Pistons reportedly preferred only Anthony Davis to Andre Drummond in 2012 draft

Anthony Davis, Thomas Robinson and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist ranked as the top three players on the PistonPowered community draft board, my draft board and Patrick’s draft board. The community and I ranked Andre Drummond fourth, and Patrick had him fifth behind Bradley Beal.

Reportedly, the Pistons thought even more highly of Drummond. Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press:

"The only guy the Pistons would have picked over Drummond was Davis"

If that’s true, credit to the Pistons. If the draft were re-done today, Davis and Drummond would go first and second, and the order could be debated.

Nearly everyone agreed Drummond was a great pick at No. 9, once Robinson, Kidd-Gilchrist and Beal were off the board. So, Detroit’s internal rankings of those top players didn’t affect the result, but if the Pistons consistently get those calls right,* that will pay off in the long run.

*Who knows whether they do? They leak their good judgments, not their poor ones.