Pistons Draft Rodney Stuckey with #15 Pick and Arron Afflalo at #27
Stuckey can play the 1 and 2
The Pistons selected the player many draft pundits pegged them to pick by taking Rodney Stuckey out of Eastern Washington. Stuckey is a good pick as he can play either guard position and has the ability to create his own shot and drive to the rack, which will be a welcome addition to the team.
Arron Afflalo was Detroit’s second pick in the first round and is a 2 guard all the way. His game is very similar to Rip Hamilton’s as he’s best shooting off a screen. He can also play solid defense. He fits in well for Detroit and both picks could help the Pistons get in on the Kevin Garnett sweepstakes.
Since the Minnesota Timberwolves want to trade Kevin Garnett and cannot work out a trade perhaps Joe Dumars would be a good trading partner. The reports seem to indicate that the T-Wolves have been in negotiations with numerous teams to trade their star forward. The Pistons do not have the lottery draft pick they appeared to want as part of a trade proposal with Charlotte. Joe Dumars has stated in reports from the Detroit media that he has no hesitations about making a trade that makes sense for his team.
According to ESPN’s trade machine a deal that sends Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace to the T-Wolves for KG would work. Minnesota gets a big forward to replace Garnett and they also get a very good shooting guard in Rip Hamilton. Here is how the scoring and stats work out.
Kevin Garentt
22.4 Points Per Game
12.8 Rebounds Per Game
4.1 Assists Per Game
Rasheed Wallace and Rip Hamilton
32.1 Points Per Game
11 Rebounds Per Game
5.5 Assists Per Game
If Minnesota wants to cut payroll they can turn around and trade either player or trade Ricky Davis. The one downside is that they wouldn’t get a superstar player but they’d get two high-quality starters who are solid team players. For all the talk about how many technical fouls Rasheed Wallace picked up this season KG only picked up 9 less than Sheed. So that shouldn’t be a huge issue.
If Minnesota wants to trade KG, which seems to be the case, picking up two very solid players could help them to either bolster their lineup or turn around and trade one of the players for some cap relief. If Joe Dumars wants to give his team a legitimate shot at advancing past the Eastern Conference Finals he is unlikely to have a better opportunity than making a bold move to acquire KG this summer.
If the Pistons are able to trade for KG and re-sign Chauncey Billups here is what the lineup could look like.
PG - Chauncey Billups/Alex Acker
SG - Rodney Stuckey/Arron Afflalo
SF - Tayshaun Prince/Amir Johnson
PF - Kevin Garnett/Antonio McDyess/Jason Maxiell
C - Nazr Mohammed
You obviously have to trade Flip Murray for one of those bangin’ second round draft picks. The clear weakness is at the center position. If only Kelvin Cato was still on the team. However in this scenario Detroit will have a superstar in Kevin Garnett who will create space for everyone else. The team gets younger - only McDyess, Garnett and Chauncey would be 30 or older. They’d also be more athletic.
And you can’t get a hungrier player than Kevin Garnett, who needs to add a championship to his resume to cement his legacy. The Pistons would obviously still need to acquire some depth for the center position, but that’s something they already need to do with Chris Webber and Dale Davis pondering retirement.
Arron Afflalo Kevin Garnett NBA Trade Rumors Pistons Rasheed Wallace Rip HamiltonNo Comments
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