Detroit Pistons players possibly in the NBA awards chase

Honorable Mentions

Derrick Rose – Sixth Man of the Year

Last season with the Timberwolves in 51 games played with 38 of them coming off the bench, Derrick averaged 18 points per game on 42 percent shooting while chipping in 4.3 assists and 2.7 rebounds. With his minutes and the rotation unclear, there is no certainty to if Rose can make a run at this award.

It is mostly depending on who he shares the floor with that will likely show what stats will stand out. Rose has always benefited from good shooters as he is a heavy driving player, so playing with the likes of Kennard and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk would likely raise his assists, but decrease his scoring.

If he shares floor time with Jackson or Griffin, his usage and on ball time will probably decrease, but he is more likely to get more open shots from what they create. He did finish last season 6th in the voting for Sixth Man of the Year receiving 11 total points for the award.

Blake Griffin – MVP

Currently sitting at +10000 odds – It’s unlikely that Casey will lean on Griffin as much as he did last year with the deep bench this team has added and Griffin’s nagging injuries. All-NBA team is very much in the spectrum for Griffin, who missed out on that honor last year. With the addition of a strong wing shooter in Snell, Griffin’s assists per game could easily rise.

If the team were to thrive under his control and his rebounding was to rise from 7.5 rebounds per game to his career average of 9.0, Griffin could put himself into contention for MVP conversations.

Ed Stefanski – Executive of the Year

Quite simply, the media could have easily put themselves into handing Stefanski this award with the downplaying of this Piston’s team success. Stefanski added several pieces in the offseason to add to the depth of this team while on a strict budget dealing with Stan Van Gundy’s contract mishaps. With standards set low for this Piston team, if they were to surge into a top four or five seed in the East and win 48+ games this year, the media would have to take a look at interim GM Stefanski.

He also has the opportunity to make a big splash by acquiring someone by trade to help a playoff push later in the year.