Detroit Pistons draft picks of the last 10 years: Where are they now?

2013 Draft

Round 1 Pick 8:Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

In a pick that seemed to come out of nowhere, in the 2013 draft the Pistons selected Kentavious Caldwell-Pope out of the University of Georgia. Piston fans should be very well acquainted with Caldwell-Pope as he was drafted in the midst of a full-blown rebuild by the team and logged lots of minutes with the Pistons from the start.

Caldwell-Pope spent four seasons with the Pistons in which he consistently improved year-in and year out. Caldwell-Pope began his career averaging 5.9 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists, and 0.9 steals per game with a 13.9 percent usage rate. He finished out his four year tenure with the Pistons averaging 13.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game with a 19.2 percent usage rate.

In his fourth and final year, Piston fans were conflicted on what the franchise should do with Caldwell-Pope. Some fans were hoping the team would sign him to a max contract at the expiration of his rookie deal, while others thought he was not worth the money and wanted the team to move on from him if he could not be signed to a cheaper deal. The Pistons elected to allow Caldwell-Pope to play through the completion of his contract and allowed him to become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason leading to the 2017-2018 season.

Caldwell-Pope would be signed to a one-year, $18 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers where he would appear in 74 games, averaging 13.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.4 steals playing 33 minutes per game. After the completion of the season Caldwell-Pope resigned with the Lakers, this time to another one-year contract worth $12 million.

In this season, Caldwell-Pope saw his minutes and averages decline with the arrival of LeBron James. In 2018-2019 Caldwell-Pope averaged 11.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 0.9 steals. Slightly down from his previous few seasons but still very solid numbers.

Round 2 Pick 37: Tony Mitchell

Tony Mitchell was a forward coming out of the University of North Texas that had serious bounce. He was a rather raw prospect but with his 6-foot-8, 235-pound frame and his ridiculous athleticism, Mitchell was a risk worth expending a second round pick for.

Mitchell had found some success across his collegiate conference winning the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year award as well as being named to the All-Sun Belt First Team squad in his freshman season. His sophomore season Mitchell played well enough to earn himself All-Sun Belt Second Team honors.

Once drafted, Mitchell was voted by his rookie peers as the class of 2013’s most athletic. With all of the praise towards Mitchell’s physical abilities there was reason to be optimistic that Mitchell’s career may pan out well despite his drafting position.

As we all know, there is much more to basketball besides being physically talented and Mitchell failed to exceed expectations as many second round picks do. Mitchell only lasted one season with the Pistons and one season in the NBA in general.

In the mere 21 games that Mitchell appeared with the Pistons, he put up averages of 1 point and 1.2 rebounds per game. On the bright side Mitchell can raise his head high knowing he will forever have a perfect 100 percent accuracy from the 3-point line, taking and making one 3-pointer for his career.

His G-League stats were also unpromising as in the one year Mitchell split between playing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and the Grand Rapids Drive, he averaged a combined 7.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1 block per game.

In 2014 Mitchell was briefly a member of the Phoenix Suns when the Pistons traded him for the now-beloved stretch forward Anthony Tolliver.

Mitchell would not appear in any games for the Suns as he was waived by the team a little over a week later.

From there, Mitchell has bounced all over the world trying to find a home to play basketball. In 2015 he spent time playing with Atléticos de San Germán of Puerto Rico as well as Cocodrilos de Caracas in Venezuela.

In 2016 he played for the Guangxi Rhino in China as well as a short 17-game stint with Maccabi Haifa of Israel. In 2017 he played for the Star Hotshots of the Philippines as well as Metros de Santiago of the Dominican Republic.

In 2018 Mitchell played for Hapoel Gilboa Galil in Israel but was released after one game which led him to sign with Cocodrilos de Caracas for a second time.

Finally, this year in 2019, Mitchell signed to play with Al Wasl of Dubai and the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippines.

Mitchell is the true definition of a basketball journeymen and would laugh in the face of any NBA player who thinks they are a journeymen for having to bounce between NBA teams.

Round 2 Pick 56: Peyton Siva

With their final pick of the 2013 NBA draft, the Pistons selected a guy that I’m sure many of the readers will remember and either know or love depending on which collegiate team you support. Peyton Siva was drafted out of the University of Lousiville and was a large part of the reason that the University of Michigan was denied winning the national championship that year.

Siva came out of college a well-decorated player. To name his collegiate accomplishments, in 2011 he was named Honorable Mention All-Big East and made the All-Big East Tournament Team. In 2012 he was named a part of the NCAA West Regional All-Tournament Team in addition to winning the Big East Tournament MVP.

Finally in 2013, Siva’s final year of college, he won the American Eagle Outfitters Big East Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Academic All-American honors,  All-Big East Third Team honors, and the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award — an award given to college players that exceed despite their shorter than average size.

Despite all of his accolades, Siva was largely overlooked in the NBA draft due to the reason he won the Naismith award, his size. At just 6-foot tall, 185 pounds there were concerns as to if Siva would be able to continue the same on court success that he enjoyed during his time at Lousiville. Nonetheless, deep into the second round the Pistons were happy to select Siva as a low risk player.

Similar to his Pistons second round draft mate Mitchell, Siva only played one season in his entire NBA career and it was with the Detroit Pistons. Siva has a slight edge over Mitchell as far as games played and overall stat line, however neither is too impressive as Siva averaged 2.3 points and 1.4 assists per game in his 24 games with the Pistons. Siva would appear in the Pistons Summer League team in 2014 and then get waived shortly afterwards.

A few months later in September he would sign with the Orlando Magic only to be waived and resigned by the Erie Bayhawks (Now known as the Lakeland Magic). After the completion of the 2014-15 G-League season, Siva looked for employment overseas, electing to sign with Juvecaserta Basket of Italy. Following that season, Siva went on to sign with a German team called Alba Berlin where he will be playing this upcoming season.

Notable Players Passed On: Giannis Antetokounmpo, CJ McCollum, Rudy Gobert, Steven Adams, Tim Hardaway Jr, Tony Snell, Allen Crabbe