Detroit Pistons Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Maker, Odds, Williams, Allen

August 21st, 2021 at 10:55am CST by Dana Gauruder

Makur Maker has signed with Australia’s Sydney Kings, according to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. The 6’11” Maker, who attended Howard University last season, withdrew from this year’s draft but missed the NCAA’s withdrawal deadline. He’ll join the NBL’s Next Stars program with the aim of improving his draft stock.

“I can’t wait to learn from Luc Longley and Andrew Bogut, probably the best two big men in Australian basketball history who both were NBA champions,” he said. “Furthermore, under the leadership of our head coach Chase Buford, who is also of NBA championship background, and the front office with the CEO Chris Pongrass who was with the Memphis Grizzlies, I feel that this is my best pathway to becoming an NBA lottery pick next year.”

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Following the schedule release on Friday, the Nets were listed by Caesars Sportsbook as the favorite to win the most regular-season games, David Purdum of ESPN relays. Brooklyn’s projected odds are 54.5 victories, just ahead of the Bucks (53.5), Lakers (51.5), Jazz (51.5) and Sixers (51.5). The Pistons (25.5), Magic (23.5) and Thunder (22.5) sit at the bottom of the projected wins list.
Former NBA forward Johnathan Williams has signed with Italy’s Dolomiti Energia Trento, Sportando relays. He played with Germany’s Niners Chemnitz last season. Williams appeared in 15 games for the Wizards in 2019/20 and 24 for the Lakers in 2018/19.
Hall-of-Famer Ray Allen has decided to become a prep coach, according to The Associated Press. Allen has been hired as the director of boys and girls basketball at Miami’s Gulliver Prep, and will also coach the boys varsity team.

Pistons Notes: David, Diallo, Pickett, Schedule

August 20th, 2021 at 5:51pm CST by Dana Gauruder

George David has reached an agreement with the Pistons to become an assistant general manager, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. It will be a second stint in the organization for David, who spent 19 seasons in Detroit’s front office before joining Wasserman Media Group in 2015. David, who spent the bulk of his previous time in the organization in scouting and player evaluation, has strong ties with GM Troy Weaver, Wojnarowski adds in another tweet.

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The two-year contract signed by Hamidou Diallo is worth a flat $5.2MM in each season, Keith Smith tweets. The second year, as previously noted, is a team option. Diallo entered the month as a restricted free agent.
Jamorko Pickett, who signed an Exhibit 10 contract, has an uphill climb to make the opening-day roster, but he has no doubt he’s good enough to play in the NBA, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. Pickett, who played four seasons at Georgetown, averaged 9.8 PPG and 3.8 RPG in the Las Vegas summer league. “I was given opportunities and I took the most of them,” he said. “I know I belong here. It’s always having that mindset – knowing I belong, knowing I should start. That’s what pushed me when I did have the opportunity to excel.”
Cade Cunningham will make his regular season debut at home against Chicago on Oct. 20, Langlois notes while breaking down the regular-season slate. The NBA released team schedules on Friday. The Pistons’ schedule can be accessed here.

Hamidou Diallo Re-Signs With Pistons On Two-Year Contract

August 19th, 2021 at 8:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

8:35pm: A team press release has confirmed the signing, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com tweets. The second year of the contract is a team option, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets.

5:04pm: Restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo will remain with the Pistons on a two-year, $10.4MM deal, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

Diallo’s agents, Thad Foucher and Joe Smith, informed Wojnarowski of the decision.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (Twitter link), the Pistons will eventually have to make another roster move to fit in Diallo, since they now have 16 guaranteed contracts on their books. There’s no rush to make that move, since teams can carry up to 20 players in the offseason.

Diallo appeared in 20 games after Detroit acquired him from Oklahoma City, averaging 11.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 1.2 APG. The high-flying Diallo also showed improvement with his 3-point shot after the mid-season trade, draining 39% of his 3-point shots. He had a breakout season with extended playing time, as he also averaged 11.9 for OKC in 32 games.

A 2018 second-round selection, Diallo appeared in 129 games with the Thunder. He’s averaged 7.5 PPG and 3.6 RPG in 17.8 MPG during his three-year career.

General manager Troy Weaver, a former Thunder executive, had prioritized re-signing Diallo this offseason. Detroit extended a qualifying offer of $2.08MM to make him a restricted free agent.

Diallo joins a crowd at the wing that includes top pick Cade Cunningham, who will often share the floor with Killian Hayes, as well Saddiq Bey, Josh Jackson, Rodney McGruder, Frank Jackson and Jerami Grant (in bigger lineups).

Garza Earned Two-Way Deal In Summer League; Leadership Comes Naturally For Cunningham

August 19th, 2021 at 6:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pistons second-round pick Luka Garza earned a two-way contract with strong performances in the Las Vegas summer league. Garza dropped 25 pounds since the college season ended and noticed a difference in his mobility, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. “I think it definitely improves my ability to move in multiple ways,” Garza said. “But, for me, I’m not comfortable. I want to continue to work on that and get better and better and better. The better I am on that end, the better my career is going to go.”

Top pick Cade Cunningham showed that he’s ready and willing to be the Pistons’ team leader during summer league action, Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports writes. Cunningham made his presence felt, not only with his play but the way he encouraged and directed his teammates. “He’s a natural leader, which is rare for a 19-year-old kid,” coach Dwane Casey told Goodwill.

Checking In On Unsigned 2021 NBA Draft Picks

August 18th, 2021 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

When Usman Garuba officially signed his rookie contract with Houston earlier this week, he became the 30th and final first-round pick from the 2021 draft to sign his first NBA deal. There will be no draft-and-stash players among this year’s first-rounders — they’re all now officially on NBA rosters.

As our tracker shows, another 23 second-rounders from this year’s draft class have also signed their first NBA contracts or – in Joe Wieskamp‘s case – agreed to a deal that should be officially completed soon.

That leaves just seven prospects from 2021’s 60-player draft class who have yet to be signed. They are as follows:

New York Knicks: Rokas Jokubaitis, G, Lithuania
Boston Celtics: Juhann Begarin, G, France
Brooklyn Nets: Marcus Zegarowski, G, Creighton
Philadelphia 76ers: Filip Petrusev, F, Serbia
Philadelphia 76ers: Charles Bassey, C, Western Kentucky
Detroit Pistons: Balsa Koprivica, C, Florida State
Brooklyn Nets: RaiQuan Gray, F, Florida State

Of these seven players, at least three appear on track to spend the 2021/22 season in Europe. Jokubaitis returned to his team in Barcelona following his Summer League stint with the Knicks, while Petrusev signed with Turkish team Anadolu Efes after playing for the Sixers in Summer League. Begarin, who also played in Summer League for the Celtics, will likely end up heading back overseas to France

That leaves just four true unsigned second-round picks, including a pair of Nets. It will be interesting to see what Brooklyn’s plans are for Zegarowski and Gray. The team currently has 13 players on guaranteed contracts and one on a two-way deal, so there could conceivably be room for Zegarowski on the 15-man squad, with Gray getting the other two-way deal.

However, DeAndre’ Bembry has a partially guaranteed contract and looks like a good bet to make the Nets’ regular-season roster, and Reggie Perry (free agent) and David Duke (Exhibit 10) are among the other candidates to get a two-way deal from the team. It’s also not clear if Brooklyn intends to carry a full 15-man roster to start the season, since leaving a roster spot open would create major tax savings for the franchise.

I could envision a scenario in which Zegarowski signs a two-way contract and Gray signs a G League deal to play for the Long Island Nets, but that’s just my speculation. There are still a number of ways the Nets could go.

Meanwhile, prospects drafted in the 50s like Bassey (No. 53) and Koprivica (No. 57) are generally good candidates for two-way deals, but the Sixers and Pistons have recently filled both of their two-way openings. Perhaps Philadelphia envisions Bassey taking Anthony Tolliver‘s spot on the 15-man roster, since Tolliver is on a non-guaranteed contract.

It’ll be trickier for Detroit to find a roster spot for Koprivica. The Pistons already have 15 players on guaranteed contracts and still may re-sign restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo. Stashing Koprivica overseas or in the G League could be the plan. Koprivica was born and raised in Serbia, so he might be more comfortable spending a season overseas than a typical NCAA draftee would be.

Chris Smith's Two-Way Contract Covers Two Years

August 18th, 2021 at 2:03pm CST by Luke Adams

The two-way contract that undrafted rookie Chris Smith signed with the Pistons will cover two seasons, according to Keith Smith (Twitter link).

Pistons Sign Jamorko Pickett To Exhibit 10 Contract

August 18th, 2021 at 6:57am CST by Dana Gauruder

AUGUST 18: Pickett’s Exhibit 10 deal with the Pistons is official, according to RealGM’s transactions log.

AUGUST 2: Jamorko Pickett has agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Pistons, Jon Chepkevich of Stats Perform tweets. The pending signing has been confirmed by Hoops Rumors’ JD Shaw (Twitter link).

Pickett went undrafted after playing four seasons at Georgetown. The 6’9” forward averaged 12.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG and 2.1 APG in his senior season. He started 109 of 119 games during his college career and made 36.5% of his 3-point attempts, adding to appeal.

An Exhibit 10 contract can be converted to a standard deal or a two-way pact before the regular season, though the players who sign them often end up becoming affiliate players for their team’s G League squad. If Pickett ends up playing for the Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s G League affiliate, in 2021/22, he could earn a bonus worth up to $50K.

Pistons Will Have Roster Decision If Diallo Returns; Two Coaches Promoted

August 17th, 2021 at 12:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pistons will face a roster crunch if they keep restricted free agent Hamidou Diallo, observes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Detroit already has 15 guaranteed contracts for the upcoming season, and while Diallo is searching for a better deal than his $2.1MM qualifying offer, he will likely sign it if he can’t get more money elsewhere. Edwards expects Josh Jackson, Jahlil Okafor or Sekou Doumbouya to be traded or released if Diallo stays in Detroit.
Jordan Brink and Austin Dufault have been promoted to player development coaches with the Pistons, Edwards tweets. Brink has been with the team since 2016 and is the only remaining member of Stan Van Gundy’s staff. Dufault played collegiately at Colorado and spent six seasons as a player in Europe.

Pistons Sign Chris Smith To Two-Way Deal

August 17th, 2021 at 8:10am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

AUGUST 17: Smith’s two-way contract is now official, according to RealGM’s transactions log. Smith and Garza are Detroit’s two-way players.

JULY 30: The Pistons are expected to add UCLA swingman Chris Smith on a two-way contract this season, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The 6’9″ Chicago native was a four-year player with the Bruins. In January 2021, Smith tore his ACL after just eight games and missed most of his senior season. Over those eight games, all starts, Smith averaged a solid 12.6 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 0.9 SPG, while shooting .415/.500/.794.

Even without Smith, the Bruins enjoyed a spirited March Madness run in 2021, reaching the Final Four before they fell to Gonzaga.

Smith’s best college season wound up being his fairly healthy junior year in 2019/20. As a junior, Smith was UCLA’s leading scorer with his 13.1 PPG average. The 21-year-old also pulled down 5.4 RPG, dished out 1.5 APG, and made 1.0 SPG across 31 games. He posted a shooting line of .458/.341/.840. He was named a 2019/20 All-Pac-12 First Teamer and that same season’s Pac-12 Most Improved Player.

The Pistons, led by GM Troy Weaver, have had a busy draft day. They selected Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham with the top pick in the 2021 draft. They subsequently picked three players in the second round: Michigan forward Isaiah Livers, Iowa big man Luka Garza and Florida State center Balsa Koprivica.

Pistons Sign Luka Garza To Two-Way Contract

August 17th, 2021 at 8:06am CST by Luke Adams

AUGUST 17: Garza has officially signed his two-way contract with Detroit, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

AUGUST 16: Rookie big man Luka Garza will sign a two-way contract with the Pistons, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The No. 52 overall pick in the 2021 draft out of Iowa, Garza was named the Player of the Year as a senior in 2020/21 after averaging 24.1 PPG and 8.7 RPG on .553/.440/.709 shooting in 31 games (31.5 MPG). He was a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year and two-time consensus first-team All-American as well.

Garza’s professional career got off to a solid start in Las Vegas, where he has averaged 13.5 PPG and 8.3 RPG in just 19.8 minutes per contest (four games) for Detroit in Summer League play.

The Pistons already have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, with Hamidou Diallo‘s restricted free agency still to be resolved, so it makes sense that the team would dedicate one of its two-way contract slots to Garza rather than trying to squeeze him onto the 15-man regular season roster. Undrafted UCLA swingman Chris Smith is expected to occupy Detroit’s other two-way spot.

The Pistons’ No. 57 overall pick, Balsa Koprivica, remains unsigned without a clear path to a spot on the regular season roster or a two-way deal. It’s possible Detroit intends to stash Koprivica overseas or in the G League.