Detroit Pistons: Grading The Offseason
SVG Finds His Stretch-4
As we already mentioned, the Pistons had a pretty strong inkling that Monroe would be leaving before free agency even began. More than two weeks before the 2015 NBA Draft, Van Gundy found himself a stretch-4 to serve as insurance in the event of Monroe’s (inevitable) departure.
In a trade with the Bucks, the Pistons sent Caron Butler and Shawn Williams to Milwaukee in exchange for Ersan Ilyasova, a 28-year-old power forward with three-point range whose role had been up-and-down over the last few years. After a year of searching for a more ideal fit, Van Gundy finally found his stretch-4.
With the NBA becoming so perimeter-oriented, Ilyasova will help Pistons. He shot 39% last year and a red-hot 44 percent three years ago.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) June 11, 2015
From Anthony Tolliver to signing Shawne Williams off of waivers, Van Gundy had been unsuccessful in his attempts to surround the young, promising Drummond with shooters on the perimeter. Ilyasova, a career 37 percent shooter from three-point range, is the kind of player SVG’s been searching for.
By giving up two non-essential players on non-guaranteed contracts, Detroit found an indirect replacement for Monroe. In fact, it’s a tad ironic that Monroe would wind up signing with the Bucks in free agency. Ilyasova is nowhere near as good a player as Monroe, but perhaps he’ll be a better fit with what Van Gundy wants to do on offense.
Being that Ilyasova’s 2015-16 salary is only $7.9 million, that’s a pretty fair price to pay for a stretch big who should thrive playing in Van Gundy’s system. As long as he can stay healthy — Ilyasova has missed 45 games over the last two seasons — this was a solid insurance plan for Monroe that wound up looking even better once he left.
Grade: B+
Next: The Draft