“Cheick Samb is an athletic young player that is a great shot blocker and can run the floor well,” said Dumars. “He has a soft touch around the basket and we really like his upside. We appreciate everything that Maurice Evans did for our team last season. He’s a class individual and we wish him the best of luck in the future.”

Samb, a 7-foot-1 center from Senegal, averaged 9.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks in 29 games for WTC Cornella in the Spanish LEB2 league. He led the league in blocked shots, registering more blocks than the totals of every other team in the league except one.

Evans played in 80 regular-season games last season averaging 5.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 14.2 minutes. In 16 playoff games, he averaged 3.3 points in 6.3 minutes.

Blalock averaged 15.4 points and 6.1 assists in 30 games last season for Iowa State and ranked 10th nationally in assists-per-game. An early-entry candidate for the NBA Draft, Blalock scored 20 or more points nine times and recorded three games of double-figure assists.

The Boston, MA native started 82 of his 93 collegiate games including every game as a sophomore and junior. He finished his career ranked 22nd all-time in Iowa State history in scoring (1,078 points), sixth in assists (464) and tied for sixth in steals (177). Last season, the 6-foot, 205-pound guard was named Third Team All-Big 12 by both the league’s coaches and The Associated Press.

“We are pleased to be able to draft Will Blaylock at No. 60,” said Dumars. “He has good court vision along with the ability to explode to the basket. We also like his ability to distribute the ball.”

Pistons President Joe Dumars' Draft-Day Quotes

(On if he was surprised that Will Blalock was available at #60):
“Once you saw the point guards started sliding so much, it has a domino effect so you knew there was going to be some good points guards getting pushed down to the second round. We knew late in the first round that there would be a couple of guys there that are really good players. We had him (Blalock) going in the 30s. We had him going from 31-39 or 31-40 so we caught a break with him sliding down there.”

(On what Blalock showed during his workout):
“Quickness, a strong body, an ability to explode to the basket, can see the floor and just had a good handle of himself. He was under control the whole time; wasn’t out of control. We watched tape of him and he sees the floor really well. He can really distribute the ball.”

(On where does Alex Acker fit in after drafting Blalock):
“Alex was never a point guard when we drafted him. We just had to do that last year because we truly didn’t have a young point guard to put out there. Plus, Alex got thrown in the fire last year because Lindsey (Hunter) wasn’t in training camp so he had to be the third point guard. Alex is a two guard; he’s a 6-5 two guard. We knew all along we had to go out and get a young point guard at some point because he (Acker) is going to be more of a perimeter-scoring type guy.”

(On decision to trade Maurice Evans):
“We just felt like there wasn’t going to be enough minutes. I talked to Mo’s agent Roger Montgomery maybe three weeks ago. He called me and said ‘How do you think the minutes are going to go next year? Do you think Mo’s minutes are going to change?’ and I said ‘I don’t see it changing that much.’ I told Roger that I thought he (Evans) and (Carlos) Delfino will continue to platoon minutes and that I hope that both of them would get more minutes and rest Tayshaun and rest Rip. He said if I didn’t think he was going to get much more than he did last year that he thinks it’s best for him to be elsewhere where he could get more minutes. I just said ‘If something comes up and we can do that I will, but I can’t promise you that he’s going to play more minutes next year.’”

(On Cheick Samb):
“A tremendous shot blocker. He’s 7-1, very athletic around the basket, runs the floor really well and has, really, a soft touch with the ball for a 7-1 guy. I like his length, athleticism and his ability to protect the paint. He’s a tremendous shot blocker and I think you guys will see him in the summer league. Although he’s going to go back to Barcelona, right now the plans are for him to fly here next week and play in the summer league with us.”

(On if the draft went the way he thought it would):
“Yes. The only thing that was out of line was the point guards dropping so much. Nobody had (Rajon) Rondo and Marcus Williams going that late. Everybody had them going top 17 or somewhere there those guys would be off the board. That’s the only thing that got out of line with this draft.”

(On if he plans on looking for a point guard via free agency):
“We’ll continue to look for a point guard, definitely. We’ll look for a backup point guard and more of a slasher; an athletic slasher that we can add to the roster.”