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Thon Maker won the poll for the #17 player on Detroit's big boag. Ew... Not much else to say there. We're in that portion of the draft where huge ranges start for the prospects left on the board though.

Who's your pick for the #18 player on Detroit's big board?

1. Ben Simmons
2. Brandon Ingram
3. Dragan Bender
4. Jamal Murray
5. Kris Dunn
6. Buddy Hield
7. Marquese Chriss
8. Wade Baldwin
9. Deyonta Davis
10. Jakob Poeltl
11. Jaylen Brown
12. Domantas Sabonis
13. Skal Labissiere
14. Denzel Valentine
15. Henry Ellenson
16. Demetrius Jackson
17. Thon Maker
18.
19.
20.

Not a fan of Maker at all, and can't comment much on the foreign players.

Brice Johnson for me again.

I'm still high on Brice Johnson for Detroit, but a couple of the international prospects have moved ahead of him on my board. I went with Hernangomez here. To me he seems like a guy that could project as a really solid and versatile starter where Johnson's ceiling is most likely a role player, albeit a role player that the Pistons need in their rotation.

Furkan Korkmaz is the other guy and is starting to grow on me. He's somewhat of a taller, Turkish version of Devin Booker. I like him quite a bit more than Beasley and it seems like the Pistons are considering a SG if they are high on he and Richardson like Vince Ellis tweeted.

So after this poll, this should essentially be our big board yes? For those of you guys who follow the draft and pay a lot of attention to the prospects, how much do you like our big board? coordinator, Notanoob, whitehops, I'm curious to know what your big boards look like. Because these polls have a lot of clowns like me, who fixate on a prospect, but don't have much depth of knowledge regarding the entire draft.

Look, we just got destroyed by kevin love. every other team did a better job on him than us, not to say that hes not good, but when you look the specifics of how he went about scoring on us, it came down to the lack of size at the pf position

Brice Johnson is good, but k love would put on a exhibition with brice on him. This dude thon is basically the same size as porzingus but hes faster, quicker, and dribbles way better. At 7ft 1, you already have to guard him at the 3point line. His defense is similar to nerlens noel. Thats pretty damn good if you ask me.

Its not just about eliminating other teams post ups either, our pf has to be quick enough to get out to defend the 3pt shot. Every big in our range, and you can even say the draft, is only really good at one aspect of the defense we need. Sabonis, Zimmerman, stone, zubac, all big bodies but slow footed. K love with spot up on all of them.
Brice, diallo they to small and gonna get beat up in the post. Thon will/can deter love from even thinking about posting up and get a hand in loves face for a contest.


Let alone, on the off chance we pass on him, he could end up on Indiana. He'll destroy us 4 times a year.

Thon isn't good at basketball though. The measurables and supposed jump shot are nice, but he has a long ways to go. Kevin Love will be in his early-mid 30's before Maker might actually be able to do something at the NBA level. He's also nowhere near the level of Nerlens Noel as a defender. That's ridiculous. At least Brice Johnson is actually good in that regard.

I'll try to put something together, but I have a lot of other things I'm working on and I don't really know the international guys that well.

Montanabadboy wrote:So after this poll, this should essentially be our big board yes? For those of you guys who follow the draft and pay a lot of attention to the prospects, how much do you like our big board? coordinator, Notanoob, whitehops, I'm curious to know what your big boards look like. Because these polls have a lot of clowns like me, who fixate on a prospect, but don't have much depth of knowledge regarding the entire draft.

Yeah, this will be the last poll. We have enough time to do one more but that would end it at 19 and I see no reason to go that far if it isn't a nice round number like 20.

My big board is more of a tiers thing. Especially this year. I don't get particularly picky between prospects I like and think would fit with the Pistons. There are some individual rankings within the tiers, but it's generally not a huge difference. Here's a rough one without any rankings in the tiers:

Tier 1 - Simmons, Ingram
Tier 2 - Bender, Dunn
Tier 3 - J. Murray, Brown, Poeltl
Tier 4 - Hield, Davis, Baldwin, Hernangomez, Jackson, Sabonis, Korkmaz, Valentine, Bembry, McCaw, Johnson
Tier 5 - Chriss, Labissiere, Ellenson, Luwawu, Prince, Beasley, Cornelie
Tier 6 - Zubac, Zizic, Diallo, Zipser, Yabusele, D. Murray, Richardson
Tier 7 - Jones, Ulis, Qi, Zimmerman, Carter, Bentil, LeVert, Payton Jr., Felder, Uthoff
Tier 8 - Stone, Zagorac, Onuaku, Brogdon, Hammons, Papagiannis, Siakam

With everything that's been kicking around on the draft, I think my best realistic wish is Sabonis. Not a high risk guy and apparently brings a lot of grit and emotion. We could use someone like that next to Dre and for this team in general. A guy like Davis, Skal, or Maker scares me a little.

coordinator0 wrote:

Montanabadboy wrote:So after this poll, this should essentially be our big board yes? For those of you guys who follow the draft and pay a lot of attention to the prospects, how much do you like our big board? coordinator, Notanoob, whitehops, I'm curious to know what your big boards look like. Because these polls have a lot of clowns like me, who fixate on a prospect, but don't have much depth of knowledge regarding the entire draft.

Yeah, this will be the last poll. We have enough time to do one more but that would end it at 19 and I see no reason to go that far if it isn't a nice round number like 20.

My big board is more of a tiers thing. Especially this year. I don't get particularly picky between prospects I like and think would fit with the Pistons. There are some individual rankings within the tiers, but it's generally not a huge difference. Here's a rough one without any rankings in the tiers:

Tier 1 - Simmons, Ingram
Tier 2 - Bender, Dunn
Tier 3 - J. Murray, Brown, Poeltl
Tier 4 - Hield, Davis, Baldwin, Hernangomez, Jackson, Sabonis, Korkmaz, Valentine, Bembry, McCaw, Johnson
Tier 5 - Chriss, Labissiere, Ellenson, Luwawu, Prince, Beasley, Cornelie
Tier 6 - Zubac, Zizic, Diallo, Zipser, Yabusele, D. Murray, Richardson
Tier 7 - Jones, Ulis, Qi, Zimmerman, Carter, Bentil, LeVert, Payton Jr., Felder, Uthoff
Tier 8 - Stone, Zagorac, Onuaku, Brogdon, Hammons, Papagiannis, Siakam

No wonder you're excited for the draft, almost all of your tier 5 guys will probably be taken before we pick and we should have 5-6 guys from your 4th tier to choose from. Gun to my head, I don't think I could pick a favorite in this class of players who could be available at 18. There's pretty much nothing that we could do with the pick that would disappoint me. I always get excited about the draft, but this year I'm really looking forward to the wheeling and dealing that's sure to get done, especially with Boston and their embarrassment of riches. Tomorrow night is gonna be fun.

Montanabadboy wrote:No wonder you're excited for the draft, almost all of your tier 5 guys will probably be taken before we pick and we should have 5-6 guys from your 4th tier to choose from. Gun to my head, I don't think I could pick a favorite in this class of players who could be available at 18. There's pretty much nothing that we could do with the pick that would disappoint me. I always get excited about the draft, but this year I'm really looking forward to the wheeling and dealing that's sure to get done, especially with Boston and their embarrassment of riches. Tomorrow night is gonna be fun.

Yeah, I'm lower on a few of those guys than most. Hield too, but not quite as much. I'm also big on Bembry, McCaw, and Johnson so it looks a little weird having them in a tier above those three in the fifth. Of course these tiers are relative only to this year's draft. I don't think this draft is particularly great but it is deep in potential role players or guys who have ceilings as solid starters. Usually there would be more in the second and third tiers, possibly even entirely new ones which would drop those others down.

Montanabadboy wrote:So after this poll, this should essentially be our big board yes? For those of you guys who follow the draft and pay a lot of attention to the prospects, how much do you like our big board? coordinator, Notanoob, whitehops, I'm curious to know what your big boards look like. Because these polls have a lot of clowns like me, who fixate on a prospect, but don't have much depth of knowledge regarding the entire draft.

this is what my big board looks like, i am a fan of tiering my big board.

Ben Simmons
Brandon Ingram

Jamal Murray
Buddy Hield
Dragan Bender
Deyonta Davis

Kris Dunn
Jaylen Brown
Marquese Chriss

Malik Beasley
Jakob Poeltl
Timothe Luwawu
Demetrius Jackson

Wade Baldwin
Domantas Sabonis
DeAndre Bembry
Taurean Prince
Brice Johnson

Damian Jones
Furkman Korkmaz
Denzel Valentine
Skal Labissiere
Ante Zizic
Guerschon Yabusele
Juan Hernangomez

Tyler Ulis
Henry Ellenson
Ivica Zubac
Stephen Zimmerman
Kay Felder


if you have any questions about the placing of any guys just ask. i'm desperate to pass the time until the draft tomorrow

whitehops wrote:

Montanabadboy wrote:So after this poll, this should essentially be our big board yes? For those of you guys who follow the draft and pay a lot of attention to the prospects, how much do you like our big board? coordinator, Notanoob, whitehops, I'm curious to know what your big boards look like. Because these polls have a lot of clowns like me, who fixate on a prospect, but don't have much depth of knowledge regarding the entire draft.

this is what my big board looks like, i am a fan of tiering my big board.

Ben Simmons
Brandon Ingram

Jamal Murray
Buddy Hield
Dragan Bender
Deyonta Davis

Kris Dunn
Jaylen Brown
Marquese Chriss

Malik Beasley
Jakob Poeltl
Timothe Luwawu
Demetrius Jackson

Wade Baldwin
Domantas Sabonis
DeAndre Bembry
Taurean Prince
Brice Johnson

Damian Jones
Furkman Korkmaz
Denzel Valentine
Skal Labissiere
Ante Zizic
Guerschon Yabusele
Juan Hernangomez

Tyler Ulis
Henry Ellenson
Ivica Zubac
Stephen Zimmerman
Kay Felder


if you have any questions about the placing of any guys just ask. i'm desperate to pass the time until the draft tomorrow

Careful what you ask for You have Demitrius Jackson ahead of Wade Baldwin, I notice most everyone else has it opposite. WHat do you like more about Jackson, or dislike about Baldwin?

Montanabadboy wrote:Careful what you ask for You have Demitrius Jackson ahead of Wade Baldwin, I notice most everyone else has it opposite. WHat do you like more about Jackson, or dislike about Baldwin?

i think part of it may be that i see baldwin being listed as a PG but i really think he's more of a shooting guard. baldwin's dribble is pretty shaky and he is very bad at finishing near the rim. that's probably what i dislike about him the most, he shot the second lowest percentage from inside the arc among first round prospects at 44%. one of his strengths is his court vision but he also averaged a lot of turnovers. he's more of "find the open guy" type passer than one who picks up assists by running the offense. defensively he obviously has a lot of potential.

demetrius jackson on the other hand is good at running the pick and roll, great at finishing around the rim (best in the draft among point guards) and can shoot as well. last year was his first running the offense (played off-ball his first two years) and put up a great assist/turnover ratio. jackson could still improve his playmaking ability for others but him having a promising first year with that makes me think he'll get it. defensively he has the tools to be a good defender and there's no reason he shouldn't be an average defender.


essentially i think baldwin has a long way to go to be more than a 3 and D SG while i think jackson could run an offense and be a solid defender. jackson should be a much superior scorer.

coordinator0 wrote:Thon isn't good at basketball though. The measurables and supposed jump shot are nice, but he has a long ways to go. Kevin Love will be in his early-mid 30's before Maker might actually be able to do something at the NBA level. He's also nowhere near the level of Nerlens Noel as a defender. That's ridiculous. At least Brice Johnson is actually good in that regard.

Wtf are you talking about????? You realize that it he didn't enter the draft, he would've went to Kansas and ended up top 5 in the 2017 draft. He should be in the top 5 -6 right now tbh. I would bet my godamn house that after the next season is done, when everyone re-ranks this draft thon WILL CLEARLY be in everyones top 5. GO WATCH PORZINGUS pre nba highlights and watch thons after. THON IS CLEARLY BETTER THAN PORZINGUS RIGHT NOWWWWWW!

StunnaStan wrote:

coordinator0 wrote:Thon isn't good at basketball though. The measurables and supposed jump shot are nice, but he has a long ways to go. Kevin Love will be in his early-mid 30's before Maker might actually be able to do something at the NBA level. He's also nowhere near the level of Nerlens Noel as a defender. That's ridiculous. At least Brice Johnson is actually good in that regard.

Wtf are you talking about????? You realize that it he didn't enter the draft, he would've went to Kansas and ended up top 5 in the 2017 draft. He should be in the top 5 -6 right now tbh. I would bet my godamn house that after the next season is done, when everyone re-ranks this draft thon WILL CLEARLY be in everyones top 5. GO WATCH PORZINGUS pre nba highlights and watch thons after. THON IS CLEARLY BETTER THAN PORZINGUS RIGHT NOWWWWWW!

Well, at least you've made your opinion known. If you're right, your early support of Thon Maker will be legendary.

(you're wrong, though)

StunnaStan wrote:

coordinator0 wrote:Thon isn't good at basketball though. The measurables and supposed jump shot are nice, but he has a long ways to go. Kevin Love will be in his early-mid 30's before Maker might actually be able to do something at the NBA level. He's also nowhere near the level of Nerlens Noel as a defender. That's ridiculous. At least Brice Johnson is actually good in that regard.

Wtf are you talking about????? You realize that it he didn't enter the draft, he would've went to Kansas and ended up top 5 in the 2017 draft. He should be in the top 5 -6 right now tbh. I would bet my godamn house that after the next season is done, when everyone re-ranks this draft thon WILL CLEARLY be in everyones top 5. GO WATCH PORZINGUS pre nba highlights and watch thons after. THON IS CLEARLY BETTER THAN PORZINGUS RIGHT NOWWWWWW!

I actually watched more than highlights for Porzingis last year. His general game tape in the ACB was a lot more impressive than Maker's "highlights" against high school competition.

whitehops wrote:

Montanabadboy wrote:

I'm not high on Ellenson and it seems like neither of you guys are either. But can you play devil's advocate a bit and tell me why I shouldn't be bummed out if we draft him. Why was rated as a top 10 prospect for the longest time. I'm seeing a lot more mock that have him going to us here in the 11th hour, so I'm a little curious what his deal is.