2019 Central NBA Free Agency Primer: Division with greatest potential for growth

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Blake Griffin NBA Free Agency series (Photo by Chris Schwegler/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Detroit Pistons

Situation Entering Offseason:

Dwane Casey’s first season as the bench boss in Detroit had its ups and downs. He replicated many of his typical tendencies from his Raptors days by over utilizing his star Blake Griffin who had a stand out season but was worn out by the time the postseason arrived (see Kyle Lowry/DeMar DeRozan years under Casey).

In fairness, the Pistons didn’t have a shot of beating the top ranked Bucks with a less than 100 percent Griffin, but they got a taste of being back in spring play.

The other notable takeaway from the season was how ill-fitting this Pistons roster is highlighting the need to make major roster changes to shift their makeup.

Salary:

Cap Space: $ (36,516,530.00)
Floor Space: $ 19,029,533.00
Max Space: $ (7,585,146.00)
Projected Space: $ (36,616,530.00)

*as per Keith Smith of Real GM

Key free agents to re-sign:

Casey is a big fan of Ish Smith and utilized him plenty during the course of the season. Still, I’m not sure it warrants paying a big price to retain his services, particularly with his defense being sub-par. The other free agent the Pistons will likely center on is sniper Wayne Ellington who they added in the buyout market with promises of a bigger role than other teams were willing to offer.

Outside of those two it seems the Pistons are being far more active in looking to add free agents from other teams and focusing on young assets either via trade or the Summer League.

Louis King was a great pick up but Detroit will need to dive deep in order to fulfill their absolute need to find floor spacers who’ll allow the frontcourt of Griffin and Andre Drummond to function to their best potential.

Undrafted Oregon forward Louis King has agreed to a two-way NBA contract with the Detroit Pistons, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 24, 2019