The Detroit Pistons will choose 5th in the 2022 NBA Draft and hope to walk away with one of the top talents.
This draft, like most that came before it, is a complete crapshoot with no consensus on who the best player is, or even how the top-5 will go.
That could lead to a ton of draft trades, surprises, reaches and sleeper prospects that are overlooked.
Predicting the draft is a fool’s errand, but I am here to be that fool and make some predictions about everything from the biggest surprise to the biggest sleeper to the 2nd-round pick that everyone will regret passing on in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Detroit Pistons: Predictions for the 2022 NBA Draft
The best player of the Draft…
Will be taken with the 5th pick by the Detroit Pistons, obviously. Whether it is Jaden Ivey, Keegan Murray, Bennedict Mathurin, Shaedon Sharpe or someone else he WILL BE THE BEST PLAYER IN THIS DRAFT! At least that’s what we’ll spend the next months convincing ourselves.
Biggest surprise of the 2022 NBA Draft?
This may not be a surprise to some considering OKC’s history, but I have a feeling this will be the year when they finally try to cash in some of their assets and trade up. OKC has three picks in the first round and will use two of them plus a player (Lu Dort?) to trade into the top-5 of the draft and walk away with two top-five players.
The Kings are the most likely team to make that trade unfortunately, which could cost the Detroit Pistons a chance at Jaden Ivey, and would allow the Thunder to potentially walk away from this draft with Chet Holmgren and Jaden Ivey, giving them the most stacked young roster in the NBA.
Detroit Pistons: Predictions for the 2022 NBA Draft
Most overlooked star potential…
I’ve seen a ton of hype around the top three guys, plenty of talk around Ivey and Mathurin and even guys like Dyson Daniels have been fawned over in recent weeks.
The one prospective top-10 pick I don’t see many people talking about is AJ Griffin. I think this is partly because he had a poor tournament finale on a bum ankle and didn’t have eye-popping numbers, mostly because he was on a team stacked with future NBA talent.
After watching more film on Griffin, he is far more athletic than the popular narrative would have you believe. He’s really strong in the post, is a better playmaker than I expected and that is to go along with his potentially elite 3-point shooting.
If he can get his own shot off the bounce, he is going to be a handful, as he can already shoot the lights out with a very consistent stroke. He’s been reduced to a “3-and-D” prospect by many, but I think he has a lot more than that and will eventually be a star in the NBA.
Best player to fall out of the top-10…
Every year there is a guy who falls out of the top-10 who ends up being much better than expected. Last year you could name Chris Duarte, Joshua Primo and Bones Hyland as those guys.
They were all highly thought of, but slipped out of the top-10 for one reason or another.
I think Johnny Davis will be that player this year, as he could easily slip out of the top-10 and end up being one of the best players anyway. He has solid two-way potential, is a leader and already a very good defender who can create and make shots from all over the floor.
He torched some of the other top picks from the Big 10 and will come into the NBA with a big chip on his shoulder, ready to prove he is just as good as the guys who are likely to be taken ahead of him.
Detroit Pistons: Predictions for the 2022 NBA Draft
Biggest sleeper of the 2022 NBA Draft…
I’ve already talked about my sleeper of the 2022 NBA Draft and I am going to stick with him. I think Tari Eason has the right combination of size, athleticism and defense to be a day one contributor for someone.
He is projected to potentially fall out of the lottery, which will probably help his case, as he could end up on a playoff team for which he’ll have a defined role off the bench right away.
He has a 7-foot-2 wingspan, high motor and will be a defensive menace right away. If he starts knocking down a higher percentage of 3-point shots, he has the chance to be one of the top forwards from this draft.
This is a guy who made a huge leap after transferring from Cincinnati and will make another one in his first season in the NBA.
Biggest reach of the 2022 NBA Draft…
I am not sold on Ousmane Dieng as a lottery pick in this draft. I know he has “upside” and that a forward who can make plays is a valuable commodity in the NBA, but at some point don’t you have to dominate inferior competition consistently? Dieng has not.
I am also hearing/reading a lot of familiar sounding information about him, including things like “Not a great athlete,” “could develop a shot,” “if he learns to score,” “doesn’t have enough strength yet,” “can’t go left,” and “poor shot mechanics.”
I am not just saying this because they are both French, but this guy has huge Sekou Doumbouya vibe to me. Of course, fans of the Detroit Pistons are still traumatized by Sekou’s flame out, so this could just be Draft PTSD, but I think Dieng is the biggest reach in the lottery or just outside of it, as Sekou was.
I’d also like to give Kofi Cockburn honorable mention here if anyone takes him in the first round.
Detroit Pistons: Predictions for the 2022 NBA Draft
Best unknown player in the 2022 NBA Draft…
A guy I don’t hear mentioned much is Dalen Terry from Arizona, as his teammate Bennedict Mathurin is getting all of the hype.
Terry is projected as a late first round or even second-round pick by some experts, which seems crazy given his makeup. He’s a 6-foot-6 combo guard who can handle the ball, make plays, rebound and has the length (7-foot wingspan) to be an elite defender on the perimeter.
He doesn’t put up flashy scoring numbers, but has a very good motor, steal rate and is a guy who could thrive even more in the space of the NBA, especially as a playmaker.
He’s a wing who will do all of the little things to help teams win and I think he’ll be a great addition to some lucky playoff team that grabs him late in the first round.
Best player in the 2nd round…
Last season, the New Orleans Pelicans took Herbert Jones in the second round and he ended up in their starting lineup, playing huge minutes in the playoffs, on the All-Rookie team and on the fringes of All-Defense.
I don’t know if there is a guy in the second round of this draft who will make that kind of impact in year one, but one guy with first round talent who could fall is Patrick Baldwin Jr.
Consider that this guy was a top-5 recruit coming out of high school, but chose to play for his coach father at mid-major Milwaukee instead, the highest rated recruit to ever join the Horizon League.
He was toiling in relative obscurity with bad teammates and then got hurt 11 games into the season, but he still has elite upside, especially as a shooter. He’s a legit 6-foot-9 (unlike some of the other Draft Combine measurement fibbers) with a 7-foot-1 wingspan and a smooth shooting stroke with no wasted motion.
I think he’s going to be better in the NBA, will have a massive chip on his shoulder (he went from a sure-fire top-10 pick to possibly out of the first round) and will be eager to prove he is still that guy.
I doubt he will fall to the Detroit Pistons with the 46th pick, but if he is around that spot, they should consider trying to trade up, as Baldwin Jr. is the forgotten lottery talent with more upside than any of the players who will be taken around him.
Detroit Pistons: Predictions for the 2022 NBA Draft
The Andrew Wiggins award will go to…
Andrew Wiggins was taken #1 overall and never really lived up to the hype even though he is now an NBA champion and one of the best 3-and-D wings in the game.
This is a guy who was a big part of a title team, shoots nearly 40 percent from 3-point range and is a very good perimeter defender, yet he doesn’t get the credit he deserves because he is not a “superstar” which were the expectations coming into the NBA.
Wiggins came into the league with otherworldly athleticism and it just took him some time to hone it, which is why he just made his first All-Star team at age 26.
To me, Shaedon Sharpe looks like the next Wiggins, as he too is crazy athletic, but might need some time to make it all come together. If Sharpe goes in the top-5, he will likely end up on a rebuilding team and probably isn’t going to be good right away.
Just like Wiggins, that will set his narrative, as impatient Twitter NBA fans, who have the attention spans of fruit flies, will declare him a “bust” if he doesn’t average 20 a game in his rookie season.
Down the road, Sharpe, like Wiggins, will likely be a very good two-way wing, but also like Wiggins, probably won’t get credit because he is not “elite.”
If the Detroit Pistons end up taking Sharpe, expect that narrative to flourish, especially if one of the players taken after him is good right away.