Joe Mazzulla: I Just Didn’t Have Celtics Ready To Play Game 3

When Trajan Langdon took over the Detroit Pistons front office this summer, he said it was clear that the team needed to rebuild their culture.

“After listening to Arn (Tellem), Billy King, and then most importantly to Tom (Gores), I thought what they were lacking is what I could provide in terms of just setting a foundation, building a culture,” Langdon said. “I felt that’s what they felt was important. And that’s what I can provide originally or from the start. And then we started talking more and had a lot of conversations with Tom and just felt that it would be a good fit.”

Langdon then set about remaking the roster. This offseason, he acquired Tim Hardaway Jr. via trade, then signed Malik Beasley and Tobias Harris. The Pistons also drafted Ron Holland II. Ahead of the trade deadline, Langdon traded for Dennis Schroder and Lindy Waters III. All of those moves were based on bringing back some character and hard-working attitudes to Detroit.

“We talk a lot about the character of this team that we wanted to put together,” Langdon said. “We have a lot of high character human beings and we wanted to get that grit back. And obviously, the positivity, the passion, the desire to come out and compete and win. It’s a historic franchise that at times has been dominant in this league. And so, to get it back and give the fans what they’ve seen, and to give these players what they want, would be super-meaningful to this franchise right now and also going forward.”