Spoiler Alert: There is a trade in here that no one is going to like, but it would upgrade our team drastically.

Salary Cap/Re-signing (taken from Dream Weaver's Post - Thank you!)

Tobias Harris - $17,000,000
Reggie Jackson - $15,000,000
Jodie Meeks - $6,540,000
Aron Baynes - $6,500,000
(Josh Smith stretch) - $5,400,000
Marcus Morris - $5,000,000
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope - $3,678,319
Stanley Johnson - $2,969,880
Reggie Bullock - $2,255,644
(Aaron Gray stretch) - $452,059

Darrun Hilliard - partially guaranteed $874,060

Add Drummond's 8.2 million dollar cap hold

That gives Detroit roughly 16 milllion in cap space after the draft picks.

Trades:

I may as well start out with this horrific idea:

DET Trades: Stanley Johnson, Jodie Meeks

Clippers Trade: JJ Redick and Branden Dawson

Here me out, please. I love Stanley Johnson, as I know everyone here does. However, Stanley JUST turned 20 years old, and is going to take a while to develop. His WS/48 in his rookie year was .018, and his PER was 8.7. O-Rating was 91 and D Rating was 106. He was okay defensively, as he's built like a tank, but was atrocious on offense for most of the year. I think it's going to take him 2-3 years to even become a league average player.

*Note after re-reading* Also, while J.J. is a UFA at season's end, the main point of acquiring him now would be that we would acquire his bird rights. After Andre's extension and whatever signings we make this year, I'm not sure that we would have enough cap space to just right out sign Redick otherwise. Even if we did, we would then be able to acquire more pieces next year before re-signing J.J. and going over the cap. This, and it gives us a full year to see how he would fit in this offense. /end note*

For comparison's sake, KCP's rookie year and the following 2 years looked like this:

Rookie: .055 WS/48, 9.4 PER, 106/111 O/D Rating
Year 2: .052 WS/48 11.2 PER, 101/109 O/D Rating
Year 3: .092 WS/48 12.4 PER, 107/107 O/D rating

Now, KCP was a year older than Stanley in his rookie year, and obviously I'm not saying this comparison means a ton, other than stating that this seems to be a pretty normal progression for young players. Stanley could make a huge jump in year two/year three, but again, looking at other young players, a slow progression is probably in order.

With this trade, the Pistons get a great (possibly the best in the league) 3 point shooter. This team really needs shooting around RJ/Dre, and this will do wonders. Now, I know that JJ is only signed for one more year, but this would give us a look to see how he would fit on this team, and then allow us to resign him over the cap next year using his bird rights. JJ is already 31 years old, but if anyone is going to age well, it's going to be this type of player.

Now, if I am just extremely dumb and Clippers might do this for less than Stanley, then maybe we trade Marcus, Jodie, and our first rounder for JJ, Austin Rivers, and their first rounder? Not sure - not great at valuing players/trades.

Draft:

Was thinking of trading down (the Celtics idea with Meeks was one option), but with my previous trade being done, I say we keep the pick and draft Wade Baldwin. Baldwin can hopefully turn into was Spencer Dinwiddie was supposed to (and still might, with Dinwiddie only going into his third year). Baldwin will slot in as the 3rd string PG to start, and can offer shooting, youth, and a big defender.

With the second round pick, I'm hoping everyone's favorite Thon Maker is there. If not, it's a bit tough to guess who is going to be taken with the 49th overall pick, so I'll leave it at that.

Free agency:

My main target in free agency is Marvin Williams. He has turned into a great 3 point shooter, and a surprisingly adept defender at the 4. His D ratings over the last 2 years are at 103 and 104 (for comparison, Tobias and Ersan were both at 106 this year with us), while his 3 point percentage the last 2 years are at a 38% average. Marvin Williams has blossomed into a very well-rounded and effective player. I'm assuming he could be had at around $10 mill per year over a 3 or 4 year deal.

My next target is DJ Augustin for the backup PG role. Once again, I'm looking for a solid 3 point shooter, and DJ's at 37% for his career, and has made it above the 40% mark a few times (including last year). He was solid in his first trip with the Pistons, and would be a good upgrade from what we had last year backing up Reggie. Not a great defender, but what can you expect from a back up PG that we are going to sign for a 2-3 year deal at $6 mill per?

I would also like to think that Tolliver would come back at a veteran's min contract.

After these moves, we re-sign Andre to his Max.

Roster:

We started at around $16 mill in cap space. We used that up exactly in our Free agent signings. We also cleared around $1.5 mill with our trade, which we used to sign our rookies. Now, these numbers obviously may be slightly off, but if they are, it's give or take $1 million or less. If we are over by this, I'm sure there is another easy trade we can make to clear a tiny bit of space. The lineup now reads:

PG: Jackson (32 MPG), Augustin (16), Baldwin

SG: Redick (28 MPG), KCP (20), Hilliard

SF: Harris (16 MPG), Morris (24), KCP (8), Bullock

PF: Williams (30 MPG), Harris (16), Morris (2), Tolliver

C: Drummond (32 MPG), Baynes (16 MPG), Maker

Now, KCP and Marcus become bench players. You could bring these two in for defensive situations as well, or if the starters are not defending well (a starting backcourt of Reggie Jackson and JJ Redick is going to give up some points). Marcus and KCP are playing less minutes than last year in my model, but that's because they are being replaced by better players. Having these two come off the bench instead of a young Stanley Johnson and Anthony Tolliver, among others, is a huge boost to the 2nd unit. The great thing also about this team is the versatility. I have KCP playing a bit of the 3, which may be slightly out of position, but he could do it. Other than him, Marcus can easily play 3/4, as can Tobias, and even Marvin Williams. We can switch out the 2/3/4 depending on how they are doing or who we are facing.

I was thinking about keeping the starters the same and bringing JJ and Williams off of the bench, but I would rather have the best players starting. We would then have a 35%, a 40+%, another 35%, and a 36-40% 3 point shooting squad around Dre. Tobias is a great all around offensive player, and can take some pressure off of Reggie as far as playmaking. Marvin Williams is a solid post up player when he goes down on the block, especially against smaller players, and as stated is also a great 3 point threat. He will not offer much in terms of playmaking, but with Reggie and Tobias manning that role, JJ and Marvin just need to shoot the lights out.

The upgrades I made I think are very sizable, and would make a great difference heading into next season. Swapping Steve Blake(.075 WP/48 and .053 WS/48)) for D.J. Augustin (.091/.106), Stanley Johnson(.010/.018) for JJ Redick (.136/.154), and a combination of less minutes for Anthony Tolliver (.168/.100), Marcus Morris (.008/.091) and KCP (.094/.092 for Marvin Williams (.167/.161). Please let me know what you think!

Full roster:

Reggie Jackson (32 MPG)
JJ Redick (28 MPG)
Tobias Harris (32 MPG)
Marvin Williams (30 MPG)
Andre Drummond (32 MPG)
Kentavious Caldwell Pope (28 MPG)
Marcus Morris (26 MPG)
DJ Augustin (16 MPG)
Aron Baynes (16 MPG)
Reggie Bullock (3rd string)
Darrun Hilliard (3rd string)
Wade Baldwin (3rd string)
Thon Maker (3rd string)
Anthony Tolliver (3rd string)
Keep 15th spot open