3 Detroit Pistons who need to improve after the hiatus

Thon Maker

It might go without say that at some point, the Pistons are going to need to see substantial improvement from Maker.

He’s too often finding himself in the middle of defensive lapses and hasn’t established himself as a reliable enough option on the offensive end.

With Wood and John Henson picking up a lot of the slack it hasn’t caused too much of an problem, but fans are often left holding their breath whenever he enters the game.

He’s shown that he’s capable of showing up some of the potential that so many saw in him when he first entered the league.

Immediately following the Drummond trade, he played incredibly well. In the five games that followed the trade, Maker averaged 13.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game on 56.8 percent shooting, including 47.1 percent from three-point range.

A frontcourt containing him and Wood was proving to be quite the spectacle. Their length and size in the post was an interesting combination on both ends of the floor, and while it didn’t lead to any wins, it was still fun to watch.

Since then however, Maker has regressed back into the player that we’ve known him to be. An inconsistent scorer and a liability on defense.

Since those five games, he’s averaged just 3.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game on 32.3 percent shooting. He was a little banged up to “close out” the season, but what we had been seeing from him wasn’t anything new.

Maker will be a restricted free agent this summer, so he could potentially be playing for a new contract. Naturally, he has added incentive to play at a higher level than what he’s been at for most of his time in Detroit.