Pistons Notes: Bower, GM Search, Draft Workouts
Earlier today, the Pistons made their first major hire since Stan Van Gundy‘s departure, finalizing a three-year agreement that makes former Grizzlies executive Ed Stefanski a senior advisor in Detroit. As we relayed in that story, Stefanski will have a major role in hiring a new GM and head coach, but before he does that, he intends to assess the Pistons’ current front office group, led by general manager Jeff Bower.
According to Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter links), Stefanski – who knows Bower well – plans to meet with the GM and other members of the club’s front office on Tuesday.
“I’m going to spend a lot of time with Jeff Bower,” Stefanski said, per Ellis. “I respect him and I want to talk to him and I want to find out what he thinks of the situation there. Obviously he’s been there for four years and he’s been right at the pulse of everything.”
As we wait to hear how that meeting goes, let’s round up a few more Pistons-related notes…
- The Pistons are in the market for a young, rising executive for their GM job, according to Ellis, who writes that the ideal candidate would become “the face of the franchise for a decade.” Ellis reports that the Pistons would “love” to explore hiring Thunder assistant GM Troy Weaver, but Weaver isn’t expected to be available.
- While they’ll have plenty of competition, the Pistons figure to be in the market for an athletic, 3-and-D-type wing with the No. 42 pick in this year’s draft, says Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. That type of player is a hot commodity in today’s NBA, so the pickings may be slim for Detroit by the middle of the second round.
- As Rod Beard of The Detroit News relays (via Twitter), the Pistons brought in six prospects for workouts today, auditioning Jaylen Adams (St. Bonaventure), Bogdan Bliznyuk (Eastern Washington), Ethan Happ (Wisconsin), Kelan Martin (Butler), Malik Pope (San Diego State), and Andrew Rowsey (Marquette).
Draft Workouts: Hawks, Bucks, Spurs, Wolves
The Hawks, who hold four of the top 33 picks in this year’s draft, are bringing in six more prospects for pre-draft workouts on Friday. Jaylen Adams (St. Bonaventure), Tyler Hall (Montana State), Kevin Huerter (Maryland), Jo Lual-Acuil (Baylor), Doral Moore (Wake Forest), and Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State) will get a look from Atlanta, according to a team release.
Here are a few more updates on pre-draft workouts:
- The Bucks are working out local standout Ethan Happ on Thursday, per Jeff Potrykus of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Happ, who averaged 17.9 PPG and 8.0 RPG for Wisconsin this past season, is testing the draft waters as a junior.
- Chinese forward Abudushalamu Abudurexiti has already worked out for eight NBA teams this spring, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic, who identifies the Nets, Mavericks, Lakers, Bucks, Suns, and Jazz as clubs that have taken a look at the youngster. Scotto’s piece is worth checking out in full for a closer look at the under-the-radar prospect.
- The Spurs worked out Seton Hall big man Angel Delgado on Wednesday, tweets Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com. San Antonio also worked out Missouri’s Jontay Porter today, according to Aaron Reiss of The Kansas City Star (Twitter link).
- Cincinnati forward Gary Clark will be among the prospects working out for the Timberwolves this week, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. So will Jontay Porter, per Aaron Reiss (Twitter link).
- Xavier senior Trevon Bluiett auditioned for the Timberwolves this week and has a workout lined up with the Warriors on Sunday, per Shannon Russell of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Multiple Prospects Withdraw From Draft
This Wednesday is the deadline for players who are testing the draft waters to make a final decision. Several players have made a decision today, opting to withdraw from the draft. Here are some players who’ve decided to stay in school (all decisions are reported by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman unless otherwise indicated):
- Jaylen Adams, St. Bonaventure (via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports)
- Rawle Alkins, Arizona (via his own Twitter feed).
- Jevon Carter, West Virginia (Twitter link)
- Obi Enechionyia, Temple (via Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Daily News)
- Alize Johnson, Missouri State (Twitter link)
- Andrew Jones, Texas (Rothstein tweets)
- George King, Colorado (Twitter link)
- Matt Morgan, Cornell (Twitter link)
- Shaquille Morris, Wichita State (Rothstein tweets)
- Jaaron Simmons, Will play at Michigan after graduating from Ohio University (Twitter link)
- Zach Smith, Texas Tech (Rothstein tweets)
- Kamau Stokes, Kansas State (Rothstein tweets)
- James Thompson IV, Eastern Michigan (Twitter link)
- Thomas Wilder, Western Michigan (Twitter link)
Central Notes: Pistons, Pacers, Bucks, Workouts
After a disappointing 2016/17 season, the Pistons will be looking this offseason for ways to improve the team’s outlook for next year. However, as Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press details, Andre Drummond doesn’t believe a roster overhaul is necessary.
“I don’t think we need to do any changes,” the Pistons center told reporters earlier this week. “We had a lot of bumps in the road last season with different things going on, and it took everybody out of sync. … With this summer coming up, we have to do a better job staying connected — the more stuff we do together, the better our camaraderie will be.”
Even if the Pistons were interested in making major changes to their roster, they would be tricky to pull off. Detroit has nearly $95MM in guaranteed salary on its books for 2017/18 without counting Aron Baynes‘ $6.5MM player option or Kentavious Caldwell-Pope‘s $9.2MM cap hold, so the team won’t have cap room to work with.
Here’s more from around the Central division:
- This week’s draft lottery didn’t include the Pacers, but it might have interesting ramifications for the team, writes Nate Taylor of The Indianapolis Star. Taylor notes that the top three teams in the 2017 NBA draft – the Celtics, Lakers, and Sixers – all made inquiries on Paul George prior to February’s trade deadline and could check in again on the star forward this summer.
- In the wake of his workout this week with the Pacers, Sindarius Thornwell spoke to Nate Taylor, who suggests in a separate piece for The Star that the South Carolina combo guard could be a second-round target for Indiana.
- The Bucks have been busy this week, working out a series of prospects on Thursday and then bringing in several more on Friday. The 12 participants are as follows: Moritz Wagner (Michigan), Moses Kingsley (Arkansas), Andrew White (Syracuse), London Perrantes (Virginia), Bronson Koenig (Wisconsin), J.J. Frazier (Georgia), Tyler Lydon (Syracuse), Ivan Rabb (Cal), Jaylen Adams (St. Bonaventure), V.J. Beachem (Notre Dame), Dillon Brooks (Oregon), and Matt Jones (Duke). Milwaukee has the 17th and 48th overall picks in this year’s draft.
- With Rabb in Milwaukee today for a workout, Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times takes a closer look at the Bucks‘ interest in the Cal big man, which dates back earlier than this year.
Southeast Notes: Hawks, Walker, Wizards
The Hawks‘ list of potential general manager candidates continues to grow, with Zach Klein of Channel 2 Sports in Atlanta reporting that the club is interested in speaking with Nets executive Trajan Langdon about the opening. Langdon, who currently serves as an assistant GM in Brooklyn under Sean Marks, was identified by ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz earlier this year as a front office “prospect” to watch. However, league insiders told Arnovitz at the time that Langdon may still need a few seasons with the Nets before he becomes a legit candidate to run an NBA front office.
[RELATED: Latest on Hawks’ front office search]
As we wait to see if Atlanta gets the opportunity to talk to Langdon, let’s round up a few more notes and rumors out of the Southeast…
- The Hornets announced this week that standout point guard Kemba Walker underwent a “minor” arthroscopic procedure on his left knee. The team estimated that Walker would recover in about six weeks, so the procedure shouldn’t have any impact on his availability this fall.
- The Hawks interviewed 12 prospects at this year’s NBA draft combine in Chicago, and Chris Vivlamore of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the full list of names. Vivlamore adds that the Hawks have worked out Kyle Kuzma (Utah), Aaron Holiday (UCLA), Jaylen Adams (St. Bonaventure), and Angel Delgado (Seton Hall).
- If the Hawks want to maintain continuity, it will come at a cost, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical, who previews the club’s offseason with a focus on the looming Paul Millsap decision.
- Marcin Gortat and Ian Mahinmi will make nearly $30MM combined in 2017/18, but the Wizards may not have enough minutes to go around for both veteran centers. Candace Buckner of The Washington Post takes a closer look at the situation.
Draft Updates: Fall, Adams, Egbunu, Ilic, Arar
UCF sophomore Tacko Fall has decided to test the draft waters, announcing today (via Twitter) that he’ll enter his name into the draft pool without initially hiring an agent. Fall will have until May 24 to get a sense of his draft value and make a decision on whether or not to return to school for his junior year.
A 7’6″ center from Senegal with an eight-foot wingspan, Fall has earned a spot on DraftExpress’ big board, coming in at No. 96 on the site’s top 100 list. The 21-year-old ranks 112th on Chad Ford’s ESPN board. Fall remains a raw prospect, but nearly averaged a double-double in his second year at UCF, finishing the season with 10.9 PPG and 9.5 RPG to go along with a .715 FG%.
Here are a few more draft-related updates:
- Ford’s fourth mock draft is up at ESPN.com (Insider link), and there aren’t many changes at the top — Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Jackson are still the first three prospects to come off the board. Still, there are a few interesting picks further down in Ford’s mock, including the Trail Blazers snagging multiple international players.
- For agents who represent NBA players, this is one of the most interesting times of year, as they look to lock up potential lottery picks. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News has some details on which agencies this year’s top prospects are choosing for representation.
- St. Bonaventure junior guard Jaylen Adams has opted to declare for the 2017 draft without hiring an agent, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). Meanwhile, Florida head coach Mike White said this week that he anticipates junior center John Egbunu will also test the draft waters. Neither player is on DraftExpress’ top 100 list, though Egbunu ranks 24th on the site’s list of juniors.
- A pair of international prospects have entered the draft, according to agent Misko Raznatovic, who tweets that Buducnost power forward Aleksa Ilic and Galatasaray big man Ege Arar will go through the process. Both players were born in 1996.