Joe Dumars picked two lottery talents outside of the lottery in 2007
We’ve discussed it here before at length, but one thing Joe Dumars and the Pistons have been very good at over the last 10 years or so is identifying talent outside the lottery in drafts. Chad Ford of ESPN, in his re-draft of the 2007 draft class, has two Pistons first round picks who were not taken in the lottery listed as lottery picks if things were to be redone today:
5. (via Boston) Rodney Stuckey, G, 6-5, Eastern Washington (originally drafted No. 15 by Pistons)
StuckeyAfter Durant, Horford, Noah and Gasol are off the board, things get a little dicier. Jeff Green had a successful run with the Thunder, and you can argue it would have been better had he not been playing second fiddle to Durant. But in retrospect, the Sonics may have been better off with Stuckey. He was probably the most underrated player in the entire class and would have been able to come in and play the 2 right away in Seattle.
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10. Arron Afflalo, G, 6-4, UCLA (originally drafted No. 27 by Pistons)
AfflaloComing out of college, scouts worried that Afflalo lacked ideal athleticism and size for his position and wasn’t a good enough shooter. But he improved his jump shot and made a name for himself as a strong perimeter defender.
Finding insanely good value in 2007? Good Joe Dumars! Giving away half of that talent in a salary dump? Bad Joe Dumars!
Leave a Reply
Jun 20, 2012 • 11:05 pm
by Daye and Knight
Bad! Bad Dumars! No! Get your ass back in that dog house!!!! No treat for you! Bad! What did I tell you about making stupid decisions??? Huh??? No! No bone! Get in that dog house and think about what you did!!!!!! Don’t give me that look, no ones gonna fall for your puppy eyes if you screw up next week!! Throwing your ass in the streets if you F up one more time…put you in the mystery machine and taking you to go see uncle Vick!
Jun 21, 2012 • 8:15 am
by Jeremy
I watched a lot of UCLA games when Afflalo played there and I jumped through the roof when he was drafted by Joe. He’s got (and had before Stuckey developed it) the money ball shot and is a great defender. Reminds me of the Allan Houston free agency situation. In both situations we lost out on getting to see really good shooting guards play in their prime.
Jun 21, 2012 • 2:48 am
by gmehl
Hey Ken seeming you are a multi-millionaire from all the people you have ripped off do you think you could lend me $200,000. Also if i wanted the pistons to win the NBA lottery then i would just threaten to release nude pictures of David Stern like the Spurs, Bulls, Wizards and Hornets did.
Jun 21, 2012 • 8:32 am
by labatts
Seriously, these kind of posts can ruin blogs. Please find away to remove them.
Jun 21, 2012 • 6:04 am
by tarsier
What is he worried about? Who wants to see a naked Stern?
Jun 21, 2012 • 7:08 am
by gmehl
Tushay :-)