The Detroit Pistons made the playoffs for the first time in seven years this season. Detroit was the eighth seed and never really had much of a chance against the Eastern Conference favorite Cleveland Cavaliers, but it gave a good accounting of itself despite the fact that it didn't win a game.
The Pistons were swept, but they were close in basically every game, and they made it clear they will be back in the future. The Pistons have a young core of players that can bring the team sustained success in the near future, and Andre Drummond is a huge key to that. Drummond had a breakout year for Detroit this season but will now hit unrestricted free agency.
Because Drummond is an unrestricted free agent, the Pistons have always been expected to keep him, considering they can match any offer for the 6-foot-11 center. In order to keep Drummond, though, the Pistons will likely have to fork over a max contract to their All-Star big man, and owner Tom Gores says the team is "absolutely" comfortable doing that.
That would seem like an obvious choice considering Drummond is just 22 years old and has proven to be a dominating force on both ends of the floor through his first four years, but his free throw shooting is an enormous flaw, and it reared its ugly head in the playoffs. Drummond made just 11 of his 34 free throw attempts against the Cavaliers and made just 36 percent of his free throws during the regular season. Because of those dreadful numbers, Drummond was regularly anchored to the bench at the ends of games so that teams couldn't employ the "hack-a-Drummond" strategy on him.
Drummond's other numbers this season were incredible as he averaged 16.2 points and 14.8 rebounds per game, but until he can be respectable from the free throw line he will never be able to reach his full potential. It's not as though Drummond doesn't work on his free throw shooting. Head coach Stan Van Gundy has said his stroke is good in practice and that he makes about 70 percent there, but it just doesn't translate to game situations.
While Drummond's free throw shooting is cerainly a major weakness, it is hard to argue against him being worth a max contract. Drummond impacts the game so much on the glass, both offensively and defensively, and still has plenty of room to grow. Detroit doesn't need Drummond to become a great free throw shooter, it just needs him to become a decent one, and it seems like he will have that chance with the Pistons moving forward.
