Detroit Pistons Links: Talent Evaluation, Joe Harris, Tom Izzo/John Beilein
By Joe Dexter
Every Morning, Pistons Palace brings you the reading material you need on your Detroit Pistons before you start your day at the office. We bring you the morning’s Palace Picks across the web to get you ready for the day.
Happy Monday! After a busy weekend of Pistons news, it’s time to wrap things up with this mornings picks from across the web.
The NBA combine is in the books. Stan Van Gundy and company were able to take a look at the prospects they just might draft this summer.
Only question is, does the combine matter?
Palace Picks has the answer.
In case you missed it, Stan Van Gundy was on The Dan Patrick Show on Friday. Here shared his feelings on the new gig as well as the NBA Combine, which he says honestly doesn’t matter because you can’t really tell how good a player is at a combine.
Speaking of SVG, the man, the coach, the president has been very busy. Mlive’s David Mayo says the next move for him is to evaluate talent already on the roster.
"“The only guys in the league that you can thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly evaluate are your own guys,” he said. “You see them every day. And so I don’t want to rush to judgment on talented guys. I’ve got an opportunity to evaluate them.“I’m not going to do anything rash. If you see any of our roster guys moved before the season, I hope you’ll look at it and go, ‘Well, that’s a no-brainer, they had to do it.’ But anything that’s close, I want to get a look at these guys.”"
The Detroit News’ Vincent Goodwill says that his sources disagree with media reports that Tom Izzo was offered the same contract as Van Gundy to run the team. He states though that Izzo and Michigan head coach John Beilein were on the list of candidates to interview.
"Considering the list was so massive, names like Izzo, Beilein, Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, Florida coach Billy Donovan and others were all initially given to the team, along with the top unemployed coaches in professional basketball like Lionel Hollins and George Karl."
Goodwill adds that the Pistons didn’t get past the interest stage with any other candidate but Van Gundy.
There are tons of draft prospects the Pistons could target in the NBA Draft, but not many are more intriguing than Virginia guard Joe Harris. Hoops Rumors had a chance to interview Harris who has one of the best shots in the draft and is a great defender.
Mar 28, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Joe Harris (12) shoots the ball over Michigan State Spartans guard Denzel Valentine (45) during the second half in the semifinals of the east regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship tournament at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
"“I think the system that I played in taught defensive principals and the defensive mindset that you need to have. Of course, defense is more than a mindset, you have to have the lateral quickness too, but the principals and that mindset and helped me become a much better defender. Coach [Tony Bennett‘s] program made me better and I’ll carry that with me to the NBA,” said the small forward."
Harris has been worked out before the combine with Doug McDermott and Nik Stauskas while impressing many scouts with how comparable his game is to those two prospects. We’ll have a deeper scouting report coming soon at Pistons Palace.
And Finally, the Western Conference Finals get underway tonight at 9 PM ET on TNT. Thunderous Intentions’ Michael Newberry breaks down the series matchup position by position.
Air Alamo’s Ronald Agers looks at how the Spurs can stop the slim reaper — Kevin Durant, from ripping the soul out of their defense.
"I know the smart money would be putting Kawhi Leonard on him early.Nope.Why do that?Save him for the last five minutes of the game and use him to put in work in crunch time. The Spurs need to save the fouls. If they do start Leonard on Durant, the Spurs need to get him off on the offensive game early."
Make sure you check out both of those great sites for analysis of tonight’s action after and before game.