Aron Baynes’ first season with the Detroit Pistons was up and down, but it would be hard to argue he wasn’t value for money.
In July of 2015 Stan Van Gundy signed the Australian big man to a two-year, $13 million contract to be a serviceable back-up centre, and that’s certainly what he provided the majority of the time.
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He put up 6.3 points and 4.7 rebounds on 51 per cent shooting from the field, and most importantly provided crucial minutes when Andre Drummond would either get into foul trouble, or when teams would begin to start intentionally fouling him.
The Pistons needed somebody who wouldn’t be completely terrible when Drummond sat, and compared to most of the bench players from last season he was quite competent.
Arguably the most disappointing aspect of Baynes’ play last season was the poor free throw shooting compared to the standards he’d set while with the San Antonio Spurs.
Coming off the back of seasons where he shot 91 per cent and 87 per cent from the free throw line, he dipped to 76 per cent with the Pistons.
No doubt Baynes’ free throw shooting was one of the things that would have excited Van Gundy upon signing him, as inserting him once opposing teams had hacked Drummond into the bonus would allow him to clean up some easy points.
Unfortunately, this didn’t work as well as Van Gundy would have liked, but 76 per cent is still respectable for a centre and during his time with Australia at the Rio Olympics he shot an improved 81 per cent, which is promising.
Baynes’ Olympic campaign bared a striking resemblance to his performance with the Pistons last season, as he had a number of solid games mixed in with a number of poor games.
Against France he put up 14 points and 8 rebounds and against Lithuania he scored 16 points and 5 rebounds.
These performances were followed up by games against Team USA were he had 3 rebounds and 4 points on 0 per cent shooting, and 6 points and 4 rebounds against Spain in the bronze medal match.
His Olympic play also highlighted a problem he has battled with over the past season.
Baynes often struggles to pull in rebounds cleanly, many times fumbling and losing balls that should be secured.
This cost the Pistons at times last season and it certainly cost Australia at the Olympics.
Fundamental flaws like this will put pressure on Baynes’ place within the team next season, especially with the recent signing of Boban Marjanović.
In his limited appearances with the Spurs last season Marjanović managed to put up similar numbers to Baynes, and when comparing each player per 36 minutes Marjanović clearly comes out on top.
Hopefully this signing motivates Baynes to take his game to another level and protect his role within the team.
Baynes will likely start the season as the go to backup big man, however his work in training camp and play over the first month of the season while be a big determining factor in how much of a role he has going forward.
With 2016-17 being a contract year, expect Aron Baynes to go all out and try to establish his dominance as a part of a much improved Detroit Pistons bench.