RealGM

The Pistons were identified on June 30 as a potential suitor to watch for Okoro, who has spent his entire NBA career under new Detroit head coach J.B. Bickerstaff. If their interest is real, they’re in position to put some pressure on Cleveland with an aggressive offer sheet. The Cavaliers aren’t expected to balk at matching an offer in the $12-13MM range, but anything higher than that would put them well over the luxury tax line and potentially even over the first tax apron, so it wouldn’t be a no-brainer.

I know, another athletic poor shooting wing. But we could certainly go get him for $14-15M. Maybe sign/trade and move THJ and then absorb another contract from Cleveland?

That’s always the game with RFAs. It’s never a no brainer because they’ll match a no brainer.

To me it comes down to how much stock you put in his slightly improved shot last year (he hit a solid 39 percent, he just didn’t take very many).

I dunno. He feels like more of what we already have, but I’ll defer to anyone who has seen him play more. I’m mostly going off numbers.

Okoro is another one of those guys that makes me nervous. Doesn't have a strong track record of being a plus shooter and a large majority of his makes beyond the arc come from the corners. The defense is nice, but as stated above he seems like just more of what the Pistons already have and hope to develop.

I wouldn't be upset with him being brought in but at the same time I think the wings have plenty of guys to fill minutes as it is. But if moving Hardaway Jr. out is part of the deal to bring Okoro in then I'm all for it.

I still think Cleveland would match and then trade him. Supposedly they could match 13M under whatever threshold they are facing, but anything over would make them think twice. Teams don't let rfa's walk. Detroit would probably have to go to $17M a year to maybe get Cleveland not to match. And is Okoro worth that if they don't?

Kilo wrote:I still think Cleveland would match and then trade him. Supposedly they could match 13M under whatever threshold they are facing, but anything over would make them think twice. Teams don't let rfa's walk. Detroit would probably have to go to $17M a year to maybe get Cleveland not to match. And is Okoro worth that if they don't?

17 seems like a price point we could get him, but starting to get too much.

The FO hasn't got much to lose at this point by signing him to an offer sheet if they want him. But given the presence of Ausar and Holland already on the roster, I question if they'd want him, especially on a contract big enough that Cleveland wouldn't match.

I mean we could but at this point shouldn't we be trying out Ausar and Holland and not try to squeeze them out of the rotation? It's redundant to have him

Yuck. Do not offer role players big contracts at the start of a rebuild. Besides, we've got 2 really questionable shooters in our wing rotation already.

If we’re down to 13.9 as projected, we’re not getting him or Tyus

This would be more in the camp of signing guys just to sign guys.

You're not getting him on a team-friendly contract because he's restricted and the Cavs would match. So you'll have to overpay on the contract AND give Cavs S&T assets of some kind. You also just don't need him long-term if you believe in Ausar and Holland, who are much higher level prospects IMO.

I don't see the point in adding Okoro. The Pistons two biggest needs are a legit SG and stretch 4, they have enough young wings as is. His shooting has improved and there's familiarity with Bickerstaff but I don't think he's as well rounded as Ausar is or as Holland projects to be so ehhh, I don't really see the point.

If we think he's an upgrade and can be gotten at a decent rate then it's worth doing, with the understanding we'll need to do some roster cleanup.

NYPiston wrote:I don't see the point in adding Okoro. The Pistons two biggest needs are a legit SG and stretch 4, they have enough young wings as is. His shooting has improved and there's familiarity with Bickerstaff but I don't think he's as well rounded as Ausar is or as Holland projects to be so ehhh, I don't really see the point.

If none of Tobias, Tek, Beefstew, Klintman qualify as a stretch 4, not sure who does that we could reasonably get.

Kalamazoo317 wrote:

NYPiston wrote:I don't see the point in adding Okoro. The Pistons two biggest needs are a legit SG and stretch 4, they have enough young wings as is. His shooting has improved and there's familiarity with Bickerstaff but I don't think he's as well rounded as Ausar is or as Holland projects to be so ehhh, I don't really see the point.

If none of Tobias, Tek, Beefstew, Klintman qualify as a stretch 4, not sure who does that we could reasonably get.

Harris and Tek definitely qualify as stretch 4’s imo, but if we were to grab another I’d be going hard for Nikola Jovic. I think we could get him if we give the heat some cap relief as part of a bigger deal

The Pistons have an absolute glut of wings. With that said, Okoro is only 6'5, which means he'll not be coming to this team.

6'7-6'9 is the sweet spot for Langdon. The whole damn team is that height now, save for Ivey/Duren/Sasser.

Unless I’m reading the numbers wrong with Reed going into the room exception and Beasley going into our cap we only have like 14 mill left.

As others have said, I think the price point it would take to pry him from Cleveland, his shaky outside shot and our glut of wings means it's probably a no go.

Snakebites wrote:Unless I’m reading the numbers wrong with Reed going into the room exception and Beasley going into our cap we only have like 14 mill left.

Reed's salary almost certainly went into cap space. Teams can use trade exceptions for waiver claims but not something like the room MLE and the like.

And I think Detroit had to renounce the trade exceptions they had to act as a team under the cap and use the cap space to do pretty much all of their moves thus far. This one is a bit confusing and I'm not 100% sure I interpreted it correctly, but it's explained better here: https://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q26

Though in the end Detroit does have almost $14 million in cap space right now, just that the room midlevel is still in play. And the only value an exception really has is for a team to go over the cap - otherwise there's no difference than using pure cap space. The only question mark at the moment is how Fontecchio's deal is going to be timed/handled. Keith Smith had a good explanation earlier:

coordinator0 wrote:

Snakebites wrote:Unless I’m reading the numbers wrong with Reed going into the room exception and Beasley going into our cap we only have like 14 mill left.

Reed's salary almost certainly went into cap space. Teams can use trade exceptions for waiver claims but not something like the room MLE and the like.

And I think Detroit had to renounce the trade exceptions they had to act as a team under the cap and use the cap space to do pretty much all of their moves thus far. This one is a bit confusing and I'm not 100% sure I interpreted it correctly, but it's explained better here: https://www.cbafaq.com/salarycap.htm#Q26

Though in the end Detroit does have almost $14 million in cap space right now, just that the room midlevel is still in play. And the only value an exception really has is for a team to go over the cap - otherwise there's no difference than using pure cap space. The only question mark at the moment is how Fontecchio's deal is going to be timed/handled. Keith Smith had a good explanation earlier:

Read on Twitter

Makes sense.

Kalamazoo317 wrote:

NYPiston wrote:I don't see the point in adding Okoro. The Pistons two biggest needs are a legit SG and stretch 4, they have enough young wings as is. His shooting has improved and there's familiarity with Bickerstaff but I don't think he's as well rounded as Ausar is or as Holland projects to be so ehhh, I don't really see the point.

If none of Tobias, Tek, Beefstew, Klintman qualify as a stretch 4, not sure who does that we could reasonably get.

I don't consider Tobias to be a stretch 4, he's more of a 3 playing the 4, Stew is more a 5 playing the 4, I like Tech but I think he's more of a stopgap and Klintman is a longshot prospect.

I don't know who the Pistons could reasonably get but that spot is a weakness compared to most other teams, same as the 2. At least at the 3 they have some high upside guys. I think the reality is that the Pistons have below average players at most positions right now. We'll see how the coaches mold this together.