Worst signing two years from now!

[Pharaoh]

If you can call Harris a signing he'll be the "worst" in 2 years time IF he's still here.

I believe he'll be part of a trade package by then though.

[Montanabadboy]

I mean in two years Smith and Boban will be expecting. I don't see any of these being "bad" contracts. Leur would basically be the only possible bad one, because his is the biggest and longest. But I picked him as the best contact, so I can't really go contradicting myself now.

[Todd3]

You're clearly not understanding this.

Even if the 18th pick should only amount to a rotation player, and even if 10m/yr for Leuer is also a fair price for a rotation player, if there's only room for 1 in the rotation at a time, then you're paying 2 for the price of 1 and THAT is the problem.

There are at least two backup bigs in a rotation, no? As much as I like the signing I don't think Marjanovic is a "true" backup at center, he's more matchup-specific. Boban might see 14 minutes one night, then 2 the next. Beuer and eventually Ellenson fill all the gaps in between, and then either gets a playing time boost when more size is needed at power forward. It's kind of ideal actually.

So what did we sign Boban for then?

There's only room for 2 of the 3. Either Ellenson isn't going to play and we wasted the 18th pick, or Leuer isn't going to play and we wasted 10m/yr, or Boban isn't going to play and we wasted 7m/yr.

I realize every team needs to spend something on 3rd place insurance guys who rarely play, but it's usually 2nd rd picks/vet min contracts, not 18th picks/7-10m guys. That's too much for an 8th seed to have invested in reserves that won't contribute when you're not a contender yet and virtually capped already. That money/1st rd pick could've been allocated better.

[coordinator0]

So what did we sign Boban for then?

There's only room for 2 of the 3. Either Ellenson isn't going to play and we wasted the 18th pick, or Leuer isn't going to play and we wasted 10m/yr, or Boban isn't going to play and we wasted 7m/yr.

I realize every team needs to spend something on 3rd place insurance guys who rarely play, but it's usually 2nd rd picks/vet min contracts, not 18th picks/7-10m guys. That's too much for an 8th seed to have invested in reserves that won't contribute when you're not a contender yet and virtually capped already. That money/1st rd pick could've been allocated better.

Or they're going to play sporadically and not a set amount of minutes every night. Leuer will likely have pretty solid playing time, but Ellenson is a couple years away from physically being ready. And that's fine because most prospects fall into that same category. Boban is a unique player and needs to be played in certain circumstances, that's pretty well-known. I think Van Gundy will be able to use him to his fullest but that doesn't necessarily mean 16 minutes a night every night.

Detroit is building a deep and versatile team. Emphasis on the latter part. With that comes some give from other players in the rotation, specifically starters. Not having to play solid yet unspectacular players like Morris and Caldwell-Pope 36+ minutes a night isn't a bad thing. Johnson will absolutely leech more minutes at the two this season as he matures anyways but Marcus doesn't need to be relied on nearly as much and the team has the ability to throw out a lot of different looks.

Someone on here said something that really rang true to me. It was along the lines of when a team doesn't have a bunch of superstars to rely on they need start-quality 48 minutes a night, so the bench needs to be that good. The Pistons are well on their way to having a rotation capable of that. They're going to be able to compete on a nightly basis and I'm going to enjoy the ride.

[TWlST]

You're clearly not understanding this.

Even if the 18th pick should only amount to a rotation player, and even if 10m/yr for Leuer is also a fair price for a rotation player, if there's only room for 1 in the rotation at a time, then you're paying 2 for the price of 1 and THAT is the problem.

There are at least two backup bigs in a rotation, no? As much as I like the signing I don't think Marjanovic is a "true" backup at center, he's more matchup-specific. Boban might see 14 minutes one night, then 2 the next. Beuer and eventually Ellenson fill all the gaps in between, and then either gets a playing time boost when more size is needed at power forward. It's kind of ideal actually.

So what did we sign Boban for then?

There's only room for 2 of the 3. Either Ellenson isn't going to play and we wasted the 18th pick, or Leuer isn't going to play and we wasted 10m/yr, or Boban isn't going to play and we wasted 7m/yr.

I realize every team needs to spend something on 3rd place insurance guys who rarely play, but it's usually 2nd rd picks/vet min contracts, not 18th picks/7-10m guys. That's too much for an 8th seed to have invested in reserves that won't contribute when you're not a contender yet and virtually capped already. That money/1st rd pick could've been allocated better.

I sit here wondering why make.....errr todd is opposed to being a deeper team. Who would you rather have spent the money or roster spot on that would actually come here? I'm just curious.

[Blkbrd671]

Someone on here said something that really rang true to me. It was along the lines of when a team doesn't have a bunch of superstars to rely on they need start-quality 48 minutes a night, so the bench needs to be that good. The Pistons are well on their way to having a rotation capable of that. They're going to be able to compete on a nightly basis and I'm going to enjoy the ride.

My concern with GS is that they really don't have depth. I think in the regular season this is going to hurt them towards the end and in the playoffs towards the finals. While yes they can counter this by regulating rotation minutes, by doing such they limit the amount of minutes all 5 superstars can be on the court at once.

The one thing that i love about this team is that WHEN injuries happen as they do throughout the whole year, we have quality depth that is going to mitigate the losses of said players. RJ is probably the only player we need to stay 100% healthy, but even at that, SVG has proven over the past 2 years, he can find a pg off the street and have them run at least decent offensive sets.

[Pharaoh]

That's the thing people don't mention when depth is dicussed:

You can't count on every guy playing 82 games & the playoffs.

You need quality back ups to reduce minutes & the wear and tear on guys.

Last season we played our starters so much because our bench sucked! Now people are conplaining there's not enough minutes to go around? WTF?

Before training camp even begins we KNOW we're now 9 deep!

Dre, Baynes
Harris, JL
Mook, SJ
KCP
RJ, Ish

There'll be minutes available for Boban, King, Bullock & Hilliard as we move through the season and having versatile guys makes that even easier

[Todd3]

There are at least two backup bigs in a rotation, no? As much as I like the signing I don't think Marjanovic is a "true" backup at center, he's more matchup-specific. Boban might see 14 minutes one night, then 2 the next. Beuer and eventually Ellenson fill all the gaps in between, and then either gets a playing time boost when more size is needed at power forward. It's kind of ideal actually.

So what did we sign Boban for then?

There's only room for 2 of the 3. Either Ellenson isn't going to play and we wasted the 18th pick, or Leuer isn't going to play and we wasted 10m/yr, or Boban isn't going to play and we wasted 7m/yr.

I realize every team needs to spend something on 3rd place insurance guys who rarely play, but it's usually 2nd rd picks/vet min contracts, not 18th picks/7-10m guys. That's too much for an 8th seed to have invested in reserves that won't contribute when you're not a contender yet and virtually capped already. That money/1st rd pick could've been allocated better.

I sit here wondering why make.....errr todd is opposed to being a deeper team. Who would you rather have spent the money or roster spot on that would actually come here? I'm just curious.

Huh? Being 2 deep is great if you can afford it. Spending 1st rd picks and excessive cap space on guys who won't even play is a luxury a 44 win team can't afford when you have issues in the starting lineup still.

If the plan was to sign 2 backup bigs in FA, draft a different position then, like a SG who can shoot and take over for KCP a year from now for cheap. (ie Beasley or trade up for Valentine).

Or draft Ellenson and use that 17m from Leuer/Boban on a SG in FA instead like Gordon.

There's lot's of ways to use 17m and an 18th pick that result in more than 2 15mpg backups and a 3rd guy that won't even play.

[El Chivo]

So it was better to be short and play Justin Harper when needed than dnp some players with a mid level contract because is a "waste of money". Depth really sucks!

Maybe we can call back Joel and Tolly. Why not Cartier? At least they didn't screw your beautiful lineup projects up.

Chapeau.

[In SVG We Trust]

Ellenson is not a contribute-now rookie. SVG is doing some Pop things. Bullock has performed well but he's still in development due to the changes on his career, Kyle Anderson has been growing quietly but I would not be surprised if he's a better version of Diaw in a couple of years.

You don't need 15 players playing, they can be useful even in the practices. I would like to see people here changing their WIN NOW mentality, because is so 15 years old online player.

[Pharaoh]

It appears some want a quick fix while others realise it's a process.

We don't need Boban to play 20 minutes a night every night to justify his existence! We don't need any of our guys to play 38 minutes either!

We've got lots of guys who are underpaid when you look around the league - and not just guys on rookie deals either.

Baynes, Boban, Ish, Mook, Harris, Bullock...all those guys should be on more coin...

Whining that we didn't spend our cap space or draft picks well is hilarious to me Toddy

[theBigLip]

It may seem like the "homer" approach, but I chose "none of the above - in SVG I trust". But it isn't blind faith in Stan - it is that we didn't do a blockbuster signing that has a huge risk for us. It wasn't signing Charlie V and Ben Gordan with all our cap space for the next 5 years. We just filled in our bench, and I think all those contracts could get moved if needed - no overpays, although Leuer would have the most likelihood of being a bad contract.

[chrbal]

I voted Boban. PG is essential and Ish is making the same per year that Wayne Ellington (SG-heat) is making. A SG I thought we'd be able to invite to camp. Boban only for the reason that hes a 3rd stringer and Aron hasn't opted out yet. He probably will, but if he doesn't...

[coordinator0]

I voted Boban. PG is essential and Ish is making the same per year that Wayne Ellington (SG-heat) is making. A SG I thought we'd be able to invite to camp. Boban only for the reason that hes a 3rd stringer and Aron hasn't opted out yet. He probably will, but if he doesn't...

If Baynes doesn't opt out he will be dumped for a second round pick or two. I'm pretty confident about that, and Detroit comes out ahead on value overall with the plethora of options they will still have at center.

Assuming the Pistons plan on giving Caldwell-Pope a new contract they will be at or over the luxury tax next season if the predictions for a $102 million cap hold true. Since they'll be capped-out re-signing Bullock is probably in the cards as well, although they will have the MLE to use next summer and might go that route. Still a good $5-6 million chunk counting for the luxury tax either way.

[flow]

Not trying to jinx the guy, but I'd have to vote Boban for this reason, if no other.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903999904576466280330481732

Hopefully he'll become the exception to the rule.

[chrbal]

Ish is a backup PG, we needed that. Jon is a stretch 4 who can rebound, we needed that. Drummond, we had to resign him. So Boban, being essentially a luxury, wasn't as needed as the others. Thats why he got my vote.

[DBC10]

I really don't think the answer lies with any of the players listed above. It really is a versatile and fringe-starter lineup from the 6th man to the 8th man. Any one of these guys we recently signed can be fringe starters on bad to decent teams.

I think that's being underrated by some here. The ability to field fringe starters night in and out on some of our weakest positions will only serve to prepare us better for the playoffs and destroy other team's bench mobs much more effectively. Our bench was the weakest last season, and now SVG brought it up to near starter-caliber on paper in some of our weakest backup positions like the PF and PG positions which arguably is the most important in this age of space and pace small ball.

Context and nuance is important instead of looking at it from a binary perspective.