Pistons draft: A shooting prospect with local connections

The NBA Draft is less than a month away and it’s anyone’s guess what the Detroit Pistons will do with their 5th pick.

There has been speculative reports that they will “aggressively” try to trade the pick, possibly for a player who can help them win right away.

That does makes some sense, as the Pistons have a lot of young talent and could use some more established players to balance the roster.

They could also potentially move back in the draft and pick up an additional pick in the first round or in a future draft.

If Detroit were to make a draft trade with a team like Utah, they could move back a few spots and potentially net a second pick in the first round.

If that were to happen, they may be able to target a player like Jett Howard, who likely isn’t on the Pistons’ radar with the 5th pick, but could be if they were to pick up another one.

Detroit Pistons draft: Jett Howard

Jett Howard is a guard/wing from the University of Michigan who is the son of Juwan Howard, so he has some connections to the state and would instantly bring a fanbase from Ann Arbor.

Howard is 6-foot-8, so has great size for a guard and can do one thing well, which is shoot the ball. He is a high-volume 3-point shooter hit nearly 37 percent of his 3-point shots on a whopping 7.3 attempts per game as a freshman.

That kind of size and shooting is a fit on any NBA team, but that’s pretty much all he brings to the table.

Howard is not a great ball handler, passer or defender. He’s not a guy who is going to burn people off the dribble or collapse a defense, but the idea of having a big shooter with Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey does have appeal, even if he is one-dimensional.

Howard has solid shooting form and release, and when he gets hot, he can really fill it up from long range.

At the very least, he’s going to be a catch-and-shoot 3-point specialist off of someone’s bench, but he has potential to be more if his handles and off-the-bounce games develop.

Howard isn’t likely to fall to the second round, so for the Pistons to have a chance to add him to the roster, they will probably have to make a trade to move up or to move back from the 5th pick.