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Pistons Mailbag - February 3, 2016

With the trade deadline looming, plenty of chatter about what the Pistons might consider to beef up for a playoff run – and a little about the fallout from bad news on Jodie Meeks’ recovery from a broken foot in this week’s edition of Pistons Mailbag.

Max (West Bloomfield, Mich.): The Pistons should have significant cap room to play with this summer. But just how much cap room do they have? Enough to retain Andre and shoot an offer out to a Ryan Anderson-type player? Or will we feasibly have enough room to sign Andre Drummond long term and make a stab at two such players like Anderson or Harrison Barnes? Two signings like that and this team becomes an immediate contender in my opinion.

Langlois: There are a lot of moving parts in projecting a team’s salary cap, Max – team options, player options and cap holds among them – that make it a speculative endeavor when we’re sitting here a few weeks from the trade deadline, which can have a significant impact on the cap for those teams that engage in deals. As of now, I’d say the range for the Pistons is somewhere between $20 million and $30 million. The single biggest factor whether it will be closer to the high side or the low side is the decision the Pistons will have to make on Ersan Ilyasova’s contract, which calls for him to earn $8.4 million next season. For what it’s worth, Stan Van Gundy indicated earlier this season that the likelihood is that the Pistons would pick up the option to retain Ilyasova. Those decisions are never made until they must be, which comes just before the window opens on free agency in July, but if Ilyasova stays healthy and continues to produce at current levels, it would be an upset if the Pistons declined the option. Anthony Tolliver is a pending free agent, keep in mind. With Reggie Jackson at point guard, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (and Jodie Meeks, Reggie Bullock and Darrun Hilliard all under contract next season) at shooting guard, Marcus Morris and Stanley Johnson at small forward and Andre Drummond (and Aron Baynes under contract next season) at center, power forward is the one position where the Pistons don’t have a long-term foundation piece already in place. It would make sense they’d target one in free agency. That still wouldn’t preclude bringing Ilyasova back another season.

George (Madison, Wis.): The defense of the Pistons has been inconsistent, especially Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, and there haven’t been many off days for practice. Should they seek another defensive-minded big man to help out? Perhaps a real shot-blocker?

Langlois: To play where? They’ve got three centers on the roster. One’s in the All-Star game. Stan Van Gundy loves Aron Baynes and it’s hard to argue with his contributions. Check out his numbers vs. other backup centers. And Joel Anthony handles the impossible task of sitting for weeks at a time and contributing on those rare nights when called upon. If there’s a shot-blocking power forward on the market, I’m not sure what the Pistons would use to pry him away from his current team by offering in trade without cutting into the core in other areas. Never say never, I suppose, but I don’t see that one in the cards.

Bob (Albany, Ore.): Any chance the Pistons are interested in Markieff Morris? Much as I like Ilyasova, a focused Morris is an upgrade and can be had cheaply. Ilyasova and Dinwiddie might interest the Suns. Your thoughts, please.

Langlois: Since your question came in, the Suns fired Jeff Hornacek and named Earl Watson interim coach. He went out of his way to talk about Markieff Morris in his first meeting with the media, put him back in the starting lineup and saw him go for 30 points, 11 rebounds and six assists Tuesday against Toronto. I think any scenario you care to mention with him is now possible: trading him at the deadline off of performances like that one while his market value surges again; keeping him as a core young piece on a terrific contract; shopping him but holding on to him and seeing how he performs for the next coach, whether that’s Watson or somebody else. Given the presence of his twin brother in Detroit, it’s inevitable that the Pistons are going to be linked to him – whether there’s a hint of substance to it or not. Stan Van Gundy really likes his power forward tandem and he’s going to be far less likely to shake things up with a trade this season than he was last year at the trade deadline given the standings this year. He probably would have been less likely to deal even last year if not for the injury to Brandon Jennings that cast great uncertainty on the future at point guard for the Pistons. The off-season, of course, opens up many more possibilities for trade. If anything were to happen, my bet would be more on after the season than during it. But the key will be Phoenix’s intentions going forward and that’s simply too tough to read at this time.

Carmichael (Lansing, Mich.): How difficult has it been to readjust the rotation of the guards since Jennings has come back? Any time you juggle a lineup, it creates a ripple effect in cohesiveness.

Langlois: There wasn’t any juggling of the rotation other than the one-for-one swap of Brandon Jennings in for Steve Blake. The Pistons had a challenge on their hands entering the season because of all the new faces – two new starters and five new members of the rotation with Blake, Aron Baynes and Stanley Johnson off the bench. But one thing that’s helped them shorten the arc of their learning curve has been the durability of their starters – only Marcus Morris and Ersan Ilyasova have missed a game, and only one at that – and the stability of their rotation. Other than the occasional inclusion of Reggie Bullock first and later Darrun Hilliard as a 10th man, it’s been the same nine guys who’ve played all year and generally their roles – when they’re inserted and how much they play – have stayed constant, too. The transition to Jennings as the point guard for the second unit didn’t seem to cause any disruption, either.

Joe (Lake Orion, Mich.): What do you think Stan Van Gundy will do with the rotation when Jodie Meeks comes back? Will he go to a five-man rotation or will there be any odd man out. If so, who do you think it will be?

Langlois: I don’t see any of the nine players currently in the rotation losing his spot, Joe. Meeks – who saw his surgeon, Dr. Martin O’Malley, while the Pistons were in New York this week and learned his injured foot hasn’t healed as expected just yet – will have to play his way back into the mix when and if he’s ready. The new timetable calls for Meeks to be backed off until March 1. They’ll re-evaluate at that time. If he’s cleared, it would probably be another 10 to 14 days before he’s ready to play in a game. So, best case, maybe mid-March. Here’s what Van Gundy said about Meeks on Tuesday: “It’s really hard to see him being able to get back and make much of a contribution this year. It’s unfortunate. If he can help us at the end of the year, we’ll see. But it would be hard to see at this point.”

Alex (Troy, Mich.): With Meeks now unlikely to be a factor this season, I’d love to see a move for a backup wing. I was thinking of using Brandon Jennings as bait to get Arron Afflalo from New York and dangling Anthony Tolliver to Oklahoma City to get the little-used D.J. Augustin back would make the Pistons quite a bit improved. Marcus Morris would need to play minutes at the four and we might need a small deal to get a third-string power forward for depth, but Afflalo would be a huge benefit as a defender and floor spacer and D.J. has proved to work well in SVG’s system. What do you think?

Langlois: Jennings has been a very popular target of speculation in the New York media all season, which means … probably nothing, at least with regard to the intent of the Knicks front office. Jennings isn’t a classic Phil Jackson type of point guard, for what that’s worth. And Stan Van Gundy really likes Jennings and how he gives the Pistons a different look with the second unit than Reggie Jackson provides with the starters. It’s tough to get contingent deals lined up in the chaos of the trade deadline where one move necessitates another. The Pistons were able to pull it off at the deadline last season, needing to execute the deal with Boston for a small forward (Tayshaun Prince) after using Kyle Singler as part of the package to get Jackson from Oklahoma City. I question whether Van Gundy would want to risk that much disruption to his roster at the deadline this season given the fallout last season – a 10-game losing streak as everybody settled in to new roles. It was one thing to risk it last season but quite another to do it this time around when the Pistons have consistently been among the playoff field and are on track to snap a six-season drought. If such a deal produced a player Van Gundy coveted and came with a contract that kept him under control into the future, that would be one thing. Afflalo can opt out at season’s end, making it a bigger roll of the dice.

Guru (Troy, Mich.): If a trade of DeMarcus Cousins for Andre Drummond was presented, would the Pistons do it?

Langlois: From Tom Gores to Stan Van Gundy, the Pistons as an organization appear as committed to Andre Drummond as an organization can be to a young player, Guru. If ever that were a serious proposal, of course it would be discussed and considered. How the Pistons feel about Cousins is the great unknown in the equation, but we’re pretty certain how they feel about Drummond and it’s all positive. So the best guess to your question: no.

Doug (Riverview, Mich.): The intentional fouling of Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard and others has to stop. I don’t blame other teams for doing it. It works. It’s simply not any fun to watch. The NBA is usually pretty good at protecting its product. This product is not good – longer and boring. Can this message make it to Adam Silver?

Langlois: It will if he reads Pistons Mailbag, Doug. If the NBA starts seeing drops in attendance, TV ratings, merchandise sales and the other yardsticks that measure the league’s popularity, you can bet it will take notice. Short of that, the league will move very deliberately on this issue. If a grass-roots movement arises that reaches critical mass, I would expect that would move them to act, as well. I suspect the league is keeping an ear to the ground on this matter. I think everyone’s uneasy with the growing use of the tactic, but there is a general reluctance to do something about it. My guess is that it’s based on the notion that the rules shouldn’t be altered to bail out players who struggle to shoot free throws. Here’s what Toronto coach Dwane Casey said about the matter when the Pistons were there on Saturday: “I would say guys have to learn to make free throws. I think it would be tough to change rules for three or four guys around the league and implement something new for those guys. I think that’s the way the coaches are leaning. I don’t know. That’s above my pay grade as far as the rules committee is concerned, but I would say learn to shoot free throws.”