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

Yup

quick edit: If this was my draft, I wouldn't take Noel full stop, but that is where I think he sits in terms of talent. I am sure he will recover from his knee injury physically, but the mental recovery is far harder and I don't know him well enough to speculate on how he will do.

The only mismatch he has there is bulk. The best defenders are not always big. Watch Wade, Tony Allen or even Kobe (6-8 yrs ago) and how they defend. Oladipo looks like a fantastic perimeter defender. If his motor and speed are as good as they say, we won't need him to score lots - he will take key players out of the game.

Look at what the Thunder do with Sefolosha. They stick him on the biggest threat in the backcourt. Because they know that they can have him out there as long as he shuts them down. Defensive specialists at key scoring positions can be critical to winning late games.

I agree in principle, but SOMEONE needs to score the ball next year.

Unless Drummond learns to lob it to himself

Very bizarre article in regards to Shabazz Marinovich in the LA Times, and I don't see it helping his stock, or maybe I'm overthinking things.

NCAA tournament, then NBA stardom: UCLA star's dad mapped out a dream - latimes.com

Also reveals that he's 20, not 19 as previously thought. So there are two 20 year old freshmen, lol.

Absolutely. In a heartbeat. at $3.6 million a year he is really good value. Fast, athletic and has the ability to be serviceable offensively.

I'm sketched-out on Shabazz.
I was already wondering about him due to the episode earlier this year where one of his team mates hit a game-winning buzzer beater and Shabazz pouted because he wasn't the one who took the shot.

If Odom hadn't really tried to make that finger roll, that would be one of the smoothest moves ever.

Having watched a handful of UCLA's games this year I personally think that Shabazz Muhammad is overrated and I hope (actually I pray) that the Pistons pass on him. In addition to playing terrible defense (he would actually have to play defense before I could honestly rate him) he DOES NOT pass. If he gets the ball it is going up!! Assuming we pick 4 or 5 we would be better off taking a Cody Zeller (a position of no need) then Shabazz. McLemore is my preference followed by Oladipo and Smart.

With that said, trading down and drafting Burke could be an option. I can honestly say that I am not impressed with Calderon and his complete lack of defense. If is completely embarrassing that the Detroit Pistons start 5 guys that play terrible to average defense. The Pistons legacy is rooted on the defensive side of the ball, what is going on? Thankfully, Drummond should be starting next year giving us one true defender. I would also be willing to give Singler a pass, after all he does play acceptable defense guarding (imho) the most talented position in the NBA (i.e Lebron, Durant, Anthony, etc..).

When all of the pieces are in place, Singler won't be a starter (he'll be a backup).
Knight plays pretty good defense.

Calderon's defense has actually been better than I was anticipating. The problem for the Pistons is having too many mediocre defenders. A guy like Andre Drummond can cover up some of his teammates' weaknesses, but not all of them over a course of 48 minutes.

I'm looking at a list of FA SFs and I don't see a single player that deserves to be pursued. Unless we draft a SF I believe that Singler will be our guy.

I don't know if I would say BK's defense is good, but playing next to "I don't play defense"Caldron he is freaking amazing.. It is like when you are at a bar and see a group of women 4 ugly and 1 hot, the hot one steps away from her friends and you think "God she is not that attractive", then she steps back in the middle of the fugly friends and immediately you are like "Who is the hot chick?".. That's how I compare BK's defense. In regards to their defense all of our guards are the fugly chicks and BK is the slightly more attractive one

What do you think about Calderon? Should the Pistons resign him? Drafting Smart or McLemore would certainly spark an interesting discussion on whether or not Calderon would be needed. If we draft McLemore does he start at the 2 with BK taking back his starting PG role? Or does BK become the 6th man while continuing to learn the PG position from Calderon? If we drat Smart does he slide into the starting PG position and we leave BK at SG? Or does Smart become the 6th man? Should be interesting..

Hold on, lets not get out of control here. The Pistons defense is so bad because of few guys. I break it down like this

Elite defenders:
Andre Drummond - Like it or not, this guy flat out shuts down the lane. As his IQ improves, he will become a huge defensive force.

Above average:
Brandon Knight - is good on defense. He moves well and he plays hard as well.
Middleton/English - I like both these guys. They tend to make good rotations and their length really helps.
Monroe - Can't jump, but interferes in passing lanes and strips in the post and on shot attempts.
Jerebko - Assuming its not as a PF, he plays pretty good d sometimes

Average/slightly below average
Maxiell - Goes hard, but his height and declining athleticism hurts him badly
Singler - Hustles, plays smart. Average defender.
Kravstov - big but slow.

Completely unservicable matadors/invisible/playing pick up at the park:
Villenueva - No help defense, lead feet, forearm shivers are far to frequent.
Will Bynum - The guy is 4"7. Lets not overstate his abilities
Corey Maggette - ...
Rodney Stuckey - Horrific defender. Slow on rotations, bad at isos, poor decision maker.

The problem is that we never run squads which only have one or two bad defenders. There are usually 3, sometimes 4 and that is what kills us.

Good post Panda. But I would put Monroe as an average defender too. He's really mediocre when it comes to D. I agree with everything else you said.

@roscoe36: I would put Calderon in the average defenders category as well.

When it comes to defense, the problem is primarily the interior defense. In the starting lineup, Maxiell is undersized and Moose is completely disinterested in playing defense. Once the opposing guards pass our perimeter defense, it becomes a layup drill because nobody is protecting the paint. So, to compensate, our wings sag too much to reduce the risk of someone driving and as a result they keep giving up wide open jumpers. The starting wings, Calderon, Knight and Singler are all serviceable defenders if we had proper interior defenders.

The situation gets worse when the bench comes in, because JJ is even more overmatched size-wise and CV is a joke. Then you have Bynum and Stuckey who are both horrible defenders. The lacking interior D becomes non-existent and the players on the wings are not even capable of doing anything defensively. As a result the opposing team doesn't even need to read the defense and exploit a specific weakness; they just do whatever they feel like doing.

The rookies Slava, English and Middleton are all upgrades over anything else we have on the bench, but there is an unwillingness to play them for whatever reason.

Which brings me to Drummond. Once he's back on the floor, we should start him. Swapping Maxiell with Drummond immediately makes our starting lineup at least a respectable unit, from a defensive standpoint. Jose, Knight and Singler are all capable of protecting outside shots if they know that the lane is protected if they get beat off the dribble.

Great post. Monroe is an average defender at best. He intimidates no one.
Your interior defense paragraph is outstanding and your next paragraph even better.
Monroe should be part of a package deal. This will change the whole concept of filling major holes. I have my favorite draft player who should become a major PF. If he is gone, then a very good substitute will be a five. We are talking starter material by mid-next year for both a major draft picks (PF/C) by mid-season next year. A youthful core of talent, that hits the playoffs next year and beyond.

JD merely has to continue pragmatic ruthlessness (Tay) and then perceptively understand certain ceilings that have frozen limits (Monroe and Knight).

Monroe gets a bunch of steals but he is still a bad defender and I would put Jerebko in the slightly below average group both at SF and PF. He may hustle but he looks pretty lost when he's defending.

Not convinved that one draft choice can make us playoff bound.
I'll just have to take a pass on that idea....