Pistons Mailbag - Thursday, May 19, 2011 - Page 3

We reserve the right to edit your question for the sake of brevity or clarity.

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

Langlois: Motiejunas is more likely than not to be available to the Pistons at No. 8, though opinions could be swayed between now and then. Motiejunas will have the chance to wow scouts in Treviso in June. He’ll be one of the players we profile in our 15-part draft series that starts Monday on Pistons.com. But Motiejunas, by all accounts, projects as a “stretch four” in the NBA – he’s a highly skilled, face-up shooter. That’s something every team would love to have, of course – and if he turns out to be Dirk Nowitzki, then he’ll be the best player in the draft – but the Pistons have two players, Charlie Villanueva and Austin Daye, who give them what Motiejunas offers. So while I wouldn’t rule him out as a possibility, I tend to think there will be other candidates that better fit their roster needs to take them in another direction.

Langlois: Great question, Marvin, and I’ve asked around about that myself, but there doesn’t seem to be much of a sense for how the threat of a July 1 lockout will affect business leading up to that date. My best guess is it won’t have a significant impact. Teams have known this date was coming for a long time and have been shaping their strategy accordingly. Some, I suspect, have already been able to get deals done to better position them from a cap standpoint. I sense that will be harder to do now than it was at the trade deadline, when there is more of a balance between buyers and sellers – the buyers being teams looking to make a playoff push or add one more weapon to combat a certain likely playoff rival. That doesn’t exist right now, meaning far more sellers than buyers in the marketplace.

Langlois: As I wrote earlier, Bosco, I’ve heard more than one scout say they think he’ll measure taller than 6-foot-8 in Chicago. You’re right that the analyses of Thompson and Biyombo describe two very similar players. And maybe it will turn out that they have very similar NBA careers. But history rarely works that way. Five years from now, my guess is one will have clearly established himself as the better player. Any team that takes one over the other will agonize over making sure they take that guy, not the other one.

Langlois: Not great, Erik. I say that mostly because I’ve heard and read a number of opinions that he’s the best big guy in the draft, and history tells us that anyone who fits that description doesn’t get past the first few picks. Now, I understand Kanter has significant question marks because of his inactivity the past few years. But he has five weeks to change minds – and he only needs to change the mind of one of the teams picking ahead of the Pistons. Just doesn’t seem very likely that a talented big man won’t be able to do that.