Have you watched them play? Bennett is in no way what so ever a SF, he's an undersized PF. Muhammad is a SG all day long, he won't be able to defend SF's in the league or rebound effectively. It's a weak draft for SF's and Porter is really the only true SF worth drafting in the lottery or even 1st round this year.
Agree. A starter may go chase a title and come off the bench. A starter will not go to a lottery team (i.e., Pistons) to come off the bench.
Point taken on Bennett. I didn't really think before I included his name there. But I believe you are off-base on Muhammad. He's got almost a 7-foot wing span, is about 6-7 to begin with, an incredible athlete, and has the build to add a great deal of muscle / strength as well. Most scouts seem to think he'll be an elite wing defender. His comparisons seem to mostly be to Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Let's not over-think it. An NBA player goes to the money first, the situation second ~ 99% of the time.
I disagree. Good players would rather take less cash than signing a long-term deal with a small-market, cold-weather, lottery-destined franchise.
and skiing. and forgive my stereotypical attitude, but I seriously question the allure of Utah's advantageous skiing locations in one Paul Millsap's decision-making on the matter.
Milsap was drafted by Utah though and it has been stable also. It is not unusual for that player to re-sign as long as they were willing to pay him. It would be a different story if Milsap signed with Indy. (He'd fit right in.)
I think my beef or gripe with the Calderon trade is that it still leaves the team in a state of flux. Will he stay or go? If he goes then what is Joe capable of? I need to remind myself that they only traded Tay + filler, but I wish they ended up for player(s) X who are signed for 3 years instead. Then it would feel like it was time to stop rebuilding. (Please don't ask me who these players are either.) I really hope the Pistons use their cap space on trades instead of FA's. It seems like a much better bargain.
Utah are silly for not truly getting everything out of Millsap. Their indecisiveness in figuring out which of their plethora of big men they want to keep long-term can only help our chances. If we signed him he would be our best and highest paid player. I don't understand why when everyone is clamouring for Drummond to start that people want to do the opposite with a beast like Millsap.
Detroit won't get a big-time big man like Millsap or West - not with Monroe and Drummond already here. I question where they'll be able to get Smith - frankly, I'd like to see them package Knight in a deal for Smith so they can max Smith at a higher rate than what the rest of the league can offer. He's an all-star in the prime of his career that gives them height at the SF position, at which, empirically, he is a better fit ( Josh Smith of the Atlanta Hawks, NBA player stats). I don't think the Pistons get Smith, but it is my dream scenario. He and Drummond give them enough of a defensive presence to offset Monroe and Calderon.
I like the defensive wall of Smith/ Monroe/ Drummond. I think that Monroe would actually do a good job at playing a type of defense that Smith and Drummond don't play. He's more fundamental and he gets the steals, but just lacks the shot blocking. There would be enough of that with those other 2. Then we can have offensively oriented guards as long as they both have 3-point range to punish collapsed defenses. Calderon/ Knight seems OK to me. Maybe it wouldn't work out to be the best combination, but I'd be tempted to find out if I were JD.
