2017 Detroit Pistons

Written by Paul Banks of the Washington Times, David Kay and Peter Christian of the The Sports Bank. Send Paul an e-mail here: paulb05 AT hotmail DOT com.
All other e-mail, including advertising and link proposals, send to: [email protected]

Detroit Pistons (Last Year: 37-45)

2017-18 Projected Depth Chart:

C: Andre Drummond/#Aron Baynes/Boban Marjanovic

PF: Marcus Morris/Jon Leuer/Henry Ellenson

SF: Tobias Harris/Stanley Johnson

SG: *Kentavious Caldwell-Pope/*Reggie Bullock/^Darrun Hilliard/^Michael Gbinije

PG: Reggie Jackson/Ish Smith

NBA Free Agents:

*SG-Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (RFA)

*SG-Reggie Bullock (RFA)

#C-Aron Baynes (PO)

^SG-Darrun Hilliard (TO)

^SG-Michael Gbinije (TO)

PG-Beno Udrih (UFA)

2017-18 Team Salary: Approximately $100.6 million

NBA Offseason Team Needs:

1. Shooting Guard: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a restricted free agent this summer, and somebody will likely throw a nice-sized contract offer his way. With the Pistons being near the salary cap, it is unlikely they will match any offer unless they move some other pieces to create cap space in order to avoid ending up near, or above, the luxury-tax line. That leaves little flexibility to find a potential replacement.

2. Three-Point Shooter: You can tie this to Detroit’s need at shooting guard, but the team finished 28th in the NBA with a 33 percent three-point rate last season and must find a threat from downtown.

3. Shop Drummond and Jackson?: After taking a step back this past season, there have already been rumors that Detroit may shop Andre Drummond and/or Reggie Jackson, as the club reportedly did prior to the trade deadline.