Detroit Pistons draft targets: Guard edition

We take a closer look at the top guard prospects who may or may not be on the board come pick No. 12 for the Detroit Pistons.

The 2017 NBA Draft is almost upon us and the buzz began in earnest over the weekend when the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers agreed to swap picks in a big-time trade. The Detroit Pistons, meanwhile, hold the 12th pick and are in the lottery for the sixth time in the last eight seasons.

The excitement will wane some by the time the Pistons are on the clock, but most agree that this is a very strong batch of prospects. There’s going to be some good players to emerge from this draft, and I don’t necessarily think all of them are going to be gone by pick No. 12. The Pistons will even settle for an impactful rotational piece at that point in the draft anyway.

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There’s going to be plenty of interesting names on the board, and I wanted to break them down by position. We’ll get to the forwards and centers later, but, today, we’ll look at the guards.

For this exercise, I’m going to operate under two assumptions: (a) Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, Josh Jackson, Jayson Tatum, Malik Monk, and Jonathan Isaac are all going to be off the board by pick 12, and (b) the Pistons keep the 12th pick and don’t move up or down via trade.

If that’s the way it plays out, these are the likeliest guard prospects the Pistons could draft.