Detroit Draft Talk

Re: Point Taken..

I saw Collison play in high school as my son graduated from Etiwanda High here in Rancho the year before Collison did. He is probably the best player from this area in awhile, but it seems that the injury he sustained somewhere between his jr and sr years at UCLA kind of slowed him somewhat. Even though he stayed at UCLA all four years he would need to hang out in the D league for awhile just to become as good and Farmar or Alflolo who both left after 2- 3 years, IMO.

I think we may be mis-using or inter-changing the use of combo guard in this thread.

A combo in the Pistons lexicon is a guy who is too short to play the 2 who has probably never played the point in his life. They do not have the quicks or handles to really be a 1.

The combos that G-Man was listing are "true" PG size and have played the point, but are more natural scorers than Bob Cousy. These guys aren't as lopsided as AI, just don't be expecting them to star in the remake of Hoosiers.

To me this is what the league has become. When you think back to a lot of the frustrating regular season losses of the last few years it was this type of guy who often was doing the damage. Raymond Felton comes to mind.

To close, I think it is absurd to not draft a player because of Will Blaylock. If he's here next year fine, but let's not build the house around him.

D'oh!(oh oh oh)!

Chucky Atkins is a pretty good example of combo guard..

Yea G-Man, everyone and their mother had us all over the wire that we were in fact taking Rodney Stuckey.

The information was leaking so fast about this selection that Dumars had to soft shoe prior to the draft.

There were all kinds of new article to this effect. We were talking about it on PF, Mlive and Detnews talk.

It wasn't too much of a surprise when he drafted him. But Stuckey was the only person that I can recollect during the Dumars era that the pick was pretty much expected.

Howdy G-Man... would love to pick up Collison in the 2nd round (IMO 1st round talent)... he's a young Lindsey Hunter type... a guy that can create offense by ball hawking... he's been on the radar for three years (draftnet projected lotto pick back then)... I think he'll be a better pro than Curry (average handles, poor defender)... Collison = sleeper indeed.

Check this out!

NBA Draft Analysis -- Best and Worst Colleges for producing NBA value picks

Now who's from Wake Forest?

Interesting to see Duke ranked that far below 'No College'

Nando de Colo. Remember the name.

Rubustio sucks. Slow. Slow-as-molasses jumper with no elevation. Average left hand. Gambling defender who only plays sound defense when he can keep up with his man. I don't get the hype with this kid. Yeah, he was the youngest professional blahblah Olympics, but what on Earth makes him worthy of the #2 pick?

Oh. I forgot. This draft class blows chunks.

I'd like to see James Johnson fall to us at 15....

Sort of defeats the purpose of Trading Billups doesn't it, Stucky as 2 guard.

Bj Mullins getting his tires kicked..

Pistons mulling over Ohio State's B.J. Mullens - Detroit Pistons Basketball: News, Blogs, Photos, Audio, Schedule & Stats - MLive.com

The case for Mullens.

Though most Piston fans wretch at the thought of drafting Mullens, I think he should definitely be a strong consideration for the 15th pick. There are several factors to consider before making this pick.

Size/Athleticism:
Mullens’ coveted combination of size and athleticism is a rare commodity in the NBA and is, in large part, the reason he would have been a top 5 pick if he could have come straight out of high school. He is a legit 7-footer who runs the floor well and is a very good finisher and in transition. This particular ability should translate well to the up-tempo offense the Pistons are intent on running.

Production:
At first glance Mullens’ numbers are pretty pedestrian for someone with his obvious attributes: 8.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.1 bpg.

Where is the production?

There are a couple things to consider here. The first is that he was only a freshman and he reportedly never had much high-level coaching prior to college. Consequently, his transition and understanding of Thad Matta’s schemes was rocky, at best. This was particularly evident on the defensive side of the ball where Mullens proved to be a liability. As a result, he was limited to about 20 minutes a game. Given a baseline of similar opportunity (kind of like ERA in baseball), compare him to the other top players in the draft who played the center position at a 40-minute pace adjusted baseline.

http://www.draftexpress.com/stats.php?year=2008%2F09&q=&per=pergame&qual=eligible&sort=6&min=20&stage=all&league=NCAA&conference=0&Compare=Submit+Comparison&pos=C&sort2=ASC&pid%5B39623%5D=39623&pid%5B8669%5D=8669&pid%5B6932%5D=6932&pid%5B10785%5D=10785&pid%5B11400%5D=11400&pid%5B11346%5D=11346

Looking at it in this way, you can see Mullens holds his own in just about every significant category except rebounding and that part of his game should be expected to improve with a better understanding of defensive positioning and responsibilities.

There are also other numbers in which Mullens excels. According to DraftExpress: "His 1.41 PPP as a finisher was amongst the best in our entire database, which backs up the perception that Mullens is an unusually gifted athlete with very solid hands. Unfortunately, he only got 3.6 opportunities to finish each game, which was far below the average for big men we looked at. Possessing nice speed for a player his size, Mullens is also capable of getting up and finishing in transition according to his situational stats, but he didn’t get all that many opportunities to do so, going 12/14 on the year."

Also: "Despite the lack of touches, Mullens had a relatively efficient year with the possessions he did receive, scoring %59.7 of his possessions, good for second amongst all centers."

Boom vs Bust:
When examining whether or not to select Mullens, it is important to consider the relative strength of the draft class and where the Pistons are selecting. This draft class is already notorious for being one of the weakest draft classes in years. Even in the top 10, there are serious questions about the viability of players being anything more than marginal starters or bench contributors. Clearly at 15 we can probably expect nothing more than a marginal starter or bench contributor if we take a more predictable player with a lower ceiling.

The question is whether or not taking the gamble on the upside of Mullens that comes with significant bust potential outweighs the risk of losing out on other mediocre players. I think you can definitely make that case. After all, how hard is it to replace mediocre talent in the NBA?

Before selecting Mullens, the Pistons will have to do their homework. They will have to answer questions about his work ethic and lack of understanding of the game. One way in which they can, to a degree, answer the former is to evaluate the steps Mullens has taken in improving himself since declaring for the draft.

Upon answering these questions, the Pistons will have to be patient and develop Mullens accordingly. He will need to be developed along the same lines as Thabeet, albeit at the NBA level instead of college. If they can do this successfully, the Pistons could have that dominant center they have been looking for for years. If not, they probably haven’t lost that much anyway.

Sergio Llull - Draft Express sees Detroit taking him at #36

This guy, Sergio Llull, is currently penciled in at #36 (our 1st 2nd round pick) by one Mock Draft..

DraftExpress NBA Draft Prospect Profile: Sergio Llull, Stats, Comparisons, and Outlook


Here he is on the floor, "warning - zombie music plays through-out"

YouTube - Sergio Llul 23#

YouTube - Sergi Llull, jugadores jóvenes Liga ACB, 2007-08

Sergio LLull has contract with european gegant real madrid,but he is a good young player. He is the future PG with Rubio of spanish team,but if detroit pick him is in order to let it develope in euroleague in real madrid elite team,1 o 2 more years. He has playing around 50% of time in euroleague and acb with Raul lopez.
Good player for future.

Hoopsworld said that pistons will trade Amir and 15 pick to Thunder. Very confused,trade young players and don´t give nothing to detroit.

DraftExpress: Word on the Street, June 2nd
Word is Joe is looking to trade our pick, no surprise there. Rumor is he's talking to OKC about #15 and dumping Amir. If we could somehow in this world get their #1 next year, I'd be pretty happy.

Whoops, didnt see that above me but anyway.

Re: Sergio Llull - Draft Express sees Detroit taking him at #36

Why am I not surprised that zombie music is chosen to accompany a potential Piston 2nd round pick?

As I type they're probably working on a video that mixes shots of this guy and a 2 x 4.

Re: The case for Mullens.

Great post. If JD keeps 15, then I am leaning this way. Any way you look at the Pistons this year, there will not be a five as a dominate force. This kid would get playing time. No reason why Cowens couldn't accelerate his learning curve. The kid has a certain perspective that I like to see about working on weaknesses.