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NLL Insider - Team by Team: Detroit Pistons

by greenmig, updated on Saturday, September 28 2013, 07:17 pm EST


2012-2013 Finish:  35-47

Season Highlights- The Pistons finished the season in 11th out East with a record of 35-47.  This is an improvement on last years lowly 21-45.  In a strong Eastern Conference this still meant the Pistons missed the playoffs for the 4th year in a row but it seems that new gm mavs4life is moving things along in the right direction – or is he?  The other highlight for the Pistons was the play of swingman Rudy Gay.  Gay had a career year earning him a selection to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team.

Season Lowlights – Missing the playoffs for the 4th consecutive year can’t sit well with Pistons fans or management.  The problem is being compounded by the Pistons not being bad enough and landing in ‘Lotto no man’s land’ with only two top ten picks in the past 4 years – neither making much impact.

The other lowlight for Detroit would have to be the trade acquisition for the overpaid, underperforming and now again injured big man Emeka Okafor.  Sure, there is a line of conversation that suggests Okafor is expiring this year but still his contract places Pistons management in a bind in more ways than one….more on this later..


Best Trade – Looking closely at Pistons dealings I am not that enamored by any of them.  Nothing stands out as an excellent deal.  There are lots of OK deals.  Perhaps the best deal would be a 3 part deal which went down with New Orleans which essentially consisted of:

Detroit release restricted free agent Brandon Rush and Doron Lamb to New Orleans.  New Orleans send George Hill to Detroit.

Hill had a solid season for Detroit whilst Rush spent the entire season on IR.  Unfortunately, for reasons still not entirely understood the Pistons ended up trading away Hill in a multi-player deal for Emeka Okafor when the season ended.


Worst Trade
The Detroit Pistons send George Hill, Jonas Jerebko and Jordan Hamilton to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Minnesota Timberwolves send Emeka Okafor and Jimmer Fredette to the Detroit Pistons.

As has been mentioned this is a confusing trade for the Pistons.  Apparently, (this is not confirmed) gm mavs has a plan to stockpile expiring deals and I guess be a wheeler and dealer in the upcoming 2014 free agency bonanza when the likes of LBJ and Melo could hit the market?  But as we know there are no guarantees in free agency.  But for now this deal brings in a guy who hasn’t delivered $14.5M worth to date and an overhyped white guy who’s days in the NLL are likely numbered in Fredette in exchange for three good young, relatively cheap players in Hill, Jerebko and Hamilton.

Other Notable TradesThe Detroit Pistons send Steve Nash, John Salmons and Anderson Varejao to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Oklahoma City Thunder send Pau Gasol, Kirk Hinrich and Jordan Hamilton to the Detroit Pistons.

In this deal the Pistons bring in an excellent big man in Gasol, a solid combo guard in Hinrich and a prospect in Hamilton in exchange for two veteran guards and an oft-injured big man in Varejao.  At the time the league experts proclaimed this a bad deal for Detroit but now it looks OK.  This could even be considered their best deal depending on if Gasol is actually rejuvenated or not.  Hinrich ended up being part of the deal which landed Rodney Stuckey at the cost of a 1st rnd pick, (Cody Zeller) – this could come back to haunt them.


Best FA Signing – Being a perennial cellar dweller it is not surprising that no notable free agents were enticed to the Motor City but the Pistons did manage to ink Boris Diaw at a hefty-ish price of $4.5M.  He provided serviceable play off the bench in 25 games before he was dealt to the Magic for Udonis Haslem.


Worst FA Signing- Marcus Camby for $4.6M and 3 years.  What the?  This guy is 39 years old and he signed a 3yr deal?  Sure he is 7 ft but how is he still in the league making this kinda money?


Star- Rudy Gay.  Amongst the fog of mediocrity in Detroit, Gay had a career year playing in 78 games and averaging 27.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 0,9 blocks per game.  He was rewarded with 3 POW awards and one POM award as well an All-Star Selection.  Gay was among the conversation for the league MVP and was considered by most to be one of the elite players in this league.  Going forward I’m sure Rudy’s next big hope is to lead his team to a playoff appearance.


Surprise  gm mavs4life – trading his way into luxury cap territory.  I am sure there is some method to his madness, however for now I haven’t worked it out…?


Goat – Josh Harrelson.  The guy just looks like a fool.  Surely his fleeting NLL career is over?


Draft Report Card – Draft Grade D

The Pistons traded away their 1st rnder, (pick 10) who ended up being Cody Zeller selected by the Nuggets.  Their 2nd rnd pick was Pierre Jackson a 5’10 guy who may never play in the NLL.


Looking to the Future – The Pistons still have Rudy Gay.  He provides them with an elite cornerstone to build on.  They also have a blossoming Klay Thompson at SG so their starting wings look excellent.  They have been nurturing big euro Jonas Valanciunas for years.  He has the tools and now looks ready to become a dominant big man in the NLL.  The puzzling thing though is they brought in two veteran big men on huge salaries in Okafor and Gasol at the end of last season.  They also have another promising euro 7ft’er in Motiejunas.  So now the Pistons have a logjam in the paint.  Really, they should be starting Jonas at C and perhaps Gasol at PF and exploring trade options for Okafor.  But who is going to take this guy on at age 30, $14.5M with 2013 numbers of 8.3 points and 7.8 rebounds.  Sure, he is expiring but it’s going to be a tough sell especially now that he has been diagnosed out indefinitely with a herniated disk in his neck!!  The Pistons will have to add a sweetener like their 1st rounder to move the big man – but then again with the 2014 draft class looking like the strongest in a decade this could be a big mistake.

So the Pistons are left in a salary cap bind with only 8 players under contract and already at $70.9M – basically at the luxury cap.  They can sign Budinger for $5M using the bird rule – this makes 9 players at $75M!?!  But with no rookies this means they still need to find 4 more players to reach the NLL minimum.  Good luck doing this through free agency!  Either way you are still going to be paying $80M+ in salary…maybe we should start calling him gm prokhorov4life….

Obviously the Pistons most trade-able asset is Rudy Gay.  He would garner massive interest and surely net multiple players in return.  Gm mavs has adamantly stated that Gay is NOT tradeable, but perhaps Rudy, (or league rules on minimum player numbers) may ‘demand’ he is dealt unless mavs shows him a path to the playoffs?  Hopefully for gm mavs’ sake he has a rabbit in his hat or maybe he can get lucky with a deal for Okafor.  Either way, I honestly think he is going to struggle to find willing trading partners under this tight new CBA without providing some sort of sweetener.  Maybe he looks at moving Gasol for multiple players?  This is probably more possible especially if Pau comes into the season rejuvenated.

I guess the bigger questions for gm mavs, is “What is your goal for this season?  Playoffs or are you setting up to make a run at the 2014 draft or free agent classes?  And if so, does it make sense to hold on to Gay?”  Either way, it’s going to be very interesting to see how gm mavs gets his way back up to the NLL minimum of 13 players whilst somehow staying below the luxury cap.

Upcoming Free Agents

Chase Budinger - he is keen to re-sign for 3yr, $15M but can the Pistons afford him?

Josh Harrelson – this guy’s NLL days must be over…

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