RealGM

We have so many threads devoted to the off-season... fire Joe, fire Frank, we've got Draft threads everywhere, off-season plans everywhere...

This a chance to roll everything into one plan for each poster... and you're only limited by the CBA.

You can buy draft picks, you can trade Monroe, you can fire Joe, fire Frank, hire whomever you like...

Assume you were running the show what would you do?

I think this is an excellent idea. It would be cool if we updated the OP with each person's idea.

Mine:

Vets:
0. Let Calderon, Max, Bynum walk.

1. Fire Lawrence Frank. Hire Brian Shaw. He's 47 years old and he is more than ready to coach in this league. Players have to respect a former player who has good relations with former superstars.

Trades:
2. Trade Stuckey + Singler for Wilson Chandler. Iguodala is going to get a long term deal from the Nuggets. They like Brewer and can get him for cheaper than keeping Chandler. Fournier is also developing.

Draft:

3. Draft Shabazz & LeBryan Nash with out current picks (Trade up for Lebryan w/ Cash if needed).

4. Buy a 1st rounder (OKC's own pick) and draft Ricky Ledo. Stash him overseas next season.

Free Agency:
5. Sign OJ Mayo 4yr/40mill to run the back court with Knight. Plan B is Gerald Henderson to 4yr/32.

6. Sign Beno Udrih to be our backup PG. Plan B Jerryd Bayless


7. Sign Dalembert to be our backup C


2013-2014 Pistons:
Knight/Udrih
Mayo/Bazz
Chandler/ Lebryan Nash
Monroe/CV (1 MORE YEAR!)
Drummond/Daly

Playoffs!

i will try to keep this a bit general because overly specific plans tend to be reliant on things out of our control, like whether or not FAs want to sign with us and whether or player is there in a draft slot.

Coach: Fire Frank. Hire, in order of priority if available: Lionel Hollins, JVG, Nate McMillan, SVG

GM: Fire Joe and replace him with a bag of chips...

No, but seriously...I'm not very knowledgeable as far as available GMs, so I can't really speak on this. I would give Joe D this off season, and if he doesn't make progress it's time to move on.

Personnel plan I'd base my plan on improving the team around drafting a wing in the draft and going after a combination of starter quality and high quality bench free agents. I'd also call around to see if I could possibly trade Moose for a high quality bigman or wing. I'd look to also look into acquiring a 2nd lottery pick and take a serious look at Trey Burke... FA/draft lists in order of priority:

Draft
McLemore, Shabazz, Porter, GRIII, Burke, Oladipo

Free Agents
Iguodala, Al Jeff, Mayo, Chauncey, Jarret Jack, Jose, Speights, Corey Brewer, Brandan Wright,

Potential Trade Targets
Jeff Green, Wilson Chandler, Eric Gordon, Cousins

My dream scenario would be Lionel Hollins coaching a team of Burke/McLemore/Iguodala/DeMarcus Cousins/Drummond with Chauncey, Singler, Speights, Jose, Brewer on the bench.

I am Gores....

PRIORITY #1 -- CLEAN HOUSE. We have a lottery pick and a ton of cap space. Perfect time to swipe the slate clean and start the freak over.

1) Fire Frank -- open up the pocket book and hope to lure in Hollins.
2) Fire Dumars -- hire Piston Pete
3) Let every single FA walk in free agency. Remaining roster:

Knight
English /Stuckey
Singler / Middleton
Monroe / Jerebko / CV
Drummond / Kravtsov

4) I look to trade expiring contracts of Stuckey and CV in the offseason.
5) I look to buy 2 mid-to-late 1st rounders (with cash and/or 2nds) -- one for SF Dario Saric, other for SG Ricky Ledo
6) Lottery pick = SG Shabazz Muhammad (guy who i think we'll realistically get-pick)
7) Sign FA PG Jarrett Jack
8) Sign FA SF Al Farouq Aminu
9) Sign FA PF Earl Clark
10) Sign FA C Andray Blatche
11) Trade Monroe and English to Sacto for Cousins.


FINAL ROSTER:
Knight / Jack
Shabazz / Middleton / Ledo
Aminu / Saric / Singler
Cousins / Clark / Jerebko
Drummond / Blatche / Kravtsov

The main things I want from Gores is to spend whatever it costs to get the best coach we can buy. Then spend more on amnestying CV and Stuckey to give us that extra 12 mil to work with.

Then if we have a legit coach in place, like Hollins or one of the Van Gundy's, plus 37 mil to spend, I trust Joe to put together a great team after that.

1st: Fire Frank as soon as the season ends...Give a phone call to SVG, Nate McMillan, or Brian Shaw

2nd: Let Maxiell and Bynum walk

3rd: Pick McLemore, Muhammad, Smart, BPA in the draft

4th: Have fun during the FA period with good signings and trades
-Trade Singler
-Trade English
-Trade Stuckey(but only if we get a good player in-return or a 1st rounder)
-Offer a contract to Dalembert
-Offer a contract to Millsap
-Trade for Chandler
-Try to re-sign Calderon as our back-up PG...*Don't over-spend on this guy*

I want BK back at PG.

I would let Calderon, Bynum, Maxiel and Maggette expire.

I would draft Ben Mclemore or Otto Porter in the first round and take BPA in round 2

I would trade English for Wilson Chandler

I would sign Earl Clark and Eric Maynor in FA

Final Roster

Brandon Knight/Eric Maynor
Ben Mclemore/Rodney Stuckey/Khris Middleeton
Wilson Chandler/Kyle Singler/Jonas Jerebko
Greg Monroe/Earl Clark/Charlie Villanueva
Andre Drummond/Slava Kravstov

Its young, its well balanced with shooters/slashers and its greatly improved defensively.

GM candidate (full credit to Kilo)

Ryan McDonough http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/3 ... gh-profile

Head Coach candidate: Mike Budenholzer http://www.nba.com/coachfile/mike_budenholzer/

18 years with the Spurs, 16 as an assistant coach, 5 years as the #1 assistant...

I'll post my plan at a later date

This isn't towards anyone in particular but it's hilarious how everyone on this board is so in love with Chandler that they think we can get him for literally nothing. English for Chandler? C'mon we'd get laughed at for eternity if a Nuggets fan saw that, and all of our trade proposals for him have been of similar value so it's not like that's the only laughable one.

There's a reason why this board is in love with him. He's good. He's not going to be traded for scraps.

I would go for Josh Smith and Wilson Chandler via trades and/or signings. Then, if the Pistons could still do that Villanueva for Okafor on top of aquiring those two, this team would be sick.

Fire Joe and Frank obviously.

Try to hire Nate McMillan to be our head coach. Try my best to keep Roy Rogers and Arnie Kander he rest I don't care.

Draft Shabazz at #5. (Scorer we desperately need with super star potential)

Amnesty CV and Waive Stuckey. Waive English. Waive Slava.

Resign Calderon 1 year 8,500,000 mil with a 2nd year 100% unguaranted. (Veteran pass first PG)
Sign J.J. Hickson 4 years 7,500,000/year. (3rd big in a 3 big man rotation)
Sign the cheapest of Corey Brewer or Al Farouq Aminu for 4 years 6 million/year. I'd assume it's Aminu and I'm fine with him. (Athleticism and perimeter defense).
Sign Martell Webster 2 years 2,500,000/year 3rd year being a QO. (3 point shooter and perimeter defense)
Sign Timofey Mozgov 2 years 2,000,000/year 3rd year being a QO. (Much better than Slava)

Rodney Stuckey* $ 4,000,000
Slava Kravtsov* $ 500,000

Jonas Jerebko $ 4,500,000
Greg Monroe $ 4,086,454
Shabazz Muhammad $ 2,812,200
Brandon Knight $ 2,793,960
Andre Drummond $ 2,462,400
Kyle Singler $ 1,045,000
Khris Middleton $ 788,872

$22,988,886

Jose Calderon $ 8,500,000
J.J. Hickson $ 7,500,000
Al-Farouq Aminu $ 6,000,000
Martell Webster $ 2,500,000
Timofey Mozgov $ 2,000,000

$49,488,886

Drummond / Mozgov /
Monroe / Hickson / Jonas
Aminu / Singler / Middleton
Shabazz / Webster /
Calderon / Knight /

That leave us with 10+ million in raw cap space to do something at the deadline + a very attractive expiring in Calderon. (Aminu and a TPE for Deng? Knight + a 1st + a TPE for Rondo? Jonas + Singler + a TPE for Granger? whatever opportunity presents to grab an all star talent)

1. Let JC, Max, Will go

2. Draft BWA (best wing available) or Smart in the first, Allen Crabbe and Ryan Kelly in the second

3. Sign Mayo(4/40-48), Corey Brewer, DJ Augustin

4. Trade CV and English for Ekpe Udoh and Drew Gooden(cap filler)

Knight/Augustin
Mayo/Stuck/Crabbe
Porter/Brewer/Middleton
Monroe/Kelly/Udoh
Drummond/Udoh/Slava

Solid defensively, young and potentially great.

1. Fire Dumars and Frank

2. Offer to make Phil Jackson or Gregg Popovich the highest-paid GM. Next offers go to GMs of less-attractive positions such as Bryan Colangelo. This is one I'd need to put a lot more research into if I was really making the decision. Admittedly, I have very limited knowledge of which people within NBA organizations are great basketball minds.

3. Offer the coaching position to Rick Carlisle, next choice is Brian Shaw. If Carlisle signs on, push hard to get Shaw as assistant to help with triangle offense.

4. Following this season, the only Piston with an expiring contract that I would offer more than one or two years to would be Jose Calderon. Even then, I would not give him more than three, and I would want to include incentives for points in the paint/layups. I would look to spend some money in the 2013 off-season, but I would absolutely not give any free agent a deal that is longer than three years, unless they are a cheap role player with little impact on the salary cap. Although Chris Paul can have a max deal with a no-trade clause and a cherry on top if he was actually willing to come here.

5. In the draft, at least for the first round, the only positions I would even consider would be PG, SG, SF. I would give Trey Burke a very long look, as well as Otto Porter and Glenn Robinson III. If draft stocks remain, possibly trade down to about the tenth spot. The players I would be trying to move would be Knight, Stuckey, Charlie V, and Jerebko. Rodney and Charlie should have some value as expiring contracts, and Brandon and Jonas are just prospects that I think are somewhat overvalued at the moment. Stuckey and Charlie are gone after next year regardless, with BK and JJ it would be simply because I think their value will be less after another year or two.

In a nutshell, I'm looking to scrap the whole team other than Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. I'd continue to sign guys to short-term contracts until a big-time player was willing to take a max contract and come play with our Twin Towers. Preferably a PG, but it depends on which players we can get in the draft. I want this team playing a half-court style and running the triangle offense. Moose will operate more out of the high post. Drummond will be the roll man, and I want the coach to emphasize offensive rebounding. With those two, our team should be dominant on the glass. Ideally, there will be a floor general type as our PG. If not, the starting SG will need to be able to run the offense as well. An Arron Afflalo type would be perfect at the three. AA himself would be undersized, but I'd be looking for a player who is comfortable playing off the ball the majority of the time, focuses on defense, and is a very good three point shooter. This player doesn't need to provide much outside of strong perimeter defense and the ability to stretch the opponent's defense.

If I were the owner, the team would likely suck for the next two or three years, as I would not scramble to put a decent team out there. No move would be made if it hurt the probability of championships five to seven years down the road. The emphasis would be entirely on developing prospects until the team shows they can compete for a ring and not just a playoff spot. The short-term contracts are crucial to the plan. It would likely cause us to have a particularly ugly next season or two, but would allow us to maintain cap flexibility so that when the right player does become available, we're there with max money. You would never see big contracts going to borderline stars like Josh Smith, O.J. Mayo, Al Jefferson. Unless they were one or two year deals at a time where we would still be able to offer a max deal.

Our attendance is in the gutter right now. I would probably take advantage of things already being so bad and let them get worse before they get better. If the Pistons spend a year or two competing for the number one draft pick, I would expect they'd be very close to having a starting five set up to grow together. If the team starts to look good and we've built it the right way where sustained success is a legitimate possibility, the fans will come back in droves. I would look to build a dynasty. I don't want one championship a decade. I want to put the Pistons' franchise on the Spurs' level. I would say the Lakers, but their level of success is not realistic in a mid-market like Detroit. They would not be able to acquire all the players they have if they were not such a desirable location, and clearly the owner of the Detroit Pistons does not have that luxury.

Wilson Chandler, Josh Smith and draft Shabbazz or bust.

Stuckey and Jerebko for Chandler

Sign Josh Smith

Draft Shabbazz.

This will win fans back when they make the 4th seed in their first year together.

StickAndMove wrote:Next offers go to GMs of less-attractive positions such as Bryan Colangelo.

BC = runaway winner on the General Board poll for worst GM.

There are actually some pretty good ideas in this thread...

Fire Frank. Hire Brian Shaw.

Sign Tyreke Evans, Calderon and Brandon Wright.

Draft Oladipo.

Trade Stuckey for the best player possible, no matter the position.

Knight/Calderon
Evans/Singler/English
Olodipo/Middleton
Monroe/Jerebko
Drummond/Wright/Slava

If Monroe doesn't show noticeable improvement, particularly on defense, by the next trade deadline, you need to shop him for the best big you can get.

I release Frank from the last year of his contract. I hire Mike Budenholzer as my new head coach, he's been Popovich's assistant for a number of years and he is more than capable of being a head coach.

I optimize Greg Monroe's current value, as I believe he's almost hit his ceiling and isn't going to fit well going forward. I trade Greg Monroe and Rodney Stuckey to New Orleans for Ryan Anderson and their 2013 first round pick.

Anderson is the next best stretch 4 in the league behind Kevin Love. He immediately fills Monroe's spot as power forward. He doesn't help you much more defensively than Monroe did, but he spaces the floor as good as anyone, and will be a perfect compliment to Drummond.

Going into the draft, if McLemore is available, he's my first choice. With the NO pick, which is still top 10, I take Trey Burke. Looking at a guard rotation of Knight, Burke, and McLemore.

Hitting free agency, I pick up the option on Kim English's second year. Even if he doesn't pan out, he's a cheap roster spot and a high character guy. That fills out our guard rotation. Calderon is walking for either a contender or a more preferred team. I also let Will Bynum walk, unless he wants to come back at a steep discount and basically be an insurance policy/mentor for Burke.

Looking at our small forward situation next, we have Singler and Middleton signed on guaranteed deals. But, neither screams "starter" to me. I go out and sign Corey Brewer, probably overpay him a little to convince him to come to Detroit. His long ball isn't very reliable, but he immediately upgrades our perimeter defense and is another 'good guy' for the locker room. Not sure what price he would demand, but I would throw him something like 3-years, 15 million.

So our front court is looking like Anderson and Drummond as our starting bigs, and we still have Jerebko as a 3/4 backup. Slava is still on the books too, I'll keep him around as a practice body. But, I'll look for some veteran help. I see if I can convince Kaman to sign with Detroit, and get a little raise while doing so. He may not want to leave his buddy, Dirk. In that event, I immediately try and sign his Dallas teammate, Brandan Wright, who can play the 4 or 5. I'd sign him to something like 4 years, 18 million.

In this scenario, we're selling high on Monroe, and getting maximized assets in return in a starting PF, Ryan Anderson and a great prospect in Burke. We give Knight another year at PG, with Burke nipping at his heels to take his job. McLemore hopefully shows us enough to believe he can be an elite wing player, while he, Brewer and Drummond help change the defensive philosophy on the team with new guru Budenholzer running the show and getting great ball movement and team play back in Detroit.

1. Hire JVG + sfballa13 as GM

2. Trade:
--Pistons trade: Monroe,Knight, Stuckey, Jerebko, Slava, Singler
--Wizards trade: Wall, Beal, Nene, Ariza

3. Sign Josh Smith

4. Sign Jarrett Jack

5. Sign JJ Hickson or Earl Clark

6. Draft Shabazz

Line up at the all star break:

Wall-----------Jack
Beal-----------Middleton or English
Shabazz-------Ariza
Smith --------Hickson or Clark ---- Charlie V
Drummond----Nene

Nene and Ariza means 19 million invested in backups, but that's the price we pay for getting Wall and Beal without giving the Wizards our pick. At first Nene and Ariza would be in the starting line up. But then as Drummond and hopefully Shabazz build up their confidence, they would take over.

Factoring the contracts of Jerebko, Slava, Singler, Nene comes out to be around 7 million which is not that bad of a deal for a better than decent back up C.

This team would definitely make some noise and is young at all positions except the backup SF/C.

That's my main strategy but would move towards the following direction should the Wizards be off the table

A. Trade Love, Barrea for Stuckey, Monroe, Jerebko then Sign Iggy + Henderson
Knight / Henderson / Iggy / Love / Drummond

B. Trade Rondo, Bradley, Bass for Stuckey, Monroe, Knight, Jerebko, 2013 Pick
Sign Iggy and Josh Smith
Rondo / Bradley / Iggy / Smith / Drummond (defensive juggernaut)

Mr Gores anytime you are free to set an appointment up let me know.

A. Rondo, Bradley, Bass for Knight, Stuckey, Monroe, 2013 Pick