Pistons Pre-Season Press Conference
Posted: Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:19 pm
Good afternoon and thank you for joining us.
Last season was a success, despite a rash of injuries to Lance Stephenson, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Taj Gibson. Our rookies Stephen Keitt and Douglas "Kimbrough Slice" Kimbrough got a lot of valuable experience as a result.
Our strategy evolved as the season progressed, from trying to get the #1 overall seed to trying win our division without grabbing the top seed and hoping that the Southeast winner got #1. We saw that the Magic and Hawks were both loaded with talent and that whoever didn't win the division would undoubtably get the 4 seed and a second round matchup with the 1 seed.
The strategy almost worked, as we lost in 7 to the eventual champion Orlando Magic in the conference finals.
As was mentioned in last year's pre-season press conference, Anthony Davis AKA, The Messiah, took your sins upon His own big toe, going from purple/purple, to merely blue/purple. Even in His wounded state, He still earned His second MVP trophy in as many years.
Despite a second season where he missed more than 20 games due to injury, Lance Stephenson continued to be one of the underrated players in this league, averaging almost 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game.
Our draft went quite well. We were able to package Jerrod Stepp and our 2020 first round pick for pick #11 and grabbed James O'Connor, who we had ranked as the second best non-blue potential player. O'Connor is already a skilled player, and after a few years of working with our trainers on his athleticism, we believe he will be a great asset to the Pistons organization.
With pick #26, we picked Dion Baily from North Texas. Baily is very similar to Steppe, just slightly slower and a worse jumper, but at least he won't get winded trying to tie his sneakers. Like O'Connor, we don't expect Baily to contribute this year in any meaningful way. The long-term plan for Baily is to be Anthony Davis' backup.
We kept one of our second round picks, Lon Beamon. He's a big warm body who has already peaked as a player. He'll probably ride the pine for two years, then go sell insurance in his hometown of Riverbank, CA.
Our other second round pick, Scott Ramos, has already been sent packing. Pistons management went home after the first round ended and we left our intern Dave in the War Room to call in whoever he felt like picking.
On the first day of free agency, we accidentally signed Rudy Gay to a 4 year deal at age 32. During the second wave of signings, we brought back Odis Jackson on what we felt was a generous deal for two years. Both Jackson and Gay will be starting for us this year. During the third round of free agency, we signed a handful of nobodies that will play minimal minutes for the league minimum.
We're sad to see that Bojan Bogdanovic and Ramon Sessions move on to what they believe are greener pastures. We wish them well on the Heat and Suns.
Training camp was a mixed bag. Our Lord and Savior Anthony Davis has been resurrected to purple/purple status, Rudy Gay retained his blue/blue status, and Kimbrough Slice and Stephen Keitt made improvements. Unfortunately, Lance Stephenson got hit during camp and is down to green/green. He'll still be our starting SG, but the timetable for Kimbrough Slice to take over as starter may be moved up. As predicted, Vasquez and Bynum got old and fell apart.
Looking to the season ahead, I expect us to finish second in the central division, win around 52 games and grab the 6 seed. I think the Bulls win the division and the Bobcats and Wizards finish ahead of us in the playoff standings, with the Hawks getting the 1 seed and the 76ers winning their division.
I'll open the floor to questions.
Last season was a success, despite a rash of injuries to Lance Stephenson, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Taj Gibson. Our rookies Stephen Keitt and Douglas "Kimbrough Slice" Kimbrough got a lot of valuable experience as a result.
Our strategy evolved as the season progressed, from trying to get the #1 overall seed to trying win our division without grabbing the top seed and hoping that the Southeast winner got #1. We saw that the Magic and Hawks were both loaded with talent and that whoever didn't win the division would undoubtably get the 4 seed and a second round matchup with the 1 seed.
The strategy almost worked, as we lost in 7 to the eventual champion Orlando Magic in the conference finals.
As was mentioned in last year's pre-season press conference, Anthony Davis AKA, The Messiah, took your sins upon His own big toe, going from purple/purple, to merely blue/purple. Even in His wounded state, He still earned His second MVP trophy in as many years.
Despite a second season where he missed more than 20 games due to injury, Lance Stephenson continued to be one of the underrated players in this league, averaging almost 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game.
Our draft went quite well. We were able to package Jerrod Stepp and our 2020 first round pick for pick #11 and grabbed James O'Connor, who we had ranked as the second best non-blue potential player. O'Connor is already a skilled player, and after a few years of working with our trainers on his athleticism, we believe he will be a great asset to the Pistons organization.
With pick #26, we picked Dion Baily from North Texas. Baily is very similar to Steppe, just slightly slower and a worse jumper, but at least he won't get winded trying to tie his sneakers. Like O'Connor, we don't expect Baily to contribute this year in any meaningful way. The long-term plan for Baily is to be Anthony Davis' backup.
We kept one of our second round picks, Lon Beamon. He's a big warm body who has already peaked as a player. He'll probably ride the pine for two years, then go sell insurance in his hometown of Riverbank, CA.
Our other second round pick, Scott Ramos, has already been sent packing. Pistons management went home after the first round ended and we left our intern Dave in the War Room to call in whoever he felt like picking.
On the first day of free agency, we accidentally signed Rudy Gay to a 4 year deal at age 32. During the second wave of signings, we brought back Odis Jackson on what we felt was a generous deal for two years. Both Jackson and Gay will be starting for us this year. During the third round of free agency, we signed a handful of nobodies that will play minimal minutes for the league minimum.
We're sad to see that Bojan Bogdanovic and Ramon Sessions move on to what they believe are greener pastures. We wish them well on the Heat and Suns.
Training camp was a mixed bag. Our Lord and Savior Anthony Davis has been resurrected to purple/purple status, Rudy Gay retained his blue/blue status, and Kimbrough Slice and Stephen Keitt made improvements. Unfortunately, Lance Stephenson got hit during camp and is down to green/green. He'll still be our starting SG, but the timetable for Kimbrough Slice to take over as starter may be moved up. As predicted, Vasquez and Bynum got old and fell apart.
Looking to the season ahead, I expect us to finish second in the central division, win around 52 games and grab the 6 seed. I think the Bulls win the division and the Bobcats and Wizards finish ahead of us in the playoff standings, with the Hawks getting the 1 seed and the 76ers winning their division.
I'll open the floor to questions.
