik Rose was – he was a former player and a one-time Executive of the Year in the G-League. Mincberg was just… a guy? Without a narrative, without a clear vision of what Mincberg did (or didn’t) do in his time in Detroit, it’s tough to say how this impacts the Pistons moving forward.
I will be curious who Troy Weaver chooses to replace Mincberg with as assistant GM. Will it be some another individual with a scouting background? Someone fans have heard of? Or just … a guy (or a woman?) And will that person stay in place under Troy Weaver for more than a year? We’re gonna have to see.