5 Things Pistons Fans Learned During the 2019-20 NBA Season (so far)
The death of the traditional center
Kind of linking in with part of my justification for paying Wood is the second thing that not only Pistons fans, but NBA fans learned from this season is that the traditional center position is no longer valued in today’s game.
While this might seem like an extremely obvious statement, but the more a traditional center is paid, the less value he holds. It was very common to say the Pistons got fleeced or that “the Pistons got a bag of chips for Drummond?!” but honestly, I liked the trade.
Clint Capela was also dealt away and resulted in the Rockets getting back Robert Covington.
Obviously RoCo is a better return than John Henson, Brandon Knight, and a 2nd rounder, but Capella is making roughly $10 million less annually than Drummond, and in this era of COVID-19 with a lot less revenue, the Pistons saving $28.7 million dollars looks like a very shrewd move from the Pistons’ front office.
In today’s NBA the traditional center has been relegated to a $5-$1 million dollar a year salary. The only type of player that you want to pay the max deals to are solid wings like Ingram, or unicorn big men like Anthony Davis.
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Looking at last year’s draft, would you rather pay Sekou a max deal or someone like Jaxson Hayes?
My answer is Sekou as he can shoot the three, slash to the basket, and is an elite defender, while Hayes can catch alley-oops, block shots and get rebounds, something that’s much easier to find in this league.
If you look at a team like the Lakers and the Clippers, a majority of their salary is going to Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Davis and LeBron and the centers aren’t making anything.
Ivica Zubac, Montrezl Harrell, Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee make $18 million combined, showing the fall of the once mighty center position back in the days of Shaq and Big Ben.
When you look at the positional spending chart on Spotrac, it’s almost a perfectly inverse relationship between spending on traditional centers and being a successful team.
The Cavs are the top spending team with $78 million followed by the Trail Blazers Hornets and Grizzlies, while the Rockets Lakers Clippers and Mavs are near the bottom of the list.