AUBURN HILLS – The Pistons don’t view the fact that they go into the summer with more than $100 million in guaranteed contracts on the books as an impediment to roster building.
The flip side is they go into the summer with every returning starter under contract and three key bench players.
“I don’t think we have a significant hole,” Stan Van Gundy said last week. “It’s a matter of bettering and I think we’ve got some things we can do.”
Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Reggie Bullock and Stanley Johnson – the preferred starting five, even if the Pistons got all of four games with them as a unit in their injury-plagued season just completed– are under contract for next season. So are Ish Smith, Luke Kennard and Jon Leuer.
Smith and Leuer began last season as the two players Van Gundy was sure he’d use off the bench every night. Kennard finished his rookie season on an uptick and will almost certainly be a staple of next season’s rotation, likely pushing for a starting job.
Also under contract for next season are Henry Ellenson and Eric Moreland. The two players who finished the season in the rotation due to become free agents are Anthony Tolliver and James Ennis. Tolliver might have played himself out of reach for the Pistons – but maybe not.
It’s common to describe teams with as much committed cap space as the 2018-19 Pistons possess as having little flexibility. Van Gundy doesn’t see it that way. To have as many contracts secured as the Pistons do gives them that many more potential trade partners.
Teams that sign free agents in July can’t trade them until mid-December. The Pistons will be ready to trade in July as soon as teams that don’t have their wish lists filled by free agency turn to the trade market to plug roster holes. A trade or two between the first and subsequent waves of free agency could alter the roster enough to open the door to a reunion for the Pistons and Tolliver, who played the best basketball of his career over the second half of the season.
“We’ve got a lot of flexibility in terms of (trades),” Van Gundy said. “That’s down the road. You’re not going to get that done at this point, but there’s things that can be done.”
Adding wing depth will be the primary objective of the off-season by whatever means available. Van Gundy likes his top three of Bullock, Kennard and Johnson, but they need at least one and likely two more players who bring some combination of 3-point shooting, defensive versatility, size and athleticism to plug in at small forward and shooting guard, especially the former.
Should Tolliver get an attractive offer early in free agency – before the Pistons have a chance to fill their wing void by other means and create a path to bring him back – they’ll have options to fill his minutes.
Griffin obviously will get the lion’s share of power forward minutes. Van Gundy also used him behind Drummond in several games where a three-man big rotation – Drummond, Griffin, Tolliver – was employed. Ellenson’s offensive ceiling remains intriguing and he’ll push more assertively in his third season for a role. Van Gundy sees his future as much at center at power forward. Another off-season of weight training should abet Ellenson’s push for playing time.
Moreland proved a worthy rotation option in his first full season, too, offering rim protection, floor coverage, offensive rebounding and keen passing skills.
But Van Gundy is most eager to get Leuer back. He’s aware that the fan base turned on Leuer when his productivity declined after the 2017 All-Star break, a fact Van Gundy attributed to Leuer already surpassing his previous career high in minutes played by that point. His 2017-18 season was wiped out by an ankle injury in the eighth game.
“One thing that’s left out to me on the injury thing is Jon,” Van Gundy said. “A.T. had a great year and so we’re all justifiably excited about what he did. And he averaged nine points and a little over three rebounds, I think. Leuer last year – whatever people’s opinions of him are – averaged over 10 points and (5.4) rebounds (in 2016-17). That was a big loss for us.”
Getting him back will be, in effect, a free-agent signing. The Pistons have the mid-level exception to use and a $7 million trade exception, the result of the Boban Marjanovic component of the Griffin deal. And their ability to match contracts in trade with rosters across the NBA will be as great as their imagination allows. Nope, the Pistons don’t go into the off-season feeling boxed in by the fact they carry no cap space into the summer.