Detroit Pistons farewell series: A fond farewell to Aron Baynes

As the Detroit Pistons roster is set, and we’re nearing the season, we can now bid farewell to  players that have left. One of those is Aron Baynes.

The Detroit Pistons roster is likely set as we’re getting closer to the start of the season. As this is the case we now have a chance to bid farewell to players that have left the Pistons during the offseason, and so here is my chance to farewell “The Big Aussie” Aron Baynes, and of course his majestic beard.

Aron Baynes did as we all expected during the offseason and declined his $6.5 million player option to become a free agent. The assumption was he was looking for a pay raise, and a well-deserved one if you ask me. However things didn’t quite go to plan for Baynes and he was likely a victim of the cap being dropped from an estimated $101 million to $99 million, which caught a few teams off guard causing them to readjust. Baynes eventually signed a contract worth a reported $4.3 million for the Boston Celtics.

Baynes averaged 5.6 points, 4.6 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game throughout his entire Detroit Pistons tenure. But what Baynes also brought was his hard-nosed and tough play. He was a player that played with the same energy and effort every night, and you could see he left it all on the floor. He was also renowned for setting hard screens, and was required to come in at a moment’s notice for Andre Drummond when opposing teams started to play the Hack-a-Drummond strategy.

Aron, Thank you for all your hard work and effort every night. We wish Baynes all the best in his future!

Next: Best and worst case scenarios for Andre Drummond

Lets end this by watching highlights (thanks to The Pick and Roll) from Baynes last season falling one point shy of a career high in a win versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.