Piston Pete's Offseason Plan 3/9

[Piston Pete]

First off, let me talk about the 2013 free agent class. I have shared my thought on who I would like to go after in the past, and I would still like to target YOUNG guys we could get on the cheap and hope they grow as players here around the rest of our young core -- guys that are on the cusp of breaking out. My two main target would be:

SF Aminu
Aminu's not a great shooter, but he's athletic as heck, he's a good wing defender, great rebounder for a SF, will block shots, good hustle guy, and I think could be had for MLE-type money.

PF Earl Clark (or JJ Hickson)
Clark is young, athletic, and has range out to 3-point land. Adding him would give us a guy who's skill contrast what Monroe/Drummond provide. Hy hope here is that adding him gives us a legit 3-man big rotation where Monroe and Drummond get 30-33 minutes per and Clark is near that too -- with Monroe getting minutes at both PF and C. I think he could be had for MLE-type money as well. Hickson is my backup plan guy for this role, but might cost more money.

PG Jack
Veteran PG who will accept a backup role behind Knight. Pretty good all-around PG who will hopefully show Knight some tricks of the trade. Should be able to get for slightly less than MLE-type money.


Now my main objective in the draft would be to select SHOOTERS to put around Monroe/Drummond. As such, I would like us to use our cap space to take on a contract from a team in luxury tax hell to get their first rounder. Something like the Lakers giving us their first rounder and PG Steve Blake for the Clipper's 2nd rounder.

1a) SG McLemore or Shabazz (hoping we fall down the lottery far enough to get one or that one falls ala Dre)
1b) SF Dario Saric
2) SG Allan Crabbe



Next season's 15-man roster:

Knight / Jack / Blake
(McLemore or Shabazz) / Crabbe / English
Aminu / Saric / Middleton / Singler
Monroe / Clark / Jerebko
Drummond / Monroe / Kravtsov

[Goldtop]

idk, I just think this capspace is a rare opportunity to add some top quality proven vets to the young guys we already have, and we need to take advantage. Plus, we gave up a future 1st round pick to get this capspace. So the goal should be making sure we get players with the capspace that are better than what we would've gotten in the draft with that pick. Aminu, Clark, and Jack, while all nice players, I'm not sure any are better than any mid 1st round pick we could've just gotten ourselves had we kept the pick, and probably cost us less. And while they may be cheaper individually than a Josh Smith, if you add it all up, it may cost us 15-17 mil or more combined anyways to sign all 3. Essentially spending all our capspace just to add more role players.

I'm not really in love with the idea of maxing out Josh Smith, but if we're going to spend $15 mil, I'd rather it be on 1 big time impact player than a trio of role players. We already have enough role players. I think we need to try and get 1 or 2 big impact players with this money.

[Piston Pete]

idk, I just think this capspace is a rare opportunity to add some top quality proven vets to the young guys we already have, and we need to take advantage. Plus, we gave up a future 1st round pick to get this capspace. So the goal should be making sure we get players with the capspace that are better than what we would've gotten in the draft with that pick. Aminu, Clark, and Jack, while all nice players, I'm not sure any are better than any mid 1st round pick we could've just gotten ourselves had we kept the pick, and probably cost us less. And while they may be cheaper individually than a Josh Smith, if you add it all up, it may cost us 15-17 mil or more combined anyways to sign all 3. Essentially spending all our capspace just to add more role players.

I'm not really in love with the idea of maxing out Josh Smith, but if we're going to spend $15 mil, I'd rather it be on 1 big time impact player than a trio of role players. We already have enough role players. I think we need to try and get 1 or 2 big impact players with this money.

I'd rather follow the OKC model. Build around your young guys -- ours are going to be Monroe/Knight/Drummond/2013 lottery pick. Add complementry pieces around them.

The minute we start adding $10-$15 million type guys around them, we're looking at Luxury tax issues when the youngsters wanna get paid and the expensive guys aren't movable either because they make too much or are no longer producing, or both. I mean, I guess if there was a can't miss star SG or SF in this FA class, then maybe -- but there isn't. We need to be smart on how we spend our money this offseason.

[princeofpalace]

^
Not quite sure how this plan is the OKC plan. OKC drafted 3 superstar players and a borderline all star in Ibaka and surrounded those guys with proven role players. That plan gets you in the championship hunt

This plan seems to be more like " draft some border line all star players" and then put unproven mediocre players around them. This plan gets you in the hunt for worst record in the league.

[Mr. Krabs]

That team won't sniff a playoff spot...

[Goldtop]

idk, I just think this capspace is a rare opportunity to add some top quality proven vets to the young guys we already have, and we need to take advantage. Plus, we gave up a future 1st round pick to get this capspace. So the goal should be making sure we get players with the capspace that are better than what we would've gotten in the draft with that pick. Aminu, Clark, and Jack, while all nice players, I'm not sure any are better than any mid 1st round pick we could've just gotten ourselves had we kept the pick, and probably cost us less. And while they may be cheaper individually than a Josh Smith, if you add it all up, it may cost us 15-17 mil or more combined anyways to sign all 3. Essentially spending all our capspace just to add more role players.

I'm not really in love with the idea of maxing out Josh Smith, but if we're going to spend $15 mil, I'd rather it be on 1 big time impact player than a trio of role players. We already have enough role players. I think we need to try and get 1 or 2 big impact players with this money.

I'd rather follow the OKC model. Build around your young guys -- ours are going to be Monroe/Knight/Drummond/2013 lottery pick. Add complementry pieces around them.

The minute we start adding $10-$15 million type guys around them, we're looking at Luxury tax issues when the youngsters wanna get paid and the expensive guys aren't movable either because they make too much or are no longer producing, or both. I mean, I guess if there was a can't miss star SG or SF in this FA class, then maybe -- but there isn't. We need to be smart on how we spend our money this offseason.

Remember OKC didn't take that next step to being a top team until they added Perkins

[Piston Pete]

This team next season will battle for the playoffs. I could easily see them being a 6-9 seed in the East. Yeah, nothing special....

But that's nbot the point anyway. No matter what we do this offseason, we're not going to be contending for a championship next season. The point is to build a young team to GROW with eachother long-term. The point is to build a championship team for the future.

When guys like Monroe, Knight, Drummond, (Shabazz or McLemore), Aminu, Middleton, Clark, Saric, and Crabbe are all in their mid twenties, this core will be fighting for NBA supremecy.

[DocRI]

Piston Pete's pefect plan's primary postulate is parenthetical. (Ha! How's that for alliteration! I knew my English degree would come in handy someday!)

But seriously, Pete's plan really highlights a huge and obvious catch to all of these "My Dream Offseason" threads — the fact that the draft comes before free agency. And while I love his optimism, it's gonna take some luck for (McLemore or Shabazz) to land on the Pistons; you can't just throw their names inside of parenthesis and assume the lotto balls land in our favor.

That said, I do think (or at least hope!) Dumars is considering multiple plans for free agency dependent upon what happens at the draft first. For instance, if we land either McLemore or Smart, I think spending big money on a guard (I.e. Mayo, Ellis, and even resigning Calderon for anymore than a bench role) goes out the window. On the other hand, if we land Shabazz or Porter to complete our front line, I'd expect Joe to spend his money on the backcourt instead. In either of those cases, I could see Joe making one big free agent signing and then spending the rest on undervalued role players like Pete is targeting to round out the team (I particularly like Aminu). However, if the most likely scenario of us not moving up happens, I think we draft another solid, young role player in the #9 – #11 range and then really try to make a splash in free agency. In short, it's all a chess game where your first move dictates your moves to follow, and the first move of this critical offseason for us is the lottery and the draft; what sounds like a good plan today could and should get scrapped dependent upon our luck in the draft process.

[StickAndMove]

I'd love to see Shabazz or McLemore on the Pistons.

Aminu is a nice addition if he's cheap; my concern with him is that he won't be able to play with Drummond and Moose because he can't shoot well enough.

J.J. Hickson and Earl Clark are completely different types of players. Hickson would definitely give us a legit 3-man big rotation, but he can't stretch the defense like Earl Clark can. J.J.'s range is ~20 feet. Earl Clark would give us the 3 pt threat, but he is more of a SF/PF, not a legit big. What's more, I think Hickson will get more money than can be afforded to a "3rd big".

I think Jarrett Jack will get slightly more than the MLE, but if you're right and it's less, I'd be happy to see him wearing a Pistons jersey.

Some shooters I'd be interested in:

Luke Walton, Dorrell Wright, Chase Budinger, Raja Bell, Martell Webster, Marco Belinelli, Nick Young, Anthony Morrow, Kyle Korver, Chauncey Billups

Kevin Martin and J.J. Redick would also make the list, but I'm already convinced they'll get too much money. I'd take any of these guys, whichever management felt was the best value. I don't want the Pistons to lock up a bunch of money this off-season, particularly long-term.

[Clarity]

^
Not quite sure how this plan is the OKC plan. OKC drafted 3 superstar players and a borderline all star in Ibaka and surrounded those guys with proven role players. That plan gets you in the championship hunt

This plan seems to be more like " draft some border line all star players" and then put unproven mediocre players around them. This plan gets you in the hunt for worst record in the league.

Yeah OKC is the luckiest franchise ive seen in my lifetime in any Sport, luck into 3 stars & then have those 3 absolute game changing mega stars miss a combined 6 games in their first 5 years. That will never happen again in my lifetime. So they arent a good model to follow.

However the basic idea is correct & we have done a heck of a job with that. Monroe is a perennial All Star once we start winning, Knight will at worse be a good shooter off the bench & Drummond has top 5 overall player potential. He could be an absolute mega star. I'd stay the course, we really are an impact wing away from being a playoff team again.

[menten]

do you realise we need shooters around drummond/monfail and that everybody would just sag off of this lineup? apparantly not

and why would anyone want the low-upside tweeners jack and clark?

[The Penguin]

Remember OKC didn't take that next step to being a top team until they added Perkins

Adding Perkins and OKC taking off are mere coincidences. He was unusable against Miami last year and they may have been able to investigate keeping Harden if they didn't owe Perkins $30 mil. Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka all making the leap were the reason for OKC's takeoff.

Again I fail to understand why this team must make the playoffs this year or next year. Next years draft class is LOADED with guys like Wiggins and Jabari Parker at the top. Wiggins especially has the potential to be a Lebron/Durant type player. We should sell our cap space to teams terrified of the repeater tax while the young guys grow and take one more real shot at landing a game changing young player.

[joeposh]

Again I fail to understand why this team must make the playoffs this year or next year. Next years draft class is LOADED with guys like Wiggins and Jabari Parker at the top. Wiggins especially has the potential to be a Lebron/Durant type player. We should sell our cap space to teams terrified of the repeater tax while the young guys grow and take one more real shot at landing a game changing young player.

Because some of the cornerstones of our team are growing increasingly dissatisfied with getting blown out nearly every time they step on the court, as evidenced by Monroe's recent comments. It's creating a toxic locker room, which is not conducive to player development, and could wind up costing us dearly down the road. We need to show these young guys, potential free agency targets and what's left of the fanbase that we're committed to winning and not content with being a perennial lottery player.

I'm all for dive bombing the rest of this season since it's a lost cause, but if we have a shot at some serious talent after the draft, we should take it.

[rmfc]

do you realise we need shooters around drummond/monfail and that everybody would just sag off of this lineup? apparantly not

and why would anyone want the low-upside tweeners jack and clark?

Agreed about the shooters part. I don't know how that is not obvious. Aminu woukd be a nice under-the-radar type addition. However, his offense is almost non-existent. If Monroe-Drummond is going to be our front court of the fuure, then we would desperately need top class shooters at the 1-2-3 spots.

Jarrett Jack would be a nice addition to the team, though. He is the type of backup PG we'd need on this team.

[Piston Pete]

Aminu was my only 'non-shooter' acquisition.

Clark, Jack, (Shabazz or McLemore), Saric, Crabbe -- these are all guys who can shoot.

[DetroitDon15]

Aminu was my only 'non-shooter' acquisition.

Clark, Jack, (Shabazz or McLemore), Saric, Crabbe -- these are all guys who can shoot.

This offseason I want a interior defender in the front court and a scorer on the Wings. I'd like to nab one in the draft and the other in FA/Trade. I'd love to get Josh Smith and Shabazz Mohammed this offseason.

[LongLiveIverson]

Sixers fan, What do you guys think about this

Greg Monroe for Evan Turner, Arnett Moultrie
Turner gives you a versatile swingman who can defend, rebound and has finally developed a 3pt shot. Him with combo guards like Stuckey and Knight would be a perfect fit. Moultrie is a true stretch 4 would fit perfect with Drummond.

FA - Sign low key guys who can be contributers
Jarrett Jack 2yr 5million
Timofey Mozgov 1yr 3million

Draft - Best wing available. Shabbazz, Porter or Oladipo one will be there

C. Andre Drummond/Timofey Mozgov/Kravtosov
F. Arnett Moultrie/Charlie Villanueva/Jonas Jerepko
F. Draft Pick/Kyle Singlar/Khris Middleton
G. Evan Turner/Rodney Stuckey/Kim English
G. Brandon Knight/Jarret Jack

[Jodi]

Sixers fan, What do you guys think about this

Greg Monroe for Evan Turner, Arnett Moultrie
Turner gives you a versatile swingman who can defend, rebound and has finally developed a 3pt shot. Him with combo guards like Stuckey and Knight would be a perfect fit. Moultrie is a true stretch 4 would fit perfect with Drummond.

FA - Sign low key guys who can be contributers
Jarrett Jack 2yr 5million
Timofey Mozgov 1yr 3million

Draft - Best wing available. Shabbazz, Porter or Oladipo one will be there

C. Andre Drummond/Timofey Mozgov/Kravtosov
F. Arnett Moultrie/Charlie Villanueva/Jonas Jerepko
F. Draft Pick/Kyle Singlar/Khris Middleton
G. Evan Turner/Rodney Stuckey/Kim English
G. Brandon Knight/Jarret Jack

I'm sorry bro, but I think I'll have to kindly decline your offer...Our front-court of Monroe/Drummond have a nice future ahead of them...This off-season we'll do a Stuckey for Moultrie+Brown trade...Any interest?..

[Clarity]

Stop w/ the Monroe trade options, the Pistons arent trading a borderline All Star big man.

[menten]

Sixers fan, What do you guys think about this

Greg Monroe for Evan Turner, Arnett Moultrie
Turner gives you a versatile swingman who can defend, rebound and has finally developed a 3pt shot. Him with combo guards like Stuckey and Knight would be a perfect fit. Moultrie is a true stretch 4 would fit perfect with Drummond.

FA - Sign low key guys who can be contributers
Jarrett Jack 2yr 5million
Timofey Mozgov 1yr 3million

Draft - Best wing available. Shabbazz, Porter or Oladipo one will be there

C. Andre Drummond/Timofey Mozgov/Kravtosov
F. Arnett Moultrie/Charlie Villanueva/Jonas Jerepko
F. Draft Pick/Kyle Singlar/Khris Middleton
G. Evan Turner/Rodney Stuckey/Kim English
G. Brandon Knight/Jarret Jack

evan turner HAHA