With the 2024 NBA Draft approaching, it’s a good time to revisit an old topic, which is draft busts for the Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons have plenty to choose from, as drafting poorly has been the hallmark of this decade plus run of futility. If you want to know why the Pistons haven’t won a playoff game since Barack Obama was president, the draft is the answer.
Nearly two years ago, I chose a draft-bust starting lineup for the Pistons, a group I was hoping wouldn’t have any new members.
But things have changed since 2022 that made me rethink a couple of the entries and add some new names to the list.
Detroit Pistons all-time draft bust starting five
Center: Darko Milicic (2nd pick, 2003)
Given where he was drafted and the Hall of Famers all around him, it’s going to be difficult for anyone to ever take this spot from Darko.
Some point to the Darko draft as where things started to go wrong for the Pistons, but the truth is that they were drafting poorly before that.
Darko was certainly not the worst player the Pistons have ever drafted, as he did have a 10-year career and made plenty of money, but when you consider the ripple effects of this pick, it’s hard to argue for anyone else.
Darko only played 2+ seasons with the Pistons and was pretty much a human victory cigar, as he only played in blowouts.
The Pistons ended up trading him for the pick that became Rodney Stuckey, so it wasn’t a complete loss, but considering they could have had Carmelo Anthony, Milicic will always be remembered as a dynasty killing pick.
Wing: Rodney White (9th pick, 2001)
Rodney White is an interesting bit of Pistons’ history, as he was drafted and traded in the year when the Goin’ to Work team was starting to take formation.
White was a stupid choice from the beginning, as the Pistons were already loaded at his position, and then took Tayshaun Prince the next season to make it even worse.
So White got shipped out from Detroit after playing just 16 games. The Pistons did get a first-round pick and a couple of players for him, so it sort of worked out, but White only ended up in the league for four seasons.
They also drafted him one pick before Joe Johnson, who went on to be one of the league’s all-time leading scorers and played the same position as White. Oops.
Forward: Sekou Doumbouya (15th pick, 2019)
I’ve had some fans argue with me that Doumbouya shouldn’t be on this list since he was taken just outside of the lottery, which is a fair point.
It’s also fair to point out that he was a low floor/high ceiling prospect, so it shouldn’t be that surprising that he didn’t work out.
But he was barely able to get on the floor in two seasons on a team that won a combined 40 games. There were endless developmental minutes for Doumbouya, and he wasn’t good enough to even get those on a team that was trying to lose.
He was essentially out of the league after two seasons (he did play two games with the Lakers), which is not normal for a first-round pick who was considered to be a raw prospect. They can usually stick around to a second contract on hope alone, so it shows just how hopeless Doumbouya was, as he was out of the league before he could legally buy a beer.
Pistons fans were hoping we got the next Giannis, but instead we got Thanasis, and unfortunately for Sekou, he didn’t have a superstar brother to get him a job.
Doumbouya was eventually spit out of the G-League and is now playing in France.
Foward: Stanley Johnson (9th pick, 2015)
Originally, I had Austin Daye here, but back in 2022, Stanley Johnson was still on the fringes of an NBA rotation, so I had to see how it played out.
I’ve seen enough.
Given he was a top-10 pick, this spot has to go to Johnson, who only played 3+ seasons in Detroit and never averaged even nine points per game.
We’ll always have his series against LeBron, who recently name dropped the Stanimal out of nowhere when talking about guys who gave him trouble. Ah, sweet memories.
Stanely is now a G-Leaguer putting up mediocre stats. I’ve had fans seriously tell me the Pistons should bring him back because he now shoots 41 percent from 3-point range. Yes, in the G-League, where no one plays defense and practically everyone shoots a high percentage.
He still only averaged 14 a game as a full-grown man mostly playing against teenagers and fringe NBA prospects. So no.
But Johnson wasn’t the only change to the list.
Point guard: Killian Hayes (7th pick, 2020)
Hayes might have made this list a few years ago if not for generous coaches and the fact that the Pistons were tanking the entire time he was on the team, something he helped with tremendously.
Hayes became the focus of increased ire after Monty Williams kept starting him even though there was ample evidence he was the worst offensive player in the NBA.
And let’s face it, Hayes wasn’t very good at anything. As much as his Stans talked endlessly about his passing and “elite” defense, those of us who actually watched the game saw little of either.
But it was Hayes’ shooting that makes him the captain of this team, as he never topped 30 percent from long range and only once got over 40 percent from the field.
His career field goal percentage (38.2) is 11th-worst in team history and two of his seasons would have ranked in the top five. When you consider most of the other players on this list were old timers in an era when shooting percentages were WAY lower across the league, you know just how bad Hayes was.
The pathetic thing is that several of the Pistons’ worst shooters (Johnson, Hayes, Bey) came in the modern era and were first-round draft picks for Detroit.
Hayes is now out of the league and may not be back, as no one even picked him up on a 10-day last season even though there were teams like San Antonio and Memphis that badly needed point guards.
Hayes had to be added to the list as one of the worst draft busts the Pistons have ever had, and he has a solid argument to be on the top of the list.