Drafting Thon Maker would be a mistake from the Pistons

Apr 24, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy looks down during the second quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 24, 2016; Auburn Hills, MI, USA; Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy looks down during the second quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

In the past couple of weeks the Pistons have shown an increased interest in taking Sudanese/Australian prospect Thon Maker with pick 18 of the NBA Draft.

Not only would drafting Maker with the 18th pick be a huge mistake by the Pistons, but it would also still be a huge risk for the Pistons to draft him with the 49th pick of the draft.

Maker was seen as a potential top three pick a few years ago, however he has slowly turned from a franchise altering prospect to risky project player who is more likely to bust than boom.

The most enticing thing about Maker is his physical attributes. He measured just over seven foot at the Draft Combine and he possesses a 7’3″ wingspan, which has deservedly caught the eye of team scouts. With such physical gifts it is no wonder that people have been swept up by the potential of Maker being able to dominant opposing power forwards with his body.

The other attribute that has recruiters interested is his potential to be a stretch power forward after being given some time to develop with an NBA coaching staff. However, his current shooting isn’t great and he never shot better than 29 per cent from three during his time in high school. Even more troubling is that his two-point field goal percentage has dropped since his freshman year.

It’s easy to be seduced by looking at Maker’s high school statistics or watching his mixtapes. He stuffs the entire stat sheet and his mixtapes show a seven footer who can handle the ball like a point guard. What needs to be remembered is that Maker is doing all of this against high school kids, many of whom will never even reach the top ranks of college basketball let alone make it to the NBA. When people get excited about Brandon Ingram or Ben Simmons it’s because they are doing very impressive things against very competent opponents and in some cases, future NBA talent. Maker is doing impressive things as a 19-year-old high school student playing against kids.

Those who have consistently watched Maker throughout his high school days have also not had very flattering things to say about him.

Jonathan Givony from DraftExpress has been very critical in assessing his future as an NBA player and most scouting reports say that he has not improved at all from start to finish in high school.

The Pistons need someone at power forward who can come in right away and contribute to the team significantly. Maker is not the kind of prospect who will be playing significant minutes in his first season. Rather, he’ll likely spend the entirety of his first NBA season playing in the D-League to try and get his skills up to an acceptable NBA level.

More importantly however is that the Pistons have much more pressing needs that have to be addressed come draft day. With Steve Blake having a poor season after being forced to be the backup point guard due to the injury and trade of Brandon Jennings, as well as the lack of improvement from Spencer Dinwiddie means backup point guard is a position of need. Of course, the Pistons could always look to free agency to fill this spot with someone like Matthew Dellavedova or Jeremy Lin but there is a strong chance they are unable to land either of them. On the other hand there is a vast amount of backup power forwards who will be on the market this summer who could fill the role much more capably than Maker.

Drafting Maker with the 49th pick would be far more reasonable, but the odds of him still being on the board at that stage are slim to none now. A couple of months back when Maker declared for the draft he seemed to be slated to go anywhere from pick 40 to 60, but thanks to his testing at the Draft Combine his stock has skyrocketed and it seems it’s almost a lock that a team will overreach for him and take him somewhere in the mid-late first round in the hope of him being a surprise in the same vein as Devin Booker.

If draft day rolls around and you hear the Pistons call Thon Maker’s name in the first round while Demetrius Jackson, Wade Baldwin IV or Timothe Luwawu are still on the board, I unfortunately think Stan Van Gundy and the front office will have made a serious mistake.