Yeah, I’m team Whitmore if you have to pick at 5, I don’t really believe in Ausar. I also think the pick is going to be Whitmore, the stories about his poor workout performances scream smokescreen.
Yeah, I heard about the workouts as well, but the skuttle-but is that his last work out with Carmelo Anthony in NY was nothing short of outstanding. As others have already said, there were extenuating circumstances at Villanova, and the kid is still basically a baby.
Smokescreen for what though? Seems like the top 4 picks are pretty established so if Pistons want Whitmore, they wouldn’t need to play mind games to get him. If anything, might want to hype him up to increase value for someome to trade up
Yeah making it clear you’re all in on Jarace only gives you leverage on teams that value Jarace.
1 Like
Genuinely, the more I think thru this stuff the more I try to remind myself that the whole thing is a crapshoot and there’s a reason why none of the models or the actual draft order is super predictive. There’s no piece of public information that’s going to provide some huge insight once you know all the big boards and model consensus. It’s all already in there.
More interesting just to consider what it’ll look like conditional on each pick being at least a top 50 guy.
3 Likes
It has also become such a draft on projection and potential. Once the Pistons got screwed with the fifth pick they are just drafting on hope rather than getting an instant impact player. I am very leery of guys who can’t shoot and I am not excited about picking a guy that will share a position with someone in the core group of players.
As I read all of these posts I wonder how many first rounders will be in the rotation for their team this year. Doesn’t seem like many
3 Likes
I dk about “instant” it’s extremely rare for rookies to be even league average
Vecenie had James Edwards on the pod. Pistons talk starts at around the 37 minute mark.
Vecenie still thinks it’s a no brainer that Pistons should draft Whitmore, but that’s not the name they are hearing (still Jarace or Ausar). James says there are people in the Pistons front office that have Ausar the highest on the board among the group of Ausar, Amen, Cam, Jarace, Hendricks.
1 Like
The real question (IMO) is who is calling the shots in the Pistons front office. 
Yeah, it seems like too many cook in the FO. I’m hoping that they’re leaking info out to Pistons beatwriters as smokescreen.
In my experience the difference between vision resulting in assists and vision resulting in turnovers is entirely dependent on competition. Anybody can have “vision” at the LA fitness runs where nobody plays defense. I’m not saying OTE is the same as pickup, but of all the avenues that lead to the NBA I would expect OTE to be the most suspect when it comes to the integrity of the defense played. I’m not saying these OTE guys are bums, I am saying that’s a big question mark for me.
2 Likes
My guess is that Gores gets involved in the big decisions (coach maybe Jaden Ivey, I don’t know) and leaves Troy to the rest.
And what do you think Arn Tellem does?
You do get the impression from the beat writers that there are different voices on different issues like the coaching search. But I don’t get the impression (obviously have no real insight) that it’s necessarily dysfunctional like the Mavericks were a year ago.
But I’m guessing you’re catching whiff of something, just from tangentially being around covering basketball in the area?
2 Likes
My guess is Arn Tellem has a big influence with the FO and I don’t like it tbh.
Guess he could also be the guy running the team day to day since Gores lives in LA.
We know its not Troy Weaver because if it was Kevin Ollie would be coaching here.
Seems to me that since ownership changed there has never been a clear and clean chain of command.
No, we don’t know that.
I’ll say I’m pretty negative on Ausar’s ceiling. Amen is actually a really nice prospect, regardless of his shooting form and level of competition. Ausar has a nice handle and some playmaking but he can’t score, drive, or shoot.
2 Likes
You’re negative on his ceiling? I completely understand the floor could be low and he has high bust potential and that’s a completely valid reason to want the Pistons to pass on him. But you think an athletic wing that can defend, cut and at least has some offensive skills has a poor ceiling? The knock is all about the floor, not the ceiling.
3 Likes