Detroit Pistons Links 05/23/14: Anthony Morrow, 5 Prospects, FA Wing
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 — the best Detroit Pistons links from across the web to get you ready for the day.
It’s finally Friday! Welcome to our final weekday edition of Palace Picks. Unlike Byron Scott, we aren’t asking anyone to change their game heading into the weekend. We just want you to enjoy our picks!
Bleacher Report’s Jakub Rudnik is on the money with his latest article touching on what the Pistons should do with their roster after losing their first round pick. There is no doubt that this team needs wing help.
The Pistons were terrible on the wing on both ends in 2013-14. They ranked No. 29 in three-point percentage at 32.1 percent. They were in the bottom third in opponent shooting percentage from 25 to 29 feet and 20 to 24 feet, and they were dead last from 15 to 19 feet. They desperately need to add someone who can help them in both areas.
Rudnik points to free agents Luol Deng and Trevor Ariza as possible free agent targets.
How could the Pistons supplement either of those additions? How about with the 38th pick. SNY.tv’s Adam Zagoria tweets that there is a former Blue Devil Detroit could target:
Dawkins is outside of most draft experts top 100, but could be seen as a late bloomer of possible free agent acquisition after the draft. He averaged 8 points per game during his senior season.
Vincent Goodwill at the Detroit News says the Pistons feel that they can find value with the 38th pick of the NBA Draft. Goodwill wonders if a shooter via free agency isn’t the answer. The one player he mentions is Pelicans forward Anthony Morrow.
"Anthony Morrow, who finished third in 3-point accuracy, has a player option in New Orleans that he’ll probably opt out of, at $1.1 million. Considering how much the league values shooters like Morrow and Atlanta’s Kyle Korver (four years, $24 million deal last summer), the Pistons won’t find themselves alone in bidding for anyone’s services."
There will be cheaper, less efficient options too in free agency.
Jimmer Fredette anyone?
How about shooters through the draft? Bleacher Report’s Michael Walsh takes a look at five prospects the Pistons could target with their second round pick.
I have a feeling four out of the five he profiled will already be taken by the time the Pistons are on the board. The one that might not be is Colorado’s Spencer Dinwiddie. Walsh noted Dinwiddie’s overall improvement from last season.
"After letting himself get carried away as a sophomore, Dinwiddie matured and reigned in his three-point shooting during a junior year that saw him hit 26 of 63 shots from beyond the arc and average 14.7 points per game while playing just half of the season."
Pistons Palace profiled the versatile guard yesterday.
And finally, another reminder that this is Hooper’s world, and we’re just lucky to be here.