Detroit Pistons: Best and worst-case scenario for each player in 2019-20

The big man

Andre Drummond

Andre Drummond is playing for his next contract which will likely be his last big one. He is motivated. He’s gotten incrementally better each year, but his best-case scenario must be more than just getting slightly better at the free throw line. Drummond needs to play an entire season like he played after last year’s All-Star break.

In the best-case scenario Drummond becomes a better passer, develops some kind of 10-to-15-foot jumper, improves his rim protection and generally plays like a First or Second Team All-NBA center. In the best-case scenario the Pistons are excited to give Drummond a max extension and worried he might not accept it.

It’s tough to see any scenario where Drummond gets markedly worse, so the worst-case scenario is that he stays the same. He continues to be an elite rebounder, capable defender and below average shooter.

In this scenario the Pistons offer him a max but aren’t excited about it and instead are worried it could hamper the franchise for the next half decade. In reality the worst-case scenario is more of the same, a mediocre team whose ceiling is a first round exit of the playoffs. This might not seem too bad, but for those of use who have been suffering for a decade, 42 wins and another first round sweep represents Dante’s first circle of Hell, where we are all just looking around asking “why are we here?”