Although the new-look Pistons under surging point guard Reggie Jackson made a go of it, they were unfortunately officially eliminated from playoff contention on April 8. The team still has a few games left to play, but for the most part this season has drawn to a close for Detroit.

Stan Van Gundy’s first season as coach/president most likely did not go as planned, but it wasn’t a complete disaster either. The team did acquire Jackson, and at least some of the losses this year can be attributed to Brandon Jennings‘ unfortunate injury and the whole ugly Josh Smith situation.

So although the Pistons will not be playing in the postseason once again this year, things could definitely be worse. Right now, the future of Detroit basketball looks pretty bright. They have a great young core in Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Andre Drummond, who some consider a budding superstar, and they also have a quality lottery pick for the draft this offseason.

This particular article is concerned with said lottery pick. There are a lot of impact players in the draft this season, and luckily for Detroit a lot of quality forwards should be available when it’s time for Van Gundy to select the newest member of the Pistons.

I’ve selected five of those forwards as potential targets Detroit could select on draft day. Three of them do not involve Van Gundy making a move; the rest of the players I’ve chosen are predicted to go either lower or higher than the eighth pick the Pistons will likely possess.

But without further ado, let’s start with whose most likely the best player out of this bunch.