Detroit Pistons: Christian Wood vs Thon Maker explained

Conclusion

The Pistons don’t have the backup big man Dwane Casey would probably like to have. Wood and Maker are the only choices on the roster right now and they’re both similarly unreliable.

Wood made good impressions in the preseason but there’s more to him that what you get at first glance. Mostly bad stuff. He doesn’t do all the little things coaches want their players to do and he lacks effort for a man trying to survive in the NBA.

Maker is not a defensive savant either, frequently out of place, creating holes in the defense. So, it begs the question. Is Maker’s defensive effort deserving of the minutes he gets?

We know that Wood is better on offense. He’s a better shooter, a better finisher, his hands are proportionate to his height. But we don’t know how much better he is than Maker. Up until this point, he’s only played in “games that don’t matter”, so I’d take the small sample of last year’s stats with a grain of salt.

I wouldn’t expect Wood to come in and perform the way he performed in the preseason either. That’s wishful thinking. The good thing for Wood is that Maker is pretty useless on that end. He’s inefficient, his slender frame doesn’t help his screening and he has a certain “butterfingers” quality to him.

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Even if Wood’s scoring stats come down to earth in the regular season, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that he’ll be more helpful on that end with a high likelihood that the difference is significant. There’s a high variance of his potential output but even the low outcomes would be on par with what Maker offers now.

On defense, Maker is better but not by much. He tries a lot harder but is equally ineffective. After Dwane Casey’s post-game interview comments, I’m sure he will give Wood a chance to get on the floor but I’m worried he’ll pull him out the first time he makes a bad mistake.

He has to remember that Maker is not much better either and trust Wood to make up for his mistakes on the offensive side of the floor. With Griffin out god knows the team needs it. And most importantly, he has to change his defensive scheme.

Let Maker jump at people and disrupt them. He’ll make mistakes but he’ll make some huge plays too which is the whole point of having him on the floor. Let Wood switch on pick & roll and guard the perimeter. It may not work but it still beats letting the other team get the same open looks over and over again.