What is this team's offseason plan? Anyone?

[Cross]

This is arguably our most important offseason we've had in a long time. We have some good young pieces coupled with a lottery pick (because there's a chance we won't have one in 2014) and cap space. However, we don't know where we're picking and most importantly we don't have a head coach yet. So yeah it is too early to speculate which direction the Pistons are want to go, but we're at the point of the season where there's nothing better to do but come up with ideal scenarios as fans.

Our head coach is going to dictate the style of basketball we play. Are we going to be a defense first oriented team and play a half court style offense because we have two good bigs or are we going to push the tempo and try to get easy buckets in transition with Drummond protecting the paint? We need players that fit our system, not just a team of players who could maybe mesh well after years of experimenting. Build team chemistry and get players that can play well off each other.

Our number one strength is obviously we have potentially a front court that teams will not fuck with. Monroe has proven to be capable of holding his own but his flaws are exposed due to the lack of talent surrounding him. Thankfully we have Drummond, who could be a great front court partner for Monroe, or any big man really. Drummond is defensive minded (or just has no offensive game yet) while Monroe is an excellent offensive player who can score and pass with the best of them but is not a defensive anchor. However, until Monroe can develop a consistent mid range jumper, I'm not sure if this front court can reach its full potential. Despite Monroe being capable of playing at the high post as a distributor ala Gasol, teams that have two good/great post players all have something in common. Atleast one of the bigmen can shoot a 18 foot jump shot. Look at Kevin Love,David West, David Lee, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Pau Gasol, Carlos Boozer. All of these players have a good complementing low post threat. That is where our problem could lie in the front court. Monroe is most effective in the low block and Drummond is a finisher who will score off offensive rebounds and alleyoops. Found this interesting stat, "Monroe has attempted 151 mid-to-long-range jumpers this season, almost twice as many as he took last season. He's shooting just 33 percent from that distance, and that helps explain why his field goal percentage has dropped from over 52 to under 48 percent this season." If Monroe doesn't develop a consistent jumper, the paint will be clogged making it harder for players to drive to the paint. Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan is the exception but look at how much success the Clippers have had in the post season. So if Monroe can not do that, do we end up trading one of them to create more spacing and go with a stretch 4 like a Melo, Battier, Jeff Green type lineup and put Monroe and/or Drummond at the 5? I guess it all depends on the style of play, including the type of point guard (unselfish pass first or score first) and the personnel that comes with it.

My next big concern is the need of a quality 2/3 that can give us consistent minutes on both sides of the ball. This is where I think we should look to the draft, even though its considered a weak draft. I would love to have a top 8 pick in 2014 because it's projected to be a ridicolously deep class over a top 3 pick in 2013. Anyways, Ben McLemore would be great fit because he's hit some big time shots, while struggling during the tournament. Victor Oladipo, Otto Porter, and Shabazz Muhammed( fuck thot!!terrible college career, although that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be shit at the pro level) could be good fits too, in that order. If not, I wouldn't mind settling for Trey Burke or a big guy as we could address the need of a quality wing player in free agency. This is another reason why it's too difficult where we are heading as a team because the draft is such a huge part of the offseason, obviously.

Let's say theoretically we go with the latter because all the wing players we want are taken. So now what? Do we go after Andre Iguodola, who is a good all around player but lacks a consistent/good 3 point shot? I read in a Bill Simmons article, who I can not fucking stand but makes a validpoint, that wing players need these three traits: athleticism, defense, and a 3point shot. We desperately need that type of player, but I'm not sure if we can find one in free agency who has all three. Iggy is the closest thing that comes to mind, but do we want to overpay to get him? It would be the closest thing to a perimeter superstar we've had in years. Tony Allen can't shoot for shit but is athletic and is arguably the best perimeter defender in the league, Corey Brewer was in the right system which is why he had a good year in my opinion but is overrated, JJ Reddick will probably look for an established play off contending team and Matt Barnes is most likely staying with the clippers. That leaves us with Dorrell Wright, Nick Young and JR Smith, who to me are all candidates for being a cancer type player for this team. I'd settle for Dorrell Wright out of the 3 but is probably the least consistent out of them offensively and all three really aren't great defenders. Tyreke Evans may be our best shot, but he's shown no signs of improvement, and has no 3 point shot and I'm not sure how I feel about OJ Mayo, but I feel like he's going to stick with Dallas. Finally, if Paul Pierce is bought out, I'd say we have a 0.1% chance of signing him. Maybe it'd be easier to find find a specialist in either defense or threes.

If we fail to address our wing needs, theres a decent 2014 class, IF we choose to not spend a shit ton of money this offseason.

My last point is what is our point guard situation going to be? I think it can be argued that the point guard position is the most important position, but also the deepest position in the NBA. There are many great/solid point guards in this league and it shouldn't be too hard to find a good one. The most important is whether he fits our style of play. Calderon would be a GREAT fit for this team if he was 5 years younger and not the biggest defensive liability ever at the point guard position next to Steve Nash. But he brings enough to the table so I guess it would be ok to have opposing point guards meeting Drummond in the paint. Also, what the fuck is Brandon Knight's preferred position, the point or two? Fuck it and have him come off the bench as a 6th man like Jamal Crawford (I will stop myself from going off about why Jamal is the arguably the most talented offensive player in the league)

To quickly summarize, this off season and our next season is critical in determining the Pistons next 5 years. Will the Monroe/Drummond front court be a success in the right system?If not, do we trade one of them? If we do it's probably Monroe as he's due for an extension soon. Can we please grab a quality wing player whether its through FA or the draft. Is Calderon the "future" (haha) point guard for this team? Do we amnesty that piece of shit, waste of a roster spot Charlie V or just wait til his contract expires. Fuck this guy, Joe. You fucked up but I will forgive if you if you can fix this mess. I almost feel the same way about Rodney Stuckey. Actually, this fuck has to go as well. Finally, please don't resign Maxiell and Bynum. If we do resign Bynum, it has to be for cheap.

So now the fun part...the endless scenarios for this team:

1. Joe Dumars absolutely fucks it and gets fired at the end of the season. We fuck up in the draft, surprise surprise, and get literally nothing in this already weak draft. To make things worse, we slightly overpay for a bunch of players giving us no flexibility for years to come and literally no free agents ever want to play for Detroit. Joe also decides Maxiell is our first free agent signing. In addition, Monroe and Drummond is an OK tandem, but not what we thought it would be. To top it all off, our next coach goes 20-62 and we fire this guy, leaving us searching for our 5th coach in 7 years. That's just off the top, but it's probably close. Not only do we attract no free agents, but no coach ever wants to come here because he'll just be the scapegoat anyways. Side note: the fact that city of Detroit could be facing bankrupcy doesn't help, but that's a completely different topic.

2. Joe Dumars absolutely fucks it in the draft, but sign players for one year deals giving us flexibility for the 2014 off season. So we're just mostly fucked, not completely. The only reason why we are somewhat relevant in the 2014 off season is because we have a lottery pick in a great draft class, Monroe and Drummond are effective together, we have cap space again and we have a solid coach. I wouldn't be too mad at this scenario. Plus Stuckey and Charlie V wouldn't be on the team in the 2014 off season so our team doesn't look like under average hoopers. Just average. As fans, we know there is absolutely no way we fuck up our next off season..right?

3. We draft one of the wing players I mentioned above, sign another good wing player, and sign a 3rd bigman. We're finally in the playoffs but get knocked out in the 2nd round.

4. Joe Dumars is the best GM of all time and proves everyone wrong with a little bit of option 2 and 3 I guess. We draft one of the wing players, sign a couple players to one year deals in the offseason giving us a chance to get someone good in the summer of 2014 as well.

Our 2014 roster looks something like this:

Calderon(one year deal)/Knight/Bynum
Oladipo/Knight/Singler
Corey Brewer (one year deal)/Singler
Monroe/someone we draft hopefully in the 2nd round or free agency/Jerebko
Drummond/same guy we draft or sign/that big Euro fuck

The rest of our lineup consists of English, Middleton and some other guys who really don't make any impact. We essentially miss the playoffs again but we get the 8th pick in the 2014 draft, hoping we get a good draft pick. And then we sign Eric Bledsoe. Seems like an entertaining line up at the very least.

I understand that the chances of signing Calderon and Brewer to one year deals is very low as players these days want long term deals. I also understand that the chances of this happening is very low but I'm going to fucking dream. Ultimately, scenario 1 happens.

I want to know what the rest of you cats are thinking about this offseason so a constructive repsonse would be greatly appreciated as this is the most amount of effort and time I've spent on a post before. If you havent noticed by now, I am bored as shit at the moment.

[DE]

First of all, this is awesome!

A few questions:

• Do the Pistons have any consistent outside shooters right now?
• Shoud developing Monroe be a factor in the coaching decision? And if so, who would be good for that?
• Are there any good wing players with salaries that teams would think about trading?

[yargs]

First of all, this is awesome!

A few questions:

• Do the Pistons have any consistent outside shooters right now?
• Shoud developing Monroe be a factor in the coaching decision? And if so, who would be good for that?
• Are there any good wing players with salaries that teams would think about trading?

Great thread. The NBA today is all about being athletic and having perimeter guys that can hit jump shots. Also having guys that can rebound the basketball will never go out of style. Any personnel decision moving forward needs to be made with these factors in mind. So I think the pistons need to determine which guys on the roster have these skills (Drummond: Athleticism and rebounding; Knight: can hit a jump shot, etc.) and then also decide which people to draft/sign as free agents that also fit this criteria while also determining which players we could potentially part with in order to provide the team with more opportunities to build upon these core ideals (Monroe: Can board and is young but is absolutely not athletic and needs to learn how to hit a jump shot in order to maximize the impact an andre Drummond can bring to a team).

If the pistons can somehow luck out and land the #1 draft spot and get mclemore it will be a coup. He is, by far, the best NBA prospect in the draft. He has Russell Westbrook athleticism and Ray Allen jump shooting potential which pretty much makes him one of the better shooting guard prospects this league has seen in a long time. I would, hypothetically speaking, consider trading Monroe for an opportunity to draft this kid and use the excess money to coax Josh Smith's freakish athleticism/ability to hit a mid-range jumper to play alongside Drummond.

[Cross]

I think the more important question is should developing Drummond be a factor in the coaching decision.

I've been thinking about Josh Smith in Detroit too, but by getting rid of Monroe and inserting Smoove, all teams would have to do is hack a drummond or hack a smith.

Trading Monroe for McLemore is definitely intriguing. I would definitely consider if it I was running the team. Simply put, there are maybe 3-4 elite shooting guards in the league and McLemore has the potential to develop into one.

[Cross]

Detroitexport, to find a good wing via trade is going to be too difficult because we have no assets outside of Monroe, Drummond, Knight(if he is even considered an asset), and our lottery pick this year. With that said, I was thinking maybe now is the time to trade Monroe.

Sign Paul Milsap or Al Jefferson to a long term deal as both players have a better chance to co exist with Drummond. And we realistically won't land McLemore so we go ahead and sign Tony Allen.

Monroe and our pick for Bradley Beal?

Knight
Beal
Tony Allen
Millsap
Drummond

I still want to be bad enough where we could keep our lottery pick for 2014 but this line up for the next 5 years doesn't seem too bad.

[DE]

I realize that I didn't frame that question well at all. Isn't our cap space an asset? Could we use that to trade for a wing player whose team would rather have the cap space? And if so, are there any viable players we'd even want who meet that criteria?

[yargs]

Brandon Knight is definitely an asset. He can shoot the ball and if put in a spot similar to that of a Jason Terry in his prime (which is designated shooter off the bench) he can contribute positively to a winning team because of this ability to shoot. I'm no longer convinced that he is a starting point guard and is rather one of those 1/2 tweener-off-the-bench-types (like a Jason terry) but players like that can be effective coming off the bench and giving 30+ minutes a night depending upon matchup because they can spread the floor. This team needs shooters which is why they need to keep him around and find ways to put him in situations to exploit his skillset rather than forcing him to be a distributing point guard. I'll still give him one more season to prove himself though.

And Monroe/first rounder is too much for Beal. I would only trade Monroe for a legit athletic 2/3 that can score and shoot the ball (which are hard to find which is also why trying to get mclemore is enticing because he's better than Beal) or for a legit big that can score the ball with a midrange game (like a Cousins which would require Monroe and a pick). Otherwise it's best to keep him around and make him learn how to hit a 15-footer which I believe he is capable of doing. He's going to have to develop this to his game because he is not athletic enough to score around the basket with today's athletes.

[Glenn]

How about Jamal Crawford for a Knight comparison? That's who I've always compared him to.

Nice thread.

[Glenn]

And I'd pass on Tony Allen, nice defender, but we need difference makers, not more role players.

[Uncle Mxy]

Firing Frank without either getting a new coach or other opportunity that hinges on Frank being gone doesn't bode well for the decision making process, here. I've been waiting to see if we hire a head coach prior to draft day, or if we're really really fucking stupid here and draft without the coach's input. I haven't wanted to speculate too much on the player needs until the coach situation is settled.