Which situation would you rather have?

[Spider156]

We have Drummond and Stan Van Gundy. Discussion over. Thread closed.

[MotownMadness]

Both teams are rebuilding and have max cap flexibility. Pistons have the better franchise player to rebuild around and the better coach. I'm trying to think of a reason to prefer their team but there is none. What am I not seeing?

That you have to live in Detroit to play for the Pistons

Wow, Nobody on the Pistons live in Detroit. Hell the Pistons don't even play in Detroit, They're in Auburn Hills dumbass. Seriously, Know what your talking about before you post.

Thats equivalent to players of your team going and buying a house in Compton for no dumb ass reason.

[Bakuto]

Both teams are rebuilding and have max cap flexibility. Pistons have the better franchise player to rebuild around and the better coach. I'm trying to think of a reason to prefer their team but there is none. What am I not seeing?

That you have to live in Detroit to play for the Pistons

I love how you act like you know what you're talking about.

Go slip in the shower.

[Laimbeer]

Good question, that's a tough call. ORL obviously has way more assets but none are super high quality. Here's their war chest of prospects:
PG: Payton
SG: Oladipo
SF: Harris, Harkless, Fournier
PF: Gordon, Nicholson
C: Vucevic

So more than half their teams is solid-to-great prospects that all have plenty to prove. You'd have to believe that at least two or three are going to work out as starters, but they don't have any sure thing vets either. They're so thoroughly invested in projects and long-term plays that you could easily see this team stinking for another 4 years.

So personally I'd rather have the Pistons and their problems right now since I'm really tired of watching crappy basketball. But taking that away, it's hard to turn down the (often empty) excitement of potential and young talent.

Two or three are going to work out as starters? Two or three HAVE worked out as starters. Dre is a better asset than any of theirs, and you'd put Monroe somewhere among that group in terms of value, depending on how you weigh the fact he's about to get paid pretty big. After that, all eight of the guys you listed are more valuable than anyone we have except Dre and Monroe.

Neither team has "sure thing vets". Detroit has two large, questionable contracts in Smith and Jennings. Orlando has none. Orlando also owns at least one first beyond their own (Lakers) in future drafts. There are others as well, and I don't think we own any but our own.

And since when is young talent empty excitement? Isn't that what we should be collecting?

I'll give us the coaching edge, but asset wise this is not close. And coaches can be changed pretty easily.

[HotelVitale]

Two or three are going to work out as starters? Two or three HAVE worked out as starters.

Only Vucevic has so far. He's roughly at Monroe's level (good at a few things, very limited in others) but everyone else either hasn't performed well in big minutes or else hasn't been consistently solid in limited minutes. Oladipo was pretty bad last year but should be okay, and Harris seems capable of being a solid rotation scorer. Other than that, there are no guaranteed rotation guys. Gordon seems like a good bet but plenty of top-5 picks are busts (at least 30% are). Point is: this is a promising roster but it still is just prospects.

Dre is a better asset than any of theirs... After that, all eight of the guys you listed are more valuable than anyone we have except Dre and Monroe.

Yeah, that's the decision this topic is asking about. They have a ton of guys who are valuable and we have a dollar (Drummond), a half-buck (Monroe), and some nickels and dimes. If I had to choose a team from scratch, I'd take theirs, but like I said they're going to be really bad for the next two seasons and I wouldn't want to go through that now. Just tired of dysfunctional basketball at the moment.

And since when is young talent empty excitement? Isn't that what we should be collecting?

It's exciting to talk about but it's usually horrific to watch, and a lot of it goes up in smoke. I was in Boston when the Celtics had terrific prospects that year before the Ray Allen and KG trade, and that team rolled out a lot of super-young talent each night. They also got massacred regularly and it wasn't fun to be a part of. There's only so much thrill you can get out of saying 'Al Jefferson could hang 20 per night on Hakeem!' or 'that Rondo kid has HUGE hands!' as the team gets hammered. At some point, you just want to see some competitive basketball to keep the excitement adrenaline going.

[E-Z]

SVG is the difference maker imo.

[coolness]

Detroit, the city, is unattractive in one big way - the weather isn't good in Auburn Hills either. I believe it makes a difference in players' joints/bodies. The season is during the cold winter. I think that is the biggest and most unspoken reason for the dominance of the Western Conference. I know that I could be wrong, but I've lived in both kinds of climates, and - to me- you get physical results (your legs feel different. legs and basketball have a lot to do with each other, hehe) as well as emotional results (from sunshine,) which are tied up with the physical. Minnesota is the worst WC climate and they seem to underperform. Utah and Denver are mild compared to Minnesota and the Midwest. Portland (and Seattle?? :/ ) are mild compared to Utah and Denver.

[coolness]

On Detroit vs. Orlando in the roster/future sense, I think either could take the lead by the end of this off-season, but neither has a win at the moment.