{"id":590281,"date":"2026-04-17T19:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/590281\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T19:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:03:16","slug":"trajan-langdons-knack-for-overcoming-challenges-sparks-detroit-pistons-revival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/590281\/","title":{"rendered":"Trajan Langdon’s knack for overcoming challenges sparks Detroit Pistons’ revival"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 On a May morning in 2024, Detroit Pistons<\/a> owner Tom Gores finished his final interview with Trajan Langdon<\/a> with a tough question at 2 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have a stomach for this [job]? Because it\u2019s not going to be easy,\u201d Gores told Andscape he asked Langdon.<\/p>\n

Gores wasn\u2019t underselling the challenges of the Pistons\u2019 president of basketball operations role. Detroit had posted the NBA\u2019s worst record in each of the previous two seasons, including a franchise-low 14 wins and a league-record 28-game losing streak in the prior campaign. The Pistons had last won a playoff game in 2008, a disastrous stretch for a storied franchise with three titles to its name.<\/p>\n

But from rising out of basketball obscurity in Alaska to overcoming knee surgery at Duke to responding to a failed NBA playing career by flourishing professionally in Europe, nothing has ever come easy for Langdon. So, \u201cThe Alaskan Assassin\u201d quickly decided he could stomach yet another challenge and said yes to the Pistons.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t blink. He was all in,\u201d Gores said. \u201cThen I asked him to text me his top 20 action items and get started first thing in the morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I didn\u2019t expect things to turn around as fast as they did, but I\u2019m not surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years later, Langdon, 49, has led the Pistons from the NBA basement to the best record in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

Last season, Year 1 under Langdon, the Pistons and new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff won 44 games, celebrated Cade Cunningham as a first-time All-Star, and pushed the New York Knicks to six games in the first round, making their first playoff appearance since 2019.<\/p>\n

The Pistons finished this season with an East-best 60 wins, led by two All-Stars in Cunningham and Jalen Duren and an NBA Coach of the Year candidate in Bickerstaff. The East\u2019s top-seed Pistons will host the winner of a play-in game between the Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets tonight in a first-round playoff matchup starting Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people were like, \u2018What are you doing?\u2019 \u201d Langdon said to Andscape regarding taking the Pistons\u2019 job. \u201c\u2019You\u2019re going to a team that just won 14 games and didn\u2019t win a game for two months.\u2019 In the back of [your] mind, you always know when you take over a team, it\u2019s not going to be good. There\u2019s a reason why leadership is changing. There is a reason why the job is open all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe high-water mark was 23 wins the previous four years. So, I\u2019m doing all my due diligence. Obviously, in the process of getting a job, I\u2019m seeing how difficult it\u2019s going to be, how difficult it\u2019s been. But I knew it was for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming challenges is part of Langdon\u2019s bloodline.<\/p>\n

\"Trajan The Detroit Pistons finished this season with an Eastern Conference-best 60 wins under president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon. <\/p>\n

Trajan Langdon<\/p>\n

Langdon was born at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., on May 13, 1976, to a white father, Steve, and an African American mother, Gladys. The couple met in 1968 when a mutual friend introduced them during a drive to Oakland, Calif., where they attended the Black Panther Party\u2019s Free Huey rally highlighted with a speech from Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale at the Oakland Auditorium (now the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts).<\/p>\n

\u201cA friend used to pick me up in his car and just call and say, \u2018Hey, Gladys, we\u2019re going this way. We\u2019re going to this place.\u2019 And he picked me up, and \u2026 he didn\u2019t say Steve was going to be in the car, not that I would have said yes or no. But anyway, that\u2019s how I met Steve,\u201d Gladys said.<\/p>\n

Said Steve: \u201cWe got to see \u2026 the Black Panthers there. Me and this other guy who was with me, well, we were the only white guys in the vicinity of where we were. I don\u2019t know if we were the only ones in the venue, but that was the way in which [Gladys and I] were introduced to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve was a student at Stanford University while Gladys was attending College of Notre Dame de Namur University in nearby Belmont, Calif. It was 1968, the year Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were murdered. While race and racism were weighing heavily on the country at that time, love fought through that as the Langdons dated for five years before getting married in Redwood City, Calif., in 1973.<\/p>\n

The former Gladys Patterson grew up poor in Brewton, Ala., a small town of about 5,000 people less than 10 miles from the state\u2019s southern border. Brewton\u2019s history includes its role in the antebellum South\u2019s economy, which relied heavily on slavery for agricultural and industrial labor, according to Eagle Eye TV, Auburn University\u2019s student-run TV station. Gladys said her childhood home didn\u2019t have running water, and the bathroom was an outhouse. Gladys also picked cotton during some summers growing up. <\/p>\n

Within six months of graduating from high school, she left Brewton and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at the urging of a hometown friend living in East Palo Alto. She initially attended San Mateo College and worked assembling transistors for Fairchild Industries before graduating from Notre Dame de Namur with a bachelor\u2019s degree in social work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked cotton when I was in junior high school,\u201d Gladys, 80, said to Andscape. \u201cThe truck would pick us up about 5 o\u2019clock in the morning and we would ride for about an hour and we\u2019d pick cotton from about 6 [a.m.] until 5 [p.m.]. This is during the summers in Alabama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, in high school, my jobs changed. I started doing domestic work. I started babysitting, doing house cleaning and cooking for the people that I worked for.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gladys said she brought her children back to Brewton several times during their youth (Trajan also has a young sister, Trista, who was born in Alaska and is the Washington Commanders\u2019 senior vice president of operations and guest experience). While Gladys thought it was important for her children to be around her family and to know their African American heritage, she was also \u201cvery conscious\u201d of raising them to be good human beings, not just Black.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey both identify as Black. Their identities are Black. Trajan, certainly, there\u2019s no question in terms of what his identity is,\u201d Gladys said.<\/p>\n

When Gladys celebrated her 80th birthday last year, she finally revealed to her children and grandchildren that she had picked cotton in Alabama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all in this room and I was talking about knowing your roots,\u201d Gladys said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they quite understood what I was saying about an outhouse or not having running water, having all of your plumbing outside of the house. So, it was difficult for them to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Langdon\u2019s father was Irish and his mother was Slovenian. His aunt taught him during his youth about Ireland\u2019s century-long resistance to English and British rule, which ultimately led to the 1919-21 Irish War of Independence and the country\u2019s subsequent partition. Steve\u2019s mother provided an education on Slovenia\u2019s invasion by Axis powers in April 1941 and the struggle against Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Hungary.<\/p>\n

So, while Steve Langdon \u2014 who would become a prominent American anthropologist and professor emeritus at the University of Alaska Anchorage, widely recognized for his extensive research on Alaska Native cultures, particularly the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska \u2014 isn\u2019t Black, he certainly could relate to \u201cpower and oppression\u201d affecting one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, there\u2019s a deep side of my ancestry, too. My ancestry is one of resistance,\u201d Steve Langdon, 77, said. \u201cI know all about Irish resistance. In my Slovenian side, they resisted the Nazis in World War II, and it\u2019s the Slovenians who created independence and broke away from Yugoslavia. So, there\u2019s a little bit of this resistance in my understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TrajanTrajan Langdon (center) as a young child with his father Steve (left) and mother Gladys (right).<\/p>\n

Trajan Langdon<\/p>\n

Steve Langdon was 8 when his family moved to Alaska during the territorial days in 1958. The motivation came from his father, who established the region\u2019s first mental health facilities, according to the University of Alaska Anchorage. After finishing a Ph.D. at Stanford in the late 1970s, Steve Langdon moved his wife and infant son, Trajan, back to Alaska.<\/p>\n

Trajan became fascinated with sports at a young age while growing up in Alaska with lots of family on his father\u2019s side nearby. He grew up playing baseball, basketball and soccer and rode his bicycle everywhere. Focused on excellence in academics and sports, Trajan\u2019s passion was basketball, and he was often in the snow shooting jumpers on an outdoor hoop.<\/p>\n

What helped Trajan first fall in love with basketball was watching the now-defunct Great Alaska Shootout hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage. The annual college basketball tournament was a Thanksgiving-week staple, famously showcasing elite programs and future NBA stars such as Patrick Ewing, Dwyane Wade and Klay Thompson. Langdon was actually in the stands with his father when Ewing made his college debut for Georgetown at the 1981 edition of the tournament. <\/p>\n

Langdon loved spending those tournament days intently watching as many games as possible. It also gave him a barometer on the talent needed to play high-level college basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he got to see some of the earliest games of the Shootout,\u201d Steve Langdon said. \u201cI remember him sitting in my lap when he was 3 years old maybe, and he was just fixated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when he got older, he would sit there all day. Game after game after game. One thing about him: He takes it all in. It\u2019s that ability to focus and take things in and then work with that. That\u2019s a very important piece of his capacities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Langdon became known as the \u201cAlaskan Assassin\u201d as a superstar shooting guard at East Anchorage High. He won three consecutive Alaska large-school state championships. A three-time Alaska Player of the Year honoree, the first-ever player to win the award three times, Langdon set the state scoring record with 2,200 points. He was also a 1994 McDonald\u2019s All-American who won the game\u2019s 3-point competition.<\/p>\n

Finding teenagers capable of challenging Langdon on the court was tough in Alaska. So instead, he developed his game, competitive spirit and voice by playing in pickup games against grown men at Fairview Recreation Center and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. One of the men he played against was current Cavaliers guard Jaylon Tyson\u2019s father, John, a fact Langdon didn\u2019t know until earlier this season when the elder Tyson introduced himself after a Cavaliers-Pistons game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be like 15, 16 going against his Air Force dudes. \u2018Who\u2019s got next?\u2019 I have to talk to the dude. \u2018Hey, can I get with you?\u2019 \u2018I got my five.\u2019 \u2018Who\u2019s got next after him?\u2019 So, you got to go navigate that,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cThat was such a huge brokerage for me. I\u2019m completely out of my realm at the Air Force base. They were trying to stay on the court. I had to get uncomfortable if I wanted to get on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pickup games helped turn Langdon into a strong enough player that he had his pick of high-level colleges to play for, with Stanford and Duke as the finalists.<\/p>\n

\"TrajanTrajan Langdon played pickup basketball games as a teen against grown men at Fairview Recreation Center and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska.<\/p>\n

Trajan Langdon<\/p>\n

Stanford was quite familiar with him from his time attending summer high school basketball camps at his father\u2019s alma mater. But Langdon was very impressed with then-Duke assistant coach Tommy Amaker, who diligently recruited him. <\/p>\n

Langdon ultimately chose to play for Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski and Duke University because he wanted \u201cto be challenged\u201d by a renowned basketball program regularly on national TV. This was on the heels of the Blue Devils losing to Arkansas in the 1994 national championship game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can compete and earn a spot and then succeed, then I\u2019m going to have the best chance to be the best player I can be, which is what I always wanted to do,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cSo that was a lot of the basis of that choice. Obviously, the coach was Coach K. I knew he was going to help me be the best I could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he suited up for the Blue Devils, however, Langdon had another sport to pursue.<\/p>\n

While he was setting records on the hardwood in Alaska, he had also been a baseball standout; the two-way star batted .333 as a senior, once struck out 11 batters in a game and would later be named the Cook Inlet Conference\u2019s Baseball Player of the Decade for the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Langdon was doing a baseball workout with his father outside a hotel during a recruiting trip to Duke when he was noticed by another hotel guest, then-San Diego Padres scouting director Kevin Towers. The Padres drafted Langdon in the sixth round of the 1994 MLB draft, before future MLB All-Stars Carl Pavano and Placido Polanco.<\/p>\n

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Langdon received a $230,000 signing bonus by the Padres and committed to playing for at least three summers. The Padres also paid for Langdon to attend Duke, since a pro athlete could not be on a college basketball scholarship. He was also offered an opportunity to play basketball and baseball at Stanford.<\/p>\n

Langdon played 17 games for the Padres\u2019 Single-A affiliate in 1994 before going to Duke. He also played for the Padres\u2019 Rookie League team in 1995 and 1997. Langdon batted .176 with three home runs in 165 at-bats in 50 games over three seasons before retiring from the diamond.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played third base. He was solid,\u201d said ex-University of Washington basketball and baseball player Jason Tyrus, who was in Single-A with Langdon.<\/p>\n

Said Langdon: \u201cLiked baseball. Enjoyed baseball. Was good at baseball. Never had the passion. I connected probably with my dad more over baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyrus definitely could tell that Langdon preferred basketball and joined him to get shots up during the downtimes of the baseball season. Tyrus says then-Duke assistant coach Johnny Dawkins also attended some of their games and called to check in on Langdon.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Langdon] would always get his shots up,\u201d Tyrus said. \u201cAll the time. And when we were traveling, the guy would find a gym to go get shots. He\u2019s serious. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would want me to rebound, man. I still wanted to shoot, man. I was only one year out. But he was good. He was big. He was young, because he was 18. I was 22. But it was like, you just tell the difference of guys that gets a full basketball ride to Duke. The preparation. The dedication to the craft that when you go in, what is expected of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Langdon\u2019s first two years with Duke didn\u2019t go as planned.<\/p>\n

\"TrajanTrajan Langdon was also a baseball standout in high school and played 17 games for the Padres\u2019 Single-A affiliate in 1994 before going to Duke for basketball.<\/p>\n

Trajan Langdon<\/p>\n

Langdon started as a freshman on a struggling Blue Devils team that finished 13-18 and posted two Atlantic Coast Conference wins during the 1994-95 season, failing to make the tournament for the first time in 12 years.<\/p>\n

The following summer, he sprained his ankle while playing for the United States men\u2019s basketball junior national team. That sprain led to a stress reaction in his left knee, potentially career-ending surgery, a medical redshirt for the 1995-96 season and a 14-month layoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I don\u2019t have those two years, I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve become the pro that I became, or the basketball player that I became, because I had to fight through so much,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cI had to be resilient. I had to fight through all the negativity. You redshirted a year and you don\u2019t play, you get forgotten about it. Nobody\u2019s paying you no attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Langdon proved his resilience, returning to become one of Duke\u2019s most prolific 3-point shooters during his four playing seasons. The three-time All-ACC first-team selection finished his career with 1,974 points and held the school record for 3-point field goals (342) until J.J. Redick surpassed it in 2006. The 1999 consensus All-American led Duke to the national title game that same year, but his traveling violation down 1 with 5.4 seconds left prevented the Blue Devils from beating Connecticut.<\/p>\n

In addition to Langdon\u2019s on-court contributions, Krzyzewski called upon him to be a leader and help ensure other Duke greats such as Elton Brand reach their potential. Brand arrived in Durham in 1997 as a prized recruit, but Krzyzewski made him switch roommates on the road, pairing him with Langdon in hopes that Brand would learn maturity on and off the court from the upperclassman.<\/p>\n

Brand, who won consensus National Player of the Year honors as a sophomore before embarking on a 17-year NBA career that included two All-Star appearances, said Langdon had an \u201cinstrumental\u201d impact on his development.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a serious upperclassman that cared about what he put into his body, proper sleep, proper nutrition, how to attack the weight room, how to get your shots up, how to look at a game, how to attack it,\u201d Brand said. \u201cAnd he just changed my perspective on basketball, life and just taking care of focusing on what you need to focus on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t as mature and developed, and he helped me definitely transition into that as a collegiate player. Seeing his work ethic and the way he handled his business made me step up my game on and off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Langdon was selected with the 11th overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He became the first Alaskan ever to play in an NBA game, but saw the court sparingly in three seasons with the Cavaliers, averaging 5.4 points on 39.6% shooting from 3-point range and 1.4 assists per game in 119 regular-season games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed all three of my years, including really good people,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cI thought the organization did a fine job. I don\u2019t need much, so they treated me well. Played for two different coaches, Randy Wittman and John Lucas. \u2026 I thought I had a solid second year with Randy Wittman. And then we had a change in coach. He just changed some things with the style of play and with the roster that we had.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a difference between my second year and my third year. I wanted to stay, but then realized I need to play. I can\u2019t just be sitting on a bench.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brand said Langdon \u201cwas ahead of his time just because of the way he could shoot. I see elite shooters today with a role. Back then, they kind of passed the ball. It ebbed and flow. It was like you\u2019re an elite shooter, you had a role and then the shooting portion wasn\u2019t fashionable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TrajanTrajan Langdon was drafted 11th overall in the 1999 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, becoming the first Alaskan ever to play in an NBA game.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Daniel \/ Stringer<\/p>\n

Langdon said he had no offer to re-sign with the Cavs in 2002, and the only NBA opportunity he had was a training camp invite with the Miami Heat. Instead, seeking security, playing time and happiness, he opted to go overseas with Benetton Treviso in Italy.<\/p>\n

That decision led to a legendary career in Europe in Italy, Turkey and Russia from 2002-2011. Langdon won two EuroLeague championships with CSKA Moscow (2006, 2008) and was a three-time runner-up. The two-time All-EuroLeague first-team selection was the EuroLeague 2008 Final Four MVP. He finished his EuroLeague career ranked fifth all-time in 3-pointers made (339) and sixth in both scoring (2,178 points) and steals (216). He retired in 2011 after earning a ninth consecutive Russian championship with CSKA.<\/p>\n

Langdon also got revenge on the NBA during his European career, scoring a game-high 17 points for CSKA Moscow during a 94-75 exhibition win over Brand and the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 7, 2006. While former NBA players don\u2019t remember many exhibition games, Brand remembers that one.<\/p>\n

\u201c[CSKA] had some talent and they had some talented players and ownership really wanted to win that game and they were pushing,\u201d Brand said. \u201cNo excuses because they kicked our ass. But they deserved that win because they were ready. Trajan showed, NBA player or not, this is the level I\u2019m on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Langdon returned to the NBA in retirement as an Eastern regional pro personnel scout for the San Antonio Spurs from 2012-15. He returned to the Cavs in 2015\u00a0as the director of player administration. Langdon next became the Brooklyn Nets\u2019 assistant general manager and the G League affiliate Long Island Nets\u2019 GM on March 6, 2016.<\/p>\n

Brand, now the Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 general manager, said Langdon is \u201cmeticulous in his approach\u201d on how he scouts and puts a team together, and he has learned a lot from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I\u2019ve seen, especially in his lead position, is him putting a team together and seeing how a team can function, adding vets that you need, adding shooting that you need, adding toughness or whatever he needs, just seeing how a team can operate and how a team can win together,\u201d Brand said. \u201cThat\u2019s what his strong suit is. And playing in Europe and playing at Duke and just playing all over the world \u2026 that helps shape his view of basketball and what winning is and what team success looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a presence where he doesn\u2019t concern himself with what other people think. His job is to do what he believes is right, whether it\u2019s in that moment or the grand scheme.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2013 Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Trajan Langdon<\/p>\n

Langdon joined the New Orleans Pelicans as general manager on May 19, 2019, working under executive vice president David Griffin. He built a reputation of drafting well during his time with the Nets and Pelicans, selecting the likes of Zion Williamson, Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones.<\/p>\n

Following four seasons of struggle, the Pistons fired Troy Weaver as their president of basketball operations and hired Langdon on May 31, 2024. Behind the scenes, Gores and the Pistons were already looking for a replacement from a wide net of highly experienced candidates. The Pistons\u2019 thorough search, led by former NBA general manager and Duke guard Billy King, ultimately led to Langdon being offered the job. Langdon took over a young Pistons roster that finished the 2023-24 season with 11 players 25 or younger. The key players inherited were Cunningham, Duren and forward Ausar Thompson. Langdon also inherited the No. 5 pick in the 2024 NBA draft and used it to select G League Ignite forward Ron Holland.<\/p>\n

Pistons vice chair Arn Tellem was previously an agent who represented Langdon during his pro basketball career, putting another voice familiar with Langdon in the building. Despite the naysayers, Brand told Langdon he should take the job.<\/p>\n

Gores had his Pistons savior.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hired Trajan, I approached the search process the same way I have other parts of my career,\u201d Gores said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in the turnaround business for 30 years, and I was looking to recruit a real executive just like I would for CEO of a multibillion[-dollar] corporation in any other industry. Obviously, knowing basketball is critical, but there are so many other elements to running a front office.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted someone who could lead and inspire and also execute. I wanted someone who could thread a lot of needles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first needle Langdon threaded was the tough decision to fire a respected head coach in Monty Williams. Langdon fired Williams on June 19, 2024, after just one season of a six-year, $78.5 million contract, following the Pistons\u2019 14-win season. Detroit still owed Williams approximately $65 million for the remaining five years of his deal after the firing; he had been hired by Weaver in 2023 after coaching the Phoenix Suns to the 2022 NBA Finals and also coaching the Pelicans.<\/p>\n

Langdon followed by making Bickerstaff his first notable hire, not long after the latter was fired by the Cavs. Langdon didn\u2019t have much of a prior relationship with Bickerstaff, but Indiana Pacers lead assistant coach Lloyd Pierce made a recommendation. Bickerstaff had a 165-153 (.519) record in five seasons in Cleveland, leading the franchise through a rebuild. But after coaching the Cavaliers during the 2022-23 season, he was fired after losing in the second round to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics. The son of former NBA head coach and executive Bernie Bickerstaff had also previously been a head coach with the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies. <\/p>\n

The hiring of Bickerstaff has ultimately resulted in one of the fastest turnarounds in NBA history and a possible 2026 NBA Coach of the Year award. Bickerstaff said based on what he has learned about Langdon, he isn\u2019t surprised he gave him a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I quickly found about him is if you\u2019re in a room with him for five minutes, there\u2019s a presence where he doesn\u2019t concern himself with what other people think,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cHis job is to do what he believes is right, whether it\u2019s in that moment or the grand scheme. That\u2019s how he carries himself every single day, and that\u2019s why I think we work well together is because I\u2019m emotional and he\u2019s, like, even keeled.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, he pulls me back to where I need to be and he makes decisions [that are] non-emotional. But he has a great way about him to show people that he cares about him emotionally as well. So, he walks a fine line, but he\u2019s very skilled at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime Pistons forward Isaiah Stewart said he loved Weaver, who drafted him, but the losing and the rotating door of teammates under the prior regime was also a challenge. With Langdon, Stewart said he loves his accessibility, and the biggest influence he has had on the players is adding structure and resources.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Langdon] came in more structured, organized with certain stuff,\u201d Stewart told Andscape. \u201cAnd this is me being respectful for Troy. But obviously, [Langdon] had a great mind of what he wanted to see as far as structure. He\u2019s been doing a great job of that structure with us off the court, making sure guys stay healthy. The new staff brought in resources that they gave us young players that are always available for us.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrajan is a guy that when I leave [the practice facility], that I\u2019m able to call his phone and he\u2019ll answer. Our voice is being heard. They know our situations, what we have to deal with on the daily, but [there is] structure. Even going down to who he hired as the head coach, he hired a head coach that was going to come in with structure. Structure is very important to have on a young team in the NBA. Give us a kind of system. They came and they put the system in place, and I feel like the system everybody can relate to. Everybody genuinely likes the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

From start to finish, the Pistons have been the most dominant team in the East this season. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder (64 wins) and Spurs (62) won more regular-season games than the Pistons, who won 60 despite Cunningham missing 11 games due to a collapsed left lung.<\/p>\n

About the only knock on the Pistons was that Langdon didn\u2019t make a move at the trade deadline to add another scorer next to Cunningham and Duren. Instead, Langdon traded guard Jaden Ivey to the Chicago Bulls in a three-team deal, acquiring swingman Kevin Huerter and forward Dario Saric.<\/p>\n

The trade, aimed at improving spacing and adding veteran experience, also provided the Pistons with a 2026 first-round pick swap with the Minnesota Timberwolves that will be the 21st pick in this deep draft.<\/p>\n

\"TrajanTrajan Langdon\u2019s parents, Steve (left) and Gladys (center), are not surprised by their son\u2019s success. <\/p>\n

Trajan Langdon<\/p>\n

Bickerstaff supported Langdon\u2019s decision not to make a big trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to do what he believes is right and he made the decision that I believe is best for this team,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cYou got guys in a position that have busted their ass to get here. Why panic and push a button when you don\u2019t know what the extreme or the extent of what this team can be? And these guys earned it. They put themselves in a position to be first in the East at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo why rock the boat and mess it up when you don\u2019t know what the final endgame is? He\u2019s a big believer in chemistry. He\u2019s a big believer in those guys in the locker room. And jumping out on a limb just to make a deal for \u2014 maybe it\u2019s a short term, maybe who knows \u2014 just wasn\u2019t the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Langdon: \u201cI want to see our guys continue to grow, give them room to grow. I didn\u2019t want to do anything that could impact that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 22 years since the Pistons won an NBA title. It\u2019s been 21 years since Detroit has played in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

While championship dreams are back in Detroit, Langdon is more worried about the franchise giving itself the best chance to win, knowing luck and health also play a role along that journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try not to use the word \u2018championship\u2019 just because I saw one won in San Antonio, saw one won in Cleveland, won several in Europe. I know how hard it is,\u201d Langdon said. \u201cI want our entire organization to understand championship habits and championship process, championship environment. So much goes into winning one that, sometimes the best team doesn\u2019t win, right? Sometimes you need some luck to win too. So, it\u2019s let\u2019s continue to work, be the best possible team that we can be every year. That should be our goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever team we have, we\u2019re reaching that ceiling for that team. And if the ceiling means we have a chance, that\u2019s what gets us to it, then that\u2019s what it is. But if it means we play the best basketball in the series and we play insane, but the other team is better and they beat us in seven games \u2026 things happen that sometimes just happen, and you win because of those things or you lose because of those things.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go about winning, being together and competing every day and go about the process in the right way, you give yourself the best chance to win. Ultimately in the places that I\u2019ve been, doing that has led to high level of winning. That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back, it\u2019s safe to say Gores is ecstatic he hired Langdon.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrajan is a great judge of talent, both on the court and in the front office,\u201d Gores said. \u201cHe\u2019s brought in tremendous people and assembled an impressive team. He\u2019s a great listener and communicator. He\u2019s integrated so well with [Pistons president of business operations Melanie Harris\u2019s] team on the business side, which has been important for the success of our whole organization. He has all the qualities that I look for, not just in basketball, but as a leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he weren\u2019t in basketball, I think Trajan could run a steel company or any other kind of business. He\u2019s also a great family man and father. I\u2019ve gotten to know him on a personal level and he has great character and high integrity. He\u2019s a real asset to me and to the Detroit community.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also safe to say Langdon\u2019s parents are proud and unsurprised by their son\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had to work hard all the way through, starting in Anchorage when he was dribbling the ball in the snow during the winter months when it was dark outside and very cold,\u201d Gladys Langdon said. \u201cSo yeah, he\u2019s been serious about what he wants to do for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. He used to be able to dunk on you, but he hasn\u2019t been able to in years and his knees still hurt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 On a May morning in 2024, Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores finished his final interview with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-590281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}