After the Detroit Pistons suffered their 12th straight loss to fall to 2-13 on the season, Mike Valenti of 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit laid siege to the entire organization in a 13-minute rant pleading Pistons fans to leave the team in the dust.
Valenti on Tuesday attacked owner Tom Gores, vice chairman Arn Tellem, general manager Troy Weaver and just about every player on the roster. He predicted star player Cade Cunningham would refuse a contract extension and head coach Monty Williams might bail early on his lucrative six-year contract.
“You can go your lifetime as an NBA fan never seeing your team lose 12 (straight) games,” Valenti said. “The Pistons have done it three times since last February.”
Valenti sat through the dozenth straight loss himself, and he had even more to get off his chest than TNT’s panel did.
“I want to tell you something,” Valenti said. “You can think this is radio hyperbole, but if they had a real owner, somebody would be without a job.”
Mike Valenti goes ABSOLUTELY off on the Detroit Pistons and the members of the organization.
Thoughts on what Valenti had to say? pic.twitter.com/xeGRqXhC55
— nick (@nsitto2) November 21, 2023
Valenti proceeded to rail against the “incestual, nepo baby” routine of how the organization is structure, tearing into everyone involved.
“The owner’s a nobody, Arn Tellem should never have been here, his kid running pro player is hilarious to me … even Troy Weaver gave his kid a gig,” Valenti explained. “It’s top-down.”
Tellem’s son Eric works in player personnel for the Pistons. Weaver’s son Troy Jr. works as a strategy analyst. Last summer, executive Josh Bartelstein departed to become president of the Phoenix Suns. Bartelstein is the son of NBA power agent Mark Bartelstein.
“Is Tom Gores even alive?” Valenti asked of the private equity investor who bought the Pistons in 2011.
“This has been a clown show since the day this guy and his Platinum Equity henchman walked in the door. It’s an embarrassment.”
Valenti even had words for television broadcasters George Blaha and Greg Kelser, who were calling the loss like it was “Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals.”
“The Pistons, top-down, are minor league,” Valenti said. “And even worse, they don’t have enough pride as an organization to deliver you a legitimate broadcast.”
Detroit finally made a splash at head coach, hiring 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year Williams to a six-year, $72 million contract that made him the highest-paid coach in league history.
“Monty looked like a guy who went, ‘You know what, I didn’t need the money this bad. I regret being here,'” Valenti added. “That postgame, he looked absolutely broken.”
More importantly, Valenti worried about the toll on players and fans.
“It is impossible to be 2-13 in this league in year four of a rebuild. It is insanity to me,” Valenti said. “And now with every loss, you’re devaluing the worth of any of these players.”
2021 No. 1 overall draft pick Cunningham is eligible for a contract extension this summer, and Valenti is expecting the worst.
“If I were Cade’s representatives, I would lay down in his driveway and make (Gores) run me over before I ever signed to play here,” Valenti said. “I would be the first player in league history to turn down a rookie extension.”
While injuries to several key players explain part of Detroit’s woes, Valenti is closer to the situation than most. If he believes the team is broken under Gores, it’s hard to disagree.
How long before the awful team demands another 13 minute eulogy from the longtime radio host?
[@nsitto2 on X, 97.1 The Ticket]
