Detroit Pistons: Grading The Donatas Motiejunas Trade

The Detroit Pistons made another solid trade on Thursday morning, picking up Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets.

In what has been a busy deadline week for the Detroit Pistons, the team elected to trade a protected first round pick and center Joel Anthony to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton, two high quality bench players. The news was first reported by The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski:

The pick that Detroit is sending to Houston is a 2016 first-rounder, top-8 protected this year and top-10 protected in 2017 and 2018. If all things go well for Detroit, the team will make the playoffs this year, meaning the pick will be conveyed to Houston for this year’s upcoming draft.

Joel Anthony was re-signed by the Pistons last summer on a two-year, $5 million deal. The second year is non-guaranteed.

Anthony has been a non-factor on the court for the Pistons this year, and has only appeared in 13 games. He’s averaging 4.0 minutes per contest in those 13 appearances, and has totaled nine total points on the season.

A 33-year-old eight-year veteran, Anthony is a good presence to have in the locker room. For that reason, he will be missed in Detroit.

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But, the Pistons, after adding Tobias Harris, are now poised for a playoff run in the weak Eastern Conference. Adding two quality rotational guys in Thornton and Motiejunas fits the agenda perfectly. The Pistons are 29th in bench scoring, as their second unit only puts up 26.4 points per game.

They were in need of increased depth, especially after trading away Brandon Jennings, and Houston was the perfect team to turn to.

Marcus Thornton, a seventh-year man out of LSU, is a microwave scorer who has come off the bench for almost his entire career. Scoring-wise, he is having his best season since 2012-13, averaging 10.0 points per game for Houston in only 18.8 minutes. He has a reputation as a chucker, but Detroit needs offense from their reserves. When Thornton has it cooking, he’s a tough man to stop.

Perhaps unjustifiably, Thornton is one of the league’s most confident players. Still, that confidence can be game-saving, and he’s the type of player that hits timely shots, even if he isn’t scoring consistently. Case and point:

While Thornton brings the scoring punch, Motiejunas accounts for everything else. The former Rockets’ forward is a legit seven-footer with some muscle (255 lbs.), and can shoot the three quite well, especially in the corner. Motiejunas converted just under 37 percent of his attempts from deep last season, and in 14 games this year, has connected on 41.2 percent of his long-range tries.

Motiejunas is an intriguing prospect at just 25 years old, as he possesses the size and skill to cycle between the power forward and center positions. He’s a good passer, especially for a big man, and moves very well for someone his size. He’s a starting-caliber player who can be a featured option on the post. Motiejunas, like Thornton, is a creator — something the Pistons desperately need.

Unfortunately for Detroit, Motiejunas has been injured most of the 2015-16 season, and has just finished up rehabbing in the D-League, meaning his legs probably won’t be so fresh.

Still, he is believed to be healthy at this point, and per Chron.com, was expected to return to Houston’s lineup for Friday’s contest against Phoenix. Houston coach J.B. Bickerstaff believed that the D-League stint helped Motiejunas significantly:

"“I think it’s better now because he had those games in the D-League,” Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He was able to play extended minutes. From those minutes, he was able to get some sort of a rhythm. Obviously, it’s going to take more than three games to do that. But I think he’s in a better spot now, having played those 20-plus minutes (per game) in the D-League than those six minutes he was getting when he came back the first time."

Motiejunas will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, meaning the Pistons will have the opportunity to lock him up (assuming he doesn’t opt for the qualifying offer) for the next few years. Young, talented bigs are a hot commodity in the league right now, and Motiejunas is a proven starting-caliber player, which only adds to his value.

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The Detroit Pistons are turning some heads this week. This was a great pickup for them, all things considered.

Grade: A-