With just about every NBA team having concluded 95-plus percent of its off-season business, we’re at that point of summer where every quasi-journalist or blogger will weigh in with off-season grades.
The Pistons probably aren’t going to top many lists given the nature of their off-season. They didn’t land a premier free agent. They had their entire starting five locked up – well, once they completed the formality of getting Andre Drummond re-signed, at least – and had fewer needs than most teams. And a lot fewer needs than they carried into Stan Van Gundy’s first two summers as Pistons president of basketball operations.
They did take a big swing at one of the NBA’s most coveted free agents, though, getting a meeting with Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks. Horford met with the Pistons as well as the Hawks, Houston and Washington before choosing to sign with Boston. His relationship with Arn Tellem, Horford’s agent until Pistons owner Tom Gores wooed Tellem away from his perch as perhaps the NBA’s foremost player’s representative to become vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment, helped the Pistons get their foot in the door.
But it also couldn’t have been lost on Horford that the Pistons were clearly on an upward trajectory, having won 44 games last season with one of the NBA’s five youngest starting lineups.
“We were happy to have a seat at the table and I think a lot of that came through Arn, because he had represented Al,” Van Gundy said. “We got a chance to make our presentation. We think we had a really, really good situation for him, as we do for anybody. Of course, any time you don’t get a player that you had targeted, then you’re disappointed. But for me, where I was really happy, (general manager) Jeff (Bower) was able to make sure that we stayed in the ballgame with our other people so we didn’t lose anything from our pursuit of Al Horford.”
The Pistons acted quickly in free agency in Van Gundy’s first two goes at it, setting their sights on players to fill specific needs and add depth. Jodie Meeks was the biggest name of Van Gundy’s first free-agent class, Aron Baynes the only free-agent addition of 2015.
When Horford ruled out the Pistons, they quickly came to terms with a player Van Gundy has coveted since his days coaching in Orlando, 6-foot-11 Jon Leuer.
“It’s like a power hitter being able to take a swing at the home run and let it all go, but end up not striking out,” Van Gundy said. “Jeff was able to walk that line and it was good. Arn did a great job getting us in there. We weren’t able to get that deal done, but we were able to get everything else done that we wanted done.”
The Pistons reached agreement with Ish Smith about three hours into free agency as backup point guard to Reggie Jackson. Van Gundy said the Pistons, thanks to their late-June trade of Jodie Meeks to Orlando for a 2019 second-round draft pick, would have had the cap space to add Smith and Horford.
“We could’ve gotten a point guard and then Al would’ve filled the need at the power forward. He would’ve played both (center and power forward),” Van Gundy said. “We would’ve been done. We wouldn’t have had Leuer or Boban (Marjanovic). Everything else would be the same.”
Once the Pistons had Smith and Leuer to fill their two critical off-season needs – a backup point guard and a power forward with more size to complement starter Tobias Harris – and still had cap space left over, the idea to spend it on Marjanovic was batted around. The thinking was that with Baynes’ ability to opt out next July – a move the Pistons expect, given the salary escalation since his 2015 signing – the Pistons would be left with a critical need at center and likely not have the cap space in 2017 to appropriately address it.
I’ll have more on that and Van Gundy’s view on the grade he’d give the Pistons’ off-season moves in an upcoming True Blue Pistons blog.