Detroit Pistons: Potential landing spots for Blake Griffin

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Justise Winslow #20 of the Miami Heat(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

Good teams that need Griffin to get over the hump

Miami Heat

The Miami Heat are probably the team that makes the most sense for a Blake Griffin trade. They’ve started the season fantastically and could quickly convince themselves that a healthy playoff run from Griffin is all they need to get to the finals.

A trio of Jimmy Butler, Griffin and Bam Adebayo has a lot of potential and seems to be a great fit. The Heat also have youngsters like Justise Winslow, Derrick Jones Jr, Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Chris Silva, KZ Okpala and veterans like Goran Dragic, Dion Waiters, Kelly Olynyk, Meyers Leonard, James Johnson to support them.

That makes them the perfect candidate for a trade, as they can offer a lot of different options at the “promising young players” category and the “salary filler” category to make the trade work. The core part of the trade would be the Griffin-Winslow swap.

They’re both really good ball handlers and passers. Griffin is a much better scorer while Winslow is a much better defender. The Heat need the veteran leadership, experience and shooting while the Pistons desperately need the wing defense and get a young player back on a great contract with actual star potential.

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This trade transfers the Heat’s window to the present and the Pistons window to a couple of years down the road. Winslow would give the team a weird primary ball-handler that can create for the Pistons shooters and Andre Drummond and defend the opponents’ best scorer.

Winslow is also already a pretty good spot-up shooter. He can form a great fit with Luke Kennard. He can spot up when Kennard handles, he can hide Kennard on defense and commands a big wing defender on offense.

That means Kennard can find now a better match up, guarded by a smaller wing. Kennard often struggles against bigger players like OG Anunoby, so having another wing scorer like Winslow in the lineup can take a lot of pressure off him.

Winslow is a terrible pull-up shooter. He can’t punish people when they go under on ball screens but the Pistons can wait for him to develop that aspect of his game. When and if he does he could become a legitimate first option especially if he plays with Drummond, who attracts a lot of attention on pick and rolls.

You can see a trio of Luke Kennard, Sekou Doumbouya and Winslow resembling a good young core. I should also mention that Winslow’s contract awards him only 13 million per year. That’s tremendous value if Winslow can fulfill his potential.

I don’t know how Miami would look at this situation but in any case, Winslow and salary filler for Griffin is a win-win for both teams. Anything more than that is bonus for the Pistons. Getting another young player should be the target here but the Heat won’t give up too much.

Derrick Jones Jr. seems like a good choice as he’s barely played for them so far. The Pistons are in need of as many two-way wings as they can get, so getting an athletic 22-year-old back would be a big win for them despite his shooting problems.

From then on, it’s only a matter of matching salaries. Leonard, Ollynyk and Waiters are close to 12 million per year, James Johnson at 15 and Dragic has an expiring of 19 million. The Pistons shouldn’t be too picky with whose salary the Heat want to get rid of.

Portland Trailblazers

You’ve all seen this one. Blake Griffin to the Blazers for Zach Collins, Anfernee Simons and Hassan Whiteside‘s humongous expiring contract of 27 million. Whiteside could serve as a backup center for half a year.

Or the Pistons could flip Whiteside to another team that needs the cap space and get some valuable players back. The Pistons could move Whiteside to a team that needs some help in the middle and get a pick back or even some interesting contracts back.

The major thing here is for Portland to have enough incentive to give up more than two promising young players. With Damian Lillard approaching 30 they should be eager to part with their youth to get another star.

Getting that extra pick is going to be tricky, so finding a third team that is willing to give up assets for Whiteside is a key component of the trade. The Pistons don’t have much incentive to carry salary cap into the summer with the state of free agency.

There’s another scenario where this trade is chained to an Andre Drummond trade. In that case, the Pistons keep Whiteside. Whiteside becomes a stopgap center for a year and Drummond is moved for additional draft capital, young talent or salary filler. If the Pistons can pull off a move like that, we’re in serious rebuilding mode.

However, I don’t see the front office taking that kind of direction to be honest.

San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs have a weird mixture of young players, like Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker IV, Luka Samanic, Keldon Johnson, Trey Lyles, Jacob Poetl, Derrick White and veterans like DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, Rudy Gay, DeMarre Carroll.

They seem to be in a mode of trying to get rid of their own veterans, which means they probably won’t give up any young players to get Griffin. I could see them offering a combination of their least promising youngsters but the Pistons shouldn’t bite.

Maybe the Pistons would be interested in a deal where DeRozan and a couple of youngsters are included, like Walker IV and Johnson. That’s not a bad haul for a Griffin deal. DeRozan’s deal is an expiring next year, which means it could be flipped after a year for additional assets.

DeRozan would try to replicate Griffin’s role on offense and his struggles on defense and he’d be more available, so the team would stabilize. However, DeRozan is a downgrade from Griffin. The two youngsters are both wing players and valuable assets if the team developed them. Those are the players the Pistons should target with such trades.

Players on rookie contracts that are projected to perform well in an NBA setting on both ends on the floor. Extra value if you can do that on the wings combined with good three-point shooting.

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