Let's start the rebuild!

[Crymson]

I agree that point guard or a big wing are more important positions. I’m just not very excited about the options at those positions where the Pistons will likely pick. Truth be told, I’m not all that excited about any of the options. They all have their warts. I just figured that with Obi, you’ll get a guy that can immediately contribute offensively, with a game that is very conducive to today’s NBA. In Okongwu, you get a guy with the tools to be an elite defensive player, with the athleticism and quickness to switch defensively all over the floor and the length and timing to be a great shot blocker face up or from the weak side.

Obi plays the same position as both Griffin and Sekou, and his ceiling is limited. Okongwu may well spend his career as a traditional center, and offense outweighs defense in an event in the current NBA. And offense, not defense, has sunk the Pistons season after season. They've ranked bottom-five in TS% in each of the past six full seasons and in nine of the past 11. They'll most likely end this season in 21st, which is a significant improvement but still flatly sucks.

This draft isn't strong, but there are some high-upside offensive players and the Pistons badly need to hit pay dirt on one of them.

[DetroitDon15]

I agree that point guard or a big wing are more important positions. I’m just not very excited about the options at those positions where the Pistons will likely pick. Truth be told, I’m not all that excited about any of the options. They all have their warts. I just figured that with Obi, you’ll get a guy that can immediately contribute offensively, with a game that is very conducive to today’s NBA. In Okongwu, you get a guy with the tools to be an elite defensive player, with the athleticism and quickness to switch defensively all over the floor and the length and timing to be a great shot blocker face up or from the weak side.

Obi plays the same position as both Griffin and Sekou, and his ceiling is limited. Okongwu may well spend his career as a traditional center, and offense outweighs defense in an event in the current NBA. And offense, not defense, has sunk the Pistons season after season. They've ranked bottom-five in TS% in each of the past six full seasons and in nine of the past 11. They'll most likely end this season in 21st, which is a significant improvement but still flatly sucks.

This draft isn't strong, but there are some high-upside offensive players and the Pistons badly need to hit pay dirt on one of them.

If the Pistons resign Wood, I see no room for Obi. I think Wood is probably more of a 4 than a 5. If like to get Edwards or Ball. If neither is there, Hayes might not be a bad add. Pistons need scoring and play making. I don’t see more defense as the option at this point.

[Invictus88]

I agree that point guard or a big wing are more important positions. I’m just not very excited about the options at those positions where the Pistons will likely pick. Truth be told, I’m not all that excited about any of the options. They all have their warts. I just figured that with Obi, you’ll get a guy that can immediately contribute offensively, with a game that is very conducive to today’s NBA. In Okongwu, you get a guy with the tools to be an elite defensive player, with the athleticism and quickness to switch defensively all over the floor and the length and timing to be a great shot blocker face up or from the weak side.

Obi plays the same position as both Griffin and Sekou, and his ceiling is limited. Okongwu may well spend his career as a traditional center, and offense outweighs defense in an event in the current NBA. And offense, not defense, has sunk the Pistons season after season. They've ranked bottom-five in TS% in each of the past six full seasons and in nine of the past 11. They'll most likely end this season in 21st, which is a significant improvement but still flatly sucks.

This draft isn't strong, but there are some high-upside offensive players and the Pistons badly need to hit pay dirt on one of them.

If the Pistons resign Wood, I see no room for Obi. I think Wood is probably more of a 4 than a 5. If like to get Edwards or Ball. If neither is there, Hayes might not be a bad add. Pistons need scoring and play making. I don’t see more defense as the option at this point.

In today's NBA Wood is a 5. You can afford to have someone bigger on the bench to match up with bigger 5s that's less skilled and cheaper but there's nothing wrong with having a guy of Wood's size and skill set as your starting center. So I don't see that as being the reason not to draft Obi if that's who they otherwise value the most.

Next year's roster currently looks like:
PG: Brown, Rose
SG: Kennard, Khyri
SF: Sekou, Svi, Snell
PF: Griffin
C: Wood (if resigned)

- It's not important to give minutes to Snell at this point. If there are better players or players you want to develop then they should have obvious priority there.
- Khyri has shown nothing and his salary next year isn't fully guaranteed if he is waived before 7/6/2020. So it's a very real possibility he is almost gone. Not sure how covid plays into that though.
- Svi can be shifted to play some of the 2 if we end up short there.
- There's no way that Blake is playing a full slate of starter minutes next year given his injury history and coming off of surgery.
- We still have no idea what shape Kennard is in. Does anyone have any info other than 'tendonitis'?
- We still have 5 roster spots to fill even after our 2020 1st and if we resign Wood.
- Ideally we trade away Rose by next year's trade deadline if not this offseason.

So there's plenty of room for minutes for whoever they draft at any position.

[ducler]

Sekou's agent just stopped their collaboration, pointing his lack of professionalism. I don't know what to think about that.

[BJK1]

Sekou's agent just stopped their collaboration, pointing his lack of professionalism. I don't know what to think about that.

Hmm...that sounds discouraging. I guess I’d want more context though. Casey mentioned in a recent interview that Sekou was working hard this offseason.

[Pharaoh]

Sekou's agent just stopped their collaboration, pointing his lack of professionalism. I don't know what to think about that.

Can you link where they pointed to his lack of professionalism?

From what I've found this agency represents most French players.

Haven't found a link to any article that has actual quotes from either side.

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[Invictus88]

Sekou's agent just stopped their collaboration, pointing his lack of professionalism. I don't know what to think about that.

Can you link where they pointed to his lack of professionalism?

From what I've found this agency represents most French players.

Haven't found a link to any article that has actual quotes from either side.

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This.

And even if his agent says that you can't be sure that it isn't just sour grapes if Sekou decided to cut ties and go elsewhere.

[ducler]

Here is his former agent's declaration.

Read on Twitter

And there is an article from a French media with more details.
https://www.basketusa.com/news/596938/lagence-comsport-se-separe-de-sekou-doumbouya/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

One paragraph of this article is saying that Sekou received criticisms from Casey regularly, that he has work ethic problems, and also that he did not ask permission from Pistons to come back to France for quarantine, concluding that those are the reasons why his agent put an end to their collaboration.

[440BB]

We have another couple years to see if Sekou can attain maturity to match his talent before it matters, but where there's smoke...

My impression this season was that he doesn't really enjoy the game. I hope I'm wrong.

[Pharaoh]

Here is his former agent's declaration.

Read on Twitter

And there is an article from a French media with more details.
https://www.basketusa.com/news/596938/lagence-comsport-se-separe-de-sekou-doumbouya/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

One paragraph of this article is saying that Sekou received criticisms from Casey regularly, that he has work ethic problems, and also that he did not ask permission from Pistons to come back to France for quarantine, concluding that those are the reasons why his agent put an end to their collaboration.

Casey did point that out during the season.

Gotta remember he's 19 though.

Time will tell if his commitment is there or not. He's shown flashes but most do. He's either driven or he's not and if he's not he'll never be what we want him to be...

Like numerous recent picks (Stanimal to name the most obvious)

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[DetroitDon15]

Obi plays the same position as both Griffin and Sekou, and his ceiling is limited. Okongwu may well spend his career as a traditional center, and offense outweighs defense in an event in the current NBA. And offense, not defense, has sunk the Pistons season after season. They've ranked bottom-five in TS% in each of the past six full seasons and in nine of the past 11. They'll most likely end this season in 21st, which is a significant improvement but still flatly sucks.

This draft isn't strong, but there are some high-upside offensive players and the Pistons badly need to hit pay dirt on one of them.

If the Pistons resign Wood, I see no room for Obi. I think Wood is probably more of a 4 than a 5. If like to get Edwards or Ball. If neither is there, Hayes might not be a bad add. Pistons need scoring and play making. I don’t see more defense as the option at this point.

In today's NBA Wood is a 5. You can afford to have someone bigger on the bench to match up with bigger 5s that's less skilled and cheaper but there's nothing wrong with having a guy of Wood's size and skill set as your starting center. So I don't see that as being the reason not to draft Obi if that's who they otherwise value the most.

Next year's roster currently looks like:
PG: Brown, Rose
SG: Kennard, Khyri
SF: Sekou, Svi, Snell
PF: Griffin
C: Wood (if resigned)

- It's not important to give minutes to Snell at this point. If there are better players or players you want to develop then they should have obvious priority there.
- Khyri has shown nothing and his salary next year isn't fully guaranteed if he is waived before 7/6/2020. So it's a very real possibility he is almost gone. Not sure how covid plays into that though.
- Svi can be shifted to play some of the 2 if we end up short there.
- There's no way that Blake is playing a full slate of starter minutes next year given his injury history and coming off of surgery.
- We still have no idea what shape Kennard is in. Does anyone have any info other than 'tendonitis'?
- We still have 5 roster spots to fill even after our 2020 1st and if we resign Wood.
- Ideally we trade away Rose by next year's trade deadline if not this offseason.

So there's plenty of room for minutes for whoever they draft at any position.

I think that the post draft year roster currently looks like:
PG: Rose, (Drafted PG), King
SG: Kennard, Svi, Khyri
SF: Snell (If not traded), Brown, Bone
PF: Griffin, Seku
C: Wood (if resigned), Maker

[Pharaoh]

If the Pistons resign Wood, I see no room for Obi. I think Wood is probably more of a 4 than a 5. If like to get Edwards or Ball. If neither is there, Hayes might not be a bad add. Pistons need scoring and play making. I don’t see more defense as the option at this point.

In today's NBA Wood is a 5. You can afford to have someone bigger on the bench to match up with bigger 5s that's less skilled and cheaper but there's nothing wrong with having a guy of Wood's size and skill set as your starting center. So I don't see that as being the reason not to draft Obi if that's who they otherwise value the most.

Next year's roster currently looks like:
PG: Brown, Rose
SG: Kennard, Khyri
SF: Sekou, Svi, Snell
PF: Griffin
C: Wood (if resigned)

- It's not important to give minutes to Snell at this point. If there are better players or players you want to develop then they should have obvious priority there.
- Khyri has shown nothing and his salary next year isn't fully guaranteed if he is waived before 7/6/2020. So it's a very real possibility he is almost gone. Not sure how covid plays into that though.
- Svi can be shifted to play some of the 2 if we end up short there.
- There's no way that Blake is playing a full slate of starter minutes next year given his injury history and coming off of surgery.
- We still have no idea what shape Kennard is in. Does anyone have any info other than 'tendonitis'?
- We still have 5 roster spots to fill even after our 2020 1st and if we resign Wood.
- Ideally we trade away Rose by next year's trade deadline if not this offseason.

So there's plenty of room for minutes for whoever they draft at any position.

I think that the post draft year roster currently looks like:
PG: Rose, (Drafted PG), King
SG: Kennard, Svi, Khyri
SF: Snell (If not traded), Brown, Bone
PF: Griffin, Seku
C: Wood (if resigned), Maker

If the Pistons resign Wood, I see no room for Obi. I think Wood is probably more of a 4 than a 5. If like to get Edwards or Ball. If neither is there, Hayes might not be a bad add. Pistons need scoring and play making. I don’t see more defense as the option at this point.

In today's NBA Wood is a 5. You can afford to have someone bigger on the bench to match up with bigger 5s that's less skilled and cheaper but there's nothing wrong with having a guy of Wood's size and skill set as your starting center. So I don't see that as being the reason not to draft Obi if that's who they otherwise value the most.

Next year's roster currently looks like:
PG: Brown, Rose
SG: Kennard, Khyri
SF: Sekou, Svi, Snell
PF: Griffin
C: Wood (if resigned)

- It's not important to give minutes to Snell at this point. If there are better players or players you want to develop then they should have obvious priority there.
- Khyri has shown nothing and his salary next year isn't fully guaranteed if he is waived before 7/6/2020. So it's a very real possibility he is almost gone. Not sure how covid plays into that though.
- Svi can be shifted to play some of the 2 if we end up short there.
- There's no way that Blake is playing a full slate of starter minutes next year given his injury history and coming off of surgery.
- We still have no idea what shape Kennard is in. Does anyone have any info other than 'tendonitis'?
- We still have 5 roster spots to fill even after our 2020 1st and if we resign Wood.
- Ideally we trade away Rose by next year's trade deadline if not this offseason.

So there's plenty of room for minutes for whoever they draft at any position.

I think that the post draft year roster currently looks like:
PG: Rose, (Drafted PG), King
SG: Kennard, Svi, Khyri
SF: Snell (If not traded), Brown, Bone
PF: Griffin, Seku
C: Wood (if resigned), Maker

Why is Brown at SF?

PG: Brown, Rose, Bone
SG: Luke, Svi, King, Thomas
SF: Snell, Sekou, #5 (Okoro)
PF: Blake, Hall
Ce: Wood, Giles

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[DetroitDon15]

In today's NBA Wood is a 5. You can afford to have someone bigger on the bench to match up with bigger 5s that's less skilled and cheaper but there's nothing wrong with having a guy of Wood's size and skill set as your starting center. So I don't see that as being the reason not to draft Obi if that's who they otherwise value the most.

Next year's roster currently looks like:
PG: Brown, Rose
SG: Kennard, Khyri
SF: Sekou, Svi, Snell
PF: Griffin
C: Wood (if resigned)

- It's not important to give minutes to Snell at this point. If there are better players or players you want to develop then they should have obvious priority there.
- Khyri has shown nothing and his salary next year isn't fully guaranteed if he is waived before 7/6/2020. So it's a very real possibility he is almost gone. Not sure how covid plays into that though.
- Svi can be shifted to play some of the 2 if we end up short there.
- There's no way that Blake is playing a full slate of starter minutes next year given his injury history and coming off of surgery.
- We still have no idea what shape Kennard is in. Does anyone have any info other than 'tendonitis'?
- We still have 5 roster spots to fill even after our 2020 1st and if we resign Wood.
- Ideally we trade away Rose by next year's trade deadline if not this offseason.

So there's plenty of room for minutes for whoever they draft at any position.

I think that the post draft year roster currently looks like:
PG: Rose, (Drafted PG), King
SG: Kennard, Svi, Khyri
SF: Snell (If not traded), Brown, Bone
PF: Griffin, Seku
C: Wood (if resigned), Maker

In today's NBA Wood is a 5. You can afford to have someone bigger on the bench to match up with bigger 5s that's less skilled and cheaper but there's nothing wrong with having a guy of Wood's size and skill set as your starting center. So I don't see that as being the reason not to draft Obi if that's who they otherwise value the most.

Next year's roster currently looks like:
PG: Brown, Rose
SG: Kennard, Khyri
SF: Sekou, Svi, Snell
PF: Griffin
C: Wood (if resigned)

- It's not important to give minutes to Snell at this point. If there are better players or players you want to develop then they should have obvious priority there.
- Khyri has shown nothing and his salary next year isn't fully guaranteed if he is waived before 7/6/2020. So it's a very real possibility he is almost gone. Not sure how covid plays into that though.
- Svi can be shifted to play some of the 2 if we end up short there.
- There's no way that Blake is playing a full slate of starter minutes next year given his injury history and coming off of surgery.
- We still have no idea what shape Kennard is in. Does anyone have any info other than 'tendonitis'?
- We still have 5 roster spots to fill even after our 2020 1st and if we resign Wood.
- Ideally we trade away Rose by next year's trade deadline if not this offseason.

So there's plenty of room for minutes for whoever they draft at any position.

I think that the post draft year roster currently looks like:
PG: Rose, (Drafted PG), King
SG: Kennard, Svi, Khyri
SF: Snell (If not traded), Brown, Bone
PF: Griffin, Seku
C: Wood (if resigned), Maker

Why is Brown at SF?

PG: Brown, Rose, Bone
SG: Luke, Svi, King, Thomas
SF: Snell, Sekou, #5 (Okoro)
PF: Blake, Hall
Ce: Wood, Giles

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Because I see the Pistons adding a PG in the first round which leaves four guys (Rose, Pick, Kennard, and Svi) to take most of the minutes in the back court. I think Brown can be an effective 3. There are just not enough minutes in the back court and would expect him to eventually force Snell to the bench.

[Pharaoh]

I think that the post draft year roster currently looks like:
PG: Rose, (Drafted PG), King
SG: Kennard, Svi, Khyri
SF: Snell (If not traded), Brown, Bone
PF: Griffin, Seku
C: Wood (if resigned), Maker

I think that the post draft year roster currently looks like:
PG: Rose, (Drafted PG), King
SG: Kennard, Svi, Khyri
SF: Snell (If not traded), Brown, Bone
PF: Griffin, Seku
C: Wood (if resigned), Maker

Why is Brown at SF?

PG: Brown, Rose, Bone
SG: Luke, Svi, King, Thomas
SF: Snell, Sekou, #5 (Okoro)
PF: Blake, Hall
Ce: Wood, Giles

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Because I see the Pistons adding a PG in the first round which leaves four guys (Rose, Pick, Kennard, and Svi) to take most of the minutes in the back court. I think Brown can be an effective 3. There are just not enough minutes in the back court and would expect him to eventually force Snell to the bench.

I think Brown is going to play minutes 1 through 3 but most of those minutes will come at the 1.

Svi is likely to play more 3, which may see us play a line up of Brown, Luke, Svi.

No surprise I want Okoro

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[DetroitDon15]

Why is Brown at SF?

PG: Brown, Rose, Bone
SG: Luke, Svi, King, Thomas
SF: Snell, Sekou, #5 (Okoro)
PF: Blake, Hall
Ce: Wood, Giles

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Because I see the Pistons adding a PG in the first round which leaves four guys (Rose, Pick, Kennard, and Svi) to take most of the minutes in the back court. I think Brown can be an effective 3. There are just not enough minutes in the back court and would expect him to eventually force Snell to the bench.

I think Brown is going to play minutes 1 through 3 but most of those minutes will come at the 1.

Svi is likely to play more 3, which may see us play a line up of Brown, Luke, Svi.

No surprise I want Okoro

Sent from my SM-A520F using RealGM mobile app

I just see the Pistons adding a PG which is probably the biggest position of need and not SF.

[Pharaoh]

Because I see the Pistons adding a PG in the first round which leaves four guys (Rose, Pick, Kennard, and Svi) to take most of the minutes in the back court. I think Brown can be an effective 3. There are just not enough minutes in the back court and would expect him to eventually force Snell to the bench.

I think Brown is going to play minutes 1 through 3 but most of those minutes will come at the 1.

Svi is likely to play more 3, which may see us play a line up of Brown, Luke, Svi.

No surprise I want Okoro

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I just see the Pistons adding a PG which is probably the biggest position of need and not SF.

We have Brown, Rose & Bone at PG plus Blake initiates a lot of offense.

SF? Snell and who? Svi? Sekou?

The idea is that eventually Okoro adds to his offensive game to compliment his D, which we need on the wing

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[DetroitDon15]

I think Brown is going to play minutes 1 through 3 but most of those minutes will come at the 1.

Svi is likely to play more 3, which may see us play a line up of Brown, Luke, Svi.

No surprise I want Okoro

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I just see the Pistons adding a PG which is probably the biggest position of need and not SF.

We have Brown, Rose & Bone at PG plus Blake initiates a lot of offense.

SF? Snell and who? Svi? Sekou?

The idea is that eventually Okoro adds to his offensive game to compliment his D, which we need on the wing

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I don’t see the offensive upside of Aomori. My concern is that he is Stanley Johnson 2.0. He’s not a good distance shooter. I’m going for highest upside overall. I’m taking Edwards, Ball, Wiseman, Hayes, and Toppin (I’m taking Toppin over him cause I know what he does) all over him.

[Pharaoh]

I just see the Pistons adding a PG which is probably the biggest position of need and not SF.

We have Brown, Rose & Bone at PG plus Blake initiates a lot of offense.

SF? Snell and who? Svi? Sekou?

The idea is that eventually Okoro adds to his offensive game to compliment his D, which we need on the wing

Sent from my SM-A520F using RealGM mobile app

I don’t see the offensive upside of Aomori. My concern is that he is Stanley Johnson 2.0. He’s not a good distance shooter. I’m going for highest upside overall. I’m taking Edwards, Ball, Wiseman, Hayes, and Toppin (I’m taking Toppin over him cause I know what he does) all over him.

The last DX Mock I saw they had Okoro at #3...they're usually a pretty good judge.

The comparisons I've read are Jaylen Brown. He's not quite yet a offensive juggernaut but he's definitely improved since being drafted.

That's the key - we need to get someone who not only is driven to improve but who can actually translate it to games.

I think Stanley Johnson did work hard, he just could never put that on the floor during a game.

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[MotownMadness]

We have Brown, Rose & Bone at PG plus Blake initiates a lot of offense.

SF? Snell and who? Svi? Sekou?

The idea is that eventually Okoro adds to his offensive game to compliment his D, which we need on the wing

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I don’t see the offensive upside of Aomori. My concern is that he is Stanley Johnson 2.0. He’s not a good distance shooter. I’m going for highest upside overall. I’m taking Edwards, Ball, Wiseman, Hayes, and Toppin (I’m taking Toppin over him cause I know what he does) all over him.

The last DX Mock I saw they had Okoro at #3...they're usually a pretty good judge.

The comparisons I've read are Jaylen Brown. He's not quite yet a offensive juggernaut but he's definitely improved since being drafted.

That's the key - we need to get someone who not only is driven to improve but who can actually translate it to games.

I think Stanley Johnson did work hard, he just could never put that on the floor during a game.

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Best comparison i can think of when watching him is a guy like Winslow. He could be a two way star if he gets better offensively but right now he doesn't really look for his own buckets as much as he does just playing glue guy doing some defending and playmaking. He's actually a pretty good passer.

That's why where he's at right now with his defense and playmaking i like the Winslow comp. With Okoro its more about hoping he changes his mentality from role player to alpha like a Edwards mentality to take him top 3

[bstein14]

Rebuild heavily depends on how much growth we see from our young guys. Especially considering they are getting an extended break from regular ball. They always say great players are made in the offseason. If we see jumps from guys like Kennard, Bruce, Sekou, and Wood we could be in a great position moving forward. So much of our future success really depends on whether or not our young talent can make big gains. I do like that we have the ability to have guys in gyms working on improving skillsets versus being down in Orlando playing more meaningless games finishing out the season.