Jalen Suggs

Keith Langlois

The NBA off-season is basically the time between the end of the NBA Finals and the draft. This year, that amounts to nine days. The 2020-21 season ended with the Milwaukee Bucks basking in the limelight. The 2021-22 season opens with the Pistons standing squarely in the spotlight.

Things will happen fast with what remains of this summer, too, the off-season condensed by a month due to the delayed start to last season amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire by the NBA to get back to its traditional schedule for 2021-22 – meaning training camps will open in late September and the regular season starts Oct. 19.

But before that comes this week’s draft and on its heels free agency and the opening of a Summer League where the Pistons will be front and center on the marquee.

Here are the key dates and the things to look for with the Pistons over the next nine weeks leading to the start of training camp:

NBA DRAFT – The NBA draft will start at 8 p.m. Thursday with the first round airing on ABC and the second moving to ESPN. The draft itself will be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the 20 players invited to the green room – almost certainly including whichever player the Pistons take at No. 1 – will be there, but the Pistons will conduct business from their team headquarters, the Pistons Performance Center.

There are four players widely considered possibilities for the No. 1 pick: college freshmen Cade Cunningham of Oklahoma State, Evan Mobley of Southern Cal and Jalen
Suggs of Gonzaga in addition to Jalen Green, who bypassed college to play for the G League Ignite. Cunningham is widely considered the top prospect but most concede the gap is narrow enough that anything is possible. And Pistons general manager Troy Weaver, predictably, hasn’t tipped his hand.

In addition to holding the No. 1 pick – a result of winning the lottery on June 22, the first time in 14 tries they’ve moved up in the lottery and the first time they’ve drafted first since 1970 when Hall of Famer Bob Lanier was the pick – the Pistons have three second-round picks at 37, 42 and 52. Don’t be surprised if they trade one or two of those picks, however. Roster space is at a premium and the Pistons, one year after carrying five rookies on their roster, are unlikely to add three or four more rookies this time around.

FREE AGENCY – Four days after the draft, free agency opens with teams allowed to negotiate with players at 6 p.m. August 2 and signings allowed at noon August 6 with the expiration of the moratorium period.

The Pistons are probably narrowly focused on a few needs in free agency. They won’t have significant cap space and, in fact, in part because of the cap hold of $10.05 million that comes with having the top overall pick, are likely to operate as a team over the cap. That means their best tools likely will be the mid-level exception, where the first-year salary for a new contract is estimated to start at $9.5 million, and the biannual exception with an estimated starting value of $3.7 million. Those numbers get firmed up during the moratorium period when exact figures for the salary cap, luxury tax and various cap exceptions are cemented.

Point guard, where last year’s rookies Killian Hayes and Saben Lee comprise the depth chart, looks to be the primary area to buttress by some means with free agency the most likely. A big man who offers inside-out versatility with the threat of a 3-point shot to complement Mason Plumlee and Isaiah Stewart would likely be the secondary pursuit. Opportunity might dictate those priorities get flipped based on the receptiveness of prospective free agents.

SUMMER LEAGUE – Again this season, all 30 NBA teams will participate in the Las Vegas event which runs August 8-17. This year, for the first time, the Pistons will train at their Pistons Performance Center – where virtually all of the young players from last season’s roster are spending their off-seasons – before embarking en masse for Las Vegas as opposed to past years where the far-flung Summer League roster members travels separately to Las Vegas for four or five days of practices prior to games.

The Pistons will have an unusually large number of players from their anticipated 2021-22 roster participating in Summer League due to the fact that they had five rookies plus 20-year-old Sekou Doumbouya, their No. 1 pick in 2019, on their roster last season. That means whoever becomes their No. 1 pick will be playing in Summer League alongside many of the players he’ll share the floor with during his rookie NBA season – a great way to hasten the familiarity learning curve.

And because the Pistons will have not only the No. 1 pick in their lineup but also the three first-round rookies who’ve already established name recognition – Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey – you can expect them to be playing in prime TV slots when the Summer League schedule is released.

After Summer League, players will squeeze in a few weeks of rest and relaxation and then gather in Detroit for voluntary team workouts after Labor Day. The season will be right around the corner at that point.

off-season-what-off-season-pistons-start-nba-clock-ticking-on-2021-22-with-no-1-pick-in-thursdays-draft

Off-season? What off-season? Pistons start NBA clock ticking on 2021-22 with No. 1 pick in Thursday’s draft

The Pistons have had more than three weeks now to digest the reality that they won the NBA draft lottery. Two weeks from tonight they’ll at last put their cards on the table. It stands to reason that they’re now deep into the process of evaluating the five players Troy Weaver said would stand as legitimate candidates to go No. 1 after the lottery results.

Not that there are any flies on the wall of the gleaming new Pistons Performance Center where Weaver and his inner circle are huddled, but if there were what might they know about the discussions taking place?

There is a case to be made for each of the consensus top five players to be the Pistons pick – and, perhaps, a case to be made against each of them. We’ve posted profiles of each of those players – Evan Mobley, Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Jalen Suggs and Cade Cunningham – though, as we’ve cautioned, those aren’t necessarily the five players Weaver had in mind for Pistons possibilities.

So let’s make the case for each one – and a case against each one for devil’s advocate purposes.

SHOULD BE THE No. 1 PICK BECAUSE … Playmakers have never been more valuable in an NBA where equilibrium has tilted toward offense and the Pistons need an infusion of playmaking to catch up to the field. And playmakers with elite size – Cunningham is 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot-1 wingpsan – are especially coveted. Combine that with potentially elite 3-point range – Cunningham hit 40 percent from the 3-point line at Oklahoma State on high volume despite marginal talent around him and invariably being the focal point of opposition defenses – and Cunningham adds up to the most complete offensive prospect in years. He’s also a responsible and disruptive defender who’ll better enable the switching defenses central to Dwane Casey’s blueprint at that end. Cunningham’s ability to serve as a primary facilitator will expand the lineup possibilities available to Casey and help ease the burden on Killian Hayes as an inexperienced point guard.

ON THE OTHER HAND … Cunningham is quite possibly the least athletic of the top five prospects and there’s a case to be made that the lack of high-end explosiveness will cap his playmaking effectiveness. Cunningham’s efficiency numbers at Oklahoma State required him to connect on an inordinate number of contested shots. There’s a school of thought that he’ll become even more devastating in the NBA surrounded by shooters and benefit from greater spacing, but doubters exist who wonder if the greater size, length and speed/quickness of NBA defenses will simply mean a greater percentage of Cunningham’s attempts will be of the contested variety in the NBA.

SHOULD BE THE No. 1 PICK BECAUSE … Nobody else in this draft class has the potential to lead the league in scoring and the only way to have a chance to field a truly title-worthy team – the ingredient necessary to win playoff games – is to have someone with the combination of athleticism and scoring chops that Green possesses in abundance. There’s a little more projection with Green as far as his ability to harness his offensive skill set, but you don’t have to squint very hard to see that it’s within his grasp. Green is also a very neat fit with last year’s three first-round rookies – Killian Hayes as the pass-first point guard, Saddiq Bey as the high-volume 3-point threat and Isaiah Stewart as the physical screen-setter, rebounder and interior presence.

ON THE OTHER HAND … Green had more turnovers (40) than free throws (35) in 15 G League games, which might be a red flag for a shooting guard who wasn’t his team’s primary ballhandler and whose athleticism logically should have resulted in opponents resorting to fouling him more than they did to prevent him from scoring at the rim. Maybe that doesn’t scare anyone away, but it does underscore the uncertainty of projecting teenagers based on relatively tiny sample sizes.

SHOULD BE THE No. 1 PICK BECAUSE … In a world where each of the consensus top five prospects max out, Kuminga is a good bet to appear in more All-Star games than anyone else. He’s got very similar measurables to Cade Cunningham but comes with an extra top gear or two. He’s also 13 months younger than Cunningham and there are a lot of teams that lean heavily into draft age when extrapolating future impact. Kuminga requires the most projection of the top five, but the potential outcome is a player who at age 25 generates the most value for his franchise.

ON THE OTHER HAND … Betting on Kuminga reaching his potential would be an easier call in a draft without the star quality apparent in prospects like Cunningham, Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs and Evan Mobley. And not that the presence of Sekou Doumbouya, a similar prospect with similar development challenges blocking his path to stardom, should be a disqualifier in consideration of Kumgina, but it’s perhaps a legitimate tiebreaker.

SHOULD BE THE No. 1 PICK BECAUSE … If it’s a question of the total package – offense, defense, athleticism, character, leadership traits – then Suggs is pretty hard to ignore. His two-sport dominance as a Minnesota prep, where he led both the football and basketball teams to state titles and was named both Mr. Basketball and Mr. Football, is a testament to Suggs’ winning DNA. In another age, maybe some would see overlap with Killian Hayes but in today’s NBA having the ability to pair two guards as adept at playing off the ball as on it – and with the size to facilitate the manipulation of matchups to their team’s advantage at either end – seems more an argument in favor than against.

ON THE OTHER HAND … The 3-point shot has become such a defining tool for players and the fact Suggs comes in as an average shooter – he hit 34 percent from the college line – diminishes the likelihood he’ll have enough offensive impact to warrant the top pick. There are also legitimate questions if Suggs has enough distributing instincts or vision to be a high-level point guard as much as a combo guard.

SHOULD BE THE No.1 PICK BECAUSE … If a 6-foot-8 playmaker is unique and invaluable, what does that make a 7-foot playmaker? Mobley’s ceiling is preposterously high as someone with elite shot-blocking and rim-protection potential combined with his ability to be a one-man fast break and serve as a pick-and-roll facilitator. The Pistons see Isaiah Stewart as a player who can pound opponents inside with his physicality but also step outside and hit shots when the matchup warrants as much. A fully realized Stewart next to a fully realized Mobley would be bonkers.

ON THE OTHER HAND … The 215 pounds is cause for concern – especially if there’s reasonable doubt about how much Mobley’s lean frame can accommodate even as he physically matures and benefits from NBA-level weight-training sophistication. Mobley’s ability to play on the perimeter is a wonderment for a 7-footer, but if he’s relegated to playing almost exclusively on the perimeter because a lack of strength forces him away from the paint then his ceiling is lowered by a few levels. Also warranting debate are the many stretches of Southern Cal games where Mobley seemed content to blend in rather than assert himself in step with his superior talent level.

making-the-case-debating-the-pros-cons-of-top-prospects-and-their-detroit-pistons-fit

Making the Case: Debating the pros, cons of top prospects and their Detroit Pistons fit

(Editor’s note: The Pistons won the NBA draft lottery for the first time in franchise history last month and general manager Troy Weaver said there were five players who were legitimate candidates to be the top pick. Pistons.com today continues a five-part series looking at the consensus top-five prospects in the draft with an examination of Gonzaga freshman Jalen Suggs.)

When Troy Weaver waxes about the qualities he’s laser focused on when considering players he deems fit to don a Pistons jersey, he might as well be reading the background reports on Jalen Suggs.

Toughness? Suggs was playing quarterback as a 4-year-old in a football league for 10-year-olds.

Leadership? Those who play quarterback as 4-year-olds are fairly certain to ooze leadership qualities.

Talent? Suggs was both Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball in Minnesota, leading his private school to four state championships.

The players to whom Suggs has been compared – Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd most prominently, Jamal Murray among active players – all were surrounded by a force field of charisma and star power.

Here’s a look at Suggs and what the Pistons would be getting should they use the No. 1 pick in the July 29 draft on the Gonzaga star:

ID CARD: 6-foot-4 guard, Gonzaga, 20 years old

DRAFT RANGE: Ranked 2nd by The Athletic, 4th by ESPN.com, 4th by Bleacher Report, 3rd by The Ringer, 3rd by SI.com

SCOUTS LOVE: Suggs was a dominant two-sport star in Minneapolis who became the first athlete in state history to be named both Mr. Football and Mr. Basketball. As a quarterback who visited Notre Dame, Alabama and Ohio State before deciding to stick to basketball, Suggs led Minnehaha Academy to the state title as a junior and came up one point short of repeating as state champions as a senior when he passed for 2,213 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for 978 yards and 12 touchdowns while intercepting nine passes on defense. A five-year starter for the basketball team – he was elevated to varsity while in seventh grade – Suggs averaged 23.3 points, 7.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 3.9 steals to lead his school to three state titles, denied a fourth when the 2020 tournament was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Suggs committed to Gonzaga in January of his senior year and walked into the starting lineup for a team that came up one game short of an undefeated national championship season, losing to Baylor in the NCAA title game. Suggs averaged 14.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists for a loaded Gonzaga team and showed off the winning DNA scouts love by making several big baskets, including a 40-footer at the buzzer to lift Gonzaga over UCLA in the national semifinals. Suggs has tremendous speed and a physical frame plus keen passing and playmaking instincts on top of a high defensive ceiling. His athleticism, IQ and leadership skills make Suggs as close to a complete package at guard as it gets.

SCOUTS WONDER: The most notable question mark hovering over Suggs is the potency of his 3-point shot and his perimeter shooting in general. Suggs hit 33.7 percent from the college 3-point line on 3.5 attempts per game with 34 percent of his shots coming from the arc. One of the players to whom Suggs is often compared is Jason Kidd, though it’s probably a stretch to expect Suggs to become a playmaker of that caliber. Suggs has the athleticism and physical characteristics to play either backcourt spot, but his value is increased if he sticks at point guard where his size, speed and physicality would give him distinct matchup advantages and his developing perimeter shooting would be less of a liability. Suggs’ free-throw percentage (75.4) reflects the reality that he’s a good but less than a significantly above-average shooter.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 37.0 – That’s Suggs’ free-throw attempt rate, the number of free throws attempted per field goal attempted, a strong number that underscores Suggs’ ability to get to the rim and draw fouls. It’s in line with Cade Cunningham’s 39 percent rate and more than twice the 17.2 percent rate of Jalen Green, other perimeter players who are projected to be top-four picks.

MONEY QUOTE: “He makes shots. He’s got that magical aura. He makes them in practice all the time. It’s been crazy this year how many he’s made in practice, last-second shots. I felt pretty good. I was staring right at it. And I said, ‘It’s in.’ And it was.” – Gonzaga coach Mark Few after Suggs hit the game-winner over UCLA in the national semifinal

BOTTOM LINE: Troy Weaver and Dwane Casey have put a premium on the character traits that Suggs exudes as a leader and selfless teammate who pours effort into both ends of the floor equally and places winning above all individual achievement. It will come down to whether the Pistons believe Suggs also moves the needle more than anyone else in the talent department and how he would blend with the several other young players – 2020 draft picks Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart and Saddiq Bey, foremost – Weaver has added to the roster since becoming Pistons general manager in June 2020. Suggs’ winning DNA might be hard to quantify but he could make it impossible to ignore as the player evaluation process plays out to its conclusion ahead of the July 29 draft.

Jalen Suggs

Off-season? What off-season? Pistons start NBA clock ticking on 2021-22 with No. 1 pick in Thursday’s draft

Making the Case: Debating the pros, cons of top prospects and their Detroit Pistons fit

Suggs sizzles with star power as Pistons mull their options with NBA’s No. 1 pick