My Offseaon Plan for the Pistons.

[BiGG RaBB]

Grant + Hayes to Portland for their 1st and whatever other trash to make it work.

Get magic Bean Lucky Draft Smith & Sharpe

S&T Bagley for Ayton

C: Ayton / Olynyk
PF: Smith / Stewart
SF: Bey / Livers
SG: Sharpe / Diallo
PG: Cade / Cujo

[A_dub06]

Grant + Hayes to Portland for their 1st and whatever other trash to make it work.

Get magic Bean Lucky Draft Smith & Sharpe

S&T Bagley for Ayton

C: Ayton / Olynyk
PF: Smith / Stewart
SF: Bey / Livers
SG: Sharpe / Diallo
PG: Cade / Cujo

I’d be fine throwing in Hayes but I don’t think he has positive value, neutral at best. Even still, I don’t think Grant gets us a realistic chance unless Portland is wanting to go all in for Dame (which really they should be or going full tear down), they manage to sign Lavine in the off seaosn and then are desperate to add talent making Grant a viable target with his defence, 3pt shooting and versatility.

There’s also zero % chance Phoenix does that deal. If they are doing a sign and trade they will want a better player coming back in return.

Personally for the Pistons, I think if this highly unlikely hit hopeful situation panned out where we could walk away with Chet or Smith, as well as Sharpe, the plan should be to play the ping pong balls again developing our young squad as much as possible and maybe just maybe, give us a chance at the Victor Webebyama sweepstakes who truly projects to be a generational talent. I realise how much of an outside chance this is, but I still think worst case it stacks our roster with young talent and guys that can and should develop into difference makers. There’s no need to rush out and throw big money at free agents this off season that a year from now will look like bad contracts or start accumulating vets to rise up the standings.

[JosephMamah]

I'd sign Hartenstein, if I could get him on a somewhat reasonable deal.

Draft one of Smith/Ivey/Sharpe, depending on where the pick lands and how the "predraft process" plays out, with Sharpe especially.

Flip Grant for whatever the best offer may be. I don't want to pay him long term, so might as well get something for him now rather than let him walk for nothing next year.

The rest of the off season moves would depend on who we draft and what we get for Grant, but I wouldn't mind taking a flier on Monk if the price is right, and we don't draft a guard. And maybe grab a sf that can get to the rim and play solid defense, if we can find somebody on the cheap. Unless we think this is the year that Jackson finally puts it all together.....

[eitanr]

The lotto is only a day away, but let's build three scenarios based on draft, shall we?

Draft: To me, it goes one of three ways.

A. If you land 1 - I don't see a better prospect than Chet. He should be the unequivocal no. 1 pick. Players tend to bulk up when they get to league. He has not shown to be injury prone despite body type and does not have a flaw for modern NBA. He would be the perfect long term 5 for anyone.

B. If you land 2 or 3 and Chet is off the board, you can't pass on Ivey. Ivey is still somewhat of a risk, but again at his size and potential explosiveness you roll those dice.

C. If you are at 3 or greater AND Chet and Ivey are off the board, I actually DO NOT advocate drafting Paolo or Smith. I have watched a ton of YT videos on these two and feel these are in jeopardy of being classic NBA busts. Here's why:

Jabari Smith - He 'looks' explosive and is quick on defense, with ability to come out on perimeter a bit and defend the rim, BUT he can't take his man off the dribble at all. He settles way too much for deep fadeaways and tough mid range scenarios. I have never seen a player 'develop' the ability to take his man off the dribble and create in the NBA. He usually shows signs of that in college/Europe. To me, that's a massive red flag. That doesn't mean he can't be a nice rotational talent. But he reminds me more of Marvin Williams and I also get nervous of Wes Johnson.

Paulo Banchero - Dude is an unreal offense talent. Has ability to take man off the dribble, shoot a bit and create. Problem for me is he's a classic 90s PF and maybe his upside in the NBA is Blake Griffin. This scares me as well. He can't defend well enough to play the 5 and I think won't be able to stay with quicker PFs. Again, we saw the same thing happen with Bagley recently. If you are at that size and skill set, the new modern NBA needs you playing the 5. If you can't and you don't shoot the three well enough, it will be tough to find you consistent minutes. Can he be a good rotational talent or like Jabari Parker? Yes. I do not take that type of player top 5.

I don't know much about Shaedon Sharpe. Frankly none of us do. But I think there are more sure fire good doubles I go for instead. Also, let teams who can take the risk (e.g. Pels) take the risk on him. Detroit really needs a legit player from their pick and Sharpe's lack of playing would just scare me.

I can be happy with AJ Griffin/Keegan Murray/Ben Mathurin with the pick. All 3 have some size, can create and defend and hit the 3. I feel all have good attributes for today's NBA. Those would be my order pending on where Detroit fell from 3-7. Any should be available in a worse case draft slot scenario. Let's assume Pistons draft AJ Griffin then....

Free Agency:

I think the best thing to happen to Detroit was Phoenix getting blown out in game 7. We already had some doubts Sarver would stomach a MAX deal for Ayton. Now, it seems less likely. Remember, Phoenix lost Joe Johnson to Atlanta for similar reasons. History repeats itself and I think there's a chance Detroit can steal Ayton and throw MAX to get the talent when they can....

Assuming they can't sign Ayton, my next target is the tandem of Mitchell Robinson and Tyus Jones.

Mitchell Robinson - His ability to hedge the P&R and get on the perimeter is an underrated skill set and he would be just as nice as a lob threat for Cade as Rudy. He keeps you competitive and could thrive under Casey.

Tyus Jones - At his likely salary, I prefer him to Brunson. Also Dallas is likely going to keep Brunson now after making the conference finals, so it's a moot point. Jones can spot start, be okay with backing up and playing good minutes and despite his size has been extremely efficient on the D end.

Trades:

Jerami Grant to Miami for Duncan Robinson/Gabe Vincent/27th Pick

Why? Moving Grant makes way for greater USG youth to play. Whether it's the pending rookie, Bey or even Cade and Hayes getting more touches. Also Pistons need shooting BADLY. Duncan still has solid size and will be a necessary extreme spacer. Vincent adds more needed guard depth and another play maker. I also like this draft and feel you can still get a rotational talent at 27 (EJ Liddell).

Minor Moves:

I would try and nab a nice wing vet insurance talent (Damian Lee) on the cheap who can play larger minutes pending on health of the roster.

I also retain Dialo. I feel he grew a lot last year and is a steady part of Casey's culture. I literally let everyone else lapse (Garza, Jackson, Bagley).

Again, this is most realistic based on above and assuming Pistons can't get Ayton, Brunson or get a top 3 pick.

PF S. Bey/ H. Dialo/ EJ Liddell
SF AJ Griffin/ D. Robinson
C M. Robinson/ K. Olynyk/ I. Stewart
SG C. Cunningham/ K. Hayes/ D. Lee
PG T. Jones/ G. Vincent/CoJo

It is filled with a lot of guys who have ability to create, improved shooting, and would still embed that Casey defensive swarming culture.