The Pistons offseason may seem underwhelming to a lot, but the Pistons are happy with their haul.
To recap, here's who the Pistons have come to terms with thus far this offseason:
Jodie Meeks - 3 years, $19.5 million
Cartier Martin - unofficial
Aaron Gray - unofficial
DJ Augustin - 2 years, $6 million
Caron Butler - 1 year (team option year 2), $4.5 million
Stan Van Gundy said that the Pistons had to be aggressive early on with Jodie Meeks. It wasn't a very popular signing (at least right away), but it wasn't long before it started to make sense. Maybe being lumped with Cartier Martin's reported two-year deal didn't help, but you can't deny what Van Gundy and his GM Jeff Bower were looking for -- shooters.
Jeff Bower spoke to Keith Langlois this week, discussing the above-mentioned free-agent signings:
"We had identified a small group of players that we felt really had all the qualities that we were looking for," Bower told [Keith Langlois] this week. "They addressed holes we wanted to help fill on our roster and fit the plan we wanted to follow. We wanted to come out strong and make them understand what we were all about and show them how important they were to us in our plans moving forward and that was our approach." [...]
"I think it's important to have shooters within numbers," Bower said. "One player won't stretch a floor out. It'll change it, but it won't necessarily stretch it. But when you can put multiple shooters on the floor and have weapons at multiple spots, then you really will start to see all the movement take place and the ease of flow of offense. So it was important to get a number of players that had those traits." [...]
"I would say we met the goals we laid out for us (in free agency)," Bower said. "I think we did it in a fashion that we feel like we brought in the right kind of guy. We brought in the right kind of skills. We brought in the number of guys that will change the dynamic of our team. I think we did establish a group that will be competitive in practice, first of all, and build those habits and then be ble to take them out to compete throughout an NBA season. But until you compete daily in practice, it's hard to expect to be successful competing throughout and 82-game season."
Bower's leaving out one important "free agent" though -- Greg Monroe. Monroe's a restricted free agent, but he's a pretty big unsettled goal.
But what do you think, DBB -- do you like what the Pistons did this offseason in free agency (aside from the pending Greg Monroe situation)? A poll at MLIVE gives the Pistons a B, and I'm fine with that.