Somewhere among the 60-odd hopefuls at the NBA pre-draft camp might be a player or two capable of helping the Pistons. The team has a handful of operations staff on hand to watch the show put on this week at Moody Bible Institute, where a slew of skilled young players are trying to impress. Vice president John Hammond is among those keeping his eye out for anybody who might be a good fit. Though the Pistons' core is set, several changes will be made this summer. Point guard Chucky Atkins likely will be traded, and shooting guard Jon Barry probably won't be back. The team is considering buying out small forward Michael Curry's contract, which has one year remaining. That would leave several openings, one or two of which could be filled at the June 26 draft. In addition to the second pick, which they're expected to use on 7-foot-1 Darko Milicic, the Pistons own the 25th and 58th picks. They have the option of sending the 25th pick to Sacramento, which they owe a first-round pick. Hammond said the team won't make its final decision on whether to do so until Tuesday. It will depend largely on whether Hammond, new coach Larry Brown or anyone else on the staff sees a player they like, and who might be available late in the first round. Team president Joe Dumars was supposed to be at the camp, too, but stayed in Detroit for personal reasons. "Every year there's a player that comes out here and proves his value and sneaks into the first round," Hammond said. "We've got more games to watch and more drills to watch, and there may be somebody who is going to help us." The Pistons' core is made up of Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Wallace and Mehmet Okur, with Corliss Williamson coming off the bench. Beyond that are several question marks -- Cliff Robinson was signed to a two-year extension but might be traded, and Zeljko Rebraca's future is iffy after he missed almost the entire second half of the season because of heart problems. Decisions on those players could affect the 25th pick. "To a certain extent we could draft at a particular position at 25," Hammond said. "We're fortunate enough now to where we have the two, so we know we'll get a quality player there. So at 25 we can look at that and say, do we feel the need for maybe a two-guard? We have depth, but we feel like we can still get better at every position." Looks like there is gonna be quite a few changes.
25th pick is actually a good pick to have, even an early second round one. What players would we have to give up.
Travis Hansen blew people away with his physical skills. He did the bench press drill at 17 times, and measures a 38 inch vertical. Who is that guy? A 38 vertical is sick. He's strong too. I haven't heard of him so maybe he'll be around at 25
