We’re behind a bit on our pre-draft coverage — earlier this week, A. Sherrod Blakely posted this list of players the Pistons plan on working out:
• Shan Foster, SG, Vanderbilt
• Omri Casspi, SF, Israel
• Bill Walker, SF, Kansas State
• Joe Crawford, SG, Kentucky
• Mike Green, PG, Butler
• D.J. White, PF, Indiana
• Joey Dorsey, PF, Memphis
• Courtney Lee, SG, Western Kentucky
• Trent Plaisted, C, BYU
• Giorgi Shermandini, C, the Republic of Georgia
• Kentrell Grandsberry, PF, South Florida
• Malik Hairston, SF, Oregon
Hat-tip to DBB reader Quick Darshan for emailing that over. After all the good things I heard about DJ White, it’s encouraging to see he’s on that list.
I also got an email from Israeli DBB reader Ohad, who was obviously excited to see the Pistons were talking to Casspi. I don’t read Hebrew, but I’m told this article discusses Casspi’s workout with the Pistons, saying that Michael Curry and Tony Ronzone ran the workouts while Joe Dumars looked on. Apparently Casspi has been on Detroit’s radar the last few years. I was intrigued, so I checked out his profile on Draft Express, which posted this scouting report in March:
A legit 6-9 combo forward, coach Sherf used him mostly as a small forward, but Omri often officiates as a power forward as well, as he proved in his previous outing against Hapoel Gilboa/Afula (scoring 20 points off the bench, by the way). He’s long, he’s well built and he’s also quick for his size. Actually, the biggest concerns about his ability to play small forward come from the defensive end, but he’s showing a bit better lateral quickness and aggressiveness, staying closer to the ball (he used to rely more on his length to defend perimeter guys, conceding them too much space in order to prevent them from slashing past him). This is one of the main areas that coach Sherf has been helping him out the most actually, and he wouldn’t be able to get minutes for the old-school conservative coach if he wasn’t producing for him on this end.
Offensively we’re seeing mostly a face-up player, very incisive with the ball in his hands, but also active playing off the ball. Casspi enjoys nice ball-handling skills, a solid first step, and excellent footwork. He can attack both ways, and uses his body really well to work his way towards the basket. He’s an aggressive player with great body control, who doesn’t fear contact at all. Against Real Madrid, he beat one of the best perimeter defenders in the Old Continent, Charles Smith, off the dribble, attacking him in a pure one-on-one situation with his left hand. Without the ball, Casspi actively cuts, often in back-door fashion, delivering mostly moves towards the basket. Following this trend (of activity without the ball and getting near the rim), he also emerges willing to clean the offensive boards looking for second-chance points, always trying to cash in off his superior size.
He sounds like he has some promise, but for a guy who turns 20 years old in a couple of weeks, he may be more of a project than an immediate answer for the backup small forward spot. I also don’t know if this is someone the Pistons are considering with their first-round pick or perhaps someone they hope falls to them in the second. Bear in mind, the Pistons have a glut of future second-round picks, so they could easily package a couple of those together if they’d like to move up from their current 59th spot in the second round this year.
Good things to hear. I did a quick search for Casspi and, on nbadraft.net, they had this to say:
Weaknesses: Appears to play for himself … Seems to have a problematic character, at the youth level he often did whatever he pleased having a number of incidents and clashes … Failed to win the Israeli HS league despite being in the most talented team and ended up leaving the school after disagreements with his coach … He got his youth coach fired after the team failed to win the national title … Never was able to take the junior national team to any remarkable achievements and this year’s euro-championship was a real fiasco, despite Casspi’s great numbers … Often shows a great deal of arrogance and ego … Often not aggressive enough, even in the Israeli youth league where he was taller then 95% of the guys, and easily the most coordinated and athletic at his size … Doesn’t go hard for boards, not fond of the “dirty work” on the court … Settles for the outside shot too much, has a too much penetration skill and finishing touch for that
I don’t know how credible that is, but just the thought of a lot of that seems to be the opposite of Piston character.
^
Notice the date on that article. Im not really interested in something written that long ago. I read a while back that Chad Ford thinks the Spurs are looking hard at Casspi with their 26th pick. Can anyone translate the article?
Cody: the date of which article? If you’re referring to the one written in Hebrew, don’t be thrown off by the Euro-style byline (DD/MM/YY) — 04.06.08 means it was published two days ago.
I like Bill Walker the most on that list, but I’m not sure he lasts that long.
He’s referring to the thing I posted I think. Probably should have finished scrolling to see that it was from summer ‘06…so hopefully it has changed.
I like Bill Walker too. I think the potential first rounders are him, White, Lee, Dorsey, Casspi and (maybe) Plaisted. The rest are for the 59th pick.
What about Joe Crawford? Can he remain a ref, and officiate games that he plays in for us? If we play San Antonio, can he guard Tim Duncan?
See, its funny because they have the same name.
More on Omri Casspi from Haaretz [English language paper from Israel]:
“Maccabi Tel Aviv forward Omri Casspi had his first practice with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons yesterday. The practice was attended by Pistons General Manager Joe Dumars and head scout Tony Ranzoni, and led by Michael Curry, the leading candidate for the team’s coaching position. “It was fun,” Casspi said following the practice. “I worked hard and did what I know how to do. I hope everything will be OK. This is just the beginning of the journey.”
There seems to be a consensus that our pick at #29, unless we move up or trade it away will be Bill Walker, if he is available.
This would be a great steal to get him at #29.
His explosiveness is almost back like it was in high school before he had his ACL injuries.
Of all the incoming freshman in the country last year Rivals had him ranked #7 overall and #2 SF in the country.
I saw him play at KS with Beasley. He can really ball. Walker averaged 16 + ppg as the second option to Beasely. A very smart aggressive tough and explosive player who plays tough defense beside scoring and loves to watch tapes.
You can read some great stuff about him at draftexpress.com
I wish Walker would go back to KState for one more year. I’m not against him particularly, I’m just worried he needs to tighten things up some more. His rebounding makes me happy, but his penchant for jacking up ill-advised threes worries me. I feel like Walker needs to make significant improvements in his three-point shooting or take it out of his arsenal.
Players with a propensity for jacking up ill-advised threes will never have a place in a Pistons uniform.
Casspi
There are a number of reasons for the Pistons not drafting Casspi and they far outweigh the positives.
1. He is only 19 which means no immediate help (see below)
2. He couldn’t even get playing time with Tel Aviv Maccabi Elite so how is he going to get playing time with the Pistons?
3. When he didn’t get playing time with the Elite Casspi’s father not only went to the coach and demanded that they play Omri, but his father also took the issue to the national press and complained about it. No reason to think that things would be different in the U.S. What team needs this kind of distraction and aggravation? Hopefully not the Pistons.
I lived in Israel so I know a little about the personality of Israeli’s. The majority of them are like his Casspi and his father, aggressive, over bearing and totally without patience. They refuse to take no for an answer.
If we drafted Casspi we would no doubt send him to the D-League. He would get playing time there, but the NBA season overlaps the D-League season so Casspi and his father would demand playing time for the Pistons once the D-League season was finished. Who needs this grief?
Casspi would be better off being drafted by the Lakers or Clippers so that he can live in Los Angeles which has the second largest Israeli population of any city in the world except for maybe Tel Aviv.
I think that the Casspi’s would be a lot happier in Los Angeles.
The best non-lottery guy that we could draft would be CDR. Not only is he aggressive but he can score and play defense. He is also a local Detroit kid.
Right now most mock drafts have him going either to the Magic or the Hornets.
We would have to move up a bit or maybe do a trade with the Magic on draft day.
Our 29th and Jarvis Hayes or Walter Herrman for the draft rights to CDR.
“Our 29th and Jarvis Hayes or Walter Herrman for the draft rights to CDR.”
you can’t trade people who aren’t on your roster
In case you guys need reminders on how to do deals:
http://www.realgm.com/src_tradechecker/1/
Also, here’s a list of the Pistons players and their salaries in upcoming years:
http://hoopshype.com/salaries/detroit.htm
Note: Antonio McDyess signed an extension through 2010.
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/07/23/pistons-give-mcdyess-two-year-extension/ <– Matt Watson’s article
HoopsHype just doesn’t have the per-year details listed. It’s 2 years, $14.46 million. Probably with some escalator, meaning maybe the 2nd year is slightly larger than the 1st year.
OT: Things just keep getting better for the Blazers, my pick to be this coming season’s New Orleans and skyrocket into Western Conference contention. Another talented swingman in Portland:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Ah1CQzOeCdPwPuUGfQph8ia8vLYF?slug=ap-trailblazers-fernandez&prov=ap&type=lgns
All they need now is a really good PG, and they still may be able to be a winning playoff squad without one just yet.
Mike,
Any player that Detroit drafts at 29 will be a project. Id rather draft a player that is younger with considerable upside than an older player with less upside. That is exactly what Casspi has, upside.
Casspi began seeing considerable PT after the coaching switch (which was motivated by the former coaches incompitance not Casspis fathers complaints) but that really doesnt matter much as he is a project.
Casspi is just a kid and there are many many kids with overbearing parents. Just take a look at Javele MCgee, his mother is acting as his agent and encouraging him to play like Dirk Notwiski when instead of taking 100 3pointers a day he should be playing down in the lowpost. I doubt that Casspis father will be more of a distraction than any other parent of 19 year old kid with a chance of playing in the NBA.
I like Casspi as a pick, I also like Bill Walker and Trent Plaisted. I would like to see Courtney Lee, JJ Hickson and Devon Hardin come in for work outs as well.
The draftexpress.net article that Mike posted makes it sound like Bill Walker is really working on fixing his shooting mechanics and that his athleticism is coming back to where it once was.
In high school, before a couple injuries, his in-game dunking ability was akin to Vince Carter’s.
why didn’t walker work out in orlando? was he hurt?
I’m surprised that the Pistons aren’t getting Brandon Rush to work out
MG: Rush’s stock is on fire. Unless we’re making a trade, he’s not going to be a Piston at the end of the month. He’s pushing into the middle of the first round so hard, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was one of the first two picks made after the lottery teams finish.
There’s some decent highlight reels of Bill Walker on youtube. This one is just compilation of windmill power dunks, nothing special. But the last one is a doozy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4sSsOtnku8M
There’s a couple youtube highlight reels of Bill Walker. This one is a compilation of windmill power dunks. Nothing special. But the last one is a doozy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4sSsOtnku8M
There are better highlight reels of Bill Walker than this on youtube but once you get past the repetitive windmill power dunks… the last one is a doozy.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4sSsOtnku8M
@Mike:
“I lived in Israel so I know a little about the personality of Israeli’s. The majority of them are like his Casspi and his father, aggressive, over bearing and totally without patience. They refuse to take no for an answer.”
Seeing as how there are a couple of israelis who read this site i would expect you to have a little more sense before opening your mouth. I could say a thing or two about the americans i see here in israel and abroad but i think that would
a) serve no purpose
b) be a stupid generalization over a population made of different people with different behaviours
c) would anger a lot of people who read this blog
Now to the actual subject:
Caspi played in the best team in israel. He had to fight for a spot on the roster with names such as david bluthental (who almost got picked by sacramnto a couple of years ago) and Alex Garcia (a former san antonio spur). Israelis in general sometimes have a hard time cracking the rotation. Because of his age and because it’s known that sometimes israeli players get overshadowed by NBA talents his father spoke out. dumb move but still i can see where he came from.
Fact is that kid not only cracked into the roster he took a lot of minutes from both those players:
http://www.safsal.co.il/hplayer.aspx?id=1719
top line is his stats for the israeli league for this season. 20mpg, 60% from the 2 and this is from a young player in a star studded team who go 0 plays called for him.
“aggressive, over bearing and totally without patience”. not that i fully agree but that reminds of someone else
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGrQ38-pp0&feature=related
Omri talks trash, takes losing to heart, plays 100% on both sides of the court and would be a great addition to any team willing to give him a chance.
And about all the negative comments about israel i only have to say that i’ve seen plenty of american players who loved israel and found the people impatient but warm and loving. Raptors’ Anthony parker is just one of them and a great supporter of israel. On the other hand if you rather live somewhere where if you drop dead on the street nobody would touch you so as to not get sued and entire neighbourhoods are cosidered unsafe to walk thruogh at both night and day, be my guest.
I’m a big fan of DJ White and think he would be perfect for the Pistons. That said, don’t we already have an high-energy undersized PF that consumes babies from time to time?
My only guess would be that it would spell the end for either Sheed or McDyess. But would anyone be concerned about a lack of height at the position?
Chad Ford of ESPN now has the Pistons selecting Walker with our #29 pick.
This update was done after last weeks workout so my guess Ford has talked to some Pistons people after that workout.
Looking good so far. I sure hope Walker is still around at $29. He would be a great steal at that point.
Sorry about the triple post. Didn’t think it was going through.
Quick Darshan,
Hopefully Bill Walker’s vagina doesn’t swell up like mine and cause him to go to the locker room for 2 minutes before coming back out and wincing the entire rest of the game/season.
Regards,
Vince Cartre
haha Carter* my bad
MG, I’ve been wanting Brandon Rush for the better part of 2 years now. He would be perfect to put along side Stuckey. He’s a big guy with a ton of athleticism who can shoot and get to the rim. He’s got the capability to be a great defender in the NBA. He’s big enough to guard some 3s, quick enough to guard 2s. He’s not a great ball handler, but is adequate. He’s a better player than CDR, although CDR possesses a lot of the same qualities. Either guy would be a terrific fit for us. I’d be really surprised if Rush lasted past Orlando’s pick. All of those teams in the 15-20 range could use him. I’d be shocked if either him or CDR were available when we drafted, which is sad.
I do like Walker, he’s a terrific athlete. I’m a little leery of him because he was surrounded by the OJ Mayo circus for 4 years of high school, but there’s no indication that he’s been sucked in to any of that. People always talked about Beasley having the character issues on that K-State team, so maybe my concerns are unfounded.
I also wonder if we’re not candidates to swing a deal with Phoenix. Ford rightly points out in his latest mock that they have a history of selling their first rounders. Mr. D just paid Flip $5.2 million to stop coaching his team, is it that much of a stretch to pay another $3-4 million to give Joe D an extra chip to use to help re-configure this team? Or perhaps Joe D swings a deal where we give a couple of future firsts and Minnesota’s 2nd from next year to get the Phoenix pick. I dunno, I’m thinking out loud here. Any thoughts?
I don’t think that Joe D. would draft anyone with serious off court issues.
Its hard to find anything in the press about negative off court activity by any Pistons player, now that Darko is gone.
Longtime reader, first time poster . . .
I agree Mike. If anything in Greg’s initial post is true, Casspi seems a little too Darkoian.
But as an avid Hoosier fan (don’t ask why), I would be quite pleased to see DJ White with that selection. There are many extraneous reasons that caused him to seemingly not live up to his Big Ten Freshman of the Year promise. One major one was being teamed with an all out freshman ball hog this past year. I don’t think he would be the answer to filling a potential Sheed-sized holes, but I do know that no one in college could crash the boards like he did.