The Detroit Pistons will have all of their good luck charms in hand tonight during the NBA Draft Lottery, where the direction of the franchise could be altered forever.
The Pistons have a 14 percent chance of living the dream and landing the #1 pick for the 2nd time in three years, and the chance to add Victor Wembanyama to a team that already has Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren.
Of course, fans are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst, which would be the Pistons’ logo on the other side of the card with the big five on it.
Dropping in the NBA Draft would be disappointing to say the least, but Detroit would still have a great chance to land an impact player.
Here are the best case scenarios for the top five guys, though there is certainly plenty of argument about who those players are once you get past the #1 pick.
Detroit Pistons: Player comparisons for the top NBA Draft prospects
#5: Cam Whitmore
Best-case scenario: Miles Bridges
Worst-case scenario: Saddiq Bey
You could certainly slot other players here, and there is definitely no consensus that Whitmore is going in the top five. Jarace Walker would be in play, as would one of the Thompson twins, Anthony Black or even Taylor Hendricks.
But we’ll stick Whitmore here for now. He is an athletic wing with a questionable shot who has potential as a two-way player. He’s physically strong enough to defend a couple of positions, but is not great at creating his own shot, so his ceiling may be defined by how good he is defensively and whether he can hit the NBA 3-point shot consistently.