Good write-up on Nik Stauskas's pro potential
I thought people might enjoy this write-up from the Sixer's-focused Liberty Ballers blog. As a Sixers fan I am very excited about him coming to Philly; their player development from Brett Brown (former key assist to Pop in San Antonio) on down and the fact that there will be much less pressure (and no mercurial teammates like Boogie Cousins) affecting his confidence.
Lot's of good video walks down memory lane as well....
http://www.libertyballers.com/2015/7/3/8889425/stauskas-rich-mans-redic…
This is beside the point though. If you want to look at everything Detroit does pessimistically and everything Philly does optimistically, be my guest.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
You seem scarred by the late-00's Pistons. Yes, the Pistons will need to pay guys like Drummond and possible KCP; that's what teams do to win. GSW has one of the highest caps in the league; they also just won the title. At some point you need to pay players, and while a team like GSW did so by building through drafting to an extent, they still paid big FA bucks to Iggy and David Lee, both of which felt like stretches when they made the deals and, in Lee's case, seem like bad bets.
As the Pistons are currently set, they don't have a great chance at a title. But with Drummond you have one of the 2-3 best young bigs in the league who's only a year older by Embiid and Noel. You have Johnson and KCP who could be solid wings, and Jackson has a decent enough ceiling that you wouldn't be surprised if he was the 2nd/3rd best player on a championship team with the right players around him. And then who knows, maybe you get lucky with a minor FA signing or a 2nd round pick. Stuff happens.
What I don't get is that you view everything Philly does with optimism while anything the Pistons do with skepticism, when it seems like you just don't like the Pistons and are a fan of the asset procurement seen by teams like Houston. By all means believe what you want, but just don't act like there is one fool-proof way to win in this league.
I would agree with that first part. The Flip Saunders-Ben Wallace thing and the dragged out decline/denial of the Pistons was, to me anyway, the worst case scenario. I would rather watch a glorified D-league team with hope than a hopeless sinking ship. I'd rather be at the bottom looking up than grasping at nothing as I fall downward.
GSW has two franchise players (Curry and Thompson) and built a supporting cast around. To get there it STILL took them a few lucky breaks (Barnes falling in draft, Green uncovered, Bogut healthy, a few FA bargains, a new coach, etc.) You can't lock in your roster until you have the franchise guys. Plural. The Pistons have 1 (or so we think/hope).
You pay free agents AFTER you've cleared that hurdle. (But, just as an aside, maybe you really don't have to. The Cavs, Heat, and Rockets have done a lot just by surrounding amazing superstars with budget role players.)
The whole reason I'm so upset by Jackson is that Drummond CAN BE that elite kind of talent. The problem is that the Pistons have anointed his Robin without that guy having proven himself yet. Why can't they just wait? Let Jennings and Jackson prove themselves in 2015-16 and THEN make a commitment. Give them more than a 20 game sample with Drummond, SVG, and what looks like a very solid group of Pistons wing players for the first time in many many years.
Everything the Pistons have done since releasing Smith was on point until the Baynes and Jackson signings. They took advantage of other teams misfortunes (getting Jackson for nothing), they bargain shopped (Morris and Ilysova), they let a free agent who didn't fit with Drummond walk away. I got my hopes up that they were being smart and patient, and then this... the Joe Dumars special on a platter.
