Category: Detroit Pistons Blog

The Detroit Pistons have signed Zach Lofton and Johnny Hamilton.

It’s likely that the signings are non-guaranteed deals that merely bring the players to training camp.

Lofton, 6-4, 180, played last season at New Mexico State where he averaged 20.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

Hamilton, 7-0, 230, played his senior year at the University of Texas – Arlington and averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Hamilton set a UT-Arlington single-season record with 77 blocks last season.

Both Lofton and Hamilton were members of the Pistons’ 2018 NBA Summer League team.

The Detroit Pistons have hired Sachin Gupta as assistant general manager.

“We are pleased to welcome Sachin Gupta to the Detroit Pistons organization,” said Ed Stefanski, Special Advisor to owner Tom Gores. “Sachin is a creative thinker, extremely intelligent, and has a great handle on the analytical side of basketball operations systems. His analytics and salary cap background will be a tremendous resource while serving a leadership role for our basketball operations team.”

Gupta spent last season as a special advisor to Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, his second stint with the organization. The Boston-area native began his NBA career with the Rockets in 2006 as Morey’s first hire, laying the foundation for the team’s extensive analytics undertaking, which the Rockets would later become renowned for. In addition to his responsibilities as an analyst, Gupta also assisted in managing the team’s salary cap during his six-year tenure in Houston.

Gupta transitioned to the Philadelphia 76ers front office in 2013 as a consultant prior to the NBA Draft while finishing MBA studies at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He then moved to a more permanent position, Vice President of Basketball Operations in 2014 and served as General Manager Sam Hinkie’s top lieutenant. Gupta served a substantial role in driving the club’s overhaul that led to this past season’s return to the NBA Playoffs.

Prior to joining the NBA ranks, Gupta spent two years at ESPN where he had a hand in fostering basketball’s analytical movement, implementing advanced NBA metrics on ESPN.com before their use had become widespread across the league. While at ESPN, he also became well versed in the CBA when he developed the widely popular NBA Trade Machine.

Gupta earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT.

The Detroit Pistons hired Tim Grgurich and Micah Nori as assistant coaches today.

Grgurich, a longtime NBA veteran and highly respected assistant, most recently served as an assistant coach for Milwaukee as a member of Jason Kidd’s staff and has spent the last 27 years with a number of NBA teams including the Seattle Supersonics (1991-98), Portland Trail Blazers (1998-2001; 2004-05), Milwaukee Bucks (2001-02; 2016-18), Phoenix Suns (2002-04), Denver Nuggets (2005-10) and Dallas Mavericks (2011-16). He was honored earlier this month with the 2018 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award by the National Basketball Coaches Association (NBCA).

Grgurich spent many years on George Karl’s staffs in Seattle, Portland and Milwaukee and also overlapped with Pistons head coach Dwane Casey when they both served under Karl’s Supersonics teams from 1994-98, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 1996. The duo also spent one season together with Rick Carlisle in Dallas (2011).

Grgurich was the lead assistant for Jerry Tarkanian at the University of Las Vegas-Nevada, preparing emerging NBA standouts such as Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, Armen Gilliam and Sidney Green. The Runnin’ Rebels won the 1990 NCAA Championship and made three Final Four appearances while he was part of the program.

He began his coaching career at the University of Pittsburgh, his alma matter, where he was also a three-year letterman in both basketball and baseball.

Nori joins the Pistons after spending the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets. Prior to Denver, he spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings. Overall, Nori has spent 20 years working in the NBA – including 15 seasons with the Toronto Raptors in various roles. He served as an assistant coach during his last four seasons with the Raptors organization and previously served as Toronto’s director of NBA scouting and as an advance scout.

A native of Middleton, OH, and multi-sport athlete, Nori was four-year starter and captain of Indiana’s baseball team that won the 1996 Big Ten Championship. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Sports Organization from Miami (OH) University.

The Detroit Pistons made a front office move this past Friday, naming Gregg Polinsky the team’s new director of player personnel.

Polinsky is coming off a massive work stretch with the Brooklyn Nets, where he worked a variety of roles over the last 19 seasons. His most recent role with the Nets was director of college scouting. He originally joined the Nets back in 1999, working as a scout. By 2004 he was named Nets director of scouting. He later served as director of player personnel for eight years.

Before his work in the NBA, Polinsky was Georgia Southern University’s head coach from 1995-99. His ccoaching career began with a job as an assistant at Howard College from 1981-83.

Polinsky played college ball at the University of New Mexico. He has a degree in physical education from Northern Arizona University.

The Pistons yesterday requested waivers on guard Dwight Buycks.

Buycks, 6-3, 190, was originally signed as a two-way player by the Pistons on September 7, 2017 and later had his deal converted to a full NBA contract on January 12, 2018. In a career-high 29 games, he averaged 7.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 14.7 minutes per game.

The Pistons yesterday signed rookie guard Bruce Brown Jr.

Brown, 6-5, 202, was selected 42nd overall in the 2018 NBA Draft after averaging 11.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists last season for the University of Miami (Fla.). A 2017-18 Preseason All-ACC Second Team selection, Brown was also a 2017-18 Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 and was on the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year watch List.

A native of Boston, MA, Brown averaged 11.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals in 52 career games for the Hurricanes. As a freshman, he scored a career-high 30 points against eventual national champion North Carolina. He also recorded two of the three triple-doubles in Miami program history.

The Detroit Pistons yesterday signed free agent guard Jose Calderon and free agent forward Glenn Robinson III.

Calderon, a 13-year NBA veteran, returns for his second stint as a Piston. The 6-3, 200-pound guard played in 28 games for the Pistons during the 2012-13 season after he was acquired from the Toronto Raptors in a three-team trade which saw the Pistons send Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye to Memphis and the Grizzlies trade Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to the Toronto Raptors. Calderon averaged 11.6 points, 2.5 rebounds and 6.6 assists for the Pistons.

A native of Spain, Calderon spent last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers where he appeared in 57 games and averaged 4.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists and helped the Cavaliers reach the NBA Finals. In 846 career NBA games, he has averaged 9.2 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists with Toronto, Detroit, Dallas, New York, L.A. Lakers, Atlanta and Cleveland. He’s also appeared in 37 career playoff games averaging 7.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

A two-time Olympic silver medalist with Spain’s national team, Calderon won medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China and at the 2012 Games in London, England.

Robinson III, 6-6, 222, played the last three seasons with the Indiana Pacers. In four NBA seasons, the Gary, IN native has averaged 4.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.6 assists in 172 career games with Minnesota, Philadelphia and Indiana.

Drafted 40th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Timberwolves, the 2017 NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner, played collegiately at the University of Michigan for two seasons. He averaged 12.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 76 career games and helped the Wolverines reach two NCAA Tournaments, including the 2013 NCAA National Title Game and 2014 NCAA Elite Eight.