Detroit Pistons: 2019 NBA Draft grades

The Detroit Pistons had three picks at the start of the 2019 NBA Draft, but they finished with two players that add depth to their team right away.

The Detroit Pistons held the 15th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, and they made a trade late on Wednesday night to pick up the 30th overall pick from the Milwaukee Bucks in the Tony Snell trade.

In the process, they were able to accomplish one of their offseason goals of shedding salary in the form of Jon Leuer. That gave the Pistons two chances to add top rookie talent in this year’s draft. Building around Blake Griffin was the chief goal, and that’s what they wanted to do.

They started the draft off by grabbing a power forward that could back up Griffin in smaller lineups while still having the ability to bully teams that send traditional small forwards to the 4-spot in those lineups. After trading out of the first round, they traded up in the second to grab some shooting on the wing to help space the floor for Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson.

The Pistons have been slightly above-average for the last few years, and that’s where the picks that they made fell. They’re not bad picks, but they also aren’t swinging for the fences. These guys are going to contribute to the Pistons either in the 2019-20 or 2020-21 season. The Pistons needed depth all over the roster, so they went with the best player available approach to accomplish that task.