Article: Pistons all-time Draft Bust first team

[chrbal]

Well, we have something in common then. I just got out of my pool, having had some smoked pulled pork, and a beer, while in the pool, for lunch.

I’m at Mackinac island if we’re keeping score

I'm eating leftover Dominos with a Coors Light. Where did I go wrong?

Switch that to jets and that does not sound half bad

[Uncle Mxy]

Even worse than Darko was Zeke Sinicola out of Niagara. We got him with the 4th overall pick in 1951. He played 12 games, scored 13 points, shot .250 from the field, and .375 from the foul line. He averaged 4 minutes in those 12 games and had a win share of -.22.

He was allegedly cut for being tied to mob gambling and, in later life, sued Steven Seagal for copyright infringement. He served in the Korean War in the middle of his tenure, too. There might be more going on here than we'll ever know, and he might not be a bust in the classic "can't play" sense. I dunno.

Prior to the '70s, you had the notion of territorial picks which happened before 1st round picks. The Pistons used a territorial pick on Bill Buntin, who played only 42 games, and was out of the league until he lost weight. Not much later, he had a heart attack and died. I think the next guy after him had we drafted normally was the underhanded Rick Barry.

[JerseyJungle]

interesting on Sinicola, but I'd still call him a bust. Also interesting history on territorial picks. Gail Goodrich also went in that draft as a territorial pick to the Lakers. The only other Pistons territorial pick that I could find was DeBuscherre...not bad!

[JerseyJungle]

Another objective way to pick an all time bust team is to go by VORP. In this case, your team of first rounders would be: Leon Douglas (4th pick) -2.4, Sekou Doumbaya (15th pick - 1.8), Mateen Cleaves (14th pick -1.7), Stanley Johnson,(8th pick -1.7), and Killian Hayes (7th pick -1.5). Then, if you don't think 15th picks and 14th picks are high enough to be true busts, you would add Darko Milicic 2nd pick -0.9, and either Rodeny White 9th pick -0.1 or Terry Driscoll 4th pick 0.0. That feels right to me:

Leon Douglas
Stanley Johnson
Killian Hayes
Darko Milicic
Rodney White

Honorable Mention:
Sekou Doumbaya
Mateen Cleaves
Terry Driscoll

[Canadafan]

^I feel it's way too early to label poor Killa Killian a bust.
Once or if he's traded or let go then for sure call him a bust.

[zeebneeb]

^I feel it's way too early to label poor Killa Killian a bust.
Once or if he's traded or let go then for sure call him a bust.

That was decided a long time ago my friend.

It is what it is.

[Pharaoh]

^I feel it's way too early to label poor Killa Killian a bust.
Once or if he's traded or let go then for sure call him a bust.

That was decided a long time ago my friend.

It is what it is.

Was decided after 20 odd games lol

Fact Hayes actually has good vision, passing and defensive skills isn't relevant apparently but we'll see.

Dude needs to be able hit jumpers though otherwise it's hard to be a top 8 or 9 rotation guy.

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[zeebneeb]

^I feel it's way too early to label poor Killa Killian a bust.
Once or if he's traded or let go then for sure call him a bust.

That was decided a long time ago my friend.

It is what it is.

Was decided after 20 odd games lol

Fact Hayes actually has good vision, passing and defensive skills isn't relevant apparently but we'll see.

Dude needs to be able hit jumpers though otherwise it's hard to be a top 8 or 9 rotation guy.

Sent from my SM-G781B using RealGM Forums mobile app

Hayes is a great candidate for "why the hell did the Pistons trade that guy?"

He's defensive metrics are great, he is a great playmaker, but is scared to shoot the ball, or be aggressive offensively, and it may take him a few years to put it altogether.

He honestly may end up outside of the timeline, as the team transitions to being good, and he gets shipped out for someone else.

I sincerely hope he starts being aggressive offensively this year, or he's going to end up developing fully somewhere else.

[FloridaMan78]

Timing of this video is ironic.

A lot of things we already know. A lot surprised me too.

82nd percentile in touches with the ball in his hands per 75 possessions in the entire NBA. That’s crazy.

Shooting is abysmal which we already know. What surprised me was his quality of shots.

19th percentile in open threes.
So even though his defender is leaving him open, he’s still taking awful shots and not getting open off-ball.

6th percentile in rim shot quality. WTF.
With him being 23rd percentile in quantity of shots at the rim you’d think he takes more open shots.
IMO he makes shots harder than they have to be. Which is probably because he is unsure what to do at the rim. His inability to go right effects that, and not having a runner or 10-15 ft pull up jumper also effects that.

His playmaking and defense is great we already know that. But if he doesn’t figure out his offense soon he’s going to be joining Sekou really soon.

I think they make a good point with players like Killian growing up being “the Man” and always having the ball in his hands.

And it was discouraging seeing his off-ball stats being so poor, you’d think with his high IQ he would understand he needs to get open. I hope he understands that Ivey is going to cement his position as an off ball player and he makes the necessary adjustments this off season to work on his off ball game.

Because between Cade and Ivey, no way in hell is he staying at 82nd percentile with the ball in his hands.

Watch on YouTube

[Snakebites]

I assume that the article didn't include Killian because it didn't want to bash anyone still on the roster, not because there's real strong reason to believe he's not a bust at this point.

[bstein14]

I've mentioned it before, but I think Killian's future with the team depends a lot on Ivey. It's clear that Cade is the type of star we need to put the ball in his hands to be at his best. I think its also clear that Killian has been horrible off the ball and is at his best with the ball in his hands creating for others.... if Ivey also plays best with the ball in his hands it doesn't really leave any on ball time for Killian... so Killian would need to become 3 and D which likely isn't going to happen soon enough to stay rotation worthy without the ball handling duties.

Killian does have it going for him that he's Weaver's first lottery pick with this team so he's obviously heavily invested in seeing him put in the work and become an NBA player, even if its just a backup PG. But also going against Killian is the fact that his his draft pick status has him due $7+ million in year four and then a $10+ million qualifying offer in year five.

[tmorgan]

He’s probably gone either during the year if we somehow contend, or next off-season. Ivey, unless he totally busts, pretty much cemented it.

Good teams don’t develop backup PGs behind two young starters, it doesn’t make sense. Your third guard needs to be competent, with a variety of skills, and likely a veteran. Able to play on ball or off. Ok with less than 20 minutes some nights if the starters are cookin.

Basically, a CoJo, but hopefully a better player overall.

I still have hope for Killian. He looks like he should be good until you see his decisions trying to score the ball and his dead right hand. Maybe he gets it eventually, but this time I won’t fault the Pistons if they let him go. I thought Middleton might be something, and I liked Dinwiddie a lot. The last one was a pretty big mistake, the former turned out to be even bigger but i’ll admit I had no problem with it at the time. Killian just doesn’t fit — this year is fine, I doubt we compete for a playoff spot regardless, but if next year is “get serious” time, the current version of Hayes would absolutely need to be gone.