The Detroit Pistons won’t play again until Thursday. That gives us a chance to reflect and analyze. Over the next four days, we will do so by evaluating all Stan Van Gundy’s moves, and deciding which ones where his best as President of Basketball operations. Today’s post will cover his free agent signing.
The Detroit Pistons may be off until Thursday, but there is much to discuss.
With a break in the action, we decided it would be a fun exercise to evaluate all of Stan Van Gundy’s moves, pick his top few from each category–free agent signings, draft picks, and trades–and then evaluate which of those was his best move overall.
The posts will break down as follows:
Tuesday, Best free agent signings in Stan Van Gundy era.
Wednesday, Best draft picks in Stan Van Gundy era.
Thursday, Best trades in Stan Van Gundy era.
Friday, Best overall move in Stan Van Gundy era.
We will jump into the free agents, but before we do that, a few clarifying points.
This post will include only the top handful of signings during the Stan Van Gundy era. That means we will not be including signings such as Jodie Meeks or Cartier Martin, for example. I also didn’t consider retained player extensions such as Reggie Jackson or Andre Drummond.
With the parameters in place, here are the Pistons best free agent signings in the Stan Van Gundy era.
Free Agent signings:
Reggie Bullock, two year/$5 million
Ish Smith, three year/$18 million
D.J. Augustin, two year/$6 million
Aron Baynes, three year/$19.5 million with player option in year three
Which one is best?
I’ll take Reggie Bullock 10 out of 10 times.
Not was Bullock’s deal considered a steal at the time of his signing, his contract has become even more of a bargain thanks to his incredible play this season.
Bullock is shooting 50.8% from the field, 45.2% from three and is averaging 9.6 points per game. That doesn’t even begin to tell the tale of his impact, which has been felt even more in the Blake Griffin era.
For example, in February, Bullock has average 14.1 points, 45.5% from three on 5.5 attempts per game, and still maintained great efficiency at 48.8% from the field overall.
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That’s my pick, which signing did you think was best?
Runner up: Ish Smith