2017 NBA Draft: How Markelle Fultz would impact every lottery team
By Max Holm
Detroit Pistons – 0.7% Chance of Winning Lottery
Similar to the Charlotte Hornets, the Detroit Pistons have some nice pieces, but really aren’t going anywhere in the Eastern Conference. After making the playoffs last year, they fell short in 2016-17.
Andre Drummond and Stanley Johnson haven’t made the jump the team desires. Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris are good, not great. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has emerged as a strong two-way player, but he’s not the face of a franchise. The Pistons are a slew of role players in need of a franchise guy. Fultz could provide that.
He wouldn’t be ready to lead the team in Year 1, but by his second or third year they could be extremely dangerous in the East. A lineup of Fultz-Caldwell-Pope-Harris-Morris-Drummond would see four out of five starters in their prime, with Fultz the young stud at point guard.
Reggie Jackson, partially through injury, just hasn’t produced enough. Right now, it’s unclear whether the Pistons are due for a bounce back or a gradual decline. Lucking out into Fultz would stop that ambiguity right in its tracks.