The Detroit Pistons have quietly put together a good offseason

After a successful NBA Draft followed by signing solid role players in free agency, the Detroit Pistons have quietly put together a good off-season.

After being swept in round one of the NBA Playoffs versus the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, the Detroit Pistons knew that they had to make moves this off-season.

Going into the NBA Draft, the Pistons had only one thought in mind; pick the best available wing player on the board. With most mock drafts having the Pistons drafting Romeo Langford, Kevin Porter Jr., Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Nassir Little, and even Tyler Herro, an unexpected top rated wing prospect was seen falling.

That prospect was Sekou Doumbouya. The Pistons scouted Doumbouya in Dallas when he worked out for many teams. Ed Stefanski and Dwane Casey both attended the workout and were both amazed with how well Sekou performed. So amazed that they felt that Sekou would be gone by 10.

But the Phoenix and the Washington Wizards both made unexpected picks with the 9th and 11th selections. Washington choice Rui Hachimura and Phoenix choice Cameron Johnson. This helped pushed Sekou closer and closer to the Pistons lap.

And he eventually did. The Pistons selected Sekou Doumbouya with the 15th overall pick. The Pistons drafted the best wing player available. And the Pistons were super high on him coming into the draft. Ed Stefanski and the scouting team had him 5th overall on their big board.

Sekou is that long and athletic wing player that the Pistons have been lacking. But taking Sekou meant that the Pistons knew that he is a project. There are still many things in Sekou’s game that he has to learn. He has only played basketball for 6 years and is the youngest player in the draft.

The Pistons knew this and they had to go out and get an experienced wing player. And they did so. The Pistons shocked themselves and their fans when they were able to trade Jon Leuer to Milwaukee for Tony Snell and the 30th overall pick.

Snell is a lengthy wing that can play defense and knock down some threes. It was sorta a gamble taking in an extra year of Snell. But the Pistons were not planning on playing Leuer next season. Snell is likely going to be the starting small forward while Sekou develops as the year goes on.

The Pistons were also able to trade the 30th pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers for 4 second round picks and 5 million dollars in cash! With those picks, the Pistons were able to draft Deividas Sirvydis and Jordan Bone. Those two players are going  to develop in the G-League. They were able to snag two great second round prospects last season in Bruce Brown and Khyri Thomas. So making a couple of choices in the second round made sense in this years draft.

With the draft out-of-the-way, the Pistons main focus in free agency? Bring in a backup point guard to replace Ish Smith. But with poor contracts taking up a large portions of the salary cap, the Pistons did not have much money to work with.

The Pistons had only the mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception to play around with. Their MLE was worth 9.2 million dollars and the BAE was worth 3.6 million dollars. Both exceptions cannot be combined.

But the Pistons wasted no time at all. Reports came out early that the Pistons were interested in signing former MVP Derrick Rose. The second free agency began, the Pistons signed Rose to a 2 year, 15 million dollar deal.

For the first 30 minutes of free agency, people questioned if the Pistons overpaid to bring in Rose. Those questions went away quickly. Many point guards that the Pistons were reportedly interested in got paid for more than what Rose got.

Patrick Beverley signed a 40 million dollar deal with the Clippers. Jeremy Lamb signed a 31 million dollar deal with Indiana. Terry Rozier signed a 58 million dollar deal with the Hornets. George Hill signed a 28 million dollar deal with Milwaukee.

Rose is a quality pickup for the contract he was given by the Pistons. Although health is a concern with Rose, the Pistons have a great medical team that includes an all-time great in Arnie Kander. And Rose could potentially put together back-to-back good shooting seasons. Last year with the Timberwolves, Rose had his best season since going down with his injury with Chicago.

With the backup point guard position filled, the Pistons weren’t done looking. Their next target was JaVale McGee. But unexpectedly, the Pistons signed Markieff Morris 3 days after the Rose signing.

The Pistons were able to acquire Morris for the bi-annual exception. His brother, Marcus Morris played for the Pistons for two seasons before being traded to the Boston Celtics. Markieff played for the Washington Wizards and the season with the OKC Thunder.

Although he didn’t have the greatest of seasons, a lot of that can be due to inconsistent playtime and role for his team. Markieff fills the backup 3 and 4 position on the roster. If Sekou isn’t good enough to play yet, Markieff can slide into the small forward and play the backup behind Snell.

Overall the Pistons did a fabulous job in bringing in talent with little to work with. Ed Stefanski and the front office has been great since joining the Pistons.