Twitter questions Thursday: Detroit Pistons mailbag 1.0

Piston Powered launches its mailbag for the 2019-20 season covering all things Detroit Pistons related and more. Join us each week for a new bag.

We’ve secured the bag. The Piston Powered mailbag, which is chalked full of your questions.

This is the launch of ‘Twitter questions Thursday’ the weekly installment of a Detroit Pistons mailbag. Each week a different contributor, or possibly the same contributor, will answer your questions on all things Pistons and beyond.

Questions aren’t exclusive to Twitter, either. Submit them on the Piston Powered Facebook page or in the comments section of each mailbag. We’ll collect the questions and answer them in a post each Thursday.

This week it’s Jordan Lederman, more commonly known as @PistonsThoughts on Twitter, who fielded your questions on Reggie Jackson, Andre Drummond, Blake Griffin, Deron Williams, Jon Leuer and more.

Without further ado, welcome to our mailbag.

Reggie’s future in Detroit

The Reggie Jackson saga is going to be fascinating this year. There are SO many different ways this could go.

Reggie Jackson is coming off of his first healthy offseason in years, after looking better and better as the season wore on. He capped it off with some really solid playoff performances, showing signs of the 2015-16 Reggie Jackson we’ve all been clamoring for.

With that said, there are at least 3 different outcomes here.

1. Jackson has a season similar to 2015-16 and he plays out the year as a Piston. If that happens, I think you have to keep him. Looking at the 2020 free agent point guard class, there isn’t one clear upgrade.
2. Jackson has any type of season and you trade away his expiring deal. Pairing that with Langston Galloway’s contract would create about $25 million of expiring deals that could be enticing for pretty much any NBA team.
3.  Jackson plays out the year in Detroit and they look at the trade market or free agency to replace him next year.

All of that said, it all depends. This feels like a cop out answer but this season could go a million different ways ending in a rebuild, a playoff push, or a surprisingly great season.

Small forward designs

https://twitter.com/SpartyParty23/status/1171136042608603138?s=20

This is tricky. Lots of options, but not necessarily lots of proven, good options. It doesn’t look like Sekou Doumbouya is going to play very much very early, but that can change with a solid preseason. As of now, it looks like it’s between Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Joe Johnson.

Weirdly enough, my money is on it being Joe Johnson’s position to lose. Dwane Casey was apparently instrumental in the decision to get him on the team.

Tony Snell is the perfect type of player to fit in this current starting lineup in the small forward spot, but Snell, Mykhailiuk, Johnson, and Doumbouya isn’t the most ideal small forward rotation possible.

That said, it’s better than the zero small forwards the Pistons had in their lineup last year. We’ll see what happens as the trade deadline approaches this year.

Drummond’s future in Detroit

The best possible scenario in my opinion, is that the Pistons bring Drummond back for around $25 million per year (the same number Nikola Vucevic got). IF the Pistons start to feel that Drummond will be seeking closer to $30 million (around what Al Horford got), I think you need to explore the trade market.

At all costs, you can not lose him for nothing. I do think that he is worth more than $25 million per year in a vacuum, but it doesn’t make sense for this team to really offer more than that.

Based on fit and cap space next summer, I think the Atlanta Hawks would be the one team I could see offering Drummond some good money to join their young core.

To pay Drummond the max, he needs to start showing progress of a more respectable shot. If he can progress how Marc Gasol, Jonas Valencunis,  have from 3, or mid range, he turns into a real threat offensively. He still gives you so many second chance opportunities and he’s progressed into a much better defensive player.

Inside joke

Always and forever.

Deron Williams?

Short answer: No.
Long answer: Still no.

Andre or Blake?

Trading Blake Griffin next year likely signals that the Pistons are entering rebuild mode, and I’m never in favor of that. If you can get something valuable back for Drummond, and you don’t want to pay him close to a max deal this summer, I think that’s the move.

I don’t think Drummond is replaceable in terms of what he gives you night in and night out, but I do think you can upgrade elsewhere on the roster and have a solid starting center to handle that.

Future roster

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As I’ve mentioned before, this season can go one of a million ways. I think the biggest locks to be on the roster a year from today are Bruce Brown and Sekou Doumboya. The only reason Luke Kennard isn’t on the list is because I think he’s the best asset on this team who can get you the biggest upgrade in the trade market. That said, I’d be pretty shocked if he wasn’t on the team a year ago from today.

Everything else is completely up in the air. If the Pistons go into rebuild mode next year, the veterans are likely gone. If the Pistons are still pushing for contention next year, some of the young guys might’ve been the casualties of trades. Who knows!

Thanks for all of the questions this week. We have an eventful year ahead!

Leave a question for next week’s mailbag in the comments section.

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