Motor City Basketball: Restoring the Pistons' Glory

[Myles Nelson]

To be honest, I don't really think Turner deserved it. Both of the guys behind him and Kobe Bryant had better seasons, IMO.

[Raoul Duke]

Congrats on the big win, what an incredibly quick turnaround!

Really interested to see in what direction you go a season or two down the line given the lingering question of who's going to be kept around when it's time to extend the likes of Splitter, Kemba and Turner, with Oden already earning a decent wedge.

[Myles Nelson]

[SIZE="3"]Draft Process[/SIZE]

Unlike last year, my roster is pretty full for the draft.

PG Kemba Walker
SG Evan Turner
SF Jonas Jerebko
PF Tiago Splitter
PF Derrick Williams
C Greg Oden

I still have my role players (Arroyo, Gordon, Korver, Mozgov and Przybilla) but this is my youth group. If there's one thing I'm really missing, it's a deadeye shooter on the wings. Or a pass first PG. So with that in mind, that's what I'm looking for this draft. I have the 27th, 36th, 42nd, and 50th pick. So I should be able to find something that helps me out. The mock drafts have me picking Brian Sawyer, a 6'9" center out of Villanova. Fat chance. I don't really need a big man.

Toronto has the first pick, and they need the best talent they can get in the backcourt or SF. Their front court is good.

1. TOR selects C Kueth Harvey - 27 ppg, 15.4 rpg from Iowa State

Of course Toronto botches their pick. Harvey is a great talent but they have Bargnani, Udoh, Valanciunas and Tobias Harris already.

2. MEM selects SF Jamar Williamson - 29.4 ppg, 15.7 rpg from Bradley

He should have been the first pick. Memphis got the best player in the draft by far and are able to fill the hole Rudy Gay left.

3. MIL selects PF Peter McTyer - 25.4 ppg, 15.4 rpg from Missouri
4. ATL selects PG Robb Bryson - 30.7 ppg, 7.9 apg from Ohio State
5. HOU selects PF Dan Davis - 22.4 ppg, 13.7 rpg from Arizona
6. OKC selects C Mack Hahn - 24.7 ppg, 15.0 rpg, 4.5 bpg from Louisville
7. PHX selects C Cedric Archey - 22.7 ppg, 13.5 rpg from Wofford
8. MIN selects SG Andy Blair - 27.7 ppg from Ohio University
9. CLE selects PF Charles Wesby - 19.7 ppg, 11.1 rpg from Pittsburgh
10. SA selects SF Orestes Samos - 20.8 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 2.7 spg from Greece
11. CHA selects SF Eric Howard - 19.1 ppg 8.6 rpg from Oregon
12. PHI selects C Sam Collins - 16.2 ppg, 9.7 rpg from Indiana
13. UTA selects C Greg Braddick - 16.1 ppg, 11.5 rpg from Miami (FL)
14. WAS selects PG Valder Winkfield - 18.3 ppg, 6.0 apg from UCONN
15. IND selects C Jarvis Boulware - 15.5 ppg, 14.2 rpg from Clemson
16. CHI selects PF Tom Jackson - 21.3 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 2.4 bpg from Houston
17. BOS selects PF Cole Thelmon - 20.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg from Indiana
18. DEN selects SG Marvin Gely - 19.9 ppg 6.3 rpg from Michigan
19. OKC selects SG Kevin Dukes - 14.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg from Syracuse
20. MIA selects SF Momcilo Stambolic - 21.2 ppg, 6.4 apg from Serbia-Montenegro
21. ORL selects C James Jones - 22.5 ppg, 15.7 rpg, 3.3 bpg from Southern Illinois
22. NYK selects PG Gerrod Griffin - 13.1 ppg 6.3 apg from Colorado
23. DAL selects C James Price - 12.7 ppg, 12.0 rpg from Georgia Tech
24. SAC selects PG Norman Minor - 16.5 ppg, 6.9 apg from Seton Hall
25. POR selects PF Roderick Wilson - 14.7 ppg, 9.1 rpg from Arizona
26. LAL selects SF Ricky Moore - 13.0 ppg 9.1 rpg from Indiana

Moore was the exact guy we were looking at, a nice outside shooter. Darn.

According to my scouts, Micah Mills is the best available SF, but Jay Delk is the best player at PF. The talking heads think Mills is the best player overall. Well, he fits our need position, so Mills it is!

27. DET selects SF Micah Mills - 18.5 ppg, 8.2 rpg from Oklahoma

The experts like the pick. They have a few concerns about his character but his talent is the best at this spot and he's not very injury prone. For the 27th pick, I could have done much worse.

28. LAC selects SG Charles Skinner - 15.4 ppg, 5.0 apg from Morehead State
29. NOH selects PG Brian Williams -13.3 ppg, 7.0 apg from UTEP
30. NJ selects PG Lorenzen Hall - 12.1 ppg 5.5 apg from Louisville

36. SG Rick Simmons - 17.0 ppg, 4.6 apg from Virginia Tech
42. C Brett Fowler - 9.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg from Wake Forest
50. PG Marcus Crockrom - 11.6 ppg, 6.6 apg from West Virginia

It was just flyer city, so although the experts were mixed about my three picks, I'm okay with the guys I got. I see Simmons as the guy who will hit those jumpers and score buckets albeit in streaks, Fowler as the rugged rebounder and defender down low, and Crockrom as a possible backup PG. He was mocked to go in the first round, which gives me a bit of hope for him.

[Myles Nelson]

Editor's Note: I don't really have time to be a dynasty writer anymore, so these will just be quick updates from now on.

Made a few trades over the offseason. Not a fan of any of my second round picks, so i traded them all away. In return I received New York's, Milwaukee's, and Miami's 2nd round picks for 2013-2015. I also got Memphis's 2014 2nd rounder somehow, netting me 10 picks for trade fodder.

My big trade though, was when I realized that Kemba was not my PG of the future. I had enough scorers on the team already, with Turner, Splitter, Oden and Williams all already on the squad. So I went after the best young passing PG who played great defense too. That's right, I traded for Rajon Rondo.

I traded away Kemba and Ben Gordon's contract for Rajon Rondo and Arron Afflalo. Talk about a steal. Afflalo shoots over 50% from the field.

I then saw Nic Batum in free agency, and snapped him up to replace Shane Battier. Batum essentially gives me a younger version of Battier. 5 years, 5.5 million per. Great deal.

I extended Turner and Splitter to max deals.

2012-2013 Roster
PG Rajon Rondo
SG Evan Turner
SF Nic Batum
PF Derrick Williams
C Greg Oden
6. Tiago Splitter
7. Arron Afflalo
8. Jonas Jerebko
9. Carlos Arroyo
10. Joel Przybilla
11. Timofey Mozgov
12. Kyle Korver
D-League: Micah Mills

Mills just had no room on this roster. Rondo has three weapons to pass to and a dead-eye shooter in Batum. Splitter and Afflalo give him more offensive weapons off the bench too.

Simulated through Christmas.

21-8 record, but considering we started 7-0, and then went 14-8, we definitely could have done better. In all fairness, Rondo did sprain his wrist for two weeks.

Evan Turner: 19.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.1 spg, 51.1% fg, 96.3% STOP.
Greg Oden: 15.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.3 bpg, 58.6% fg, 0.8 PA/SF.
Derrick Williams: 11.9 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 49.8% fg, 0.7 PA/SF.
Tiago Splitter: 11.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.7 bpg, 52.1% fg, 0.8 PA/SF.
Nic Batum: 11.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 47.7% fg, 37.6% 3pt, 93.1% STOP.
Arron Afflalo: 10.4 ppg, 48.3% fg, 41.4% 3pt, 82.1% STOP.
Rajon Rondo: 9.4 ppg, 9.1 apg, 1.4 spg, 3.4 A/TO ratio, 38.9% fg, 94.5% STOP.
Jonas Jerebko: 6.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 40.7% fg, 92.5% STOP.
Carlos Arroyo: 5.7 ppg, 3.9 apg, 10.4 A/TO ratio, 49.3% fg.
Kyle Korver: 4.0 ppg, 48.6 fg.
Joel Przybilla: 3.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 44.1% fg.
Timofey Mozgov: 2.6 ppg, 49.1% fg.

The only blemish I see anywhere on here is Rondo's FG percentage, but he suffered through a really cold stretch during his sprained wrist. Everyone else's percentages are fantastic and the defensive metrics are off the hook. Love this team.

[Myles Nelson]

All-Star Break

39-16. We're good this year man. Peep these stats:

(Our team first, opponent average second)
PPG: 108.9 (2), 97.8 (6)
APG: 24.5 (4), 21.8 (9)
RPG: 42.4 (10), 38.1 (4)
BPG: 7.2 (5), 5.4 (4)
SPG: 7.0 (24), 7.2 (9)
TOPG: 13.3 (3), 14.7 (18)

Notice we are in the top 10 in all but two of those, and that's simply because as a team we don't force turnovers. We're also second in field goal percentage, and fourth in field goal percentage against. We're just a strong team.

Notable stat changes:

Rondo got his shooting percentage all the way up to 44.3%, very good for a PG of his caliber.
Arron Afflalo has gotten his shooting up to 47.3%.
Carlos Arroyo has an 8 A/TO ratio. Jeez.

We had no slam dunk or three point shootout participants.

Derrick Williams was my lone representative on the sophomores team and played 6 minutes, and was entirely invisible while he was out there. The Sophomores won 137-117 though.

We had no All-Stars though. Incredible. West beat the East by 10, probably because no Pistons were there to win the game for the East.

[Myles Nelson]

We finish the year with a 58-24 record, tied for best in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets. We lost the season series with them so they'll get the 1 seed and we'll get the 2 seed.

2012-2013 NBA League Leaders

PPG
1. Kevin Durant - OKC - 29.0
2. LeBron James - NJ - 27.2
3. Monta Ellis - GSW - 26.0
4. Carmelo Anthony - DEN - 25.1
5. Kobe Bryant - LAL - 24.4
18. Evan Turner - DET - 19.5

APG
1. Chris Paul - NO - 10.1
2. John Wall - WAS - 9.9
3. Deron Williams - UTA - 9.3
4. Rajon Rondo - DET - 8.8
5. Russell Westbrook - OKC - 8.6

RPG
1. Dwight Howard - ORL - 13.7
2. Joakim Noah - CHI - 11.7
3. Amare Stoudemire - NYK - 11.6
4. Chris Bosh - NJ - 11.6
5. Chris Kaman - DEN - 11.4

BPG
1. Dwight Howard - 3.6
2. Jarvis Boulware - IND - 3.4
3. Derrick Favors - GSW - 3.1
4. Andrew Bogut - MIL - 3.0
5. Pau Gasol - LAL - 2.8
10. Greg Oden - DET - 2.4

SPG
1. Chris Paul - 2.3
2. Monta Ellis - 2.2
3. Tyreke Evans - SAC - 2.0
4. LeBron James - 1.9
5. Dwyane Wade - MIA - 1.9

Detroit Final Stats

Evan Turner - 19.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.7 apg, 1.4 spg, 50.1% fg, 37.5% 3pt, 93.9% STOP.
Greg Oden - 15.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 55.4% fg, 0.8 PA/SF.
Derrick Williams - 13.3 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 52% fg, 0.8 PA/SF.
Nicolas Batum - 12.1 ppg, 48% fg, 38% 3pt, 93.4% STOP.
Tiago Splitter - 11.8 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.3 bpg, 54.5% fg, 0.9 PA/SF.
Arron Afflalo - 11.6 ppg, 49.5% fg, 40.9% 3pt, 82.2% STOP.
Rajon Rondo - 10.6 ppg, 8.8 apg, 1.3 spg, 3.2 A/TO, 44.3% fg, 95.9% STOP.
Carlos Arroyo - 6.0 ppg, 4.2 apg, 8.3 A/TO, 44.7% fg.
Jonas Jerebko - 4.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 47.8% fg, 91.3% STOP.
Joel Przybilla- 3.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 51.8% fg.
Kyle Korver - 2.9 ppg, 52.7% fg, 50.9% 3pt, 88% STOP.
Timofey Mozgov - 1.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 42.9% fg, 0.9 PA/SF.

Micah Mills (D-League) - 15.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 1.2 spg, 41.9% fg, 36% 3pt, 80.9% STOP.

[Myles Nelson]

We face off against the Toronto Raptors in the first round, a team who rose up from a bottom-feeder to where they are now pretty much on the back of a young Derrick Rose. Rose averaged 22 points and 7 assists per game, so he's definitely someone we have to watch out for. The rest of their offense is built around SG Jarrett Jack (14.5 ppg), SF and rookie Kueth Harvey (8.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg and 2.7 bpg), PF Andrea Bargnani (12.7 ppg and 6.2 rpg), and C Jonas Valanciunas (11.4 ppg and 8.8 rpg). Along with Ekpe Udoh and Fernando Van Hook, they have a young core to build around and veterans in Hedo Turkoglu and Jose Calderon that know how to lead a team.

Luckily, we have a defensive minded team with a stopper in Rajon Rondo who can shut down Derrick Rose, so hopefully that will be enough to negate the Raptors.

Raptors 109, Pistons 125
Raptors 104, Pistons 107
Pistons 104, Raptors 92
Pistons 120, Raptors 101

Oden had a big series, averaging 19/11/3 and absolutely dominating Valanciunas down low. Rondo also stepped up, averaging 11/11, and pestering Rose into 5 turnovers per game. It was a very easy series that only had one game where the Raptors were really in it.

1. New Jersey (4) over 8. Miami (2)
3. Washington (4) over 6. Orlando (1)
4. New York (4) over 5. Milwaukee (0)

8. Clippers (4) over 1. New Orleans (2)
2. Lakers (4) over 7. Golden State (1)
3. Denver (4) over 6. Minnesota (3)
4. Oklahoma City (4) over 5. Sacramento (1)

[Myles Nelson]

This round we play Washington, another team that has really come flying up recently. They are led by John Wall, a likely MVP candidate, who averaged 23.6 ppg, 9.9 apg, and 1.4 spg. Rondo will have his hands full guarding him, but that's what Rondo was built to do. Wall's backcourt mate is a deadly outside shooter in Gilbert Arenas. Outside those two, their offense isn't great. Blatche and Henson provide a little offense down low, though they are really better defensively. Brandon Rush rounds out the starting 5.

This will be a lot tougher than the Raptors series, but our great defense and power down low will be too much for the Wizards to handle.

Wizards 112, Pistons 96
Wizards 122, Pistons 110
Pistons 100, Wizards 109
Pistons 91, Wizards 110

Wow. Our defense just went right out the window. Wall, Arenas and Henson torched us. Definitely not a good sign for the future as the Wizards are a young team as well.

The Lakers beat the Clippers in the WCF, and New Jersey took down Washington in the ECF. Lakers took the Nets to the full 7 games but the Nets were just too good, and the Nets are the 2013 NBA Champions.

[Myles Nelson]

Out of curiosity, is anyone still reading this?

[PointGuard]

I am!

Wow, two sweeps...one good, one bad, huh?