Comments on: Jason Maxiell is having a great season, and Andre Drummond is still out-producing him

By: michael

michael — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 23:09:54 +0000

I agree it was tanking, and trying to show value for JMax, Jerebko, Prince and Bynum at least. All four and Charlie V won’t be around long, if they get anything in trade is questionable and will be like pulling a basketball of of JoeD’s…

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 23:06:10 +0000

Especially when you figure that, on a per minute basis, Drummond hasn’t just been decent – he’s been the Pistons best player by that metric…

By: michael

michael — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 23:04:51 +0000

Or has he not been tuned in since 2003 when Dumars drafted Darko M ahead of Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, then went thru 8 coaches in 10 years, traded Chauncey Billup for a huge loser, signed Richard Hamilton to an extension then released him and is still paying him.. signed Ben Gorden and Charlie V for $115 Million, traded Ben Gordon and had to give up a first round pick to get rid of him, with Charlie V still at the end of the bench at $8 Million per year. then extended Rodney Stuckey’s and a washed up Tayshaun Prince’s contracts. If he worked for the enemy, I would agree Dumars knows what he’s doing…

By: Rich

Rich — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 23:01:16 +0000

One thing I haven’t seen mentioned – he’s basically the same age as Knight was last year. Although he didn’t have the same “raw” label Drummond had, a brief glance at Knight’s college numbers show he was also quite raw – he had below average shooting numbers, didn’t really rack up steals, and had a frankly bad A:TO ratio. Yet he wasn’t “scarred” by playing early and often. And PG is considerably harder to play as a rookie that a frontcourt position is. The logic the Pistons are employing on Drummond doesn’t make any kind of sense when they didn’t use it a year ago, with the same coach and same GM.

By: Patrick Hayes

Patrick Hayes — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:40:45 +0000

It’s not a straight comparison. It’s just questioning what, exactly, the bar is for Drummond to earn more minutes? By the only statistical measures available — and I never said per-36 was perfect — Drummond is playing very productive minutes, more productive than the starter, in fact. So if the bar for him playing more is him playing well, how has he not met or exceeded that bar yet? Another rookie — Singler — has been rewarded with more minutes for his strong play in limited minutes. Why hasn’t Drummond?

By: frankie d

frankie d — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:21:46 +0000

the going rate for a vet like maxiell is probably a mid to late first round draft choice. and his value may be elevated because he has an expiring contract. i’m not sure which teams actually have that kind of choice in the near future, but i’d be willing to take a lottery-protected first rounder a few years in the future on the odd chance that a flukey bad year by a team like the lakers or SA or the clippers or dallas or whomever might net the pistons a fairly high choice down the line. remember, detroit got the darko pick on exactly that type of trade when they moved otis thorpe for a pick several years in the future.
i’d just like to see joe d parlay a nice asset into some kind of value instead of just sitting on it and letting it walk away for nothing but cap space.
and if i’m the pistons, i do not want a player in return. only draft picks, as one of the benefits of moving maxiell is clearing the roster so that young guys already here can play.

By: Aruna

Aruna — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 22:18:35 +0000

I don’t think it’s exactly fair to compare the two like that. Maxiell has a much longer leash, so her per minute numbers are likely to be worse for that fact. When Drummond is playing well he gets to play longer, therefore he logs more minutes when he’s putting up stats. On the other side Max will log more minutes when he’s not putting up numbers because he is allowed to play through bad stretches since Frank trusts him to respond appropriately to it. Then there’s the whole idea that Max is playing against starters while Drummond plays against reserves.

Maybe the takeaway from this is still that we need to play Drummond more because he is playing well (I certainly want to see it), but I don’t think you can realistically compare per-36 minute stats and say that’s a reasonable evaluation of the two. The context of those minutes are just too different.

By: Vic

Vic — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:16:08 +0000

I don’t mind Max starting, even though he’s always been good and short bursts off the bench. But I do want drummond to play at least 25 minutes a game, that’s how they’re going to start winning the majority of the games.

By: Vic

Vic — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:13:51 +0000

0-8 before they were forced to make a change. If they knew what they were doing, then they were tanking. I was sounding the alarm on this stupidity as soon as after the first game, until I realized that they might be tanking for a draft pick, and that’s their prerogative. If they think a high draft pick next year is more valuable than fans this year, that’s okay.

But now it looks like the cats out of the bag. They are starting Singler, and everybody is calling for them to play drummond more. Maybe they really do want to win.

By: revken

revken — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:06:58 +0000

I don’t think the problem is Maxiell, because he’s only playing 25 minutes a game. That easily leaves 23 minutes for Drummond, which is more than he’s played so far. The problem is that Drummond is backing up Monroe at center, which will always limit his minutes. Not sure how they need to adjust their rotations and roles at PF/C, but I’d like to see Andre backing up Maxiell for the time being. That would give him more playing time and, if his production per minute continues to hold steady or improve, then playing him even more minutes becomes an obvious choice. While Drummond’s production is better, I’m sure there are lots of intangibles that Maxiell is better at. But they’re both the same kind of player in what they bring to the line-up, so it would be good to always have one of them in the game.