In our continuing series breaking down goals for the players of the Detroit Pistons, we arrive at newcomer Justin Patton.
New Detroit Pistons general manager Troy Weaver wasted no time making an impact on the roster front after coming to town, signing center Justin Patton to a two-year non-guaranteed contract on June 24th, when the NBA’s pre-bubble transaction window opened.
Patton isn’t a new face for Weaver, as Weaver’s last team, the OKC Thunder, signed him a season ago before trading him to the Dallas Mavericks, who subsequently waived him.
Justin Patton has struggled with injuries throughout his career to the point where even though he was a first-round pick of the Chicago Bulls in 2017, going 16th overall, he’s only played nine games in his NBA career. The hope for the Detroit Pistons is that this number will grow significantly next season and that he’ll be able to stay on the floor, or at least stay available to get on the floor.
We’ll take a look at three goals for the newest Detroit Pistons going into next season.
1. Stand out in camp
As we speak, the Detroit Pistons and the rest of the Delete Eight teams that didn’t make the NBA bubble are quarantining and preparing for workouts and practices, and this will be Patton’s first opportunity to make an impression on his teammates and head coach Dwane Casey and his staff.
According to Casey, the matchup of Patton and Thon Maker has been “a battle” in camp, but Patton needs to do better than just battle the slender Maker to a draw. Ideally, this is a positional battle Patton could win, because if it’s not, there likely is no role of importance on this team for him.
2. Earn a rotational spot
This is easier said than done, but beating out Thon Maker would surely help. Maker received plenty of opportunity from Casey last season even when it was clear that Christian Wood was deserving of more minutes over him, so supplanting Maker might be more of a challenge than it seems.
If he can do that, he should be a rotational fixture, at least at the back end of the rotation depending on what other signings and transactions take place in free agency between now and the beginning of next season.
3. Learn how to fit alongside Blake Griffin or Christian Wood
Obviously goals 1 and 2 must be satisfied before this third goal can be implemented, but this is going to be an important one for whoever ends up playing center minutes for the Detroit Pistons next season. At this point, Blake Griffin and Christian Wood are likely to be the two focal points of the offense, and it makes sense that Casey will stagger them at times.
If they do get staggered, Patton may be called upon to be the big alongside whoever is on the floor. It might not seem like the hardest job in the world, but they’re two very different players with skillsets that a complementing big is going to have to learn how to accommodate and learn it quickly.
Of course, there’s plenty to be decided before any kind of staggering strategy is implemented, like whether Christian Wood will even be on the team next season. But if everything goes according to plan, Justin Patton could help his own stock out considerably by working to fit seamlessly with both Griffin and Wood.