The 2006 NBA Draft is right around the corner and will be held on Tuesday May 23 at 7:00 pm on ESPN.

The Detroit Pistons only pick in the draft will come at #60 (the last pick). Below is the current Detroit Pistons depth chart with the number of years the player is still under contract at the end of the season:

PG Chauncy Billups (1), Tony Delk (FA), Lindsay Hunter (FA), Alex Acker (?)
SG Richard Hamilton (4), Maurice Evans (2)
SF Tayshaun Prince (5), Carlos Delfino (2), Amir Johnson (?)
PF Rasheed Wallace (3), Antonio McDyess (1), Jason Maxiell (3)
C Ben Wallace (FA), Dale Davis (1), Kelvin Cato (FA)

Also the # of years the player has been in the NBA:

Chauncy Billups - 8
Tony Delk - 9
Lindsey Hunter - 12
Alex Acker - R
Richard Hamilton - 6
Maurice Evans - 2
Tayshaun Prince - 3
Carlos Delfino - 1
Amir Johnson - R
Rasheed Wallace - 10
Antonio McDyess - 9
Jason Maxiell - R
Ben Wallace - 9
Dale Davis - 14
Kelvin Cato - 8

The players that I'm going to focus on are Tony Delk, Lindsey Hunter, Ben Wallace, Dale Davis, and Kelvin Cato. First off, Joe Dumars has expressed that his top priority this off-season is to re-sign Ben Wallace. I believe this is going to happen and that Ben Wallace won't be tempted to leave this core group of players. So Ben Wallace does not become an issue and the Pistons starting core should remain intact. However, Tony Delk, Lindsey Hunter, Dale Davis and Kelvin Cato all remain an issue for the Detroit Pistons. All of the above are Free Agents at season's end, besides Dale Davis who is signed through next year. But Dale Davis is the oldest player on the team, having been in this league 14 years and it is safe to say he will most likely retire after his contract is up. Kelvin Cato is nothing to brag about and has been in this league 8 years himself. I doubt Joe Dumars will re-sign him at season's end (especially since Dale Davis will be with the team). Lindsey Hunter will most likely retire after this season and Tony Delk is a free agent. I strongly suggest the Pistons try and re-sign Tony Delk as soon as possible and make him their 2nd priority behind Ben Wallace. If the Detroit Pistons are able to resign Tony Delk then the PG position should be fine for the next couple of years with Chauncy Billups and Tony Delk. However, if the Detroit Pistons are not able to resign Tony Delk, Alex Acker is the only PG behind Chauncy Billups. This cannot be the case for a championship team like the Detroit Pistons. In conclusion, if the Detroit Pistons are able to resign Tony Delk then the Center position becomes the team's greatest need. If not, then the Point Guard position becomes the team's greatest need. Below is a link to the top Point Guard and Center free agents this offseason the Detroit Pistons should look to sign:

http://www.lionbacker.com/forum/viewtop ... highlight=

Anyways, all of these free agents started for their respective teams last year (for the most part) and might not be willing to settle for a backup role on the Detroit Pistons. This is where the 2006 NBA Draft comes in. The Detroit Pistons have got to draft either a Center or a Point Guard (the best player available at either position). I would rather the Detroit Pistons draft a Center position, since they drafted Alex Acker out of Pepperdine in last year's draft. Here are the potential Centers and Point Guards available for the 60th pick:

Centers:
5-Justin Williams (Wyoming)
8-Yemi Nicholson (Denver)
9-Ryan Hollins (UCLA)
Kevin Pittsnogle (West Virginia)
James Augustine (Illinois)
JP Batista (Gonzaga)
Michael Southall (La Lafayette)
Torin Francis (Notre Dame)

Point Guards:
4-Guillermo Diaz (Miami)
5-Dee Brown (Illinois)
6-Curtis Stinson (Iowa State)
11-Justin Gray (Wake Forest)
15-Will Blalock (Iowa State)
16-Daniel Horton (Michigan)
17-Gerry McNamara (Syracuse)
Sean Dockery (Duke)
Darius Washington (Memphis)
Chris Quinn (Notre Dame)
Mustafa Shakur (Arizona)
Taquan Dean (Louisville)

The numbers next to the names indicate the ranking at their position according to: http://probasketball.about.com/od/nbadraft/a/playerranking06_5.htm

No replies whatsoever about this topic?? I spent a lot of time on this thread and would appreciate any feedback.

It was fun preparing for the NFL Draft 2006 and how this entire board almost unanimously decided that Michael Huff was the best pick for the Detroit Lions. I know it didn't pan out because the Oakland Raiders drafted him ahead of us, but we all knew who the clear cut favorite was. Anyways, hopefully we can narrow down the field of candidates I posted above and come up with 3-4 best players available that fill the Detroit Pistons' needs (PG, C) with the 60th pick

60th pick is not too sexy. What happened to Orlando's pick in the Milic's trade? It must have been protected.

adpreston,

I appreciated your post. It's just that #60 overall is about worthless to even try to hazard a guess as to who will be there. And in the NBA draft, MAYBE 10 players each year actually end up being worth a damn in the NBA. Chances of one of those 10 players being there at #60 = you have a much better chance of being struck by lightning 3 times while standing in the same spot.

Yeah, I guess I see your point. But how about we discuss Free Agency coming up then? There are definitely a lot of quality players in the Free Agent market this off-season and the Detroit Pistons could weaken some of their arch rivals (Like San Antonio and Miami) by signing one of their players.

I've already did a ton of research on this topic. TADOne thought we get Orlando's first round pick this year too, but I checked and we get Orlando's first round pick in 2007 (top 5 protected).

Any other thoughts?

the draft is held in June after the finals not in may. if it was in May we already missed out. Besides the Only Player Dumars ever drafted to make an Impact is prince. Joe is the opposite of Millen he traded For Ben, Rasheed, and Hamiltion and signed Billups,Hunter and Mcdyhse as free agents. But Joe's other Picks have been Mateen cleaves, Rodney White,Darko, Maxiel.