2023 NBA Draft Night

[Betrayer]

9 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Vecenie had his range from 12-35.  SA got a steal.  

It went to MIN. 

[Deleterious]

So happy we got him.  Day 1 he is our best defender.  Which is sort of like being the skinniest kid at fat camp.  But still.

 

[Deleterious]

4 minutes ago, Betrayer said:

It went to MIN. 

Ah OK.  Still, great value.  I really enjoyed watching him while I watched Scoot.  

[Deleterious]

Little 10 minute presser from Weaver.

 

[Deleterious]

 

[Deleterious]

Troy with the jokes.

 

[Deleterious]

That is fantastic.

 

[Deleterious]

 

[Betrayer]

38 minutes ago, Deleterious said:

Troy with the jokes.

 

For a guy who seems to hate speaking, he comes out with some great lines. 

[Betrayer]

Pistons signed Tosan Evbuomwan from Princeton after the draft. Senior, 6-8 Forward  

 

[Betrayer]

Nice pick up

[casimir]

7 hours ago, Deleterious said:

Troy with the jokes.

 

He's got a point.  At least about Halle Berry.

[casimir]

8 hours ago, Betrayer said:

Love this pick. Great shooter. Great defense at point of attack. 
 

bye bye Killian. 

 

8 hours ago, NYLion said:

Love the Sasser pick, a bit unsure about the trade up to get him, but love the player. There's your shooter @Betrayer

From the little that I've read, he's especially proficient at catch & shoot.  That should fit in well while the ball is in the hands of Cunningham/Ivey.

[casimir]

7 hours ago, Betrayer said:

JEIII reporting that the Pistons are done for the night. 
 

Sadly, no Hayes or Bagley trades for a second rounder. 

Does Hayes have value for this team?  His offense shouldn't stick out as much in the backcourt with Cunningham back, Ivey's experience, Sasser & Burks as shooters off of the bench.  But does he have enough defense & passing to serve as 4th/5th G (depending upon matchups/rotations and how much gets thrown at Sasser in his rookie season) next season?

[RandyMarsh]

Welp there's goes any hope for Sasser.

 

[buddha]

9 minutes ago, casimir said:

Does Hayes have value for this team?  His offense shouldn't stick out as much in the backcourt with Cunningham back, Ivey's experience, Sasser & Burks as shooters off of the bench.  But does he have enough defense & passing to serve as 4th/5th G (depending upon matchups/rotations and how much gets thrown at Sasser in his rookie season) next season?

backup point guard still.  he's tall and can pass and tries hard on defense.

sasser is small for today's nba and is still a rookie.  killian will be around for at least one more year.

[RandyMarsh]

Didn't get a chance to watch the draft but did they give any explanation why Whitmore fell that far or was it just cause of the concerns that Del and NYlion have brought up before?

[buddha]

Just now, RandyMarsh said:

Didn't get a chance to watch the draft but did they give any explanation why Whitmore fell that far or was it just cause of the concerns that Del and NYlion have brought up before?

hints about medicals, attitude, and poor workouts.

[casimir]

9 minutes ago, buddha said:

backup point guard still.  he's tall and can pass and tries hard on defense.

sasser is small for today's nba and is still a rookie.  killian will be around for at least one more year.

That's kind of what I am thinking, too.  Surround him with competent offense when he comes off of the bench, he can serve a purpose.

Even at that, his 3 point shooting needs to improve.

[Deleterious]

Dallas had a night.

They turned #10 and Bertans into #12, #24, and Richaun Holmes.

They got a backup C in Holmes.  Their probable starting C in Lively, who they probably would have picked anyway if they stayed at #10.  And dumped that atrocious Bertans contract.  $17M per for the next 3 years I believe, and he doesn't play.  Trading him to OKC for no returning player created a $17M trade exception they can now use.  It also dropped them out of the luxury tax.  So instead of the much smaller taxpayer MLE they now have the full MLE to use.

[Shinzaki]

I like the Sasser pick.  I guess if you want to get a surer thing on D Auser makes sense...Did Whitemore cook and eat a puppy on his visits?

[buddha]

hopefully ausar learns how to shoot and puts on some muscle.  

we were once the most unathletic team in the league, but weve addressed a lot of that with ivey, duren, and ausar.  

but we still cant shoot.  sasser should help with that.  we still are loaded with unproductive bigs on stupid contracts, hopefully weaver can unload bagley/wiseman to some other fool who thinks he can "fix" them.

what the team really needs is healthy cade cunningham.  if they get that, they might push 30 wins next year.  still a ways away from the playoffs.  hopefully cade still wants to be here when his contract is up.

how long of a leash does weaver have to get to the playoffs?  2 years?

[Betrayer]

Killian will be gone by the start of the season. If not, it's because they couldn't trade him and he costs nothing to keep. Either way, he'll be glued to the bench because there are no minutes left. Let's not forget that Cade didn't play last year. He's going to come back and take 30 minutes at the guard position. Jaden is taking 30 at the other guard position. Alec Burks is going to get his 18 minutes. Sasser is getting the other minutes because he can shoot and defend. Sasser is an upgrade day 1, but Killian was statistically one of the worst rotation players in the entire league last year so a mascot might be an upgrade.

The more this draft has settled in, the more I like it. Pistons were 29th in defense last year with a huge gap to even get them to the middle of the pack. That was their biggest need and they went after it with this draft, taking a potentially elite perimeter defender who has a very high ceiling and a backup guard who's an absolute dog on defense.

Shooting/spacing is a concern if Ausar is a starter day 1, but they were 21st in three point percentage last year and only 1% away from 14th place. So, they were roughly middle of the pack in 3pt percentage even with Killian out there playing starter minutes and shooting 28% from deep.

Think about this: Ausar is already a better shooter from NBA range (30%) than Killian (28%). If all you did was swap their minutes, you'd improve your shooting. That's before we even think about adding Cade back and minutes for Sasser (37% career 3pt shooter, ~45% on catch and shoot looks).

[NYLion]

9 hours ago, Betrayer said:

Nice pick up

He was balling in the NCAA tournament. Could be an interesting signing.

[NYLion]

15 minutes ago, buddha said:

hopefully ausar learns how to shoot and puts on some muscle.  

we were once the most unathletic team in the league, but weve addressed a lot of that with ivey, duren, and ausar.  

but we still cant shoot.  sasser should help with that.  we still are loaded with unproductive bigs on stupid contracts, hopefully weaver can unload bagley/wiseman to some other fool who thinks he can "fix" them.

what the team really needs is healthy cade cunningham.  if they get that, they might push 30 wins next year.  still a ways away from the playoffs.  hopefully cade still wants to be here when his contract is up.

how long of a leash does weaver have to get to the playoffs?  2 years?

Most of that other stuff is noise. The bolded is the key to everything really. 

They signed Williams to a looong term deal so I'm not sure if the timeline to playoff contention is that short. They should at least be making a run at the 7th-8th seed in '24-'25 or else something has gone really wrong.