Detroit Pistons Off-Season Review And Grades

Jun 27, 2013; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Georgia) shakes hands with NBA commissioner David Stern after being selected as the number eight overall pick to the Detroit Pistons during the 2013 NBA Draft at the Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

2013 Draft  C

The Pistons surprised a lot of people when they passed on Michigan Guard Trey Burke and drafted Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. They were surprised because the Pistons lacked a true point guard and the arguably the best one in the draft fell into their laps.  Instead they went with a shooting guard from Georgia. A pure scorer and not the passer the Pistons desperately needed.

Joe Dumars justified the pick by saying that Brandon Knight was his starting point guard so he didn’t need to draft one.  He said he needed scoring and Caldwell-Pope provided that.

"It’s really about building a team and trying to fill needs. To put a good product on the floor. Trey is an excellent player. Someone that I know extremely well and am extremely close to, but we had specific needs that we had to fill and the draft really doesn’t come down to a popularity contest. It comes down to teams trying to fill their needs."

The Pistons have signed all of their draft choices.  But there was a time when it looked like they would have to leave one of them off the roster. Louisville guard Peyton Siva was the last draft choice signed and that was only possible because of the rosters space created by the Knight/Jennings trade.

Joe Dumars draft strategy was puzzling and it really makes you wonder if he had a strategy at all.

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