Dwane Casey cannot coach his team yet, but he, alongside the Detroit Pistons staff, is preparing for the next season. Even if the season returns, the Pistons are out of the Eastern playoff race being 10.5 games behind the 8th seed.
As a result, Casey dived in the draft process in order to be as prepared as possible for the crucial decisions that he and his team need to make in the upcoming off-season.
“We do a lot of it on telephone or video among the front office,” Casey said Thursday night on a Fox Sports Detroit Facebook Live, per Pistons.com. “Myself and Ed Stefanski talk about every day. We’ll bring different people in, scouts in, and talk about certain players. We’re getting all the intelligence. We know what color their bathroom is to what their favorite music is. We get every bit of information to go with the guys we’re looking at.”
Detroit, with a 20-46 record this season, is expected to choose a player from the “upper echelon” of the 2020 NBA draft.
“For me, it’s fun to go through this process,” he said. “We have all the time in the world. I’ve watched more college games in the last month than I have anything else and talked to college coaches all around the country, which is fun.”
On the other hand, under the current situation, no one knows if it’s possible to meet up with prospects before the draft in order for teams to have personal interaction with the players. Casey admitted this is one part of the process he will miss most.
“It’s tough for me. I usually get a feel for players when they come into town, go to dinner with them. You watch how they conduct themselves with other people, watch them work out. You don’t make your final decision on that, but you get a good feel for a guy’s character, who he is, by spending a day and a dinner with them.”
