Our Bench (Going Forward)
Posted: Thu Aug 1, 2013 2:38 am
WARNING!!!! This thread is intended for future conjecture based upon the premise that our starting lineup within the next few years will eventually settle into Jennings / Pope / Smith / Monroe / Drummond. If you want to argue something different about one of those five players (i.e. Monroe will be traded, Pope won't be a starter, Billups is better than Jennings, etc.), please do so in the appropriate other thread on this board. Thanks in advance!
So I noticed something today — assuming that Peyton Siva signs a typical two year, second-rounder contract, the Pistons don't have a single dollar of salary committed to any bench player past the season after next. Aside from the five players I mentioned in the first paragraph, every other player on our roster — Billups, Bynum, Stuckey, Singler, Datome, Mitchell, Villanueva, and Jerebko — could be gone after the 2014/15 season (if not sooner).
As such, here's my question — thinking long term, who stays? Assuming the starting lineup previously listed, how many of our current bench players do you still see in Piston blue on Opening Night 2015? I know this is hard to forecast, but since speculation is fun, how do you guys see Dumars shaping our bench in the next few years?
My two cents worth, I think Stuck and CV are gone after this year (for obvious reasons), Billups retires either after this year or the next, and Jerebko is deemed too expensive and/or replaceable. I think one of Bynum or Siva sticks around (hopefully Siva, simply because he's younger and that would mean he's outplayed Bynum). I think both Singler and Mitchell are re-signed due to their age, potential, and relatively cheap price tags. And I think Datome is the ultimate wild card; he could literally be our 6th man and a dead-eye sharpshooter off the bench, or he could be another failed Euro experiment destined for the scrap heap. I also think (or at least DESPERATELY HOPE!!!) that Dumars has learned from his BG/CV mistakes and won't overpay for bench talent going forward (of course, that should be helped by the fact that he'll need to save money for Monroe and Drummond's extensions), so I'm hoping he upgrades the bench with a couple of shrewd MLE-level deals to young players who fill specific roles, like a stretch big man and a backup combo guard. Perhaps Spencer Hawes and Ramon Sessions (I just plucked those names off next year's free agent list)?
So I noticed something today — assuming that Peyton Siva signs a typical two year, second-rounder contract, the Pistons don't have a single dollar of salary committed to any bench player past the season after next. Aside from the five players I mentioned in the first paragraph, every other player on our roster — Billups, Bynum, Stuckey, Singler, Datome, Mitchell, Villanueva, and Jerebko — could be gone after the 2014/15 season (if not sooner).
As such, here's my question — thinking long term, who stays? Assuming the starting lineup previously listed, how many of our current bench players do you still see in Piston blue on Opening Night 2015? I know this is hard to forecast, but since speculation is fun, how do you guys see Dumars shaping our bench in the next few years?
My two cents worth, I think Stuck and CV are gone after this year (for obvious reasons), Billups retires either after this year or the next, and Jerebko is deemed too expensive and/or replaceable. I think one of Bynum or Siva sticks around (hopefully Siva, simply because he's younger and that would mean he's outplayed Bynum). I think both Singler and Mitchell are re-signed due to their age, potential, and relatively cheap price tags. And I think Datome is the ultimate wild card; he could literally be our 6th man and a dead-eye sharpshooter off the bench, or he could be another failed Euro experiment destined for the scrap heap. I also think (or at least DESPERATELY HOPE!!!) that Dumars has learned from his BG/CV mistakes and won't overpay for bench talent going forward (of course, that should be helped by the fact that he'll need to save money for Monroe and Drummond's extensions), so I'm hoping he upgrades the bench with a couple of shrewd MLE-level deals to young players who fill specific roles, like a stretch big man and a backup combo guard. Perhaps Spencer Hawes and Ramon Sessions (I just plucked those names off next year's free agent list)?