The Pistons took 24-year old, 6′10″, 240 pound forward Vernon Macklin with the #52 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Macklin played in 37 games for Florida last year and he averaged 24.5 minutes, 11.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Macklin played in 136 games in four years with Georgetown and Florida and he averaged 18.4 minutes, 7.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. This was a good gamble for the Pistons as other teams were taking stiffs from Europe at this point in the draft. Macklin gives the Pistons another big body to try to develop.

The Pistons picked 23-year old small forward Kyle Singler out of Duke with the 33rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Singler played in 37 games for Duke last year and he averaged 34.8 minutes, 16.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Singler played in 148 games in his four years in college and he averaged 33.0 minutes, 16.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Singler is a pretty polished player who was projected to be picked near the end of the first round. So this was a good value pick for the Pistons as Singler should be able to help them off the bench starting in 2011-12.

UPDATE: (11/29/2011) - Kyle Singler has decided to play out the rest of this season with Real Madrid. The Pistons will retain his rights.

The Detroit Pistons took 18-year old point guard Brandon Knight with the 8th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. The Pistons had to be ecstatic to see Knight sitting there for them with the 8th pick. He is 6′3″, 185 pounds so he is big enough to handle the job physically. I would be shocked if Knight isn’t the starting point guard on Opening Night of the 2011-12 NBA season for the Pistons. Knight played in 38 games in his only year with Kentucky and he averaged 35.9 minutes, 17.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. Knight will make the rest of the team better when he’s running the floor. This was an outstanding pick for the Pistons.

Last year the Pistons hit a homer in the draft by taking center/power forward Greg Monroe. They need to do it again this Thursday as they are still trying to rebuild on the run. The Pistons have the #8 and #33 picks on Thursday as of right now. The Pistons can use pretty much everything but a center right now. With that in mind, SF Chris Singleton, SG Alec Burks and PF Tristan Thompson all make sense for the Pistons at #8. With Tayshaun Prince likely on his way out of town, the best pick to help the Pistons right away would likely be Singleton. With the #33 pick, I just still the Pistons taking the best player available regardless of position.

The Pistons have six free agents (3 restricted and 3 unrestricted) coming into this off-season. I look for the Pistons to try to retain all three of their restricted free agents as they are all young players. PG Rodney Stuckey, PF Jonas Jerebko and SF DaJuan Summers are all young enough to be key parts in the Pistons’ rebuilding project. Tayshaun Prince has been a fixture in Detroit for a long time but he’s just not worth the money he’s going to get in free agency, so the Pistons should let him go. SG Tracy McGrady had his moments when he played well last year but the Pistons should just move on from him and let a younger player handle his minutes. PF Chris Wilcox played really well at the end of last year, so maybe the Pistons will try to bring him back as a backup big.