While the Pistons‘ salary cap is weighed down by the contract of Blake Griffin for the next few seasons, they also have several decisions to make on possible free agents whenever the 2020 NBA offseason officially kicks off, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Edwards predicts the fates of Detroit’s free agents in a thorough new piece.
Edwards is dubious about the Motown futures of 6’9″ center John Henson, oft-injured point guard Brandon Knight, veteran guard Langston Galloway, and 2016 lottery pick Thon Maker, among others. However, Edwards is bullish on the prospects of the Pistons retaining a few other players, including breakout big Christian Wood and second-year small forward Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk.
There’s more out of the Central Division:
- The next phase of development for a solid Pacers squad goes under the microscope courtesy of The Athletic’s Scott Agness and John Hollinger. This season’s team was on pace for a No. 5 seed and a 50-win year before league play was paused on March 11.
- Bucks All-Star forward and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a major hack today, extending to his social media, email and bank accounts, according to ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. A flurry of vulgar tweets centered around Stephen Curry, the late Kobe Bryant, Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee teammate Khris Middleton, and his pending free agency were quickly deleted. Antetokounmpo’s younger brother Kostas and his longtime girlfriend Mariah Riddlesprigger tweeted that “Giannis’ [T]witter, phone, email and bank accounts were hacked!” Later, Antetokounmpo released a statement on his Twitter account (Twitter link), saying, in part, “The tweets and posts were extremely inappropriate and I am so disappointed and disgusted.” The Bucks are investigating the incident.
- With the coronavirus pandemic continuing to force teams to brainstorm innovative workarounds for internal player development, the Cavaliers are considering using virtual reality to simulate full practices, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. Though Cleveland is reopening its practice facility tomorrow, social distance guidelines dictate that only one coach and one player, shooting at one basket, will be permitted at a time. “This is an opportunity to push the envelope and try to come up with some new and creative things,” Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff noted.
What a punk to do that, especially talking about a recently passed person.
Instead of “the Pistons being weighted down by the contract of Blake Griffins for the next few seasons.”
They could look to trade him out and start young and fresh with cap space.
Griffin makes sense for two places, New York or Oklahoma. In New York he could be the star they want to headline the team and attract players which being an upgrade over Randle and Portis. For OKC, Griffin who was born and raised in the state would be at home. They also played extremely well with CP3 also an aging star and they have a need at PF with Gallo most likely leaving in FA.
Now for the deal it would be either
1. Griffin for Randle and DSJ
2. (3 team deal) Griffin and a first (Knicks) for Randle and DSJ for CP3
The first deal is a straight 2 for 1. Pistons get Randle and DSJ on 1 year deals, both players clear cap space and are young so they would get to use them for a year and see if they are worth keeping.
The second deal Knicks get CP3 who would be the teams star and leader, someone they have rumoured to be after. OKC gets Griffin and a first round pick. SGA and Schroder both get more minutes at PG and they team replaces Gallo and gets back another first round pick. Pistons get back the same deal.
Either move would help the Pistons rebuild quicker and would probably be good deals for the Knicks. Detroit made the mistake of holding onto Drummond for to long until his value was next to nothing before trading him for nothing. They let Jackson go for free to contend but didn’t get anything in return at all. There’s no point in holding Griffin and letting his value decrease while having to pay him big money, just cut ties and start fresh.
Moving into 2021 they would be fresh with a top pick in this years draft. Luke Kennard, Christian Wood, DSJ, Julius Randle, Sekoyu Doumbouya, Bruce Brown and some second round like talent. But atleast they wouldn’t have any long term deals and no bad contracts.
Tyrese Haliburton or Cole Anthony would be a solid pick up as the future PG. Pair him with Luke Kennard who is a solid SG. Down low they have Randle and Wood who can give you good numbers but both have areas they need to improve. Another good pick up could be Harry Giles as a PF/C for on the bench behind these two. Give him an opportunity aswell
As a Knicks fan, Please no!!!!!!! Do not get CP3!