Detroit Pistons: 5 Best/Worst Draft Picks in Team History

The Detroit Pistons are scheduled to select at the No. 8  position in the first round of the 2013 NBA Draft on Thursday, June 27.

The draft, particularly with rookie salary rules in place, is a team’s best chance to acquire young talent that has the potential to turn around a franchise.

Of course, the opposite side of that coin is that the wrong draft choice can set a franchise back, sometimes for years.

One caveat to this list: If a player was taken in the top five and worked out to be a great player, that’s not really the definition of a great draft pick; rather, the player lived up to expectations. So that’s why you won’t see Dave Bing (No. 2 overall, 1966), Bob Lanier (No. 1 overall, 1970) or Isiah Thomas (No. 2 overall, 1981) on this list—those Hall of Famers had the careers that were projected for them.

Instead, with the best picks, we’re seeking out players who exceeded the expectations of their draft position.

With that as a preface, here are the five worst, and best, draft picks in the history of the Detroit Pistons:

Worst

5. C Scot Pollard, Kansas, 1997

When taken: First round, No. 19 overall

Pollard was taken 19th overall in 1997 after he was a good, but not great, player for four years at Kansas. Like Cleaves and Hamilton, Pollard’s stay in Detroit lasted one season.

Pollard barely got off the bench as a rookie, averaging 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per game in the 33 games he played. After the lockout in 1998, Pollard was traded with a 1999 first-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Christian Laettner, but was released by the Hawks before playing in a game.

Pollard went on to have a long career as a serviceable backup center, playing 11 seasons with the Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics before retiring after the 2007-08 season. But 4.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game is hardly what is hoped for from a first-round pick.

4. PG Mateen Cleaves, Michigan State, 2000

When taken: First round, 14th overall

The Pistons made one of the classic mistakes a team can make … they overvalued a popular player who starred in their own state. Cleaves led Michigan State to an NCAA championship in 2000, but lacked the quickness and shooting ability to be an effective NBA point guard.

Cleaves’ lone season in Motown was actually the best of his career—he averaged 5.4 points and 2.7 assists in 16.3 minutes per game for the Pistons in 2000-01. Before training camp in 2001, he was shipped to the Sacramento Kings for Jon Barry and a 2003 first-round pick.

Cleaves was out of the NBA by 2006 and played in 167 career games for the Pistons, Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers and Seattle SuperSonics.

3. PG Roy Hamilton, UCLA, 1979

When taken: First round, No. 10 overall

The Pistons whiffed pretty spectacularly in the 1979 draft overall, but none bombed quite as spectacularly as Hamilton. The Pistons had three picks in the top 15 in 1979 … and turned them into Greg Kelser (No. 4 overall), Hamilton (No. 10 overall) and Phil Hubbard (No. 15 overall).

Hamilton had a solid career as a point guard at UCLA, averaging 12.5 points per game and making third-team All-America as a senior in 1979, but he was a bust as a top-10 pick.

Hamilton lasted one season in Detroit, averaging 4.6 points, 2.7 assists … and 1.6 turnovers … per game in 72 appearances, averaging 15.5 minutes a game. The Pistons released him the following September and his rest of his career in the NBA lasted one game and five minutes with the Portland Trail Blazers in October 1980.

2. PF Terry Driscoll, Boston College, 1969

When taken: First round, fourth overall

Driscoll was the Most Valuable Player of the 1969 NIT after leading Boston College to the tournament final and the Pistons snagged him with the No. 4 overall pick, hoping he could fill the void created at power forward when Dave DeBusschere was traded to the New York Knicks the previous December.

But Driscoll couldn’t agree to terms with the Pistons and played in Italy in 1969-70. He did sign with the Pistons in 1970, but wasn’t the star Detroit was hoping for. He averaged 5.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in 18.2 minutes over 69 games and was waived the following October.

Driscoll went on to play 244 NBA games for the Pistons, Baltimore Bullets and Milwaukee Bucks and also had a 30-game stint with the ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis. He retired after being released by the Boston Celtics prior to the start of the 1975-76 season.

1. PF-C Darko Milicic, Serbia, 2003

When taken: First round, No. 2 overall

Could this spot really belong to anyone else? Milicic was all the rage prior to the 2003 NBA Draft, with ESPN.com’s Chad Ford, in particular, singing the praises of the 17-year-old.

The Pistons grabbed him with the No. 2 pick in one of the biggest mistakes in draft history. The top five players taken in the iconic 2003 draft reads like a question on a standardized test:

–Pick the one that doesn’t belong in this group.

Choices: LeBron James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade.

Milicic was also a victim of bad timing, arriving with the Pistons just in time to meet new coach Larry Brown, who likes young players about as much as most of us like root canal. Darko withered at the end of the Detroit bench for 2½ seasons, playing in just 96 games and averaging 5.8 minutes, 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game.

In February 2006, he was dealt with Carlos Arroyo to the Orlando Magic for Kelvin Cato and a 2007 first-round pick.

Milicic bounced around from the Magic to the Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics before he was released last November. He told a Serbian website (and hey, the translation in Google Chrome is worth the chuckles) over the weekend that he is done with the NBA. So the final tally on Milicic’s career is 468 games, six points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He did, however, get a ring with the 2004 Pistons.
Here’s one of his few highlights as a Piston, a steal and dunk against the Miami Heat in 2006.

Best

5. SG-PG Eric Money, Arizona, 1974

When taken: Second round, No. 33 overall

The Pistons cashed in when they took a chance on Money late in the second round in 1974. The Detroit native played just two seasons at Arizona, averaging 18.6 points per game.

After spending his rookie season coming off the bench, Money found his stride in 1975-76, averaging 13 points and 4.2 assists per game playing at the point for Detroit. In 1977-78, Money had his best season, averaging 18.6 points and 4.7 assists.

The Pistons dealt him to the New Jersey Nets in September 1978 in exchange for Kevin Porter. After going to the Philadelphia 76ers, Money wound up back in Detroit in 1979-80, playing 55 games for the Pistons and averaging 10.9 points and 4.3 assists per game.

You can catch some of Money in this clip from Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round series against the Milwaukee Bucks from 1976:

Tayshaun Prince was a terrific find for the Detroit Pistons late in the first round of the 2002 NBA Draft. (Flickr.com photo/Keith Allison)

4. SF Tayshaun Prince, Kentucky, 2002

When taken: First round, No. 23 overall

Not a lot was expected of Prince, thought to be too frail to succeed at the NBA level at 6’9” and just 215 pounds. But the smooth-shooting lefty emerged in the playoffs in 2003, as a rookie, and by the following season was a starter and solid contributor for a championship team.

Prince wound up making four NBA All-Defensive second teams while with the Pistons and spent parts of 11 seasons with the team. Prince was dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies in January as part of a three-team trade that also sent Austin Daye, Ed Davis and a future second-round pick to the Grizzlies, Jose Calderon to the Pistons and Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to the Toronto Raptors.

Prince averaged 12.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 769 career games for the Pistons and was a solid 37 percent shooter from 3-point range with Detroit.

Here’s his real breakout game—Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Orlando Magic in 2003.

3. SG John Long, Detroit, 1978

When taken: Second round, No. 29 overall

When Dick Vitale left the University of Detroit to coach the Pistons in 1978, the team drafted two of his former players—Terry Tyler and John Long—with their first two picks. Both went on to have solid careers, but Long’s was the better of the two despite being taken six picks after Tyler.

Long averaged 16.1 points and 3.2 rebounds per game as a rookie and, after teaming with rookie Isiah Thomas in 1981-82, turned in his best statistical season for the Pistons, averaging 21.9 points per game.

Long was with Detroit until September 1986, when he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for a pair of second-round draft picks (1987 and 1991). Two days later, the Sonics shipped Long to the Indiana Pacers with a 1993 second-rounder for Russ Schoene and Terence Stansbury.

Long came back to the Pistons in February 1989 after he had been waived by the Pacers  and saw mop-up duty for the team’s title team that spring.  He was signed and released by the Dallas Mavericks in October 1989 before catching on with the Atlanta Hawks in January 1990.

Long came back to Detroit for a third stint with the Pistons in January 1991, playing a bench role for 25 games, before heading to Europe for the next five seasons. At age 40, Long came back to the NBA in 1996 and played briefly for the Toronto Raptors before retiring.

In 608 games for the Pistons, Long averaged 14.8 points per game and is one of the top free-throw shooters in club history at 85 percent.

2. PF Dennis Rodman, Southeastern Oklahoma State, 1986

When taken: Second round, No. 27 overall

When the Pistons took a flyer on Rodman, an older player who had put up gargantuan numbers at tiny Southeastern Oklahoma State—he averaged 25.7 points and 15.7 rebounds in three seasons, they had no idea they would be getting an extraordinary defender and one of the best rebounders the game has ever seen.

Rodman went on to become a two-time All-Star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year for Detroit, while playing mostly as a reserve on the team’s championship squads of 1989 and 1990. As a Piston, Rodman also made the All-NBA third team in 1991-92 and was a five-time All-Defensive team selection, all on the first team. He led the league in rebounding twice as a Piston, in 1991-92 and 1992-93 and led the NBA in effective field-goal percentage in 1988-89 (60.1).

Rodman was traded with Isaiah Morris, a second-round pick in 1994 and a first-rounder in 1996 to the San Antonio Spurs for Sean Elliott, David Wood and a 1996 first-round pick in October 1993.

Rodman later went on to win three more rings with the Chicago Bulls and also played for the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.

Rodman averaged 8.8 points and 11.5 rebounds per game in seven seasons with the Pistons and was accurate when he did shoot, hitting 53.7 percent of his shots.

One of Rodman’s best games as a Piston was his 32-point, 21-rebound effort against the Golden State Warriors in 1989:

1. SG Joe Dumars, McNeese State, 1985

When taken: First round, 18th overall

There were skeptics aplenty when the Pistons selected Dumars, a high-scoring guard from little McNeese State, in the first round in 1985. After all, lots of high-scoring college players from small schools were never able to make the transition to the pro game.

That was not an issue for Dumars, who moved into the starting lineup midway through his rookie year and remained there for more than a decade. Dumars was a five-time All-Star and was MVP of the 1989 NBA Finals, when he averaged 27.3 points and six assists per game in a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. He made three All-NBA teams and was a five-time All-Defensive team selection, four of those being on the first team.

In his 14-year career, all with Detroit, Dumars averaged 16.1 points and 4.5 assists per game in 1,018 games and stayed with the franchise after his playing days, currently serving as president of basketball operations.

Showing that life can, indeed, go full circle, it was Dumars who selected Milicic with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 draft. The best pick picked the worst pick.

It seems like that’s how it has gone for a lot of the history of the Detroit Pistons.

Here are some highlights from Dumars’ playing days: