Counterpoint: Pistons needed Will Bynum more than Joel Anthony

The Pistons are trading Will Bynum for Joel Anthony. They are both on expiring contracts, Anthony’s costs almost a million dollars more, and Bynum is the far superior player of the two. Seriously, Anthony is a center and the sub-6 foot Bynum rebounds at half his rate. Not to mention that Will Bynum is the longest-tenured Piston on the roster and the next up, Greg Monroe, appears to have 1.9 feet out the door. We are looking at the very real possibility that, sometime this year, Kyle Singler, in his third NBA season, could assume that mantle. This raises the obvious question, what gives?

Unless Van Gundy has gone off his rocker and genuinely covets Joel Anthony, this is just about filling what he sees as a greater need for another backup center than another backup point guard. I respectfully disagree.

The Pistons’ roster currently contains four centers (Drummond, Monroe, Gray, Thabeet) and four point guards (Jennings, Augustin, Dinwiddie, Bynum). Nominally, that seems like a better balance than five and three. However, Gray has had a cardiac episode and there’s a chance he could miss time. Even so, I’d argue that four and three is no better than three and four so I would keep the better player.

Furthermore, the point guard spot needs more depth to protect against the possibility that the players there just stink. We know that the Pistons have two very good players who can play center. Short of one of them getting injured or some serious foul trouble, there is no reason for another center on the roster to play any meaningful minutes. I might put Bynum fourth on Detroit’s depth chart at the point, but I have little confidence in any of the players ahead of him.

I also expect Spencer Dinwiddie to get most of his minutes at shooting guard. Jodie Meeks looks like he will miss a couple months and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has had his own injury issues, however minor. It’s always possible that Stan Van Gundy chooses to have Singler, Butler, or Datome pick up the back up minutes at SG, but I think Dinwiddie is at least as likely to get them. That would have opened up more need for Bynum, particularly if one of Jennings or Augustin decided to suck–hardly a long shot.

Finally, I would rather put a nominal PF like Josh Smith or Tony Mitchell out of position at center than put a guy with minimal ball handling skills at point guard.

Oh, I should also mention one other point: as terrible an option as Hasheem Thabeet is (should Gray be out for good and one of Monroe/Drummond get injured too), he’s no worse than Joel Anthony. In fact, let’s look at their numbers from last season.

Thabeet: 5.1 pts/36, 7.5 rebs/36, 1.7 blks/36, 56.5% fg, 8.3 mins/gm

Anthony: 5.4 pts/36, 7.4 rebs/36, 2.3 blks/36, 37.5% fg, 5.6 mins/gm

So no, I don’t buy that the Pistons really needed another backup center. They already have one Thabeet. Is a second one really a better safety net than a point guard with PERs of 16.6 and 14.4 in the last two seasons?