Fantasy Review For 2018/19 Season:
Blake Griffin being again an All NBA player was the biggest story of Pistons season 2018/19. New coach, Dwayne Casey, shaped Detroit’s offensive system around him, and the star paid him off big time. He was a lider on and off the court, playing as a true point forward, leading team both in points and assists. On the other side of the ball he recieved a significant help from Andre Drummond, who finally raised up to the role of team’s defensive leader. Together they are a very rare pair in modern NBA, as no other team in the league has its two best players in their big men.
Changes in the offseason
Lost = Wayne Ellington, Ish Smith, Jon Leuer, Jose Calderon, Zaza Pachulia, Jameer Nelson
Added = Derrick Rose, Markieff Morris, Christian Wood, Tony Snell, Tim Frazier, Sekou Doumbouya
Pistons main focus in the offseason was to aquire players that would suit Casey’s vision of a team, and that would enable them to treat Blake Griffin with some load management, without necessity of loosing games.
Projected Depth Chart:
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
| Reggie Jackson | Bruce Brown | Tony Snell | Blake Griffin | Andre Drummond |
| Derrick Rose | Luke Kennard | Joe Johnson | Markieff Morris | Christian Wood |
| Tim Frazier | Langston Galloway | Svi Mykhailuk | Sekou Doumbouya | Thon Maker |
Positional Battles: SG and SF
This two positions being a logjam full of average players is somehow a new Pistons tradition. For the third straight season, there is a ton of players on their wings that will demand some playing time and none of them is a clear cut favourite for a starter job. From the organizational standpoint the two most important players from that group are Bruce Brown and Luke Kennard and, due to their individual skillsets, I can only suppose that they will play the most minutes of their bigman crop, many of them with the bench units. The logjam gets even messier, when we consider that Dwayne Casey loves two-PG lineups, so we will see a lot of Derrick Rose playing as a shooting guard.
Fantasy Relevant in standard leagues
54 FG%, 60,4 FT%, 0 3PM, 16,6 PTS, 16,4 REB, 2,3 AST, 1,8 STL, 1,8 BL, 2,3 TO
For his entire career he is making significant leaps each year in terms of his fantasy value. It should be no different this season. In the 2018/19 campaign he proved that his progress at the free throw line was no fluke, going not only for 59% FT, but also finishing it strong during his impresive run after All Star Break, with 64% on the course of last three months.
What’s more, since January 26th he was the fourth best player in fantasy basketball, no punt considered. His line in that span is more than impressive – 34 mpg, 58.3 FG% 12.6 FGA, 66 FT% 5.7 FTA, 0 3PM ,16.6 REB, 1.8 AS, 1.9 STL, 1.9 BLK, 1.9 TO. If he would keep this up this season he would finish in the top5 roto value. His willingness to cut the threes bullshit down (he doesn’t want to shoot them anymore) and an offseason focus on dribbling the ball to lead the break along with better decision making, are all good signs. I am really trying to pull the breaks of my optimism here as a Pistons fan, but Drummond might be poised for another fantasy breakout and stabilizing himself as a first round player in standard leagues.
He is no longer a dunker nor even an average athlete in the NBA. He totally transformed his game became instead one of the most crafty offensive players in the league. His ability to shoot the threes (2.5 last season), along with unmatched strenght in the post makes him a great offensive threat, but what makes him so unique is playing as a team’s primary ballhandler as a Power Forward. In the terms of counting offensive stats – points, threes, rebounds and assists he is a top20 fantasy player with an upside for more but… thats it. He is really a four cat guy, providing no defensive stats and terrible combination of percentages and TOs – he is in leagues low20 in the combo of those five stats, mostly due to his perimeter duties (lower FG and TOs) and drawing most fouls in the league (more than Harden, Giannis or Embiid), while being slightly negative in that category. This highly unbalanced fantasy skill set makes him a late round guy in 9 cat roto and if you consider the fact that Pistons goal is to play him less than 70 games, he might not even be worth a top100 choice. In fact his statistical profile suggests that he is a poor mans Russell Westbrook.
His emergency as a reliable offensive threat was the Pistons only positive story of the 2019 Playoffs. Right now he is projected to be a leader of their bench unit and maybe the third best offensive player in the second part of the season. He should be considered as an efficient source of offensive stats, with an upside capped by no contributions at all in the defensive stats department (0.5 to 0.8 stl+blk projected).
He is what he is: a modest source of points, threes, assists and FT%, with no defensive stats nor rebounds, with a negative FG%. Last season he was already playing less than 28 minutes per game and after recent additions to Pistons roster it looks like he might get even less minutes this year. A late round guy for a teams desperate for threes, assists and free throws.
Undraftable player in standard leagues due to lack of production in six out of nine categories and an uncertain health. You could use him as a cheap stream of points, assists and free throw percentages but just dont expect anything great here.
Could be useful with trades/injuries [or in deeper leagues than 15 teams]:
Tim Frazier, Christian Wood, Markieff Morris, Bruce Brown
Just don’t bother with:
Sekou Doumbaya – Pistons rookie is just a project right now, that is two years from being NBA-ready. He makes for a good dynasty stash, nothing more.
Don’t forget to check the rest of the Detroit Pistons fantasy basketball projections..
Posted in Teams preview