Detroit Pistons: 5 reasons the starting center remains Mason Plumlee
2. Follow the money Detroit Pistons have thrown at Plumlee
Plumlee will be paid $8,137,500 this season as part of the second year of a three-year deal.
He does not shoot from the outside, so, if Plumlee is not the starting center, he can only play backup center. Do you know how many NBA teams pay backup centers over $8 million?: 0
If Plumlee wanted to be a backup, he could have stayed in Denver, been on a contending team. He did not come to Detroit to be a backup.
The money he signed for is not exactly max contract Joel Embiid type (over $30 million a year) money but it is also not chump change.
With Andre Drummond gone and Christian Wood on his way out, signing Plumlee was seen as getting a transitional center who the Pistons could plug in and get a decent job out of – which he has done.
3. Intangibles
If you listen to general manager Troy Weaver and coach Dwane Casey talk, they emphasize culture and high character so much, you would think they were recruiting Boy Scout leaders, instead of basketball players.
In those terms, Plumlee is an A+ addition.
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Plumlee (as far as we know) is an all-around good guy without a whiff of scandal about him. Hey, he dates like any other single guy (and doing pretty well it looks like) but he is definitely a positive influence on the team.
This is not by chance, Troy Weaver does nothing by chance, we have learned.
He knows the Pistons will have lots of young players the next couple of seasons. They know diddly squat about life in the NBA. They need veterans they can look up to and follow their example.
Weaver’s knows Plumlee is a great role model for them.
To pull Plumlee from the starting lineup, undercuts his influence with the younger players.