Taking a Look at the Pistons’ Future

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bleacherreport.com

For a long time now, the Detroit Pistons have been known as one of the most broken teams in the NBA. However, that is all starting to change.

After acquiring Reggie Jackson and shipping off Josh Smith, the Pistons began to look like a respectable team. They will need to play their cards very carefully if they want to maintain their upward trend though, and it won’t exactly be easy.

There are quite a few different aspects complicating the Pistons’ future plans. Let’s take a look at the Pistons upcoming free agents and what they should do with them.

Tayshaun Prince
John Lucas III
Joel Anthony
Greg Monroe
Reggie Jackson

Now, there are really only two players worth mentioning at this point and those are Greg Monroe and Reggie Jackson. The others could be possibly resigned to very small deals but they won’t make a big impact on the Pistons cap space or their team.

Now, on to the two big dilemmas. The Pistons will need to take a long hard look at both Monroe and Jackson. Both of these players are very talented and are both worth big money, but will the Pistons pay it? Without signing either of those players the Pistons will have around $30 million in cap space. This means that the Pistons could theoretically sign both without going over the cap limit. However, I doubt the Pistons would choose to do that. Here’s what I think they’ll do with Monroe.

The Pistons have been trying to combine Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe in the front court for a while now, and it just hasn’t reached it’s full potential. Both Monroe and Drummond are meant to play the center position, so putting them on the court together is nearly impossible.

The problem is, both deserve to be starters in the NBA. Andre Drummond is three years younger, and although he may not be as offensively skilled as Monroe, he has sky high potential. This makes Drummond the natural choice as the Pistons center of the future, leaving Monroe as the odd man out.

All in all, I can’t see a scenario where the Pistons keep Monroe around. This still leaves them with $30 million in cap space.

Reggie Jackson is in a similar situation. He and fellow Pistons’ point guard Brandon Jennings have both been successful as starters in the past, so the Pistons will need to figure out who they want to go with. Both point guards are 25, but as far as potential, Reggie Jackson probably possesses more.

At this point we know what we can expect from Brandon Jennings. We can expect occasional scoring outbursts but a pretty horrible overall field goal percentage.

As for Reggie Jackson, he hasn’t been given many chances to start before last season, but from what we’ve seen, he is a quality starting point guard. Brandon Jennings was averaging 15.4 points and 6.6 assists per game last season, shooting 40 percent before an achilles injury left him sidelined. Reggie Jackson averaged 17.6 points and 9.2 assists per game shooting around 44 percent in his 27 starts with the Pistons.

Just looking at these numbers would make you think to go with Reggie Jackson, but his inexperience can be a bit scary. Brandon Jennings also tweeted something recently that could possibly concern the Pistons: “I might retire after next year”.

The tweet has since been deleted, so there’s no telling whether or not he’s serious, but it’s gotta be a concern. Jennings will be an unrestricted free agent next season, so if the Pistons resign Reggie Jackson, finding a trade suitor may be difficult, but expect the Pistons to try and find one.

Both guards want a starting job and I doubt either would be okay with taking a backseat to the other. In the end, I believe the Pistons invest in Reggie Jackson as their point guard. This would probably leave the Pistons with around $20 million.

Now that we’ve analyzed what the Pistons could do with their current players, let’s take a look at who they can add to improve their team.

The Pistons need a wing player or two, and now, they need a power forward. With the #8 pick in the NBA draft, it’s possible that someone like Stanley Johnson, Mario Hezonja or Kristaps Porzingis could be placed to fill one of those spots. All three of those guys could step in and play a starting role at shooting guard, small forward or power forward respectively.

It’s time to take a look at free agency! I would honestly expect the Pistons to draft a small forward in the draft, so that makes shooting guard and power forward a bigger priority in free agency. In order to create the best possible lineup, the Pistons should look for players that compliment their current players nicely.

Let’s take a look at their front court first. Andre Drummond is locking down the defensive part of the front court, so finding a scorer to compliment Drummond could help them out a lot. Draymond Green is also an option, but only if he leaves Golden State and comes at a reasonable price.

If the Pistons want to break the bank on a power forward, they could chase LaMarcus Aldridge or Kevin Love, but I don’t see either of those players choosing Detroit over other destinations. Plus, with Drummond’s extension coming up in a couple of years, the Pistons won’t want to use up all of their cap space.

Instead, I imagine the Pistons will go after a scoring power forward that they can get for a cheaper price.

Paul Milsap could be a cheaper but still expensive option. Milsap is very comfortable playing power forward and has a jump shot as well, making him a perfect player to space the floor opposite Drummond. However, if that’s still too much money to spend on a power forward, they could pursue Thaddeus Young should he hit free agency, or even Brandon Bass. Both are very capable of scoring at a level high enough to compliment Drummond well enough.

As for who to sign on the wing, it will depend on who they want to sign at power forward. If the Pistons decide to save money on their power forward by going with a cheaper option, they can afford to sign a higher quality wing player.

Should Jimmy Butler hit the open market, they could try to find a way to go after him, but that would involve possibly giving up on their dream of a power forward.

Considering the Pistons still have Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, finding a power forward is probably more important than signing Jimmy Butler.

The Pistons should be looking for a good shooter, because frankly, they need it. Wesley Matthews would be a very solid addition to the Pistons backcourt. Matthews and Reggie Jackson together could do some real damage. Jeff Green and DeMarre Carroll could also be great signings if the Pistons decide to draft a shooting guard instead of a small forward.

I doubt the Pistons’ offseason works out as perfectly as I’ve planned it out. However, they have a big chance this offseason to take a major step in the right direction.

They can start to fill out their starting lineup of the future, and that’s pretty exciting. There are a ton of options for the Pistons and it will be hard for them to miss all of them.

I fully expect the Pistons to partially improve this offseason both skill wise and with their on court chemistry. Look for the Pistons to start looking like less of a mess and more like a dangerous young team on the verge of being a real playoff contender.

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