Pistons Draft / Other News

[Grey Matters]

As many were predicting, the Pistons drafted Stanley Johnson in the
first round. He's raw offensively, scoring only something like 40% in
the paint, and has a reasonably good shot from the college 3 point line
but most likely is going to have some trouble adjusting to the NBA line.
But he's very strong defensively, and after Singler and Butler, the
Pistons need someone who is more than a revolving door at the SF
position. They could have had Justise Winslow, but I'm OK with them
going with Johnson instead.

In the second they picked Darrun Hilliard from Villanova. He wasn't
highly ranked, but for a second rounder they made a decent choice. He's
supposed to be an extremely hard worker and very coachable. He shoots
about as well as Johnson from the outside, and also has a reputation as
a very strong defender. He can play either SF or SG, and probably has a
longterm role as a decent bench player, assuming he can make the
transition to the NBA 3 point line and can bulk up a bit.

The Pistons needed help at SF with Caron Butler being traded to the
Bucks for Ersan Ilyasova. Ilyasova is a good player in the mold of his
fellow Turk Memo Okur, but hasn't played a full season since 2010. He's
insurance for the probable but not yet definite departure of Greg
Monroe. With the Lakers drafting D'Angelo Russell over Okafor, I
wouldn't be surprised if they make a strong play for Monroe which the
Pistons don't want to match.

Finally, long time trainer Arnie Kander resigned, which is a significant
loss. He was a very skilled guy who most recently has been helping
Brandon Jennings recover and also helped Drummond get over his back
problems, which potentially could have derailed his career.

[xpen...@gmail.com]

On Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:09:02 +0000 (UTC), Grey Matters
<greyma...@ya-who.com> wrote:

>Finally, long time trainer Arnie Kander resigned, which is a significant
>loss. He was a very skilled guy who most recently has been helping
>Brandon Jennings recover and also helped Drummond get over his back
>problems, which potentially could have derailed his caree

I never met him but he's cousin by way of my maternal grandmother's
side of the family.