It's just about decision time for Troy Weaver and the Pistons, and everything remains on the table.
Detroit could trade up in Wednesday night's draft, perhaps for a point guard like LaMelo Ball. It could trade down to collect more picks. It could stand pat at No. 7 and take the best player available.
"I think they’re good at 7. I think they can get the player that they want," NBA analyst and former Detroit Mercy star Rashad Phillips told the Stoney and Jansen Show. "When you go into these draft war rooms, there are four or five players that you have tagged. Out of those four players, I’m sure that one of those will be available at 7. So there’s really no need to jump up.
"To me, there’s no generational guy, so I would stay put at 7 and take the best player available."
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The Pistons have been linked to a number of players at that spot, including point guards Tyrese Haliburton from Iowa State and Killian Hayes from France and forwards Onyeka Okongwu from USC and Patrick Williams from Florida State. Williams has reportedly stood out in his pre-draft interviews and workouts.
"I do think Patrick Williams will be the pick if he’s there at No. 7," said Phillips. "Just talking to a lot of people and a lot of my contacts, it seems like the Pistons are very high on him and what he brings to the table."
Weaver has said from the moment he arrived that he drafts people, not players. By all accounts, the 19-year-old Williams is a hard-working, high-character prospect.
"When you look deeper into the Florida State infrastructure and what they’ve been building over the last few years, it’s been tremendous. And Patrick Williams is cut from that cloth," said Phillips. "He’s a terrific 3-and-D guy, 6’8, has some great ball-handling instincts, and I just think he’s the ultimate teammate."
One of the top recruits in the country in 2019, Williams averaged 9.2 points off the bench as a freshman and was named the ACC Sixth Man of the Year last season. He shot 32 percent from three, but bumped that up to 44 percent over Florida State's final 10 games.
He might not contribute at the NBA level right away, but Williams would be another moldable young player for the Pistons' growing core.