With just more than a week before the NBA Draft, the Pistons still hold the No. 1 pick.
That’s no small feat, given the amount of rumors and innuendo about general manager Troy Weaver willing to pass on presumptive top pick Cade Cunningham and coveting guard Jalen Green or center Evan Mobley.
The way the rumor mill was churning, Weaver was ready to deal the pick for a pack of Twizzlers and any other top-10 pick. Sure, Weaver caused some of the stir himself with his comments on the night the Pistons won the draft lottery and earned the right to pick first. He insinuated that the Pistons weren’t focused on any one player and that they still would work out five players.
Most media members understood that’s what he has to say in that situation; he’s not going to put on an Oklahoma State baseball hat and proclaim Cunningham as their pick without doing diligence.
Though he could have — and everyone would have understood.
Cunningham is the most likely pick, unless a team like the Houston Rockets, who are rumored to be working behind the scenes to gather assets, opts to drop a bounty at Weaver’s feet and make an offer too good to turn down.
More: Respect for Jerami Grant grows as he prepares to play for Team USA in Tokyo Games
The choice is only going to be as hard as the Pistons make it. Cunningham is regarded as the best and most versatile player in the draft, although Mobley and Green also have high ceilings that could make the Pistons better in the short term.
It’s not worth the risk, though. Unless there’s something that elevates one of the other top prospects, the pick should be Cunningham, and the equipment manager can just start creating the Cunningham jersey for the Summer League opener in early August.
In this week’s News & Views, there’s more on the Pistons’ draft outlook, the NBA Finals and Team USA.
► News: The Pistons have three second-round picks — No. 37, 42 and 52 — in the July 29 draft.
► Views: Weaver has plenty of options with those picks, and he showed last year that he’s not afraid to use any means necessary to improve the roster. Given that he said he doesn’t see much turnover in the roster for this season, there are some likely scenarios for the picks. More than likely, the Pistons won’t be keeping all three of those picks for themselves. They don’t have the space on the main roster, but they could turn a couple of the picks into two-way contracts with their new G League franchise, the Motor City Cruise.
This year seems to have some potential gems in the second round, and Weaver also has displayed his ability to identify talent beyond the lottery picks. What seems to make more sense is for the Pistons to either package those picks to try to move up into the latter part of the first round or to combine a player on the roster with a pick or two to try to upgrade certain positions.
There are a couple of different directions the Pistons could go with their picks, including trading them for future second-round picks, to help replenish the supply of picks that they’ve exhausted in myriad trades during the past few years.
►News: The Milwaukee Bucks took a 3-2 lead over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals and are a win away from their first NBA title in 50 years.
►Views: It’s a big spot for the Bucks to try to win the championship at home, but the Suns won’t go away easily. It’s been a back-and-forth series, and although Phoenix looked formidable early in the series, the Bucks have turned things around.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is in line for the Finals MVP to pair with his two regular-season MVP awards. Khris Middleton has made a bigger name for himself on the big stage in the playoffs, and the Bucks organization should get a lot of credit — if they finish off the series — for doing whatever it took to improve their roster when they sensed that a championship was within reach. Getting Jrue Holiday wasn’t easy, but he’s shown himself to be a clutch player when they’ve needed it, especially on the defensive end.
The Suns seem to go as Chris Paul goes, and if he’s injured, they will have to get even more from their complementary players such as Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton. That’s not asking a lot, but the Bucks seem to have made the adjustments needed to win the title.
► News: Team USA finished its exhibition schedule with a win over Spain ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
►Views: Much of the talk about Team USA imploding seemed to be overblown. They’re stars, but they haven’t played together much, so establishing that chemistry always was going to be the hardest thing for a team of All-Stars. That they lost their first two games is a bit alarming, but not to the degree that the talk last week had it.
Pistons forward Jerami Grant entered health and safety protocols after Bradley Beal was determined to have been a close contact. Grant is fine and returned to the team, but Beal had to be quarantined and will not make the trip to Tokyo, along with Kevin Love, who has some injury concerns. They were replaced by JeVale McGee and Keldon Johnson on the roster, who are two good last-minute additions.
By the time the Olympics start, they’ll also get Middleton, Holiday and Devin Booker, who might be tired, but will bring some extra scoring to the team. Team USA will be fine, and should find themselves in medal contention when it’s all said and done.
rod.beard@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard