Detroit Pistons: Ranking trade assets heading into the offseason
By Corey Rausch
9. Khyri Thomas
No matter where you fall in terms of believing in Khyri Thomas, it is easy to place him at the bottom of this list. The former second-round pick out of Creighton University has played 34 games for the Pistons over his two seasons, severely limited by a variety of injuries.
He improved this season from long-range but the sample is small. He went from attempting 1.3 per game to 1.8 and saw his average skyrocket from 28.6 percent to 35.7 percent. None of this is indicative of much more than slight improvement given the size of the sample, but it is better than regression.
Size and health have certainly limited Thomas’s opportunities thus far but that is not the only issue. Coming out of college, defense was his best feature. Thomas was a two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year and at a minimum looked capable of acquitting himself well on that end of the court.
This season he ranked third from the bottom of all Pistons in defensive rating at 122.1. Only Jordan McRae and Donta Hall were worse. Comparing that to the rest of the league, he ranks 517th out of 529 eligible players. Needless to say, that is less than ideal.
Khyri Thomas may just need a change of scenery (and a little health luck) to get on track. Until then, his trade value is almost non-existent.