Detroit Pistons

Burke says he's not sure where he'll be drafted, but he still says playing for the Pistons would be a big honor.

Chris Broussard empties the notebook and examines a potential power play by Phil Jackson in Detroit as summer coaching rumors start to stir in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

COLUMN: Nate McMillan was the leading candidate at the beginning of the search and remains viable late, while the odd-couple mix of Joe Dumars and Phil Jackson holds intrigue as the process nears its end.

Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: But as the Pistons concluded their interview with Oklahoma City assistant Maurice Cheeks Wednesday, their first face-to-face meeting after phone conversations while the Thunder were still in the playoffs, it appears they won’t be bringing in any more candidates, a source tells The Detroit News. No Brian Shaw. No David Fizdale. No Larry Drew. Considering we don’t know everyone Joe Dumars has interviewed, this news means only so much. But it might indicate the Pistons will hire a coach before the conference finals end – unless they really had no interest in Shaw or Lionel Hollins, anyway.

The Atlanta Hawks are looking for a new coach, even though they have Larry Drew. But they’ve reportedly been very up front with Drew about this and have tried to accommodate him. Chris Vivlamore The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Drew told the Atlanta Journal Constitution Friday that in a meeting with general manager Danny Ferry earlier this week the two came to an amicable agreement to allow the coach to interview for other vacant positions in the league. Drew is a good coach – he went 44-38, 40-26 and 44-38 and won a playoff series with a few transitional rosters – and he’s a former Pistons player. He’s not necessarily the best candidate available, but he might be, and the Pistons should at least talk to him. But, apparently, they can’t do that. Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Drew’s contract expires at the end of June, but Hawks management hasn’t approached him about an extension and is talking to other teams. Drew doesn’t have the luxury of reaching out to the Pistons and they would need permission from the Hawks to interview him, a different proposition than interviewing a team’s assistant coach. But what about Drew saying he could interview around the league? Goodwill: Heard from Drew’s camp that it’s more complicated than it’s being made to be publicly

Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: The Pistons also formally interviewed former Pistons and Suns interim coach Lindsey Hunter and Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer, among others, but haven’t yet talked to Pacers assistant Brian Shaw or Heat assistant David Fizdale, whose teams are still in the playoffs. My skepticism of a Brian Shaw interview, which the Detroit Free Press reported, turned out to be correct. The Pacers have maintained they weren’t giving their assistants permission to interview elsewhere until after the playoffs, and I guess Shaw with the Pistons was no exception. Goodwill previously reported the Pistons wanted to interview both Shaw and Fizdale. It’s not impossible for assistants to interview during the playoffs, but there are definitely hurdles.

The Pistons, according to the Detroit Free Press and mostly reported elsewhere previously, have interviewed: Nate McMillan Lindsey Hunter Mike Budenholzer J.B. Bickerstaff Brian Shaw Maurice Cheeks David Mayo of MLive: While several of the candidates known to have been interviewed are ex-players, Dumars said the search already has exceeded that scope. "That’s not all we’ve talked to," Dumars said. "Those are the names that you guys have gotten. But we’ve talked to a lot more than just ex-players, I’m telling you." Of that group, only Budenholzer and Bickerstaff didn’t play in the NBA. Is Dumars referring to those two? Their interviews were widely reported, so I doubt it. There are plenty of college coaches who didn’t play in the NBA, so I wonder whether one interviewed with the Pistons. Otherwise, I don’t have much to go on to even make guesses.

I took the day off of work to get some stuff done and be ready to get out of dodge for the weekend tomorrow, but instead I found myself watching draftexpress scouting reports on youtube. Being that I didn't want it to be a complete waste of my morning I've decided to post some impressions. As most if not all of you know the videos go over a players strengths and weaknesses making them look both like the best player on the planet and the worst all within 10 minutes. So here are my thoughts on likely Pistons targets: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: The first half, or I should just say the whole video, is comprised of him taking 3's. You'd come away thinking it is the only shot he took all year. You look at the stats and realize he took 8 threes a game, so that's not far off. He shoots 37% on 3's and 42% overall, but because he takes so many 3's, and 37% is actually an above average percentage, he has a phenomenal 59% TS%. His defense and anticipation are as good as advertised. He loves to dunk in transition, but he's pretty horrible around the rim in the half court. He should probably just stick to shooting 3's and playing defense and dunking on the break. Dude can't make a layup in this video to save his life. I have no idea how he shot 50% on 2-point shots. Must have all been dunks in transition. Michael Carter-Williams: He can make all the passes! Over the top, lobs, behind his back, across the court, in mid-air doing somersaults while knotting up his laces. He can make all the steals! On the ball, off the ball, between his legs, standing on his head, you can't get a ball by this man. His defense is pretty good both on and off the ball. He can get into the lane with ease. And then reality hits. For all the amazing passes he makes he takes so many chances that you end up with a highlight of great plays and one of bad plays. He can get into the lane, but he can't do much once he gets there hitting only 42% of his 2-point shots. Also a 26% turnover rate, which is 3rd worst for prospects. 29% 3-point shooter. To say Carter-Williams can't shoot is an exaggeration. C.J. McCollum: Honestly this is just one awesome highlight reel. I can see why Sawyer's likes him. He came into the combine with a 38.5" vertical and you can see it. He really rises up on his shots. He's about a foot or more off the ground when he releases. Pretty impressive. He can drive, lay it up, dunk, fadeaway, finger roll, floater, shoot the 3, get to the line, crossover, dribble, this man is the deadliest offensive weapon in the draft. Hands down. He's like a Curry, Iverson, Ellis all wrapped into one. He has Iverson/Ellis style with the crossover and quick step and ability to get into the lane like there's nobody in front of him, but he has Curry's ability to shoot. He's a machine. He IS NOT a PG. He cannot see open men. He's too geared toward scoring. And for all the agility he shows on offense it's like his feet are stuck in cement on defense. I'm not sure what he's even looking at because the ball handler will have already made one or two steps to get past him before he even turns his hips to make a move. It's like he's one step ahead on offense and one behind on defense. Shabazz Muhammad: 26% of his offense came in transition. He loves to get out and run, and loves to throw it down even more. Definitely an above the rim type player, and when you consider his 6'11" wingspan and 37" vertical at the combine you can see why. The fact that so much offense came in transition on a Ben Howland half-court slow it down team is interesting. The NBA is more open and the tempo is higher in general. People suspect that Howland held him down and I can instantly see what they mean. He can score in the post and he's pretty exceptional taking contact and making the bucket. He can hit the 3. Like KCP he dunks in transition but not on drives. He settles for jumpers or contested layups on his drives and only drives left, as he is left handed. Doesn't pass much. Does

When I think about the rebuilding process of the Pistons over the last four years, it reminds me of driving down the same road you've been taking to work for years and passing the same vacant lot that has bulldozers, tractors, and trucks that don't ever seem to move and you don't ever remember seeing a worker there. This rebuilding process also doesn't seem to follow most common professional sports rebuilding methods. In most cases, you blow up the team very quickly, acquire a crap ton of draft picks, and have all but maybe one or two holdovers from 2-3 years prior. However, we know that's not the case with the Pistons. It's felt like they've been removing a brick and putting a newer, not better, brick right back in that spot. Work was done, but you're still where you left off. One year Ben leaves, then later Billups, then Sheed leaves, then Ben comes back, then Hamilton leaves, then Ben leaves again, then Tayshaun leaves (honestly, I may have that order messed up some). Those "newer" bricks were Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Austin Daye, "The Wrong" DaJuan Summers, Chris Wilcox, etc. Finally, we got a couple better bricks laid when we drafted Jonas Jerebko, Greg Monroe, and Andre Drummond (this jury is still out on BK7). However, starting this season, there were still four players on the roster who played on the 2008-09 roster (Maxiell, Stuckey, Prince and Bynum). Two of those players, Stuckey and Prince, were resigned since 2008-09. Absolutely too slow of a rebuild and around the wrong players. So going into the 2013-14 season, the Pistons will very likely only have 1 player left over from the 2008-09 season, and that's Rodney Stuckey. Looking at the Pistons' salary obligations for next season (via HoopsHype) it appears that the Pistons have 10 players returning. I had heard elsewhere that English and Kravtsov are team options, but I haven't confirmed that. So we'll have just over 2/3 of the team from the 2012-13 season returning. We have three draft picks (currently) and around $23-$25M to spend in free agency to pick up the rest of the players to fill out the roster. So what do we have returning as the foundation to build on? All of the following is assuming that we aren't able to resign Calderon, we let Maxiell, Maggette, and Bynum walk, keep Kravtsov and English, and don't use the Amnesty clause on Villanueva. Also for the following, I'm only going off of the last 36 games of the season (when we traded for Calderon). Well, using each individual player's PG stats, it appears that we'll have 75.4% of the offense coming back. The combined FG% of those returning is 45.15% as compared to the 45.3% the entire team was, so barely any drop off. Our 3P% gets even worse, going from 34.4% to 31.2%. As expected (by losing Calderon), our FT% gets even more abysmal, dropping from 70.5% to 65.2%. As for rebounding, 83% of our offensive, 80.3% of our defensive, and 80.87% of our total rebounds return. We lose our second best thief (Calderon), our second best blocker (Maxiell), and our best and third best facilitators (Calderon and Bynum). Another question is, how does this look on an efficiency level? On a Per36 level, we have 75.8% of our made shots and 77.04% of our taken shots, 76.7% of our made 3 pointers, 82.6% of our taken 3 pointers, 80.07% of our made free throws and 83.9% of our taken free throws returning. All of that means that we have 76.63% of our offense coming back on a Per36 level. In terms of rebounding, 83.47% of our offensive, 81.77% of our defensive, and 82.4% of our total rebounds returning. Now there are some other things to take into consideration with these numbers. Not any one player played in all 36 of those final games. Andre missed 24 due to injury, Calderon 8, and Maxiell 12. But even Knight didn't play in 9 of those, Monroe in 3, Jerebko in 6, Stuckey in 2, Villanueva in 5, Bynum in 9, Middleton in 13 and English in 15. If you're wondering why that matters, it's because h

Personnel evaluation is nothing close to a science – it’s a snap shot of a player and a projection of what he might become. The Pistons are more likely to get a player who lives up to or exceeds his draft status than one who doesn’t.