Draft Picks / Free Agents / Trades; Let's talk targets

The Pistons are going to EARN their top lottery draft pick by playing sucky for an ENTIRE season. We need to draft another top 10 player, not give that pick away. The lower you draft, the higher the risk that your draft pick will never make an NBA team, let alone make some minor type of impact.

Yes, we have enough quality bench players. It's time to bring in the starters.

Come draft time, Burke will work his way into the lottery, so we have to secure a top 16 pick to get an additional first rounder that will yield Burke. Keep an eye on Utah and Minnesota.

The more I see of Ben McClemore.........WOW! I seriously see the second coming of Ray Allen, people always underestimated Ray Allen's athleticism. Ben has a silky smooth stroke and has the ability to really get up off the floor too! I'm starting lean more heavily towards McClemore with our lottery pick. Again, in a perfect world we could trade Tay for another 1st rd pick and somehow nab Trey Burke too, but that is a highly unlikely scenario.

Who will mentor the young guys if Tay is gone?

My suggestion:
Detroit trades: Greg Monroe, Tayshaun Prince,
San Antonio trades: Stephen Cap Spayce Jackson, Kawhi Leonard, 1st round pick (2013), 2nd round pick (2014)
NBA Trade Machine - ESPN


Benefit to the Pistons:
1) I just don't believe Monroe is going to mesh with Drummond, and he's too turnover prone on offense to be an effective post player. They move him out of the lineup and get Drummond into the starting rotation with Maxiell, who's shown to be more effective paired with Drummond than Monroe has.
2) Isotayshaun: Never again
3) They return Kawhi Leonard, who's a very good young SF that gives them a scorer and defender that they can build around.
4) They get a likely late-1st pick (nbadraft.net currently has San Antonio selecting Trey Burke with that pick)
5) They clear up over $10 million in cap space for next year.

Benefit to San Antonio
1) They immediately upgrade their starting five to Parker/Green/Prince/Duncan/Monroe, and position themselves as the team to beat in the Western Conference for the next two years (assuming they re-sign Ginobli)
2) They add a young, up-and-coming C to their team that will fit right into their team philosophy, whose skills will perfectly complement the rest of the team. Monroe can learn from a player (Duncan) very similar to him in style and temperament, and replace him when Duncan retires in a couple years.
3) They add a veteran SF with championship experience that is signed for a reasonable salary for a couple more years.
4) They only lose out on two late-first-round picks.
5) It actually reduces their cap number this year.

That puts the Pistons at $36 million next year, with likely high-first and late-first picks this year, with the following lineup:
sCG1: Knight
sCG2: Stuckey
sSF: Leonard
sPF: (None, really)
sC: Drummond

Bench: CV, Jerebko, Daye (possibly?), Krav, Middleton, English.

Main offseason free agent target: Al Jefferson and/or Paul Millsap

Then we have to find a coach like Stan Van Gundy that has had success in the league and can deal with a team not choc-full of prima donnas.

Corey Maggette. Duh.

I think GM has significantly higher value than a good role player like Leonard and two late picks. If SA had the Wizards 1st rounder it would be alot more intriguing.

Charlie has a lot to teach.

Splitting double teams...


Work ethic/ personal fitness


Blue collar mentality


How to tie a Brazillian neck tie.

I love how he shows the ring in the 243.5 photo.

Bring Sheed back.......

Shabazz Muhammed looked GREAT tonight against a really good Missouri team!

A Weekend of College Hoops

Trey Burke (UofM) against Central Michigan. Burke: 22pts (9/12 fg and 4/7 3fg), 11asts, 1 TO. Was in 100% total control of the game from beginning to end, very Chris Paul like afternoon against an inferior opponent. Let's see if he can continue to dominate against Big-10 competition.

Anthony Bennett (UNLV) against UNC: 15 pts (6/16 fg and 0-4 3fg) and 13 rebs. Bennett is a much more talented Paul Millsap. People are looking at his point production and getting excited, I saw a 6'8" PF who may or may not be able to bring his game to the next level.

Archie Goodwin (UK) against Louisville: 22 pts (8/15 fg and 3/5 3fg), 5 rebs, 2asts. Can be a really good SG in the NBA when he gets an NBA body. Prefers to slash as opposed to shoot from the perimeter, even though he is a more than capable shooter from the mid-range and beyond the arc. Also he's not afraid of the moment, really stepped up when the Wildcats needed him to in the end of the game even though they lost.

Ben Mclemore (KU) against America University: 9 pts (2/4 fg and 1/2 3fg). Picked up 2 early fouls to start the game and sat almost all of the first half, his team was on a roll so there was really no reason for him to disrupt their flow, he kind of sat back and watched his teammates dominate a weak opponent. McClemore did score the first 2 points for Kansas though (and while this is very Lee-like) it was on a beautiful play that displayed his talent. A simple curl where he came of open from 18 feet, he caught it, rose up and swished it on a very quick catch and shoot off of a screen. Sounds pretty routine but you have to remember that this is college and not many college players can do that, and those who can won't do it as smoothly and as effortlessly as Ben did.

Over the weekend I was most impressed with the play of Burke and Goodwin, although I still prefer McClemore over Goodwin; as McClemore has more hops, stronger build, and a smoother jump shot.

SAS won't go for this. Prince is a complete downgrade over Leonard, and they won't want to give up their draft picks. As soon as Duncan retires, so will Pops and Manu and Parker is likely going elsewhere. SAS will hit the reset button hard in a year or two and they need their draft picks.

Right now, the Pistons are slated to draft at spots #4 and #34.

Trey Burke: Slotted to go at #25. Better than Will Bynum?
Anthony Bennett: Slotted to go at #8. Perhaps a SF (don't tell Lee356)?
Archie Goodwin: Slotted to go at #11. Do we need another SG?
Ben Mclemore: Slotted to go #3. Do we need another SG?

2013 Mock Draft | NBADraft.net

I think we have a top 55 (!) protected pick or something from the Clippers too.

Edit:

The Acker deal is starting to pay dividends.

DraftExpress - NBA Draft, NCAA/International Basketball Website.

So, we only get the pick if the Clippers have one of the 5 best records? If so, it could actually happen.

How soon you forget about Kim English....

1) F*** Prince.

2) Kaman would be a solid backup / mentor to Drummond and Monroe. Not looking for him to be what I wanted him to be 3 or 4 seasons ago.