DETROIT — The Pistons’ are getting the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
Again, the Pistons are going to pick first in the NBA draft.
It bears repeating, because the Pistons never had any luck in the NBA draft lottery, and all that changed on Tuesday night, with the announcement of the order of the non-playoff teams.
The lottery luck puts the Pistons in position to draft Cade Cunningham, the consensus top projected player in this draft. Cunningham’s addition will expedite their rebuild under general manager Troy Weaver, who enters his second season.
After a dismal 20-52 season, the Pistons entered the draft lottery with the best odds (14%) of getting the top pick, tied with the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic. In the history of the draft lottery, the Pistons never had moved up with their own pick. The only time they moved up was with the Vancouver Grizzlies’ pick in 2003, when they selected Darko Milicic at No. 2, behind LeBron James and ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
This time should be different with Weaver at the helm.
The No. 1 pick is the first for the Pistons since they had the top selection in 1970 and picked Bob Lanier.
This year could be another important building block for Weaver, who set a foundation for the rebuild last season with solid draft choices in Saddiq Bey and Isaiah Stewart — who both were selected to the NBA All-Rookie teams — in the first round. The Pistons initially had only the No. 7 pick, and dropped two spots from fifth, to pick Killian Hayes.
Weaver shook up the roster and agreed to a flurry of trades to revamp things, making deals to get Stewart at No. 16 and Bey at No. 19. Weaver also added Saben Lee in the second round, and both Hayes and Lee showed significant progress in helping to turn things around. Adding another top pick this year will help expedite the process.
Pistons icon Ben Wallace, ahead of his induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, represented Detroit on the camera unveiling. Wallace, who was notably undrafted when he came out of Virginia Union in 1996, said he wasn’t into the lucky charms or trinkets that some team representatives bring to the draft lottery.
"I figure after all the work I put in, nothing but good things can happen,” Wallace said Tuesday before the lottery.
