Draft Buzz: What I'm Hearing With One Week To Go
Will the Pistons take Cade? Stock rising for Usman Garuba, Brandon Boston Jr., Day'Ron Sharpe and Cameron Thomas
(Note to readers: This is an excerpt of Draft Buzz provided to free subscribers. To get the latest draft stock updates for Brandon Boston Jr., Usman Garuba, Chris Duarte, Day’Ron Sharpe, Cameron Thomas and more …you need to be a paid subscriber. Click button below to read the full version.)
It’s the NBA silly season. We will see trades, and we will see draft surprises. But there is also a lot of trade and draft smoke as teams and agents try to manipulate picks and prospects for the best possible outcome.
The challenge is sorting through what is real and what is not. Teams float trade ideas. At times, they put out misinformation around the draft to throw off other teams. Agents can do the same. We hear about prospects that have lost 20 pounds or put on the proverbial 15 pounds of muscle. And we hear about players doing things in draft workouts that we have never seen them do on film.
So yes, we have to take everything we hear with skepticism. But some of it is authentic.
One of my jobs is to sort through what is real and what isn’t. I don’t always get it right -- but trust me, I don’t write about 90 percent of what I hear. To stay on the right side of the rumor mill, I put more weight on those sources I have long relationships with, particularly those who have a history of NOT lying to me.
As we proceed through the final two weeks of draft season, I’ll pass along my best info here to you in the form of posts like this as well as my Mock Drafts, my Big Boards, my podcasts and so on.
Here are a few morsels on the Pistons as well as draft stock updates on Chris Duarte, Cameron Thomas, Usman Garuba, Kai Jones, Brandon Boston Jr., Day’Ron Sharpe and others that I’ve gathered over the course of a bunch of phone calls the past few days:
Cade still the favorite to go No. 1 to the Pistons
Detroit fans who have fallen in love with the idea of Cade Cunningham have been wringing their hands about rumors that the Pistons are listening to offers for the No. 1 pick -- or they fear the Pistons will target someone other than Cunningham with the pick.
From everything I can gather, yes, Detroit is listening to offers. The Rockets appear to be the team most active in trying to put together a package that could convince the Pistons to trade the No. 1 pick.
However, the level of confidence that Detroit takes Cunningham at No. 1 remains very high among his camp. Cunningham met with the Pistons on Monday and even attended a Detroit Tigers game. His camp is standing firm that the Pistons are the only team for which he’ll work out.
The Pistons, on the other hand, aren’t limiting their workouts to just Cunningham. They have individual workouts scheduled with Jalen Green (whose camp still believes he’s still a candidate to go No. 1) and Jalen Suggs. Evan Mobley appears to be focusing on Houston and Cleveland for his workouts.
Detroit has to do its due diligence regarding potential trades. Of course, the Pistons should explore a trade if it moves them down just one or two spots in the draft and gives them a significant asset in return. But right now, all indications are there’s a high probability that Cunningham is wearing a Pistons uniform next season.
(Note to readers: This is an excerpt of Draft Buzz provided to free subscribers. To get the latest on draft stock updates for Brandon Boston Jr., Usman Garuba, Chris Duarte, Day’Ron Sharpe, Cameron Thomas and more …you need to be a paid subscriber. Click button below to read the full version.)
Paid subscribers will also get access to full scouting reports on all of the top players in the draft as well as the ability to comment on articles and special discussion boards, Zoom calls and more interaction with me in the coming weeks.)