Official Detroit Pistons thread

[Cody_Russell]

Like I said before, I like Stanley Johnson.

Good pick.

[nhwbrooklyn]

I liked a lot of players in this draft for the Pistons. Stanimal could be a great fit. Tough mean beasty players are how Detroit builds winners. I'm optimistic.

[nhwbrooklyn]

SVG likes Stanley Johnson more than Justice, Stan will be our pick according to Wojo

I think Winslow hasn't interviewed very well at all and GMs are not loving where his head is at.

[Cody_Russell]

I think Winslow hasn't interviewed very well at all and GMs are not loving where his head is at.

I don't believe Detroit is a place where Winslow wanted to be (based on rumors & how he skipped workouts supposedly).

Stanley Johnson is a good fit for Detroit.
Winslow is a good fit for Miami. Their different personalities fit their new city.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Trying to figure out who I want the Pistons to get in the 2nd round. I'm thinking Rakeem Christmas would fit nicely. Big that can run.

EDIT: nm.. picked by twolves

[Tom]

My friends and I wanted the the Pistons to draft Winslow. When we saw he was available, we just assumed he would be the pick. When they took Stanley, my one friend looked like he was going to cry.

[ghandi]

I think I like the pick lol....Sounds like he needs alot of work on the offensive end....He's got good strength for a SF and maybe he is someone that can guard a LeBron type forward?....I guess the challenge is going to be to develop his shot but he should be at least a 10-15 minute a night guy that gives energy and defense.....Thats in his first year anyway....At least he's on teh right team with opening at SF.

[Kstat]

He's the single most gifted defensive player in the draft. If you want a reason to like the pick, there it is. There are other guys (Winslow/Towns) who are close, but Stanley is the total package. Can guard 3 positions. Very disruptive away from the ball. Capable of erasing players from a game in 1-on-1 situations. You can't budge him on the block. Even if you get a step on him on the perimeter, his wingspan reels you back in.

His offense sucks. No doubt about that. His technique is poor, his footwork is bad and he has very limited explosion in halfcourt situations. The one thing he does OK is run PnRs, which allows him the 9 feet of space it takes to get a clean look with his low shooting angles. Drummond should provide him with some pretty big training wheels in that regard.

[fontes91]

Trying to figure out who I want the Pistons to get in the 2nd round. I'm thinking Rakeem Christmas would fit nicely. Big that can run.

EDIT: nm.. picked by twolves

Twolves then traded him to the Cavs as part of a package for Jones. I too like Christmas plus a few other bigs, but Rakeem is the most polished. I also like Connaughton from ND who went at pick 40.

[Futureshock]

The great Darko Milicic was considered a can't miss prospect by everyone. There were teams and scouts that considered him a better prospect than Lebron James. He was compared to Kevin Garnet, but he also had range out to 20 feet and was faster on the break. Everyone thought Darko was an outstanding prospect. If the Pistons didn't take him at 2, he would have still gone 3 or 4.

You are using those hindsight glasses to make a point that was in no way clear when he was drafted, to discourage drafting another player. Maybe we should avoid drafting American bigs because Greg Oden, or Kwame Brown didn't work out.

Furthermore, for my bit of hyperbole with no analysis, I believe Darko would have been very successful if he was drafted by a team who built around him. If Darko was coming out today, and ended up on an outside in spacing team like Golden State, or on one of those fast moving maverick or Phoenix teams from the mid 00's, he would have had a much better career.

Darko and THAT Piston team were not a good match. HE needed to go somewhere he could have played immediately and had a hands on mentor to keep him out of the strip clubs and off cigarettes. He just digressed more and more every year mentally. Being so young, with so much money and the glare of where he was picked; and who he was picked ahead of was too much for him.

The better pick IMO would have been wade. He could have been their "Vinnie Johnson." And with the way he draws fouls, Rip and Chauncey would have been killing them at the line. Oh well...

[froot loops]

Darko was a stiff in basketball and MMA. You could try to find some situation where he thrived but at some point talent has to win out, he never showed anything and thats why he has washed out of the league.

Anyway, my point about that Darko paragraph wasn't that Herzonja was Darko, it was that the rationalization about why the guy was riding the pine was the same thing said about Darko. It was a lazy rationalization, it means nothing, it shouldn't be used.

[fontes91]

I wanted Winslow but like Johnson. Has potential to guard 2-4. He's also a gym rat and if his offense improves will present match-up nightmares. But that's if his O improves.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Stanley's offense isn't smooth by any means, but he's still pretty savvy offensively. It's not like his shooting percentages were bad at all and he definitely had to create for himself much much more than Winslow did.

Draymond Green and Ron Artest are two examples of guys with a knack for scoring (though not high volume), but never really look that smooth while doing it.

Winslow plays at a hyper speed, and I like that, and his defense, but so did Corey Brewer (and I liked him too). Corey Brewer comes across as kinda goofy in interviews too. I'm just not sure Winslow has the kind of mentality to evolve his game, where Stanley comes across as a very very determined dude, but we'll see. It's impossible to know how players will develop until they do or don't.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Nice write up on Stanley vs Winslow.

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2015/6/26/8850735/why-stanley-johnson-is-the-better-fit

[fontes91]

Green and Attest are exactly the two I think of when I ponder Johnson's potential. And I don't think Winslow is a sure thing. For one he in only 6'4" and that's small for a SF. Plus I don't see him making his own shot, and struggles from mid range. I'm happy with Stanley.