Ed Stefanski has the hammer in Detroit. First hired as a senior adviser to owner Tom Gores, he quickly became the head of basketball operations and is now the man in charge trying to rebuild the Pistons.
Detroit has not hired a general manager to work with Stefanski, but it has some serious ideas who should be an assistant GM serving under whomever they hire, reports Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.Former Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince, who is currently the vice president of basketball affairs for the Memphis Grizzlies, is a candidate for the assistant GM job.
The organization would also welcome a reunion with Chauncey Billups, who has maintained that he is interested in being hired only as general manager, according to a source. The Pistons would prefer to hire Billups, who has no NBA executive experience, as an assistant, where he could learn the ins and outs of working in a front office.
Both Prince and Billups would be good hires (although it doesn’t sound like Billups would take that job).
However, first the Pistons need to hire a GM. Then said GM should have a significant say in who his top assistant will be. The Pistons are reportedly looking for someone with experience as the GM and some of the names in the rumor mill are former Suns GM Ryan McDonough, the Thunder’s Troy Weaver, the Nets’ Jeff Peterson, the Clippers’ Mark Hughes, and there are others.
Once the Pistons get their front office in place, they have some big decisions to make. Stefanski traded Andre Drummond, whether Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose will follow Drummond out the door are the next big questions.