Detroit Pistons: Top 10 Pistons’ rookies in franchise history
The Detroit Pistons just completed a season in which they won 20 games, yet fans are more excited than they have been in a long time.
This is mostly because of the play of their five rookies, four of whom made an impact with the Pistons this season.
Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart and Saben Lee all outplayed their draft position, while 7th pick Killian Hayes showed signs of progress after returning from injury.
Related Story. Grading every rookie after their debut season. light
It was a great year for Pistons’ rookies, which made me wonder if any of them could crack the top rookies in franchise history.
It’s an interesting and debatable list, but here are the ten best rookies the Pistons have ever had in my humble opinion.
Detroit Pistons: Top-ten rookies in franchise history
No. 10- Andre Drummond
When the Pistons drafted Drummond with the 9th pick it looked like a bit of a reach to be honest.
But Drummond quickly established himself as one of the best rebounders of all time, averaging 7.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and a steal per game in his rookie season.
This was good enough to make the 2nd-team All-Rookie and finish 4th in the Rookie of the Year voting.
Drummond eventually fell out of favor with most Pistons’ fans, largely because his teams never had much success. The big problem with Drummond is that he was not good enough to be the best player on a playoff team.
The Pistons tried to make him that when he should have been viewed more as a complementary role player.
But that is all over now, so we can recognize Drummond for what he is, an elite rebounder who has a very limited offensive game and isn’t as good on defense as he should be for someone who is so athletic.
His rookie season brought promise, and Drummond somewhat fulfilled it, but his time in Detroit will mostly be remembered as a purgatory of mediocrity.