Top 2016 Offseason Priorities for the Detroit Pistons

The Detroit Pistons got swept in their opening round series with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but their season was a success. It was their first postseason visit in seven years, so it was just nice to have an opening round series to be swept in.

As Stan Van Gundy’s philosophy took hold, both through personnel changes and coaching, the Pistons improved by 12 games, tied for fourth in the league with the San Antonio Spurs, and only behind the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets.

Sometimes success can’t be measured by championship or bust. Sometimes it’s about moving forward, and the Pistons most certainly did that. What do they need to go from playoff team to contender?

How Much Cash?

Let’s look at where they are regarding cap and free agency situations based on the information at Spotrac.com. This includes guaranteed contracts, free agent cap holds and the hold for their No. 18 pick. Don’t read too much into this table just yet because there’s quite a bit to consider. But $86.3 million is the starting point

Detroit has $58.7 million in guaranteed contracts they have to pay out. In addition, they’re still paying for Josh Smith (and will be doing so in perpetuity it seems) and Aaron Gray due to previous buyouts. Darrun Hilliard’s contract is also partially guaranteed for $500,000. That (and four incomplete roster charges to fill up the roster) would put them at just over $65 million as the most cap space they can have.

However, they’re not going to do that. They’re obviously going to keep Andre Drummond and their pick. Those two, plus the eight guaranteed contracts put the Pistons at $68.3 million and still in need of two roster spots.

That leaves the Pistons $23.7 million in cap space to work with, as well as their room exception.

Hold off on Andre Drummond

Observant readers will note that the figure listed above for Andre Drummond is way too small. In reality, he’s probably going to get a max contract starting at $23 million (25 percent of the expected 92 million cap reported by Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today).

However, because his hold is only $8.2 million, the Pistons can wait on giving him his max deal, spend in free agency, then max out Drummond to go over the cap. That would still leave them roughly $5 million below the projected $111 million luxury tax.  

This is a tactic employed by the San Antonio Spurs last summer when they secured LaMarcus Aldridge before re-signing Kahwi Leonard. It’s the plan for Drummond as well, according to David Mayo of MLive.com, who reported at the time:

Andre Drummond has agreed not to pursue a contract extension this year, a key business decision that figures to give the Detroit Pistons almost $13 million more in salary-cap space in summer 2016.

Free Agent …

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