2015 draft

Keith Langlois

The peak of free agency has ebbed and the Pistons roster is full – though not necessarily complete. Lots to chew on in this week’s Pistons Mailbag …

Tom (Huntington Valley, Pa.): Do we have the money or interest in acquiring Joe Johnson? He would be a great addition as far as I can see?

Langlois: Joe Johnson is on the books for $24.9 million for 2015-16. If the Pistons had done nothing else – let Greg Monroe go, not trade for Ersan Ilyasova or Marcus Morris or signed Aron Baynes in free agency – they could have squeezed in Johnson. Of course, they would have only Anthony Tolliver as a power forward and no backup center. But they would have had a Johnson &amp; Johnson combination at small forward, which would have been fun. So, short answer: I don’t know about interest, but certainly not cap space unless they send back about $20 million in contracts. Is that possible without gutting the roster? It would almost have to start with Brandon Jennings and his $8.3 million. You could possibly make it work, but here’s the thing: The only reason Brooklyn was interested in doing a deal for Johnson was to save tax money. The waiving of Deron Williams after a buyout logically reduces even that motivation. Monday’s trade that brought in Steve Blake for Quincy Miller – and your question came in before that deal – further reduces Brooklyn’s urgency to move money off its cap. Taking back an equal amount of money doesn’t do anything for the Nets. It’s why the rumored deal with Cleveland that arose before the move with Williams  that included Brendan Haywood��s non-guaranteed contract held appeal – the Nets could have waived Haywood and immediately realized whopping payroll and tax benefits. The Pistons don’t have any substantial non-guaranteed deals to offer. They already played that card when they shipped Caron Butler and Shawne Williams to Milwaukee for Ersan Ilyasova. Miller’s was the last such trade chip.

Isaac (Irvine, Calif.): In regards to filling out the Pistons roster, let me know where I have it right or wrong. The Pistons have 16 players, including a second-round pick and Quincy Miller they can cut and not have to pay. They also have three guys that maybe one or two of them could get cut but get paid (Bullock, Granger and Martin). The Pistons need to cut one but might want to cut two so they can add Joel Anthony or another backup center, correct? Also, what are the cutoff dates for cuts?

Langlois: Teams can carry 20 players in the off-season but need to be at 15 by the time the regular season starts, Isaac. They’re at 17 guaranteed contracts once agreements are formalized with Reggie Jackson and Joel Anthony. (I wrote more about the roster setup earlier this week.) The opportunity cost for acquiring Marcus Morris for nothing more than a No. 2 pick five years down the road was to take on the salaries of Danny Granger and Reggie Bullock, as well. Granger’s health makes him an obvious candidate to be waived, though Stan Van Gundy said it wasn’t a foregone conclusion they would. Bullock, though, could play his way onto the roster in training camp. He’s two years removed from being a No. 1 pick and has NBA size and 3-point shooting potential, so he could get a long look. I know he was a guy a lot of teams liked coming out of college. He hasn’t shown much in the NBA yet, but he really hasn’t been in a situation to do so very often, either. The Pistons also are very high on Darrun Hilliard, their second-round pick. It’s tough to keep four shooting guards, but Bullock’s ability to play small forward – he’s a legit 6-foot-7 as measured at the 2013 NBA draft combine – makes it a more realistic option. Monday’s swap of Quincy Miller to Brooklyn for Steve Blake exchanged a non-guaranteed contract for a guaranteed one. They also are bringing D-League star Adonis Thomas to camp, though not on a guaranteed deal. They don’t have to make any decisions today and are unlikely to make them until they must. Trades are possible between now and training camp, perhaps a two-for-one deal that naturally eases the crunch. If not, there could be stiff competition for the last two roster spots among Bullock, Hilliard and Martin with Granger a possibility if he’s still around.

Clark (Santa Cruz, Calif.): If SVG decides that he likes Reggie Bullock and wants to keep him around as a potential “3 and D” guy, could we still send Darrun Hilliard overseas and keep his draft rights?

Langlois: In theory, yes on Hilliard. But it’s probably not something you’d do without the player being open to such an arrangement. Teams often exercise draft picks on second-rounders with that intent, but it’s almost always known to the player at the time. Teams can’t choose a player in the second round and never make him a contract offer – essentially, freezing him out of the NBA. They have to offer a deal in the two weeks prior to Sept. 5, but the offer doesn’t have to include guaranteed money. The player has until Oct. 15 to sign – or not – the tender. In practice, players drafted where Hilliard was taken, the 38th pick, usually get two years guaranteed at the league minimum with a third-year team option. That’s what Spencer Dinwiddie got last year taken in the same spot. That’s what Khris Middleton got after being drafted 39th three years ago. Kim English, taken five spots after Middleton, got one year guaranteed with a team option (eventually declined) for the second year. One other thing to keep in mind on Hilliard, a question I’ve gotten from others. They can’t “stash” him in the D-League, either. If he is offered a contract by the Pistons and signs it, he counts toward the 15-man roster whether he’s in Detroit or Grand Rapids.

Donovan (Oak Park, Mich.): I have Reggie Jackson ranked as one of the top three point guards in the Eastern Conference. Do you think he will make the All-Star team this year?

Langlois: Just a little early for All-Star questions, don’t you think? Look, we all know that All-Star berths are almost exclusively reserved for players from winning teams. Fans vote in the starters, which means you can probably reserve one spot now for Dwyane Wade. When the coaches fill out the bench, they’ll have plenty of Eastern Conference point guards to look at, including Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry, John Wall, Jeff Teague, Michael Carter-Williams and Goran Dragic. I don’t know where Jackson ranks on that list, but I know this: The Pistons now go into every game feeling they can at least hold their own at the position even in an era of the greatest point guard depth the league has ever known.

Joe (Shalimar, Fla.): With the league forcing teams to wait until July 9 to make deals official, would it be possible for teams to get cold feet and decide to not make a deal already agreed to? The Suns were positioning themselves for more cap space, but if they can’t spend the money couldn’t they decide not to do the deal or make a different deal? I think the Kings should pull back their deal with the Sixers or the league should step in to stop it.

Langlois: Well, it’s possible for players to get cold feet, as Twitter documented thoroughly last week while the DeAndre Jordan saga played out. Beyond that, not sure why the league would intercede in a deal made by consenting teams, Joe. (Yes, the league rescinded the Chris Paul-to-the-Lakers deal. But the league owned the New Orleans franchise at the time.) In theory, yes, a team could renege on a deal agreed to during the moratorium period. But it would make that franchise a pariah and greatly inhibit its ability to make future deals. Indeed, the ramifications for teams for having a change of heart would be disastrous. The ramifications for Jordan are mostly a little embarrassment. Teams might agree to deals conditionally, as in, “If we successfully sign Free Agent A, then we will agree to ship you Player X for Player Y or Player X for Draft Pick Y.” But there is no indication either Phoenix or Sacramento entered into the trades you referenced conditionally. Phoenix obviously dealt Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock and Danny Granger to the Pistons to clear cap space to add LaMarcus Aldridge to Tyson Chandler. The Suns had a logjam on the wings with P.J. Tucker and promising second-year player T.J. Warren in the mix at small forward with Morris. So it’s a deal the Suns could afford from a personnel standpoint, but there’s no question that the return – nothing more than a second-round pick five years down the road – shows the degree of urgency Phoenix felt to get the deal done immediately. Teams surely would have been willing to part with more, given a less compressed negotiation process, for a player who as recently as last season was a sometimes starter and is still just 25.

Charles (Kansas City): Any thoughts on whether or not the way SVG handled the Monroe situation is responsible, at least partly, for the Pistons being unable to sign any of their primary free-agent targets? I’m hoping that one day Drummond doesn’t decide to jump ship because Pistons management seems too inclined to pursue second-tier or backup free agents. I’m praying for the Pistons to show improvement next season with this new crop of free agents, but I’m wondering about Van Gundy’s eye for talent and the ability to recruit quality players.

Langlois: The window for getting Monroe to extend his rookie deal opened many months before Van Gundy was even part of Pistons management, Charles, in the summer of 2013. If there was ever a single turning point as to Monroe’s fate, that was it. When his side didn’t get an extension offer they deemed appropriate, all signs indicate that they were determined at that point to get to unrestricted free agency. Monroe playing last year on a qualifying offer, as has been documented, was a rare step. As for their inability to land – your words – “any of their primary free-agent targets,” well, let’s assume that Danny Green and DeMarre Carroll were, indeed, the two unrestricted free agents Stan Van Gundy indicated the Pistons were targeting. One took perhaps a below-market deal to stay with the team where he’s won rings and is positioned to challenge for more, so it’s silly to look for any reasons he didn’t come to Detroit. Danny Green’s free agency had nothing to do with Detroit or anywhere else but San Antonio. As for Carroll, my guess would be that once he got a $60 million offer from Toronto, the Pistons – and everybody else – were effectively out of the running. Toronto undoubtedly made an offer it knew was going to top what other teams were willing to pay. Carroll is an easy guy to like, but let’s keep his value in perspective. He was a wonderful fit in Atlanta but undeniably the No. 5 option on offense, which means the Hawks almost certainly never ran plays for him. It’s easy to see why the Pistons might have been interested in him – good size for his position, a tough defender and a good 3-point shooter. But at what price? Even with the cap going up, $15 million is a lot of cash for a role player – a fine one, yes, but a guy who arguably lacks one elite skill or who has the ball in his hands much. Again, I’d chalk that one up to any number of reasons besides lack of desire to play for Stan Van Gundy’s Pistons.

Charles (St. Igance, Mich.): Any concern about Spencer Dinwiddie’s play in Summer League?

Langlois: My conclusion after watching too many Summer League games to remember is that it’s a very tough environment for point guards, Charles. Not only is it difficult to achieve anything close to cohesion on the offensive end when players get thrown together and learn each other’s tendencies and preferences in the matter of a few practices, but the task is further complicated by the defensive tenacity brought by deep benches filled with a bunch of hungry players who know that one way to catch the eye of NBA scouts – or those from the many international leagues who attend Summer League games – is to hound the ball. That’s a big part of what many teams are looking for in No. 3 point guards – the type of job that most Summer League invitees are auditioning to get. Stan Van Gundy is going to put a lot more weight on what he saw of Dinwiddie when the Pistons used him in real NBA games last year. It wasn’t all great – he shot 18 percent from the 3-point line, foremost – but Dinwiddie led all rookies in assists-to-turnovers ratio and displayed confidence and poise in some pretty big moments. I’ve seen point guards with more experience and loftier expectations than Dinwiddie struggle in Summer League.

Bob (Reno, Nevada): Two large mistakes made within days – passing on Winslow and then not offering Monroe five years. I feel these moves put the Pistons in the lottery for years. How soon do you feel the Pistons could honestly make the playoffs?

Langlois: We have zero evidence yet that taking Stanley Johnson over Justise Winslow was a mistake, Bob. Winslow might prove the better player eventually, just as Johnson might. But I’d be surprised if we have anything in the way of a conclusion on that until they’re both on second contracts and have established their niche in the NBA. Summer League, where Johnson arguably played as well as anyone and better than all rookies in Orlando, suggests both are very good prospects. As for not offering Monroe five years, I think it’s fair to guess that Stan Van Gundy and David Falk/Monroe batted around every conceivable proposal starting last July. The two sides didn’t formally negotiate at all this July. Monroe’s interview with a New Orleans newspaper days before free agency indicated he was focused on other options. The fact he signed a three-year deal that gives him the option to become a free agent again in just two years tells me a five-year offer wasn’t going to move the talks along, regardless.

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Pistons Mailbag - July 15, 2015

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Some Stanley Johnson stuff, some free agency questions and a little bit of what to do with life after Greg Monroe top the docket in this week’s edition of Pistons Mailbag.

Bigdog (@bugsygod): Who are some of the backup centers they are looking at? Stopgap guys or high-level backup guys?

Langlois: They can’t say which guys they’re going to pursue, but parsing Stan Van Gundy’s words from last weekend it would appear they’re going after someone they’d feel comfortable sticking in a game for 15 to 20 minutes every night if it came to that and someone with starting experience or potential in case Andre Drummond is out due to injury for a game or two. They want Joel Anthony back, but Van Gundy is going to be judicious about overextending him. He’ll be 33 in August. “We’ll try to sign the best guy we can,” Van Gundy said. “Joel’s far from being done, but he’s getting up there in years. So we would like to sign a younger guy there, too, and he’s been made aware of that. He understands that.” It won’t be a big name, but anyone who follows the NBA will recognize the player and his capabilities, I’m guessing.

John (Farmington Hills, Mich.): Assuming Jennings comes back healthy, how practical would it be to start Jackson and Jennings and have KCP come off the bench for a three-guard rotation, similar to but not the same caliber as Isiah, Joe and Vinnie?

Langlois: Don’t see that as an option Stan Van Gundy would seriously consider, John. He’s going to want more size in his backcourt to start games. He’s also going to want Caldwell-Pope in the lineup to start games to give him a quality defender at a position that traditionally is a scoring spot. Now, once teams dip into their benches, another story. In fact, as I’ve written, if Jennings indeed comes back healthy I’d be surprised if Van Gundy didn’t use a Jackson-Jennings tandem to great effect with two guys who can attack off the dribble. If Jennings can pick up where he left off, his scoring and ability to make plays off the dribble will be a great weapon for a second unit that’s going to have some scoring punch with Jodie Meeks and Anthony Tolliver and, perhaps, Stanley Johnson as the anchors. Among the other issues that come with starting Jennings and Jackson together, you’d have to be awfully careful about staggering their minutes unless you’re comfortable with your No. 3 point guard playing big minutes, as well.

Samuel (Ann Arbor, Mich.): The Pistons seem to be banking their future on Andre Drummond becoming a prolific low-post scorer. Have you heard anything through the grapevine about Drummond’s low-post scoring potential and how long it may take him to develop into that type of player?

Langlois: I don’t think it’s an entirely accurate characterization, Sam, to say the Pistons are “banking their future” on Drummond’s low-post scoring development. Are they working with him to advance his post skills? Of course. Is he eager to become a more effective scorer with his back to the basket? Very. It gives the Pistons another arrow in their quiver and it helps Drummond achieve the status as an elite player he craves. But it’s only one element of the offense Van Gundy envisions. The backbone of their offense for the 2015-16 season, at least, will be the Reggie Jackson-Drummond pick and roll. But it’s not going to surprise many if Drummond shows noticeable improvement next season based on what we know. We know he took some significant steps even over the course of last season and especially after the All-Star break. We know he’s working extremely hard this summer, having gotten leaner and working on his post game. “I added a lot of new things to my arsenal,” Drummond said in early June. “A lot of new parts to my game. Been working on my footwork a lot.”

Michael (@mcculleymichael): How much are we going to miss Greg Monroe?

Langlois: A little easier to answer that question after free agency and the reshaping of the roster, Michael. Taken on its own, he leaves a big hole. You don’t subtract 16 points and 10 rebounds a game from your roster and blithely move on. But it’s not like they lose Monroe and have no mechanism available to replace him. Monroe’s departure leaves the Pistons with almost $19 million in cap room and, in effect, they really had about $27 million in cap room and chose to use $8 million of it on a big piece of the puzzle to replace him, Ersan Ilyasova – a trade the Pistons were unlikely to have made if they didn’t already suspect Monroe wasn’t coming back. Stan Van Gundy admitted to disappointment in his inability to figure out ways to make the Pistons more effective offensively with a Monroe-Andre Drummond tandem, so while they won’t have perhaps the same balance between perimeter and post scoring next season the intent is to be a more efficient offense overall. Check back in a few months and we might have a better idea. But we probably won’t know for sure until we see the evidence of the roster moves play out on the court.

Matthew (Onekama, Mich.): With the draft finished I was wondering about center depth, so my question is what is more likely to happen: the Pistons bring in Mouhammadou Jaiteh; the Pistons retain Joel Anthony; the Pistons trade Quincy Miller for Josh McRoberts; the Pistons bring in a veteran free agent like Carlos Boozer or Andrea Bargnani?

Langlois: The only one that qualifies as remotely possible, though probably stops short of “likely,” is re-signing Joel Anthony. The Pistons have made it known they want him back and he expressed sincere interest late last season in returning. Jaiteh is not on the Summer League roster after going undrafted, so that’s the least likely. Trading Miller for McRoberts doesn’t do anything about addressing center depth, since McRoberts is a power forward whose scoring strength is perimeter shooting and the Pistons have their bases covered there with Ersan Ilyasova and Anthony Tolliver. We’ll see if the Pistons bring in a veteran free agent power forward. If they do, I would expect it would be someone who offers a different skill set than Tolliver and Ilyasova, so post scoring or shot-blocking might be the defining skill set.

Chris (@allchris2): This might be a stupid question, but can the Pistons sign Caron Butler since he was waived? I loved his veteran presence.

Langlois: The Pistons could not re-sign Caron Butler until next June 11, Chris. That’s a fairly recent rule, sparked in large measure by a number of trades in which teams would send away a player to satisfy salary cap considerations with the wink-wink understanding that the receiving team would waive the player and he would return to his original team. The Pistons did this both in 2004 when they got Lindsey Hunter back after including him in the three-team deal to obtain Rasheed Wallace and again in 2008 when they got Antonio McDyess back after including him in the Chauncey Billups-Allen Iverson deal. The rule now says that when a team trades a player who is subsequently waived by the other team, it can’t claim him off waivers or re-sign him should he clear waivers until the one-year anniversary of the trade (June 11 in this case0 or until the July 1 following the end of his contract, whichever is earlier. Even though Milwaukee chose not to exercise the option on Butler’s contract, the Pistons could not sign him until one calendar year after all conditions of the trade were met – so, June 11, 2016.

Al (Wolverine Lake, Mich.): What do you expect out of Stanley Johnson as a rookie?

Langlois: Someone who’s very probably a different player in April than he is in July or October or January. It’s important to remember that Johnson just turned 19 – 19! – a month ago and that he spent one year in college. He’d never done more than play with weights until he got to Arizona, yet he’s a sculpted 242 pounds on a 6-foot-7 frame. I don’t think you’re going to see his body change much, but a good strength program almost surely will make Johnson a more explosive player. I found all the angst over Johnson’s shooting “weakness” in the wake of his drafting a little curious, given that he shot 37 percent (and 30 percent of his attempts were triples, so it’s not like he only rarely shot it from there) as a college freshman. The shot might not have textbook fundamentals and Stan Van Gundy has said they’ll work with him on ironing those nuances out. (The Pistons have hired a shooting coach, Dave Hopla, whose first duties will take him to Santa Barbara, Calif., where Andre Drummond is in the midst of a six-week stint at the P3 training facility.) How much is expected of Johnson as a rookie, to a degree, will depend on how successful the Pistons are in free agency at attracting a quality small forward to start at the position. If they can get someone who can shoulder 30 minutes a game or so, then Johnson won’t be asked to do more than he’s ready to handle out of the gates. Of course, Johnson might have something to say about all that. The Pistons will begin to get some idea of what they might expect from him in Summer League, though what shows in games will be just the tip of the iceberg. Stan Van Gundy will learn at least as much about Johnson in the practices the Pistons conduct leading to those games. He knows the two-a-day sessions will test players and probably leave them a little heavy-legged for games, but he’s not going to be overly concerned about shooting numbers produced by wobbly legs. He’s looking to see who pushes through fatigue and competition challenges to keep playing hard.

Cal (Grand Rapids, Mich.): How much are you looking forward to the Monday Summer League game with Miami to see the Stanley Johnson vs. Justise Winslow matchup?

Langlois: It’ll be fun, sure, but it will be the third game in three days for the Pistons – following on the heels of multiple consecutive days of two-a-day practices. As I said in the question above, the players are going to have very heavy legs in Summer League. I don’t know what Miami’s practice schedule will be leading up to Monday’s game, but Winslow probably will be in a similar situation. Just be careful about wild extrapolations based on one Summer League game. If we had done so after Andre Drummond’s first game, the Pistons would have packaged him and a first-round pick to Orlando in exchange for Kyle O’Quinn.

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Pistons Mailbag - July 1, 2015

ORLANDO – Darrun Hilliard wasn’t among the 60-plus players invited to the NBA draft combine. He was ranked the 62nd best draft prospect by DraftExpress.com and 77th by ESPN.com, compilations their creators say are based on the consensus of their conversations with NBA scouts and personnel executives.

Stan Van Gundy says the Pistons had Hilliard rated among the 25 best prospects in last week’s draft, yet they had a high degree of confidence he would be available to them at the 38th pick.

Hilliard participated in the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational in April, a showcase for players on the fringe of draft status. A few others who performed there, including Richaun Holmes and Treveon Graham, earned invitations to the combine – but not Hilliard, who said he wasn’t aware of his DraftExpress and ESPN rankings.

“It is what it is,” Hilliard shrugged as he got ready to launch his NBA career with practices leading to Saturday’s Summer League tipoff for the Pistons. “Everybody’s got their opinion. Coming into Villanova, I had the same thing. My rating was a two-star. It just goes to show you that with hard work and dedication and not really feeding into people’s opinions, you can do whatever you want to do.”

Given Hilliard’s standing on his Villanova teams and the success the Wildcats had over his last two seasons, it’s astounding he flew so far below the radar. Hilliard averaged 14.3 points a game each season – second by one-tenth of a point as a junior, leading his team as a senior – and shot 40 percent from the 3-point line over that time for teams that went 62-8. As a senior, Hilliard led Villanova to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Pistons assistant general manager Brian Wright, who drives the draft process, uses the word “crafty” several times in discussing Hilliard. The Pistons see Hilliard evolving not only into an efficient 3-point shooter, but more than that as a scorer.

He’s very good off the dribble, Wright said, with an uncanny pump fake. Wright agrees with Jay Wright, Villanova’s coach, that Hilliard’s keen decision-making skills play well in pick-and-roll situations. And as he gains strength – Hilliard just turned 22 – his defensive instincts should make him a very good two-way player, the Pistons believe.

In a curious way, Hilliard’s “craftiness” might have worked against his draft standing. As Van Gundy has said, in the second round NBA teams tend to look for one standout, NBA-ready skill in prospects. Drafting in the same spot in the 2014 draft, the Pistons took Spencer Dinwiddie 38th for his unique passing ability in a 6-foot-6 frame at point guard.

But that profile doesn’t fit Hilliard, who does many things well and has no glaring weaknesses but probably isn’t going to win the dunk contest anytime soon.

“That’s all my life, too,” Hilliard said. “A lot of people try to label me as a shooter or whatever, but I’ve still got to prove that at the NBA level. But I can do a lot more. I’m solid on offense. I make good decisions and I can also shoot the ball. But if you look at how I played at Villanova, it wasn’t just one thing I had to do. I was dribbling the ball, bringing it up sometimes and being a good teammate and a good leader.”

Hilliard will line up at shooting guard in Summer League for the Pistons, his likely home, but in today’s NBA Hilliard’s smarts and versatility promise to make him a valuable commodity that becomes a Swiss Army knife in the hands of a coach with Van Gundy’s chops.

Van Gundy had a simple message for Hilliard before Summer League practices: “Just to play my game. Just do what I did at Villanova,” he said. “A lot of the things we were doing are the same things offensively as coach Van Gundy’s concepts. I’m excited. I know coach Van Gundy wants me to play hard and play smart and be solid on offense and defense. I’ve been doing that all my career at Villanova.”

As the draft unfolded, the Pistons took calls for their pick at 38. They could have traded down, maybe still landed Hilliard, and picked up a future second-round pick or other considerations. But Wright knew there were at least two teams picking in the mid-40s who had heavy interest in Hilliard and one picking a few spots after that he knew would take him if he were still available. They didn’t want to risk losing him, so Van Gundy made the call to keep the pick at 38 and grab Hilliard there.

Hilliard said his agent knew that Phoenix and Dallas had expressed interest and other teams without a pick to get him had Hilliard rated even higher.

“I knew the Pistons had the earliest pick I could possibly go to,” he said. “I was real excited about going to Detroit. They’ve got a great team, they’ve got a great coach, great owner. I’m just excited to be a part of this organization.”

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Pistons saw something in Hilliard others didn’t – now he’s out to prove them right

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Fandemonium: Draft Night 2015

Trending: Johnson and Hilliard talk Detroit

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The Pistons think they got a first-round talent in Darrun Hilliard. So does Hilliard’s college coach.

Villanova’s Jay Wright runs a four-guard system and does it to great results. The Wildcats had no glittery stars this season but wound up with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament alongside Kentucky, Wisconsin and Duke. Six players averaged between 9.2 and Hilliard’s 14.3 points a game, but when it came to winning time the ball always found its way to Hilliard.

“All of our guards score. We have real balance,” Wright said Friday from his office at Villanova. “He was obviously our best player, but if you look at all of our games – tight games, road games, big-time games – any time it was crunch time, he was our guy. He was our go-to guy and he always came through. I think he’s going to be a hell of an NBA player.”

Wright and Van Gundy go way back. When Wright was 22, his first job was as an assistant at the University of Rochester in New York. Bill Van Gundy, Stan’s dad who was then coaching at Genesee Community College in nearby Batavia, invited him to speak at his coaching clinic. Up next was the head coach at Division III Castleton State, Stan Van Gundy.

“Stan got up after me – he’s only a couple of years older than me – and spoke like a 50-year-old coach. I was so embarrassed,” Wright laughed. “But his dad sent a letter to the president of the University of Rochester telling him what a great job I did what a great representative I would be for the university. And the president actually mentioned it to me. Literally, before I’d even coached a game. I’ll never forget that.”

So Van Gundy had great insight into his first-rounder, Stanley Johnson, through his connection with Sean Miller, who was a grad assistant at Wisconsin when Van Gundy was there, and a direct connection to Hilliard, too. When Van Gundy was out of coaching and working as an analyst for NBC Sports Network, he saw Villanova win three games and the Battle of Atlantis tournament in November 2013.

“Stan watched us play in the Bahamas and he and I would talk each day,” Wright said. “He knew a lot about our players. I think he has an insight on Darrun. I think they’re right on with their evaluation of Darrun.”

Wright recruited Hilliard out of Bethlehem, Pa., because he saw a guy who was everything to his high school team. He wanted to redshirt him as a freshman – Hilliard was young for his class and needed to add bulk – but injuries forced his hand. But he quickly became the same type of jack-of-all-trades for the Wildcats that he’d been in high school.

“Sophomore year he really started coming into his own and we had a good team. He was one of our leading scorers,” Wright said. “Junior year, we were good and then he started to do other things – score, rebound, he was one of our best defenders, great decision-maker. As a senior he was our leader, captain, leading scorer, did everything for us. He really played on good teams with a lot of scorers and he’s always been unselfish. I think the NBA game will really give him more opportunities to score, because he can really score in a lot of ways.”

Hilliard shot 41 percent from the 3-point line as a junior and 39 percent as a senior. He’s an 80 percent foul shooter. At worst, he projects as a solid 3-and-D type. But Wright sees more to him than that.

“He’s probably the most well-rounded and has the best size of any of our guards who’ve gone to the NBA,” Wright said. “I think he’s got a lot more to his game. He was one of our best perimeter defenders. He’s great off the pick and roll. He can really use the pick and roll as a passer and as a scorer. Great decision-maker. And I think he can be a really good rebounder.”

Just as Johnson came back from his visit and told Miller he hoped he landed with the Pistons, so did Hilliard.

“I texted (Van Gundy) last night. I told him ‘Darrun will love playing for you,’ ” Wright said. “Because Darrun really respects coaching. His high school coach is one of his best friends. He and I have a great relationship and Stan is a coach that is detail-oriented, very committed, very passionate. Darrun loves that. He’s going to respect that. I talked to Darrun when he came back from his Pistons visit and he said, ‘I love their staff. I love their culture.’

“Darrun understands that a coach that’s really passionate is a coach that’s going to make him better and he loves that. I know when he came back from that visit that he loves Stan. I told all our guys about Stan, what a great coach he is, and all of our guys really respect him. They respect that coaching style – that attention to detail, demanding, passionate and very honest.”

Hilliard will get right to work with the Pistons as their Summer League team will gather Monday in Orlando for four days of practices before the July 4 opener. Hilliard projects as their starter at shooting guard, with Spencer Dinwiddie at the point, Johnson at small forward and Quincy Miller at power forward.

Lots of reasons to pay attention to Summer League this year. Getting Miller for nothing more than a D-League flyer was like getting an extra draft pick. Getting Hilliard in the second round, the Pistons believe, was like getting a bonus first-rounder. Jay Wright concurs.

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Jay Wright says Darrun Hilliard loved Pistons visit, will thrive under SVG

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2015 Pistons Draft Party

In their past forays into the lottery, the players the Pistons picked were going to be measured against guys picked ahead of them. Greg Monroe’s career against that of DeMarcus Cousins and Derrick Favors. Brandon Knight’s against Kyrie Irving’s. Andre Drummond against Anthony Davis. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope against Ben McLemore.

Players who played the same position, who were considered peers from AAU ranks up through college and into the draft process.

This time, Stanley Johnson will be measured against a player picked after him – a player the Pistons could have taken instead. Stanley Johnson’s career will be measured forever – or at least until one decisively proves better than the other – against that of Justise Winslow.

But that wasn’t the comparison in the minds of Stan Van Gundy and his inner circle that shaped Thursday night’s decision to draft Johnson at No. 8 and leave Winslow to Miami, two picks later.

As if this drama needs another compelling element, consider that Johnson was Van Gundy’s choice and Winslow was taken by his NBA mentor, Pat Riley. The bit of intrigue we’ll likely never know: What would Riley have done with the pick at No. 8?

And how do we know the choice didn’t really come down to Johnson or Winslow for the Pistons? Because Van Gundy said so.

“I understand the comparison for Justise,” he said, “but that’s not really the comparison that it came down to for us.”

Van Gundy said he didn’t want to talk in specifics about the Pistons draft board, but we can safely assume two things: Johnson was higher than No. 8 and Winslow wasn’t next after Johnson, wherever he was.

Van Gundy said that Johnson and Emmanuel Mudiay, in some order, were the next two players on the Pistons board at their pick. He also said that once Sacramento passed on Mudiay for Willie Cauley-Stein, they knew they’d get Johnson because they were certain Denver would grab Mudiay. It’s doubtful Cauley-Stein held a top-eight value on Detroit’s board, given Van Gundy’s frank admission leading to the draft that picking a backup center at eight would be unlikely.

Sometimes teams take a player and can’t mask tepid feelings about him. That wasn’t the case Thursday night. Van Gundy, Jeff Bower, assistant GM Brian Wright – the guy who heads up draft scouting – all appeared thoroughly pleased.

When I asked Wright what differentiated Johnson from the group of small forwards tightly bunched on media draft boards – not just Winslow, but Kelly Oubre, Sam Dekker and Mario Hezonja, who went fifth to Orlando – he said: “A lot of things, but the one thing that really stood out with us was the mentality. I think you’ve heard it from him. He’s very confident. Wants to be great. And I think he’s going to bring that to our team right away.”

It was those media draft boards – and, frankly, mostly ESPN.com – that precipitated the impression that Winslow was the superior prospect. Van Gundy ascribed it to nothing more substantive than Winslow’s NCAA tournament run with Duke, which won it all while Arizona lost in the elite eight.

“Justise is a very good player and a great kid and competes very hard,” he said. “The main reason people ask that question is because he’s from Duke and they won the national championship. I’m just being honest. It’s not like people sat down and analyzed their games. I’m not going to get into anything that would negate Justise. I think he’s a really good player. We just thought Stanley was the best player on the board.”

Johnson’s a little taller and about 20 pounds heavier. He has a slightly longer wing span. Nobody knocks his motor, toughness or competitive edge. He led his Arizona team in scoring and was a narrow second in rebounding. Van Gundy called him the best rebounding wing player in the draft. He gets to the foul line more often than Winslow. They’re both fierce transition players. They both handle the ball well. They both shot the 3-pointer well as freshmen, yet both had their shots questioned by evaluators.

In short, there’s not much that separates them on the surface of it. It’s amazing there seemed to be such confidence among those who don’t evaluate players for a living that there was a gap between them.

After their high school careers ended – and that was barely a year ago – the two major recruiting websites, Rivals and Scout, both ranked Johnson the best small forward in the 2014 class and No. 3 overall, ahead of Winslow. What’s that worth? About as much as what the media guys who work for ESPN and rank college players is worth, I guess.

Here’s something to consider: What if Johnson had gone to Duke and Winslow to Arizona? What if Johnson had played next to Jahlil Okafor and Winslow next to Kaleb Tarczewski? What if Johnson’s point guard had been Tyus Jones? What if Duke had to come through the tougher West regional that Arizona had to navigate?

Would the public sentiment have swung as surely to Johnson’s side over the past few months as it wound up doing to Winslow’s?

None of that matters now. Johnson and Winslow will dictate who was right on draft night in the months and years ahead. And it will all start on July 6, when the Pistons and Heat meet in a Summer League game in Orlando. That ought to generate some ratings for NBA TV

I have no idea who’ll be the better pro.  But it’s going to be fun watching it play out.