Nation of Blue

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Detroit Needed a Big, but Picked a Big Talent Instead

Joe Dumars knew his team needed a post player, but when it got to the 8th pick in the draft, they couldn’t pass on Brandon Knight.
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[COLOR=black]”We think the kid has upside — we think the kid is tremendously smart,” [B]Dumars said, according to Pistons.com, [/B]of Knight. “He has one of those incredible work ethics — hours and hours and hours in the gym, totally dedicated – and what we feel is probably the most high-character guy in the draft. We were a little excited in the room.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]”He might have been the most impressive guy in terms of the interview process in Chicago (at the May draft combine). Just kind of an off-the-charts guy. One thing he told me, has nothing to do with basketball, but after this freshman year he told me had 90 hours already at Kentucky.”[/COLOR]

[COLOR=black]Ninety credit hours after one year is nuts, but considering he reportedly finished high school with a 4.3 GPA, I’m guessing he carried a good deal of AP credits. But I digress; was he the best pick? [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Based on the team’s current roster, yet another guard seems like overkill. But remember, for the first time in two years, Dumars is free to shake up the roster — and if we’re really being honest, very few members of the current roster will be around the next time this team goes deep into the playoffs. At this stage of the rebuilding game, you draft talent and fit pieces around it, not the other way around.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]“We had targeted big guys initially,” Dumars said, [B]according to the AP[/B]. “We said if those guys were gone, then we’re going to take the guy with the best value. At the point of the eighth pick, the guy with the best value, the best talent on the board, was Brandon Knight. At that point, it was a talent that we didn’t think we could pass up.”[/COLOR]
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