yeah, Craig is the sort of vet I’ve been supportive of them going after. Shorter term lower dollar guys who can fill a role that will let their young guys play something approximating NBA basketball. And if the season goes as it likely will, and Craig plays ok, you can get something for him at the deadline.
Still think they need to trade Bogie.
Sasser was a really good college player, and I think can be a solid pro, but drafting a guy who’s peak is probably “third guard” seems to me like small thinking, which is something I’d never normally accuse Weaver of. Sasser is more likely to be a useful player than these guys I think, but with sheer physical talents like GG Jackson (whose play this year raised some serious feel/maturity questions but was also a 17 year old re-class running an SEC team) or Leonard Miller out there I’d have liked something like that.
Weaver needs to win games. He couldn’t take a home run swing at Ausar and then take a flier on a project like GG Jackson too. The trend in the draft is also going to experienced college players who can step in and fill a role without being 19 years old and having a major learning curve. Sasser steps in immediately to the role vacated by Corey Joseph as a bench guard, but could have more upside because of his defensive abilities.
Yeah, and that’s a stupid trend, because experience “safe” picks are often just as big failures as the risks (remember the Warriors taking Jacob Evans to play on a title defense team? Pacers taking Duarte for a “play now” guy?). Braun played 1 good game.
The Pistons need good players more than 33 wins this year. 17 win teams making a “win now” pick just seems laughable to me.
I just think they needed shooting/defense from the guard spot in a player that doesn’t need to be ball dominant. Sasser prob the best available of that archetype once you got to late first.
What I like is that they got two guys that will take away defensive assignments from Cade and Ivey. Let them focus on being offensive engines.
GG Jackson is a truly miserable viewing experience. Definitely has some talent but yikes.
Also this is very much a feelingsball take but I don’t care after watching like 6 hours of tape on them last night
Ausar and Sasser are both just tough a$$ dudes that are incredibly fun to play with. Defend their a$$ off, smart, very high on the quote unquote dawg in them scale.
Love Cade and Ivey as players but don’t see either of them as the toughest guy on the court types. This feels like a really complimentary draft to those two.
!! That’s a lot of tape !!
He reportedly had bad workouts and was allegedly seen smoking vape in the locker room post-workout which is not a good look. He was the alleged rumored 1st round prospect who had the team dropping him into the 2nd round grade.
I couldn’t get enough Ausar. Starting watching a full TBT game at like 3am realizing I needed to sleep 
They need good players. They also don’t need projects with extremely high bust potential who are going to spend the whole season in the G league because they can’t get minutes. Sasser is a great option as a second unit guard. Nothing wrong with taking a guy you think will be on your roster for awhile with the 25th pick.
With all the Ausar tape you watched fresh in your mind, how’s his rebounding? I’m trying to figure out what Detroit’s rotation will be after drafting him and I’m struggling. Cade and Ivey are locks in the back court and Duren feels like a lock as the starting center. The 3/4 spots I’m not seeing a configuration that makes sense.
Ausar + Stewart = very intriguing defensively, but could be very rough offensively with questionable shooters paired with Duren.
Ausar + Bojan = Bojan isn’t a great defender or rebounder, so can Ausar pick up the slack there?
Bojan + Stewart = Guys picked in the top-5 aren’t typically bench rotation pieces, so while they might start Ausar off slowly, I’m not sure how long this goes.
From what I saw it was good, but competition caveats being that a lot of his rebounds were just leaping ability rebounds that may not happen in the NBA.
I’d bet this year we see a lot of Ausar/Bogey lineups. I also like that Ausar can be a bit of Cade insurance because you could easily run an Ivey/Ausar backcourt when Cade inevitably misses two months.
I think longterm you feel great about Cade/Ivey/Ausar/Duren and you look for a 4 with some size that can shoot and guard multiple positions. Cam Johnson has been rumored and it would be a little small but I think you could run those five together and love the make up with Stew as 6th man
Most promising parts of Ausar to me are:
I know OTE “MVP” doesn’t mean much but I had no idea Ausar won various versions of it four times. He has shown more shooting promise than Amen too. Amen is even bouncier (which is crazy) and a point guard, but Ausar is the way better fit for Detroit IMO. And I’d bet on him being a star on a playoff team one day.
Ausar’s biggest swing skill is his shooting. If he can become a credible threat, it will open up his game so much. As of now, it’s almost playing 4 on 5 on offense for the Pistons. That’s my biggest worry about Ausar.
He does way too many things well for that to be true, even without the shot. Charles Matthews wasn’t a shooter but it wasn’t 4 on 5. Ausar has very good passing instincts and is an elite GRIII level baseline lob threat. Elite transition offensive player too.
I was thinking about adding somebody in free agency after posting that. I don’t see Brooklyn letting Cam walk away unless Detroit overpays, but the two options are Cam or Jerami Grant and it seems like both are going to be in the $30M range. It would probably cost $28M in an offer sheet to Cam to get Brooklyn to not match and Jerami was rumored to be looking for $150M/5 years from Portland. Feels like a lot for either of those guys, but they would fit offensively and Grant + Ausar defensively would be pretty fun with Duren in the paint.
I think Ausar would rebound well as a guard and on par with a 3 from what I can tell (I think he’s going to be some of both as a pro - he’s not getting drafted to not have the ball in his hands offensively a decent amount).
I agree with a bunch of what Buckets says above - he’s a serious A+ NBA athlete whose size and instincts made him an impact defender from day 1. He’s a willing passer (and really enjoys passing) and is obviously at his best in the open floor. Handle not the tightest, but I think he profiles as a guy who may be able to just create advantages on offense without a balls screen due to his size and length. He does really know how to keep the defender on his hip after getting the advantage. He throws some daring passes, but I chalk that up to youth and environment and he seems smart and coachable enough to get that ironed out.
Shooting is the question, but I really think he can be a very useful player as a 32/33% shooter on 4 attempts a game if he can get there.
Part of why I didn’t adore the Sasser pick is because I think Ausar in lots of ways IS your third guard (in addition to be a starting 3). He’s going to play with the ball, and when you sit either Cade or Ivey, I think he’s going to play next to the other a bunch. I think the narrative of Amen and Ausar as different positions is overblown - they played different positions because they started together.
It was Ausar’s own comparison but he referenced the OKC troika of Shai/Williams/Giddy as three high IQ ball-handlers with great cutting instincts…there aren’t a small number of comparison to Josh Giddy’s game here.
This is the really important point to me. Not EVERYONE needs to shoot. If people think Cade will be a plus shooter, and Ivey shoots like he did this year, and you can find a Bogie-esque 4, Ausar doesn’t need to even be a “good” shooter, getting to mediocrity would suffice. He’s going to be REALLY hard to contain with the ball in his hands and he’s so active and smart off it you can’t just ignore him.
Sasser projects more as a shooting guard. He’s a better shooter off the catch than off the dribble. Think it definitely fits if you want Ausur to have a bigger role with the ball in his hands when Cade or Ivey are on the bench. Sasser fits with bigger guards. We’ve got three with Cade, Ivey and potentially Ausur.
I had the 33% number in my head too. It feels like that would be enough to force defenders to stay out on him, which also gives him the ability to attack closeouts and get open on off ball cuts. His athleticism, IQ, and passing ability makes it where he doesn’t need to be a 40%+ shooter. He’s not a just-a-shooter 3&D wing. He just needs to shoot enough to not have defenders sag off him without caring.