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Good news for Pistons as draft class fills up on news of latest entries

The lottery is still more than three weeks away, but the draft is already treating the Pistons better than most. Pretty much everyone the Pistons presumably scouted and have on their top 10 list will be in the 2015 draft.

It doesn't usually work that way. In almost every draft, there is a player or two ticketed to go in the top 10 who decides to wait another year. In 2009, Greg Monroe and Ed Davis were both considered high lottery picks but went back for their sophomore college seasons.

Nobody obviously defied convention in 2010, but in 2011 North Carolina's Harrison Barnes and John Henson came back for another shot at an NCAA title. So did Thomas Robinson with Kansas and Terrence Jones with Kentucky. In 2012, Cody Zeller passed on a sure-fire top-10 pick to go back to Indiana. A year later, Marcus Smart passed on a shot to go in the top three to return to Oklahoma State. Last spring, it was two European prospects – Mario Hezonja and Kristaps Porzingis – whose absence from the draft pool raised the most eyebrows.

This year? Pretty much everybody considered a lottery prospect has now declared. Both Hezonja and Porzingis are now in. And late this week, the last two college prospects considered top-10 talents, D'Angelo Russell of Ohio State and Stanley Johnson of Arizona, announced they were leaving after closely scrutinized freshman seasons.

The consensus top four consists of three college freshmen – Russell and big men Jahlil Okafor of Duke and Karl-Anthony Towns of Kentucky – plus Emmanuel Mudiay, a Congolese native who skipped a freshman season at SMU to play professionally in China. In size, position and lack of exposure, Mudiay is a match for Dante Exum, an Australian who didn't play college basketball – or professionally, for that matter – in the year leading up to the draft yet went fifth to Utah.

Porzingis and Duke's Justise Winslow might be separating themselves at the top of the next group, perhaps even challenging for top-four status depending on the outcome of the May 19 lottery.

Johnson, Hezonja and a third wing prospect, Kansas small forward Kelly Oubre, logically figure to all be in the mix for the Pistons pick if they don't pull a top-three pick, given their need at the position.

But Stan Van Gundy and Pistons general manager Jeff Bower have been pretty clear that they're looking for the best player and considered the long term, so don't put too much into the depth chart when trying to project their draft.

Van Gundy and Bower will head to Europe late next week, presumably to get a look at Porzingis and Hezonja. Porzingis, a native of Latvia, and Hezonja, from Croatia, both play in Europe's premier league, Spain's ACB. Hezonja's Barcelona team was upset in the Euroleague quarterfinals on Thursday, but league play continues. The ACB playoffs last into June and Barcelona is expected to have a long.

The ACB schedule will keep both players from attending the NBA draft combine in Chicago in mid-May.

But all of the American prospects are expected to attend and none has any known injuries that should prevent their participation in measurements and interviews, at a minimum.

Other college freshmen considered potential lottery picks include Myles Turner, a versatile 7-footer from Texas; Kevon Looney, a 6-10 forward out of UCLA; and two Kentucky products, shooting guard Devin Booker and power forward Trey Lyles. Their older teammate, 7-foot junior Willie Cauley-Stein, is almost a certain top-10 pick.

Wisconsin teammates Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker, versatile frontcourt players, and Arkansas' 6-10 Bobby Portis, are other prospects who could be on Van Gundy's watch list.

We'll be breaking down all of them between now and the June 25 draft and will have plenty of good stuff from the combine which starts May 14. Keep checking in.