RealGM

Here's my offseason plan for the Pistons. I didn't include any second round picks in my plan because I haven't done any research on any of the prospects slotted to go in the second round so my opinion on them is meaningless.

1) Trade the #8 pick to ATL for #17 & #18
In this draft where there are a lot of solid players, but no great players, I'd rather trade down so you can have a shot at a couple solid role players on lesser contracts.

2) Draft Gorgui Dieng and the best SG remaining out of Shabazz/KCP/Crabbe/Hardaway Jr.
Dieng would be drafted with the intention that he'd only ever be our backup C. He plays solid defense, blocks shots and rebounds well. He'd be on a very cheap contract (around 1mil per year) and would provide similar value to a player like Dalembert who'd command a contract around 4-6mil per.

There are arguments to be made for any of the SGs I mentioned above to go over the other, so the main idea behind trading back is to get Dieng and then just taking the best of whomever is left. We'd still get a good prospect and also have our backup C on an insignificant contract going forward. Win-Win (imo).

3) Sign Tony Allen for 15-18mil/3yr and Iggy for 36-40mil/4yr with a player option on the 4th year
Our team desperately needs defense, and both Allen and Iggy provide that. Iggy is also a great playmaker, and while his shot isn't super consistant, I'd say he's got a good enough shot to keep defenses honest.

4) Resign Will Bynum for 6mil/2yr
I know a lot of people don't like him, but he'd come cheap, and looking at his stats, he played pretty well. He might've played selfishly at times (or most of the time), but I feel like that had a lot to do with the bench players he was stuck with. He had no problem throwing lobs to Andre Drummond whenever he could. I feel like he and Dieng could have a similar chemistry and effect on one another.

5) Buyout/trade Rodney Stuckey IF our drafted SG is can handle the backup role
We might be able to get a future first from a contending team (meaning late first round), and I'd be happy with that. He's obviously not a part of our future going forward, and with the team I want us to assemble, he'd be a 3rd guard and probably complain, so either trading him for any pick or buying him out is our best option. That said, this is only if whomever we drafted at SG (KCP/Shabazz/Crabbe/Hardaway Jr.) is ready for the backup role.

This would give us a lineup of:
Knight/Bynum
Allen/Draft Pick/English
Iggy/Middleton/Singler
Monroe/Jerebko/Villanueva
Drummond/Dieng/Slava

I realize that this is very similar to the team we had last year, but people should remember that until Drummond went down, and we subsequently traded Prince, we were contending for the 8th spot. Iggy is CLEARLY an upgrade over Prince, from an offensive, defensive and playmaking standpoint. And Allen is a better finisher around the rim than Stuckey and has much better defense. I feel like this team would definitely make the playoffs next year, and with the continual improvements of Monroe, Drummond and (hopefully) Knight, I think we'd continue to get better and push for a top 4 seed within a year or two.

What's really important about this plan though, is that it leaves our cap space mostly intact. And after just 1 year Villanueva's contract would come off the books too. I know that a lot of that money is going to go towards Monroe's raise, but we have bird rights to him. This means that we can go over the cap to resign him so we could theoretically use our cap space next offseason to fix whatever holes this team will inevitably have, and then go over the cap to resign Monroe.

You can't use the cap space from CV-DNP next off-season to fill gaps then go over the cap to retain Monroe... it's double dipping and the CBA doesn't work that way

Other than that and your choice of free agents you make several good points

Stuckey is not part of the future and is likely to complain if forced into a lesser role... so a trade or buy out is needed

Trading back in the Draft is a good idea... especially if we get a capable big man that can play 20 minutes per... those guys don't come cheap and if we locked one away for $1-1.5 mil per then that's a smart move... obviously taking the best available wing is a good idea... quite a few options late in the first round

BTW, I don't think you could get Tony Allen with that contract. Why leave Memphis? They just made the Western Conference Finals! He has built relationships with people within that franchise, especially several team mates. It would be tough to leave that all behind to start over with a Lotto team in Detroit for similar pay

As for Iggy... love his game, his versatility, his experience... do not love the price tag he'll likely command.

Great effort - love the trading down idea

If we trade back with ATL - I'd like to target two of:

Crabbe, Tony Mitchell, Saric, Giannis, and/or Schroeder.

Natopher wrote:Here's my offseason plan for the Pistons. I didn't include any second round picks in my plan because I haven't done any research on any of the prospects slotted to go in the second round so my opinion on them is meaningless.

1) Trade the #8 pick to ATL for #17 & #18
In this draft where there are a lot of solid players, but no great players, I'd rather trade down so you can have a shot at a couple solid role players on lesser contracts.

2) Draft Gorgui Dieng and the best SG remaining out of Shabazz/KCP/Crabbe/Hardaway Jr.
Dieng would be drafted with the intention that he'd only ever be our backup C. He plays solid defense, blocks shots and rebounds well. He'd be on a very cheap contract (around 1mil per year) and would provide similar value to a player like Dalembert who'd command a contract around 4-6mil per.

There are arguments to be made for any of the SGs I mentioned above to go over the other, so the main idea behind trading back is to get Dieng and then just taking the best of whomever is left. We'd still get a good prospect and also have our backup C on an insignificant contract going forward. Win-Win (imo).

3) Sign Tony Allen for 15-18mil/3yr and Iggy for 36-40mil/4yr with a player option on the 4th year
Our team desperately needs defense, and both Allen and Iggy provide that. Iggy is also a great playmaker, and while his shot isn't super consistant, I'd say he's got a good enough shot to keep defenses honest.

4) Resign Will Bynum for 6mil/2yr
I know a lot of people don't like him, but he'd come cheap, and looking at his stats, he played pretty well. He might've played selfishly at times (or most of the time), but I feel like that had a lot to do with the bench players he was stuck with. He had no problem throwing lobs to Andre Drummond whenever he could. I feel like he and Dieng could have a similar chemistry and effect on one another.

5) Buyout/trade Rodney Stuckey IF our drafted SG is can handle the backup role
We might be able to get a future first from a contending team (meaning late first round), and I'd be happy with that. He's obviously not a part of our future going forward, and with the team I want us to assemble, he'd be a 3rd guard and probably complain, so either trading him for any pick or buying him out is our best option. That said, this is only if whomever we drafted at SG (KCP/Shabazz/Crabbe/Hardaway Jr.) is ready for the backup role.

This would give us a lineup of:
Knight/Bynum
Allen/Draft Pick/English
Iggy/Middleton/Singler
Monroe/Jerebko/Villanueva
Drummond/Dieng/Slava

I realize that this is very similar to the team we had last year, but people should remember that until Drummond went down, and we subsequently traded Prince, we were contending for the 8th spot. Iggy is CLEARLY an upgrade over Prince, from an offensive, defensive and playmaking standpoint. And Allen is a better finisher around the rim than Stuckey and has much better defense. I feel like this team would definitely make the playoffs next year, and with the continual improvements of Monroe, Drummond and (hopefully) Knight, I think we'd continue to get better and push for a top 4 seed within a year or two.

What's really important about this plan though, is that it leaves our cap space mostly intact. And after just 1 year Villanueva's contract would come off the books too. I know that a lot of that money is going to go towards Monroe's raise, but we have bird rights to him. This means that we can go over the cap to resign him so we could theoretically use our cap space next offseason to fix whatever holes this team will inevitably have, and then go over the cap to resign Monroe.

I like most of ur ideas...especially trading down...and also drafting gorgui dieng...i watched the luisville final and he played good not to mention he had a great coach in rick pitino...only differences are (which i am sure most posters will disagree)... i have monroe at 5, villanueva at 4, jerebko at 3, middleton at 2, and knight at 1...with stuckey as 6th man...i am probly very few people who think stuckey is a good player with multiple skill sets...as 6th man he can be inserted to any one of the 1-3 positions and provide scoring and defense so as to we dont stagnate...i think most people dont realize this...our depth is now limited due to so many free agents...i think most people including our own fanbase undervalue our player development personnel...i am actually hoping they give contract extensions to most of our players especially stuckey, jerebko, villanueva, middleton, english...they are young and most importantly they also understand some of the offense...our assistant coach brian hill also is very underrated...if u remember he coached shaq when he was on the magic and shaq turned out hall of fame...the only thing i worry bout is the new owner tom gores saying that we need a whole bunch of new players when we have young players already...i know mr. gores wants to win now but sometimes it takes some time especially with young players and with new coaches every few years

I like this plan, although Tony Allen is so good in so many ways but he cant shoot which kills us.

Iggy isnt a great shooter by any means but like you said, hes good enough to keep defenses honest, Allen is not.

No a fan of trading back. Alot of guys i like at 8. I don't think the draft more than 7 or 8 guys who will be quality starter potential. I'll stay at 8 instead of trading back.

Pharaoh wrote:You can't use the cap space from CV-DNP next off-season to fill gaps then go over the cap to retain Monroe... it's double dipping and the CBA doesn't work that way

Other than that and your choice of free agents you make several good points

Stuckey is not part of the future and is likely to complain if forced into a lesser role... so a trade or buy out is needed

Trading back in the Draft is a good idea... especially if we get a capable big man that can play 20 minutes per... those guys don't come cheap and if we locked one away for $1-1.5 mil per then that's a smart move... obviously taking the best available wing is a good idea... quite a few options late in the first round

BTW, I don't think you could get Tony Allen with that contract. Why leave Memphis? They just made the Western Conference Finals! He has built relationships with people within that franchise, especially several team mates. It would be tough to leave that all behind to start over with a Lotto team in Detroit for similar pay

As for Iggy... love his game, his versatility, his experience... do not love the price tag he'll likely command.

Great effort - love the trading down idea

I could've sworn you were able to use the cap like that as long as you had bird rights to a player. I'm not sure if that changes my plan or not. I'd really like to get Iggy on the team this offseason, but I also don't wanna lock up our cap space into him and Monroe and then not have much cap to spend the next couple years. He'd obviously help our team improve, but he is getting older, and if we don't have much cap space to spend after signing him, then it might not be the best move. It depends on how much cap space we'd have after signing those two and extending Monroe.

As for Tony Allen, he probably would rather stay in Memphis, however it all depends on the contract. I thought that 5-6mil per year was quite a bit for Tony Allen, and I'm not sure Memphis would wanna pay that much money for him. Also, it's possible he actually wants to leave Memphis if they get swept by SA. He also left the Celtics to come to Memphis in the first place, and when he did I believe he said he wanted to help them become a good team. So it's possible he could want the challenge of helping another bad team become good. And he already has a ring, so at this stage in his career he'd probably rather have the money than play for a winner if we clearly offered him more money.