Draft picks: 15,45
Signed for next season ($116.8m): Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Jon Leuer, Langston Galloway, Glenn Robinson, Luke Kennard, Thon Maker, Sy Mykhailiuk, Bruce Brown, Khyri Thomas
This squad is built around Girffin and Drummond for better or worse for two more years and that's not a bad way to go, but it does hamstring the roster for the rest of this season.
I assume this will be the last year in Detroit for Jackson, Leuer, Galloway, Robinson and Maker. They are effectively all auditioning for next summer's free agent market (or to be trade bait for the deadline).
Kennard, Mykhailiuk, Brown and Thomas are the youngsters to keep an eye on. So far each of them seems...okay...which is not gonna be good enough for the Pistons going forward. I expect the Pistons to completely clean house next summer.
This summer's free agents: Ish Smith, Zaza Pachulia, Jose Calderon, Wayne Ellington
Pachulia is probably done but Smith, Calderon and Ellington can still be effective players in the right circumstance, but I suppose Detroit is not that circumstance for any of these guys.
In the draft, if they end up with Romeo Langford (Indiana) and Johntay Porter (Missouri) that'd be a pretty good night. They're not looking to fill any particular position, they need to grab the best talent available regardless of position.
Next year's lineup:
PG Jackson, SG Kennard, SF Robinson, PF Griffin, C Drummond with Thomas, Mykhailiuk, Galloway, Maker and Leuer off the bench.
That's maybe good enough for 8th in the East but I don't see that squad getting further than that. I'd suggest they tank and get a good draft pick except that the Pistons haven't drafted particularly well over the years, may as well try to be a playoff team.
No comments:
Post a Comment