Detroit Pistons Mentioned For 8 Players in Chad Ford’s Final Big Board

What will the Detroit Pistons do in the 2016 NBA Draft? Chad Ford’s final big board might give an indication as he mentions the Pistons for eight prospects.

Detroit Pistons president of basketball operations and head coach Stan Van Gundy went on record yesterday as saying that what the team does in the draft will have no impact on what they do in free agency. He also said that he doesn’t expect the 18th overall pick to have a big impact next season.

Those statements strongly suggest that all options will be available to the team when they are on the clock when the 2016 NBA Draft takes place tomorrow night. A narrow view of the direction they could go based on current needs just doesn’t fit with what Van Gundy has said publicly.

We won’t know what the Pistons are thinking until the pick is actually made, and it will depend on what happens in the preceding 17 picks, but Chad Ford’s big board for ESPN gives as good of an advanced look as any.

As Ford explains, his big board isn’t his own opinion-based ranking; it’s the result of the information he has been able to gather from various teams:

"These rankings aren’t based on my opinion. They come from countless conversations with numerous NBA GMs and scouts. Obviously, each team has its own rankings and they’ll differ from these in places. However, here’s a consensus of what the NBA as a whole thinks."

Even more interesting than the rankings themselves is that Ford specifically mentions the Pistons as a possible landing spot for eight of the 30 players in his final big board. That’s not to say one of these eight will ultimately be the pick, but the mention from Ford is worth taking note of ahead of Thursday night.

Now on to the eight, starting with a familiar name to local basketball fans.

Next: Deyonta Davis