2024 NBA Draft Prospect Discussion

[MortSahlfan]

I would trade the pick for Caruso (on the proviso that he signs an extension)

Look at what T.J. Connell is doing out there. They're up 21 in the 1st. He does so many things that won't appear on the stat sheet because they're so arbitrary and do not factor lots of essential traits in a player necessary to help your team win.

[BDM22]

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2024/5/12/24151230/nba-mock-draft-2024-atlanta-hawks-wizards-rockets-after-lottery

Has us taking Zaccharie Risacher, with the 5th pick

You'd think if Spurs were going with a wing they'd go with the Frenchman and more surefire bet in Risacher instead of boom or bust Holland.

One thing is for sure, there's gonna be a lot more speculation this year when compared to last year. We basically knew the top-4 picks for weeks before that draft.

[theBigLip]

I would trade the pick for Caruso (on the proviso that he signs an extension)

Look at what T.J. Connell is doing out there. They're up 21 in the 1st. He does so many things that won't appear on the stat sheet because they're so arbitrary and do not factor lots of essential traits in a player necessary to help your team win.

I’d do that in a second. Caruso is a baller. That being said, post this on the trade board or the Bulls board and see how it goes. I don’t think our pick is going to get it done.

[vege]

#5 is painful but expected. We're a joke of a franchise at this point. It's very depressing being a Pistons fan.

[BDM22]

1. Sarr (ATL)
2. Topic (WAS)
3. Sheppard (HOU)
4. Risacher (SAS)

Who do you go for at 5 if that's the order?

[dezzie_33]

1. Sarr (ATL)
2. Topic (WAS)
3. Sheppard (HOU)
4. Risacher (SAS)

Who do you go for at 5 if that's the order?

Buzelis

[MotownMadness]

1. Sarr (ATL)
2. Topic (WAS)
3. Sheppard (HOU)
4. Risacher (SAS)

Who do you go for at 5 if that's the order?

Probably Buzelis

He did avg almost 2blks per game as a PF and can probably do better from 3

[zeebneeb]

1. Sarr (ATL)
2. Topic (WAS)
3. Sheppard (HOU)
4. Risacher (SAS)

Who do you go for at 5 if that's the order?

Probably Buzelis

He did avg almost 2blks per game as a PF and can probably do better from 3

What about Kinect, or whatever his name is.

Shooter, 6'6

[BDM22]

1. Sarr (ATL)
2. Topic (WAS)
3. Sheppard (HOU)
4. Risacher (SAS)

Who do you go for at 5 if that's the order?

Probably Buzelis

He did avg almost 2blks per game as a PF and can probably do better from 3

What about Kinect, or whatever his name is.

Shooter, 6'6

The horrendous defense just seems like a bad fit when most of our players are horrendous defenders lol. And Kinect would project as easily the worst of the group. He's that bad.

[Snakebites]

I’m not worried about fits with anyone but Cade.

Everyone else is movable. This “core” has too many poor shooters and poor defenders to be viable.

[vic]

1. Sarr (ATL)
2. Topic (WAS)
3. Sheppard (HOU)
4. Risacher (SAS)

Who do you go for at 5 if that's the order?

Filipowski

2-way power forward that can shoot. Troy finally brought a few of them in this year (Muscala, Gallinari) and it drastically improved the offense.

Filipowski brings the same thing but with much better defense.

The Pistons cannot afford to just throw another athletic BPA onto this train wreck of talent that Troy calls a team.

You absolutely NEED a player that will be a catalyst for your other 4 lottery talents, and turn them into an actual basketball team that can play together with just 1 basketball on the court at a time.

If Risacher and Sheppard are both gone, Filipowski is the only guy I’m taking top 5.

If they draft another (potential) shooter that can’t shoot, or a shooter that can’t defend, I’ll be following OKC and Minnesota games next year.

[BDM22]

I’m not worried about fits with anyone but Cade.

Everyone else is movable. This “core” has too many poor shooters and poor defenders to be viable.

I think we've learned that pairing Cade's horrendous defense with another horrendous perimeter defender is a pretty bad formula, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to go down that route again. If you don't at least project to being a defender and shooter, it's gonna be hard to look like a good fit with Cade.

That leaves basically Risacher. Maybe Sheppard if you believe in the D. Mayyyybe Matas if you believe in the shooting.

[Snakebites]

I’m not worried about fits with anyone but Cade.

Everyone else is movable. This “core” has too many poor shooters and poor defenders to be viable.

I think we've learned that pairing Cade's horrendous defense with another horrendous perimeter defender is a pretty bad formula, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to go down that route again. If you don't at least project to being a defender and shooter, it's gonna be hard to look like a good fit with Cade.

That leaves basically Risacher. Maybe Sheppard if you believe in the D. Mayyyybe Matas if you believe in the shooting.

Cade is a hard guy to build around.

Which is why I don’t hate the idea of moving him, though I wouldn’t say I advocate for it either. He’s still probably our best shot.

[vege]

I’m not worried about fits with anyone but Cade.

Everyone else is movable. This “core” has too many poor shooters and poor defenders to be viable.

I think we've learned that pairing Cade's horrendous defense with another horrendous perimeter defender is a pretty bad formula, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to go down that route again. If you don't at least project to being a defender and shooter, it's gonna be hard to look like a good fit with Cade.

That leaves basically Risacher. Maybe Sheppard if you believe in the D. Mayyyybe Matas if you believe in the shooting.

Cade's defense was ok when he was playing with Killian next to him, but the offense was a disgrace. Cade can be a good defender. Ivey for example can't.

We should get shooters and defenders next to Cade to see what he can do.

I was hoping we would trade our pick for a real NBA player, but landing #5 is brutal, because the value is going to be low. No matter what we add to #5 won't land us Lauri for example. #1 or #2 could be a maybe (even tho it was unlikely).

[GreekAlex]

I’m not worried about fits with anyone but Cade.

Everyone else is movable. This “core” has too many poor shooters and poor defenders to be viable.

I think we've learned that pairing Cade's horrendous defense with another horrendous perimeter defender is a pretty bad formula, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to go down that route again. If you don't at least project to being a defender and shooter, it's gonna be hard to look like a good fit with Cade.

That leaves basically Risacher. Maybe Sheppard if you believe in the D. Mayyyybe Matas if you believe in the shooting.

Cade is a hard guy to build around.

Which is why I don’t hate the idea of moving him, though I wouldn’t say I advocate for it either. He’s still probably our best shot.

What about Cade leads you to believe that he’s hard to build around? Is it the Luka thing of being so ball dominant?

[Snakebites]

I think we've learned that pairing Cade's horrendous defense with another horrendous perimeter defender is a pretty bad formula, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to go down that route again. If you don't at least project to being a defender and shooter, it's gonna be hard to look like a good fit with Cade.

That leaves basically Risacher. Maybe Sheppard if you believe in the D. Mayyyybe Matas if you believe in the shooting.

Cade is a hard guy to build around.

Which is why I don’t hate the idea of moving him, though I wouldn’t say I advocate for it either. He’s still probably our best shot.

What about Cade leads you to believe that he’s hard to build around? Is it the Luka thing of being so ball dominant?

1) Defense
2) He’s not a knock down shooter which impacts how you play him in the P/R
3) Not an elite athlete
4) Hasn’t proven to be an off ball threat though I’d prefer him ultimately playing alongside another playmaker

He showed the ability to be a great offensive player but he needs guys who are better than him both defensively and as shooters- and strong players of that archetype are difficult to find.

[BDM22]

I’m not worried about fits with anyone but Cade.

Everyone else is movable. This “core” has too many poor shooters and poor defenders to be viable.

I think we've learned that pairing Cade's horrendous defense with another horrendous perimeter defender is a pretty bad formula, so I'm not sure I'd be willing to go down that route again. If you don't at least project to being a defender and shooter, it's gonna be hard to look like a good fit with Cade.

That leaves basically Risacher. Maybe Sheppard if you believe in the D. Mayyyybe Matas if you believe in the shooting.

Cade's defense was ok when he was playing with Killian next to him, but the offense was a disgrace. Cade can be a good defender. Ivey for example can't.

We should get shooters and defenders next to Cade to see what he can do.

I was hoping we would trade our pick for a real NBA player, but landing #5 is brutal, because the value is going to be low. No matter what we add to #5 won't land us Lauri for example. #1 or #2 could be a maybe (even tho it was unlikely).

We're going in round about ways of arriving at the same result, but I'm not sold that low-effort defenders like Cade and Duren magically start to bring effort when a 28 game losing streak couldn't even motivate them to do so. I'll take the ones that try 100 times out of 100 vs. ones that don't as having a better trajectory on D, but that's just me.

So, I think you basically have to commit to hiding Cade's defense with top tier defenders all around if he's the guy you're building around. If you can park him in the corner on the worst opponent, he'll probably be fine-ish. Ausar is a good start there, but then you basically need shooters at every other position.

[BDM22]

Cade is a hard guy to build around.

Which is why I don’t hate the idea of moving him, though I wouldn’t say I advocate for it either. He’s still probably our best shot.

What about Cade leads you to believe that he’s hard to build around? Is it the Luka thing of being so ball dominant?

1) Defense
2) He’s not a knock down shooter which impacts how you play him in the P/R
3) Not an elite athlete
4) Hasn’t proven to be an off ball threat though I’d prefer him ultimately playing alongside another playmaker

He showed the ability to be a great offensive player but he needs guys who are better than him both defensively and as shooters- and strong players of that archetype are difficult to find.

Yep, you need a magical guard next to him that is a great ball-handler to make up for Cade's weak handle, great defender to make up for Cade's D (so they probably need good size), and a great shooter because Cade's not great there. As I've said before, you really need to pair Cade with a better player than Cade.

[coordinator0]

1. Sarr (ATL)
2. Topic (WAS)
3. Sheppard (HOU)
4. Risacher (SAS)

Who do you go for at 5 if that's the order?

Clingan. I'm not buying Duren getting there defensively, and I think that's practically a necessity with him not being a skilled offensive threat otherwise.

[JennetteMcCurdy]

The more I read these posts about Cade’s inefficiencies, the more I think it’s time to be done with him. And the longer Weaver hangs around, the more likely that the Pistons will do the opposite and max him.

Get someone in charge who knows how to manage assets.

Gather assets.

It will take time, but it’s not hard.