Archive → May, 2011
Karen Davidson will be a minority owner of the Detroit Pistons
Karen Davidson will continue to hold a minority stake in the Pistons after she sells the franchise, according to Gregg Krupa of The Detroit News. Krupa also talked to Davidson about her decision to sell the team:
When asked about an apparent discrepancy between her late husband saying the team would always remain in his family and her decision to sell, Davidson said that Bill Davidson left the decision to her.
"Legally, as sole trustee and beneficiary, it was my decision," she said of her late husband’s choice of leaving her as the only trustee of the WMD Family Trust, which, in part, owns the Pistons, the arena and the affiliated entertainment enterprises, like the DTE Energy Theater. "He very generously said I can do what I want with it.
"Bill was not a power-trip person," she said. "He was just not a man to push anything on anyone.
"He made me the sole trustee and beneficiary, but I don’t think he wanted me to be enslaved. That is not the right word, but Bill used to go every day to the practice facility for quote, end quote, a workout, which we always knew was a rubdown," she said, laughing at the memory. "But he was there a lot. And that just wasn’t going to be me.
"I could have learned the business, if I had wanted," she said. "But by the time I did, it would have disintegrated."
As for when the sale will be completed, Matt Walsh of the Detroit Free Press also talked to Davidson:
NBA commissioner David Stern “really has been pushing” to close the Pistons deal by the end of May, she said. “It might be a few days later. But definitely, that’s the goal.”
Could Enes Kanter slip to the Pistons at No. 8?
If you’re still disappointed about the Pistons falling to No. 8, Jonathan Givony of Draft Express has some good news. His mock draft for Yahoo! Sports has Detroit taking Enes Kanter:
This is likely the furthest Kanter would slide, due to a combination of not playing competitively the past two years and not working out for anyone outside of one-on-zeros. While not particularly athletic, Kanter’s strong frame and solid skills should fit in well into Pistons’ frontcourt.
As Patrick noted, Givony isn’t the biggest Kanter fan. Honestly, I’m not, either. His year off should raise a huge red flag – not because his basketball skills eroded or didn’t develop enough or anything like that. But what does it say about him that he allowed himself to miss a whole year? How does he let that happen? Did he make one poor decision, or is he a poor decision maker? Before a team drafts Kanter, it should explore those questions.
Still, with any pick after the first two in this draft, teams will have to choose players with fairly major flaws. At No. 8, I’d happily take Kanter and his flaws. It’s not like there are any sure-thing alternatives.
But I’m afraid Chad Ford of ESPN has a more likely outcome for the Pistons. He has Kanter off the board at No. 4 and the Pistons taking Tristan Thompson (although, doing so over Bismack Biyombo):
Last week we had Bismack Biyombo here, but a number of GMs consider him a risky pick this high. The Pistons could still go in Biyombo’s direction, but they may not need to if they fall in love with Thompson.
Thompson isn’t quite as long and bouncy as Biyombo (few players are) but is more of a proven commodity; Thompson is a terrific offensive rebounder in his own right and a much better scorer right now. Like Biyombo, he would be a perfect complement to Greg Monroe on the Pistons’ front line.
DraftExpress discusses the Pistons’ potential targets at No. 8
The NBA Draft is obviously an inexact science, but no one out there puts more homework behind his educated guesses than Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress. After last night’s draft lottery, he looked at the needs of each team and came up with lists of players they’d consider. Here was his guess at candidates for the Pistons at No. 8:
Will Consider: Enes Kanter, Donatas Motiejunas, Marcus Morris, Alec Burks, Kawhi Leonard
The Pistons have plenty of needs, and it’s doubtful whether they’ll be able to solve them all in one night. Not in this draft class, and not after sliding down one spot to the #8 pick. There are question marks about whether Rodney Stuckey is their point guard of the future, better suited at the 2, or would even be most effective coming off the bench. Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince may not be here long term. And while the team has invested a great deal of money in power forwards Charlie Villanueva and Jason Maxiell, the position is anything but fortified judging by the results of last season.
At this point, the team may have to take a long look at Enes Kanter, even if it may be difficult to play him together with starting center Greg Monroe, whose heavy feet make him ill-suited to guard perimeter oriented power forwards. Kanter is a poor match in Utah, Toronto and Sacramento with their current starting centers, and is scaring off already-skeptical teams with his unwillingness to work out competitively for any team. Nevertheless, NBA teams need size and toughness inside the paint, and the Pistons were too weak of a team, in too weak of a draft to pick solely on need.
I would love to see Leonard as a Piston, but if Kanter falls to No. 8, it would be a second straight late lottery gift for Detroit. I don’t think they could pass on him if he lasts that long.
And incidentally, for all of the Bismack Biyombo fans in Pistons land, Givony thinks that he’ll be off the board before the Pistons pick at eight. DraftExpress has him going seventh overall to Sacramento, but also has him getting consideration as high as third overall by Utah.
Detroit Pistons Draft Dreams: Chris Singleton
I love reading about draft prospects who defend, and I assume after watching the Pistons quickly lose the defensive reputation that made them great, most fans would love to see someone known as a defensive stopper join the Pistons next season. Most scouts who analyze Chris Singleton are quick to point to his D.
Info
Measurables: 6-foot-9, 225 pounds, junior F from Florida State
Key stats: 13.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 2.0 steals per game while shooting 43 percent
Projected: Late first/early second round
How would he help the Pistons?
Another hybrid forward, Singleton is best suited to the perimeter, but his long arms and shot-blocking ability could make him a very bothersome defender on the wings in the NBA. Singleton is an experienced player who improved all three years he was at FSU. He’s another pick that would potentially make Detroit much more athletic and, if Rodney Stuckey is back as expected, Singleton’s ability to run the floor would compliment the faster pace Stuckey would like to play. Singleton also has range, shooting close to 35 percent on 3s this season.
How wouldn’t he help the Pistons?
Notice, unlike with Kawhi Leonard, another athletic hybrid forward, I didn’t mention energy with Singleton. The knock on Singleton has been that he doesn’t always play with the passion/energy befitting a player with his athletic gifts. He did improve at FSU, but not as much as scouts had hoped as he has the physical skills to be a much higher pick in this draft. Still though, if he manages to slip to the early second round, his talent would be quite a find for the Pistons.
What are others saying?
Another positive development revolves around Singleton’s post-up game. We’ve seen a lot more of him on the block this season, and he’s enjoying greater success there. With the huge size advantage he enjoys on a nightly basis at the small forward position, and even at the power forward position at times, where he’s playing a lot more this year, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be doing this even more.
Singleton has been a hot prospect from the moment he stepped foot on Florida State’s campus. But for the most part, he’s failed to live up to lofty expectations. On the plus side, Singleton is an elite athlete and a terrific on the ball defender who can guard three positions on the floor. He’s also continued to improve his jump shot to the point that it’s passable. But until he shows more consistency on the offensive end of the ball, his ceiling is really that of a terrific defensive stopper. He’s a likely mid first round pick.
Singleton leaves early with the blessing of his coach.
“He’s ready,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said Wednesday. “Chris brings an intangible to the NBA. He’s a lockdown defender and can play three, four positions.”
Hickory High’s Similarity Scores
Here’s a breakdown of how Ian Levy from Hickory High came up with his similarity scores.
Previously
- Darius Morris
- Derrick Williams
- JaJuan Johnson
- Jeremy Tyler
- Perry Jones (Staying in school)
- Kemba Walker
- Nikola Vucevic
- Jimmer Fredette
- Kenneth Faried
- Isaiah Thomas
- Marcus Morris
- Ben Hansbrough
- Brandon Knight
- Keith Benson
- Donatas Motiejunas
- Shelvin Mack
- John Henson (Staying in school)
- Kyrie Irving
- Nolan Smith
- Bismack Biyambo
- Demetri McCamey
- Kyle Singler
- Enes Kanter
- Kalin Lucas
- Jon Leuer
- DeAndre Liggins
- Reggie Jackson
- Jonas Valanciunas
- Markieff Morris
- Justin Harper
- Klay Thompson
- Alec Burks
- Norris Cole
- Kawhi Leonard
Another cold night for the Detroit Pistons
SECAUCUS, New Jersey – Greg Monroe came to NBA Entertainment Studios straight from his home in Louisiana, and if it were a chilly day outside in New Jersey, it was even colder in the studio during the NBA Lottery. Monroe breathed on his hands a couple times, trying to warm up. But I’m not sure he ever felt comfortable.
The Pistons certainly shouldn’t feel that way.
Detroit, which had the No. 7 seed, fell to eighth pick in the draft. A division rival, the Cavaliers, landed the No. 1 and No. 4 picks. The Jazz, which held the No. 6 seed and would have been a strong candidate to pick a guard the Pistons didn’t want with the sixth pick, moved up to the third pick, where they’ll likely pick a big man the Pistons covet.
The lottery is a funny event. Unrivaled in professional sports, it’s a scheduled event where teams don’t make any decisions, but it has a huge impact on their futures. Adam Silver, simply opening an envelope that displayed a Pistons logo, crushed Detroit’s dreams of Kyrie Irving, Derrick Williams and Enes Kanter. Heck, Silver, by unveiling the Pistons’ envelope a pick earlier than slotted, even made Bismack Biyambo supporters a little nervous that the Congolese big man would last until their pick.
Nobody in the Pistons’ camp can feel good about tonight’s result. After the television segment ended, everyone flooded the floor of the studio. The victorious nine-man Cleveland contingent – which included members of the Gilbert family (most notably, Nick, who stole the night), Bernie Kosar, Josh Cribbs and Joe Haden – dominated the scene, but representatives of several other teams stuck around.
Monroe, after doing a quick interview, headed for the exit. He hasn’t had much to celebrate in the NBA, and tonight was certainly no exception. Although Detroit used to treat its players to more thrills, that was never the case for this event.
This is just the Pistons’ eighth lottery pick, and they moved up only once – in 2003. They took Darko. So, Detroit has never benefited from moving up in the lottery. Not that there was much the Pistons could have done to reverse that fate.
After Monroe said he didn’t plan to take any lucky objects with him to the lottery, the Pistons, as a result of a fan poll to select a charm, sent a Chuck Daly pin with him.
“I didn’t, but the fans voted,” Monroe said with a smirk that, to me, indicated he found the whole luck bit a little silly. After all, the lottery balls didn’t bounce the Pistons’ way last year, and they still ended up with the second or third best prospect in the draft.
This year, finding an impact talent will be even more difficult. Thanks to circumstance, this draft was going to be weak. Thanks to the threat of a lockout keeping underclassmen in school, it appears horrid.
The Pistons will probably target someone in the Bismack Biyambo-Jonas Valanciunas-Kawhi Leonard-Jan Vesely-Tristan Thompson group, but there’s a good chance three, maybe four, of those players will be off the board by No. 8. That would mean Detroit has to take the worst or second-worst player of that bunch, choose a guard like Brandon Knight (or, ugh, Kemba Walker) or reach for one of the Morris twins, Donatas Motiejunas, Kenneth Faried or Alec Burks.
Sounds about appealing as leaving New Orleans for New Jersey. But if the Pistons want a new start from the last three years, they’ll have to play the hand they’ve been dealt.
I ran into Joe Dumars as he was leaving the lottery and asked for a few minutes of his time. He politely declined and said:
“I’ve got business to take care of.”
Doesn’t he know it.
Pistons land No. 8 pick in 2011 NBA Draft
(Mike Richman, OregonLive.com)
Greg Monroe still unsure about changing his number
SECAUCUS, New Jersey – He will. He won’t. He will. He won’t. He will. He won’t.
“Right now, I’m still in limbo,” Greg Monroe said of changing his No. 10 after the Pistons retired it this season for Dennis Rodman. “I don’t know when I’ll make my decision.”
Monroe previously said he hoped to keep the number with Rodman’s approval, which the Worm gave. But Monroe recently said he was reconsidering.
The center said he’s not not thinking about a particular replacement number – yet. But he’s in the process of sorting that out, along with whether he wants to change at all. So, what goes into the decisions?
“A lot of stuff,” Monroe said, adding he doesn’t want to get into the specifics.
Obviously, this isn’t a huge deal either way. Onto to more serious issues shortly – like which way hollow plastic balls will bounce randomly in a bin.
If the NBA adopts an amnesty clause, which Pistons contract would the team choose to get out of?
Some of you may remember ‘The Allan Houston Rule‘ a few years back (Larry Coon’s explanation of it here), which essentially allowed teams to waive a player without having to pay any luxury tax on that contract. Zack Lowe of SI.com points out that in the new collective bargaining agreement, a broader amnesty rule is being discussed in conjunction with a hard salary cap that would put virtually every team well over that cap number. Basically, the amnesty rule would make up for the fact that most teams invested in long-term deals under the old agreement, and those deals would become even more burdensome under a new, more strict cap.
Lowe then lists some players for each team who would be candidates to be waived under this hypothetical amnesty provision. Here’s what he said about Detroit:
Wow, could this team use some salary-cap amnesty. It’s tempting to slash Ben Gordon’s deal, which is worth $37.2 million over the next three seasons, but Gordon is probably in that “Joe Johnson sweet spot” where it’s too early to dump him if doing so means paying him in full amount anyway. The same may be true of Charlie Villanueva.
That would leave the aging Richard Hamilton, owed $21.5 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons.
I think Lowe’s reasons are essentially right. Getting out of Gordon’s expensive deal would certainly be tempting, but I have little doubt, based on what went on during the season and the fact that the team already made efforts to move him, Hamilton would be the guy, although I’d toss in Jason Maxiell as a darkhorse candidate. His contract isn’t as bad as the others, but he’s expensive, unproductive and Dumars might still have faith that the other three can contribute or that he can get some value for them in a trade.
Talking NBA Draft at ESPN.com
I participated in ESPN’s 5-on-5 series today, discussing the NBA Draft. For those who have been following the Draft Dreams series here, I touched on some points I’ve made in some of those posts, but here is the gist of my responses to the ESPN topics:
- I think (obviously) that Irving, Williams and Kanter, in that order, are the top three players in the draft.
- I think that Reggie Jackson is almost criminally underrated.
- I think that had Darius Morris and Nikola Vucevic stayed in school and continued to improve, they would’ve been considered even better prospects next year.
- I think Jimmer Fredette will be a fine offensive-minded sixth man in the league.
- I hope one of the teams in the lower half of the lottery (preferably the Pistons) wins it.
Kyrie Irving and Derrick Williams top the Detroit Pistons’ draft board
Not surprising to anyone who has been paying attention – and many who haven’t – but Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News has the scoop:
This year, Duke guard Kyrie Irving and Arizona forward Derrick Williams are atop virtually everyone’s draft board, including Detroit’s.
