Detroit Pistons: 5 most overrated Pistons of all time
NBA fans tend to overrate their own guys and fans of the Detroit Pistons are no exception.
This generally happens when a team is bad, as fans are desperate to find some reason to be hopeful, so cling onto a guy and heap more adoration upon him than he probably deserves.
Sometimes it’s because a player was overly hyped and fans kept trying to overlook major flaws in favor of their rose colored glasses.
At times a player is overrated because he wasn’t playing that much and the hope of the unknown was more appealing than the reality.
This isn’t the fault of the player, and some of these Pistons were really good, but they just weren’t as good as the fans thought. This is especially true of players from the past, as we tend to print the myth instead of the truth.
Here are five former Detroit Pistons who fans continue to overrate for various reasons. Sorry if you see one of your favorites here and feel free to argue your case in the comments.
Most overrated Detroit Pistons #5- Jason Maxiell
This one hurts, as Maxiell was one of my favorite players from his era and a guy who very much embodied Detroit basketball.
He was a fan favorite because of his motor and hustle and was a very good role player for some quality teams.
But he was never as good as fans made him out to be, as I remember Pistons’ fans saying he should have been 6th man of the year, or that he should start, neither of which was true.
When Maxiell did start for the Pistons from 2009-2013 (he started all but one game in the 2012-13 season) they were absolutely horrible. Those were some of the worst teams in team history.
Maxiell never averaged even eight points per game. He never hit six rebounds per game. He only had two seasons where he had at least one block per game and this is a guy fans now pretend was a prolific shot blocker.
His shooting percentages are abysmal even though he never shot outside of three feet from the rim. Maxiell’s ceiling was to be a decent role player on a good team, and that’s what he was, but as soon as he was asked to be more, he was exposed.
Again, this isn’t a knock on Maxiell, but fans always made him out to be more than he really was.