Detroit Pistons: Biggest Needs on NBA Draft Day '08

The Detroit Pistons find themselves with familiar needs heading up to this year's NBA Draft on June 26, but face more uncertainty than at any point in recent years. With losses in the Eastern Conference Finals in three consecutive seasons, the news that Michael Curry will take the reins from Flip Saunders as head coach, and the strong words from GM Joe Dumars that the team will undergo major changes, fans may see a very unfamiliar team on the court in the 2008-2009 season. 

This potential variability makes it difficult to pinpoint just what the Pistons will do with the #29 and #59 picks in this year's draft. Therefore we'll focus on the team's biggest needs regarding its roster as-is, with some perspective on what got them here. Doing so reveals two recurring deficiencies for those who have been following Detroit over the last few seasons: 1. No true starting center and 2. No viable back-up at the small-forward position.

1. Need at center

The Pistons have lacked a dominating inside presence since the departure of Ben Wallace via free-agency after the 2005-06 season. Too often, Rasheed Wallace has preferred to float out around the perimeter to take 3-pointers at the expense of offensive rebounding and creating second chances for teammates.

Also, as seen most recently in the playoff series against the Boston Celtics, true centers like Kendrick Perkins have found ways to have atypically impressive showings against Detroit (though for some reason the team continues to shut down a guy like Dwight Howard). This could be attributed to a lack of depth in imposing big men in the middle.

While the drafting of versatile, attacking back court player Rodney Stuckey with the Pistons' first of three picks (two first-rounders) last year was not much of a surprise, the fact that the team passed on taking a center with each of its latter picks was a little bit of a shock.

It was clear that Joe Dumars wanted to shore up his back court and was comfortable sliding Rasheed Wallace over to the five position. But it is also notable that there weren't many players that could fill the team's need in the middle that had talent projected as worthy of a late first-round selection (Detroit settled on Arron Afflalo, SG/SF). They could have taken a chance on Glen Davis (probably should have in hindsight) or perhaps Tiago Splitter out of Brazil, though both play more as forwards anyway.

Looking ahead, this draft appears to be abnormally deep in talent at the center position. Unfortunately, most of the known commodities are projected to be taken in the middle of the first round, before the Pistons get a shot.

What I mean by this is that as many as seven or eight top NCAA prospects who can play the five position in the NBA may be drafted before Detroit picks at 29. This includes players such as the Lopez brothers out of Stanford, DeAndre Jordan, Kosta Koufos, and Roy Hibbert. What the Pistons could be left choosing from are untested international players or someone like DeVon Hardin from Cal, who many believed has consistently underachieved.

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