If you were GM of Pistons of last 5 yrs how would you have built the team?

[Todd3]

I think the Chauncey-AI trade / Rip contract extension is a pretty clean cutoff point. That lead to the CV-Ben Gordon summer, which lead to the Vonleh pick for Maggette trade, which lead to the Josh Smith signing.

Knowing what we know now the easy answer would be deal Chauncey / Rip / Tay for draft picks, avoid any middling FA signings, tank and try to draft these guys:

2009 draft - Blake Griffin / James Harden / Steph Curry / DeMar Derozen / Jrue Holiday / Jeff Teague
2010 - John Wall / Boogie Cousins / Paul George
2011 - Kyrie / Klay Thompson / Kawhi Leonard / Jimmy Butler
2012 - Anthony Davis / Damon Lillard / Andre Drummond / Draymond


On a related note, we easily could have drafted this team over those 4 years:

Jeff Teague
Klay - Kawhi - Butler
Paul George
Draymond
Drummond

And people use his drafts to defend the last few years of Joe's tenure...

The Klay/Kawhi/George picks would've been nice. No one predicted Butler would be this good, and had Joe drafted him 8th he would've been vilified at the time for using a top 10 pick on a guy projected late 1st. Draymond was the pick before ours and idk why anyone would want Teague over Reggie.

Also it's doubtful the Kawhi of today would be the same player if we drafted him. Imo most of his success is attributed to Popovich developing him and being in a winning system. Doubt Kuester and Frank would've gotten the same results.

I think this thread was supposed to be moves you wanted at the time and the team chose other players instead. Did you really want Klay/Kawhi over Knight and George over Monroe? If not, can't criticize Joe for not getting it right if you didn't know they'd be better either.

Not one person on this board wanted Devin Booker over Stanimal or Justise Winslow. I remember some posts about trading down and getting Booker, but no one wanted him at #8.

The only pick in that era I really went against before it happened was Austin Daye. I really wanted Jrue Holiday with that pick but Stuckey was our "PG of the future" at that time.

I don't think I was posting here during the draft, but Booker was one of the guys I was always posting about wanting on other sites. So I don't know what others here wanted, but given the majority seeming to be in favor of KCP, it makes sense if no one wanted Booker

[Todd3]

Tbh, i would do what philly is doing. Noel embiid and okafor are all better than drummond.

Based on what

What's Philly doing?

[chrbal]

2011 draft would've been Klay Thompson, Chandler Parsons, and Isaiah Thomas. Ben Gordon to Charlotte trade never happens. He eventually gets amnestied....

These are kind of pointless fun. The only one I like really doing is, "what should Joe Dumars not have done from the weekend he extended Rip and traded Billups" on

[ComboGuardCity]

Hindsight nobody wanted booker

Not true at all. I wanted Booker over SJ and sitll do.

Out of all the players we had the past 5 years, this would've been the most ideal starting lineup: Brandon Knight/KCP/Khris Middleton/Greg Monroe/Andre Drummond

To be fair, our lineup would've been Henson at center and not Drummond. You also didn't want Middleton and said you went to A&M and he wasn't anything special. See, it's a dangerous game. All of our own personal teams would be considerably worse. I would've had shabazz

[Hotmayo]

Hindsight nobody wanted booker

we did a draft poll and i was one of two that picked devin booker

[princeofpalace]

Hindsight nobody wanted booker

Not true at all. I wanted Booker over SJ and sitll do.

Out of all the players we had the past 5 years, this would've been the most ideal starting lineup: Brandon Knight/KCP/Khris Middleton/Greg Monroe/Andre Drummond

To be fair, our lineup would've been Henson at center and not Drummond. You also didn't want Middleton and said you went to A&M and he wasn't anything special. See, it's a dangerous game. All of our own personal teams would be considerably worse. I would've had shabazz

You are mistaken. I wanted Middleton. I didn't want Deandre Jordan lol. I also wouldn't have drafted Brandon Knight either- but I'm not talking about re-drafts. I'm talking about guys Joe had on roster and a lineup that would've worked if not for some horrible trades and FA acquisitions.

[jars]

Honestly would have traded Greg Monroe at some point around the 2013 draft for picks/prospects. It still irks me that we knew he didn't fit and then didn't get anything back for him, just let him walk. At the time I hated the Ben Gordon signing but didnt mind CV. I felt CV still had growing room but we overpaid. Probably wouldnt have done either and used the cap room with trades. I wasnt mega impressed with the signing of Josh Smith but assumed it meant we were trading Moose. A frontline of J Smoove and Dre would have been good defensively if we had spacing via shooters rather than leaving Smith on the perimeter. Had I traded Monroe away I feel like I still would have considered signing Smith.

At the time I didnt want KCP, was screaming for Ben McLemore and probably would have tried to trade up with SAC for him. I also preferred Shabazz Muhammad and Giannis Antetokoumpo. Hindsight, I'm happy I didnt make that pick.
I wanted Kemba over Knight at the time as well but was okay with Knight purely because it meant we didnt get Bismack Bustumbo. I actually kind of wanted Kawhi but felt that 7 was too high for him. I wanted us to trade for another pick to take him. I remember being slightly surprised he was available at 15.
I would have taken Winslow over SJ at the draft but would have been happy with either.

I think the big thing for me would have been hiring a decent coach. Until SVG we hadnt had a good coach for 7 years.

Also, wouldn't have given away a pick just to throw away Ben Gordon even if he wasnt a good locker room presence.

[Bknight4three]

I really wanted Booker. Other than that I think I have agreed with every move SVG has made. I would be writing all day if I started listing things Dumars did from 2011 forward that I didn't like.

[Ghost]

The last three drafts I really wanted us to take:
2015: Justise Winslow
2014: Zach LaVine (if we had the pick)
2013: Trey Burke or MCW

If I started as GM in 2011, I would have taken Kemba Walker my first year and then in 2012 I forget who I liked.... maybe Henson. Having Kemba means I would have went Shabazz in 2013.

Talk about putting us in a different position . I don't think it would have been good haha.

[zeebneeb]

Holy crap this thread is enlightening.