Should the Detroit Pistons offer Andre Drummond a max contract in 2020?

Detroit Pistons all-star center Andre Drummond enters his contract season with a player option for 2020. All eyes will be on the big man.

Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond has been a durable, glass-crashing fiend since he joined the team in 2012.

The 25-year-old has been the NBA’s rebounding leader three times, a two-time all-star, and was selected to the All-NBA Third-Team in 2016. Yet, he’s coming off the best season of his career.

He even doubled his career three-point makes, going from five to 10. Just as importantly, he set an NBA record for most seasons with 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, 100 blocks, and 100 steals. No player has ever had four such seasons until Drummond.

Drummond was left off any of the three All-NBA squads, despite averaging 17.3 points and 15.6 rebounds per game and a career-high 1.7 steals per game. His snub could be a blessing for the Pistons financially, as acquiring one of the All-NBA honors would’ve netted him a supermax contract worth $186 million over four years. Drummond is set to make $27.1 million dollars this season and has a player option of $28 million for the 2020 season, according to Sportrac.

Under the assumption that Drummond will opt-out of his player option, as he’ll be in for a sizable paycheck, and becomes an unrestricted free agent, the Pistons will be in a tough position. To re-sign one of the five best centers in the NBA or to let him walk.

During his seven seasons in the Motor City, Drummond has averaged 14.1 points per game and nearly as many rebounds with 13.7 per game. Not to mention his defensive stats, adding 1.6 blocks and 1.3 steals per game.

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It’s not surprising that Drummond’s game hasn’t really evolved much as his career has gone on. He hasn’t developed much of a jump shot and he’s taken 94.6 percent of his career shots within 10-feet of the rim.

Sure he’s expanded his range to the three-point line, but he might want to make jump shots outside of 10 feet before moving to 22 feet. He attempted 3.6 percent of his shots this last season from beyond the arc. 4.1 percent of his attempts came from 10-feet to the three-point line. If he hasn’t been able to make many shots outside of 10-feet, moving beyond the arc is a questionable career direction.

That being said, Drummond still has a chance to develop some sort of mid-range success. If his improved free-throw shooting has any correlation, there’s no reason he shouldn’t improve.

Drummond, a once historically poor free-throw shooter, has turned it around? In his first five seasons, Drummond shot 38.1 percent from the charity stripe. In the last two seasons, he’s hitting 59.7 percent from the free throw line. He has to show that he’s at least capable of some sort of progress. I’m all for expanding his range, but as long as he’s making a more well-rounded effort instead of primarily focusing on three-point shots. Granted, I’m not practicing with him, so he could already be doing that.

Drummond has been the scapegoat for a lot of the mediocrity that the Pistons franchise has experienced over the last couple of years. Some criticism is warranted, while other criticism not so much. Sometimes he looks lackadaisical on the court, which makes it seem like he simply doesn’t care. Other times he gives a tremendous amount of effort only to be let down by the roster surrounding him.

A star in the pick-and-roll, his usage rate was only 14.8 percent in the 2018-2019 season, .3 percent more than former teammate Jon Leuer. Which shouldn’t ever be the case, ever. His pick-and-roll ability has been underutilized. This is a space that could really benefit both the player and the team. New signee Derrick Rose was among the top guards for pick-and-roll frequency. His addition could see the Pistons pick-and-roll game increase.

Should the Pistons offer him a max contract if he’s agreed to sign it? Absolutely. He’ll be 27 by the time the 2020 season begins and should be playing the best basketball of his career, especially if this last season was any indication. Is his play always the most pleasing? Absolutely not.

But if you’re Detroit, who else are you going to sign? Being a small-market basketball team doesn’t have many perks. There are no bright lights shining 24/7 like New York City or Jack Nicholson sitting courtside like in Los Angeles. If you have a star player, you have to retain him. Maybe you flip him for another good player and some picks later on, or you try and build around his play style.

If the team can surround Drummond with better shooters than in seasons past, things could look bright. And if not, well, at least Drummond will be getting paid while being the scapegoat for quite a few years yet again.