Do the Detroit Pistons have a top ten player in the East?
By Travis Gibbs
According to an NBC article, the Detroit Pistons do not have a top ten player in the eastern conference. Is this right or wrong?
In the NBA, the western conference has much more talent than the East. Now that LeBron James is in Los Angeles, it seems like all of the talent is out west.
To the casual fan this might seem true. There is still a lot of great talent in the east. Tyler Byrum from NBC sports put together a list of the ten best players in the eastern conference.
His top ten list is as following:
Byrum also leaves an ‘honorable mention’ section where he leaves five players on the bubble of his top ten list. Coming in at 15 from the Detroit Pistons is Andre Drummond.
There was no mention of Blake Griffin as well. Is Byrum right or do the Pistons have a top ten player in the eastern conference?
The case for Andre Drummond
Drummond was behind four others in the honorable mention section. Those players were Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Jayson Tatum, and Kemba Walker.
This list features a lot dynamic scorers that happen to play in a team’s back court. Unfortunately for Drummond, he plays a position that tends to get overlooked in today’s era of basketball.
Here’s where Drummond’s case could be made to be in the top ten of this list. He rebounds the ball at a much higher rate than Embiid, Porzingis, and Love. Drummond actually edges all three of these players in a couple other statistical categories.
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He had more blocks, steals, and assists than all three of these players last season. Where Drummond doesn’t match up to these three is in the scoring category.
However, Drummond is vastly improving that side of his game. He made strides to become a better free throw shooter last season. He went from 39 percent in 2016 to 61 percent in 2017 from the line.
This summer has featured a lot of videos where Drummond is consistently knocking down three-point shots as well. If he can add that to his game and be effective, he would be in the conversation for the best big man in the eastern conference.
The case for Blake Griffin
Griffin’s numbers dipped after being traded to Detroit after the midway point of the season. That’s expected when getting accustomed to a new environment. Before coming to Detroit last season, Griffin was averaging 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists per game.
The fact that he was left out of the top ten and even the honorable mention is a little disrespectful. Griffin is a defensive presence, a good facilitator for his size, and can get to the rim with authority.
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Griffin, like Drummond, is evolving his game towards shooting more three-point attempts. The league average is 36 percent on three-point shots made and Griffin is right around 35 percent.
It’s not great but it’s become a respectable part of his game. A full season of Blake Griffin for the Detroit Pistons will mean having an All-Star and one of the better players in the eastern conference.