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Draft Preview: Tyler Ulis, Robert Carter

(Editor’s note: The Pistons hold the No. 18 and No. 49 picks in the June 23 NBA draft. We’ll preview one candidate for each pick each Monday through Friday leading up to the draft. Players who are consensus lottery picks unavailable to the Pistons will not be profiled.)

First-Round Candidate: Tyler Ulis

ID CARD: 5-foot-10 point guard, Kentucky sophomore, 20 years old

DRAFT RANGE: Ranked 19th by DraftExpress.com; 17th by ESPN.com; third among point guards by NBA.com

SCOUTS LOVE: If Ulis were the same size as the other point guards generally ranked among the top 20 prospects, he’d almost surely win a general manager’s poll as the best prospect at his position. He’s got terrific feel for the game, leadership qualities, athleticism, shooting – pretty much everything. The success of Boston’s Isaiah Thomas, who blossomed into an All-Star when finally given the opportunity as a full-time starter, can’t hurt his chances to convince someone – or several someones – that he can be more than a novelty or top out as a backup.

SCOUTS WONDER: There’s really only one significant quibble with Ulis – his size, of course. He measured 5-foot-10 at the Chicago combine in shoes. It’s a related concern, but Ulis had trouble finishing inside the paint in his two years at Kentucky. He compensated by developing an effective runner. The greater size, strength and athleticism of NBA players will make it even more critical for Ulis to find ways to be an effective scorer without having to carry his penetration all the way to the rim.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 149 – that’s what Ulis tipped the scales at in Chicago earlier this month at the NBA draft combine. When scouts point to Thomas and Kemba Walker as comparable players and use that to bolster the argument for taking Ulis in the lottery or top 20 picks, it’s worth nothing that Ulis weighed almost 40 pounds less than both players did when they came to the NBA. It’s hard to see Ulis ever carrying more than 165 pounds, which makes it very difficult to project him playing major minutes.

MONEY QUOTE: “He’s probably the best pure point guard maybe even in the draft. He really controls the tempo of the game. He makes his guys better. He’s got to shoot the ball a little better because of his size and he’s got to learn to finish better in the paint. But he probably had the best year out of all of those guys – even Kris Dunn. So I think he’s helped himself. It’s just whether a coach and a team will be comfortable with a 5-9 point guard.” – NBA Northwest Division executive as told to David Aldridge of NBA.com

PISTONS FIT: The Pistons will be in the market for at least one point guard this off-season and quite possibly two, depending on what they decide to do with Spencer Dinwiddie – they hold an option for his third year – or Lorenzo Brown. It would be somewhat of a gamble for Stan Van Gundy to entrust a 149-pound rookie with the critical role of backup point guard, but he could add a veteran – somebody like Steve Blake, perhaps, as he did a year ago – who can ably handle backup minutes or be OK with the role of No. 3 point guard if Ulis proves ready.

BOTTOM LINE: Van Gundy is a fan of players who have plus size for their position, but he’s even more a fan of winning players. Ulis has been that in both high school and college at the highest level. He didn’t get recruited by Kentucky until midway through his senior season of high school, but as a freshman quickly established himself as an indispensable player. Despite his lack of size, Ulis was a terrific defender in college, winning SEC Defensive Player of the Year – as well as SEC Player of the Year and All-American. The NBA is much more friendly to players of all shapes and sizes today. Ulis might go before 18th. If he’s there when the Pistons pick, they could do a lot worse than landing someone who could be a dynamic backup point guard who could play alongside Reggie Jackson at times to give the Pistons two attacking playmakers.

Second-Round Candidate: Robert Carter

Robert Carter

ID CARD: 6-foot-8½ power forward, Maryland junior, 22 years old

DRAFT RANGE: Ranked 44th by DraftExpress.com; 45th by ESPN.com; listed among the top 20 power forwards by NBA.com

SCOUTS LOVE: Carter’s talent has long been recognized. He was highly recruited out of Georgia and landed at nearby Georgia Tech, where he played two seasons before transferring to Maryland and sitting out one year before playing for the Terrapins as a junior and entering the draft. Carter has high-end scoring potential for his versatility, able to score inside or from the perimeter. Because of his size, he didn’t play far enough from the basket to develop his 3-point shot fully in college, but he showed at the NBA draft combine that the potential to become a stretch four with the bulk to defend traditional power forwards – not a very common mix of talents – is there.

SCOUTS WONDER: Carter isn’t an explosive athlete and that always leads to concerns about how effective he’ll be around the basket – scoring on the offense end and offering any sort of rim protection at the other. He’s also had conditioning issues in the past, weighing as much as the 280s during his time at Georgia Tech. He checked in at 251 pounds with 12.5 percent body fat at the combine, which was fourth worst among all prospects measured there. If Carter were to dedicate himself to an NBA strength and conditioning program and stay disciplined nutritionally, he has a great chance to have a long, productive NBA career as a second-round draft pick.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 7-foot-3¼ -- Carter’s wing span. He’s not an explosive jumper with a 30-inch vertical leap, but Carter’s reach (8-foot-10½) gives him more than adequate size to be an effective interior defender. There’s enough going on with Carter to make a team confident he’s got more to offer than he showed in college, though his production on a talented Maryland team in which all five starters have a chance to be in the NBA (12.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, .554 shooting) was pretty good as it is.

MONEY QUOTE: “I’ve never had anybody as consistent as Robert in terms of his effort and his enthusiasm. He’s one of the most fun athletes I’ve been around. He’s the strongest guy on the team right now in the traditional sense, but he can do a lot of things that 6-9, 235-pound guys can’t usually do.” – Kyle Tarp, Maryland director of basketball performance, as told to Noah Frank of WTOP Washington.

PISTONS FIT: The Pistons will be actively looking for a power forward this off-season, perhaps two of them. With Anthony Tolliver headed to free agency, the only power forward on the roster is Tobias Harris, who is probably more comfortable at small forward but gives the Pistons mismatch advantages at power forward. Four years removed from high school and with a solid frame, Carter probably comes more ready than most to compete for a role.

BOTTOM LINE: The Pistons will surely sign a veteran power forward, one who fits the profile of a more conventional player at the position. Signing the right player in free agency would make a developmental project with high upside for a second-round pick, as Carter projects to be, a very strong move at 49 should he still be available.