DETROIT (AP) - With four of the first 44 picks in the NBA draft and about $20 million under the salary cap to work with, Joe Dumars likes his chances of improving the Detroit Pistons in a hurry.
The franchise has a lot of work to do this offseason, trying to retool after their worst season in several years"We're definitely in the mode of reshaping our roster," Dumars said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "We need to add about three or four talented players by drafting them, signing them or trading for them."
The Pistons' president of basketball operations expects to stay busy over the next couple weeks. Teams can begin negotiating with free agents on July 1 and can sign them a week later.
But first, the Pistons need to make a splash in the NBA draft.
They worked out more than 50 prospects and with the 15th pick overall, might choose a frontcourt player, possibly Earl Clark of Louisville, James Johnson of Wake Forest, B.J. Mullens of Ohio State or Austin Daye of Gonzaga with the 15th pick.
Dumars says he might swap his three picks in the second round - 35th, 39th and 44th overall - to move around in the draft.
"We've had conversations with teams about doing that," Dumars said. "We're keeping all of our options open, but we're not looking to keep all three of those."
The Pistons already made a move Tuesday night, dealing Amir Johnson to Milwaukee for Fabrico Oberto, who was part of a previous trade the Bucks made with the San Antonio Spurs. Oberto's contract calls for him to make $3.5 million next season, but Detroit will likely release him to clear about $1.7 million in salary-cap space.
The Pistons have money to spend this summer because they dealt point guard Chauncey Billups to Denver for Allen Iverson and his expiring contract.
Detroit is among the NBA teams with the most salary cap space this offseason because it also had unrestricted free agents Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess on its roster last season.
The Pistons might try to lure free agent Ben Gordon away from the Chicago Bulls, go after restricted free agents or try to take advantage of cash-strapped teams by acquiring their highly paid players.
"We're going to be busy, and busy is good for us," Dumars said. "We need to reshape this team to get it back to where we all want it to be."
Before Detroit's decline last season, when it failed to advance past the first round for the first time since 2001, the Pistons won the NBA title in 2004 and was the first franchise to advance to the conference finals in six straight seasons since the Los Angeles Lakers two decades ago.
The Pistons hope to make the draft a key part of the rebuilding process, but they don't know who will still be available in the middle of the first round.
"In most drafts, you know who the first top 17 or so players are and you have an idea where they're going to be drafted," Pistons director of player personnel George David said. "In this draft, that pool of players is closer to 25 and that makes it more difficult.
"I don't think we'll have a great feel for who is going to be there for us in the first round until about 8 o'clock Thursday night. But I'm confident we'll get a good player."
