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Of all our players signed longterm.
C-Drummond Boban
PF-Harris Leuer
SF-Morris SJ
SG-KCP ??
PG-RJ Ish

Ellenson is our 5th big. Basically becomes our 3rd PF while Leuer becomes our 3rd C.
Our 2nd Rd pick with the last name I can't spell lol and Hilliard are 3rd stringers as well. Lorenzo is probably our 3rd string PG.
Bullock and Baynes are good guys but they're both free agents next summer. We can only offer so much to keep Baynes because of some salary cap rule it's likely we're going to lose him for nothing. Bullock maybe too. I just think it's too obvious something gets done to bring in a long term option as our 2nd SG.
If we keep them both, it still gives us good depth and then next summer we lose them both and maybe we find a cheap SG. I don't think we can afford to use the whole amount of the MLE though due to luxury tax.
Either way it's a good problem to have. Go Pistons!

Great point. I had lots of people hammer me earlier when I posted that we need a backup SG. Everyone says SJ will do it, and Bullock/Hilliard can do it, etc. But if SJ gets injured, we get really thin really quick. We could certainly use a dead eye shooter off the bench anyways.

If Johnson gets injured then Bullock, Hilliard, and Gbinije fight for the ~12 minutes a game that Caldwell-Pope isn't in. Leuer and eventually Ellenson plays more at power forward with Morris and Harris covering just about all of the minutes at small forward. And again Bullock, Hilliard, and Gbinije fight for whatever scraps are left over. Having one set backup at every position would be nice, but that's not what Detroit's allocation of resources dictates. Especially since they do have three young players who aren't a big part of the rotation and can take those spot minutes.

And yes, if Caldwell-Pope is re-signed using the full MLE next summer might be dicey. For next season the non-taxpayer exception is set at $5.797 million in the first year and that's cutting it close to the luxury tax. The projected cap of $102 million should set the luxury tax somewhere around $122 million. With Baynes opting out or being traded (I'm hoping for the latter) and estimating Kentavious' first year at $20 million that puts the Pistons at just over $123 million in salary before the 2017 first round pick is factored in. That could be anywhere from roughly $1-1.5 million more depending on where Detroit ends up drafting. Bullock also has a $5,639,111 cap hold though. So it basically comes down to the Pistons re-signing him at a lower first-year price than that or adding someone with part of the midlevel. The 2017 first round pick takes Baynes' roster spot and Detroit's summer will be wrapped up.

Canadafan wrote:Of all our players signed longterm.
C-Drummond Boban
PF-Harris Leuer
SF-Morris SJ
SG-KCP ??
PG-RJ Ish

Ellenson is our 5th big. Basically becomes our 3rd PF while Leuer becomes our 3rd C.
Our 2nd Rd pick with the last name I can't spell lol and Hilliard are 3rd stringers as well. Lorenzo is probably our 3rd string PG.
Bullock and Baynes are good guys but they're both free agents next summer. We can only offer so much to keep Baynes because of some salary cap rule it's likely we're going to lose him for nothing. Bullock maybe too. I just think it's too obvious something gets done to bring in a long term option as our 2nd SG.
If we keep them both, it still gives us good depth and then next summer we lose them both and maybe we find a cheap SG. I don't think we can afford to use the whole amount of the MLE though due to luxury tax.
Either way it's a good problem to have. Go Pistons!

Nothing has been determined yet long-term at starting SG (KCP is a RFA just like Bullock). So shouldn't that be done first before committing salary to a long-term backup SG?

Im sure Baynes gets traded before the deadline. We have let too many assets walk, and since we are about to be capped out, we can't afford to lose anymore that way, we will fill our need on the wing, and look to get another pick.