Inside DBB: 2021 Mock Draft Thoughts

Hey everyone. The writers and editors here at Detroit Bad Boys have a Slack channel where we talk about... whatever comes our way. Stuff related to your Detroit Pistons, the NBA at large, future pieces that are going to go up on the site, you name it. Today, after Draft Express and Bleacher Report dropped full, 60-pick mock drafts, it got us talking about the Pistons’ draft outlook, their options, and their outlook for the next couple of years.

I thought it was entertaining and a good conversation, and wanted to share it with y’all. So here, edited a bit for clarity and excluding some non-draft-related tangents, is Inside DBB:

Brady Fredericksen:

DraftExpress’ first mock of the year is out

They have the Pistons grabbing Kuminga at 5

It says they used ESPN BPI to decide the order. That hasn’t been published for this season, yet, but would suggest that those computers think MIN, CLE, NYK, ORL, are all worse than the Pistons

David Fernandez:

Lazarus Jackson:

We’re not the worst team in the league. hopefully lose the most games tho

Sean Corp:

I feel like Steve Clifford is too good of a coach not to will the Magic to their customary 29+ wins. Cleveland …. less sure, but they have the kind of young scorers who could conceivably take a step in season. The Knicks … I thought they were supposed to be mediocre to maybe good?

Brady Fredericksen:

Those teams have a 4-5 game buffer on Detroit

Sean Corp:

Losing most games close and one blowout win seems to have juiced the numbers in Detroit’s favor, it seems

Lazarus Jackson:

To go back to the mock draft, if the Pistons fell to 5 and got the third-best guy in the draft, that’s a W, no?

Scott:

@lazchance Yes, that’s where I’m at, pending Springer #HeightWatch

Sean Corp:

And regarding the mock draft, I consider any season that ends with Detroit in the top five a win, and if they can get anything more than the fifth-best player a bonus. But who knows how conventional wisdom shakes out when the season ends.

Brady Fredericksen:

I think we have to look at the top 5 picks in this draft different than we do in a normal draft since this one is deeper at the top

Scott:

I am not at all certain that this one is “deeper” from 3 onwards

I.e. I definitely would have taken Cade and Mobley 1-2 in last year’s draft, but after that? Probably LaMelo 3 in a hypothetical combo draft, at least as of now.

Lazarus Jackson:

What Scott said

I need to see the Ignite guys (who start games soon!) but in general the gunning 2-guards are not my archetype

Scott:

What laz said

(Jalen G scares me)

Brady Fredericksen:

By all accounts Green and Suggs would have been the top picks ths year from what experts were saying last year

Lazarus Jackson:

They both compare to Ant Edwards

Who I think will be good!

Scott:

I would not have had Green top 5, based on what little we know, because of how much I loved Poku and Pat and Ike, and because Ant Edwards basically is the defensive end version of Jalen Green

And I really don’t know what to do with Suggs, because it’s like he can’t really dribble but on this Gonzaga team he just doesn’t have to

It’s similar to the Haliburton “not a point guard” thing

Sean Corp:

I think there’s obviously a top two that seems a tier above everyone else. Then there’s a small group where I at least feel like I wouldn’t lose any sleep over being “stuck” with them. But I defer to those who know better than me.

Lazarus Jackson:

Kuminga is Congolese for Patrick Williams. Think that’s the direction Troy would head in given a non-#1 pick, especially given that we know he tried to move up to 4 to take Pat

And there’s mounting evidence that Suggs can’t actually SHOOT. So if he can’t dribble and he can’t shoot... that’s bad, no?

Scott:

Yes that’s bad, I am mystified by those who have him as a lock at 3

It’s not like there is a latent genetic possibility of him becoming 6-7+

Sean Corp:

What’s going on then? Gonzaga just so good they cover up his flaws and because he has the ball in his hands a lot he’s getting all the credit?

Lazarus Jackson:

Gonzaga is the best team in the country + he jump real good

Scott:

Kispert and Timme are justifiably getting a lot of the credit too, but yea I see sidekick in the NBA rather than volume offense (in fairness he does seem like a really good instinctive defender, so, Thicc Haliburton, again)

Like, I don’t think he will be able to do CJ McCollum’s job as well as CJ can, if that makes sense

Sean Corp:

But a lesser CJ on offense but greater CJ on defense seems valuable.

Scott:

Yes valuable, IF he can shoot, but not the volume creator / offensive engine that these Pistons still need

I have mentioned this before but Killian (even if healthy) + Suggs = either sidekicks to the doomed Jerami Grant Contender, or building blocks that unequivocally require tanking again NEXT season

I’m getting The Fear

Brady Fredericksen:

They’re gonna have to be bad again next year

Either they land a transformative rookie (Cade/Mobley) and they make a jump, or they ride it out without cap space next year

Then can spend and really go for it with another blue chipper heading into 2023-24

Scott:

You mean just Cade, then, because Mobley is too skinny and a ways away from impacting winning bigly

And I LOVE Mobley

Brady Fredericksen:

Yeah maybe so

Lazarus Jackson:

I always assumed we were gonna suck in 2022 too, unless we got Cade AND he was literally Luka-level out the gate

Isn’t that the plan?

Sean Corp:

I feel like even if they hit it right in the draft, this team is still certainly very bad next season.

Scott, even with concerns about the offensive engine, I assume you’d still take Mobley at 2? Or no?

Scott:

Yes Mobley is his own tier just as much as Cade is his own tier

@lazchance I think I’m just so beaten down by the Blake trade and the twelve years of suck that I fear other stupider outcomes/senaios

Brady Fredericksen:

Killian-Cade-Grant-Blake-Plumlee

still bad lol even if Killian is good, that’s not good.

Scott:

Subtract Blake, presume Killian healthy...and that’s like a scrappy Steve Clifford team

Sean Corp:

If the Pistons come out of this three year nadir with a point guard, a really solid wing and one “difference maker” then everything else is academic. Doesn’t matter what order they come in. And the degree to which the point guard and wing are good —> doesn’t really matter because they could just be up-cycled for other pieces around the “difference maker.”

The name of the game in tanking is finding the one player to build around. Detroit will have a couple bites at that apple over the next two seasons. And knowing the kind of guys Weaver likes, maybe he’ll surprise everyone and steal a Keldon Johnson along the way.

The rebuild comes for us all, whether teams like it or not. Detroit extended their misery by a decade by trying to put it off. But here we are.