Before Detroit Pistons fans get very angry with me for calling one of their favorite members of the team "overrated", let's make one thing clear: Ausar Thompson is a very good NBA player. He is arguably the best perimeter defender and one of the most athletic players in the league. He will be a valuable player for a long time and will contribute to winning in the NBA for the next decade.
Despite all of these things being true, the Pistons are still seriously overrating him. And this will be an issue for them as they try to contend for a championship in the Cade Cunningham era.
Thompson was a well-deserved All-Defense first-team member last year. The combination of his versatility, intensity, and defensive playmaking is unparalleled. If you had to stop an offensive superstar on the perimeter, you aren't going to find a better option than Thompson.
Yet, being the best perimeter defender in the league doesn't automatically make you a top-three player on a championship-caliber team.
Can Ausar Thompson really be one of the best players on a title team?
The Pistons treat Thompson as an indispensable part of their future. GM Trajan Langdon refers to Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and Thompson as a Big 3. Detroit has made moves this offseason to clear future cap space to fit the looming Ausar extension. It's clear that the Pistons are preparing to make the Cunningham-Duren-Thompson trio the core of their team that will try to win a championship.
The player that Thompson is right now is very underqualified to be one of the three best players on a championship team.
Can you think of a player who was one of the best players on a championship team who was as bad as Thompson offensively?
Before you say Draymond Green, it's important to remember that Green is a big man. Offensive limitations for a center are much easier to scheme around than it is for a perimeter player. Plus, Green was an excellent passer and playmaker in his prime, making him still a better offensive player than Thompson.
Thompson's shooting concerns are well-documented. There is no need to keep talking about how he is a 20% shooter from three and a 60% shooter from the free-throw line. It has not progressed at all since he came into the league, and it is unlikely to get to an average level.
The more important weakness in Thompson's game is everything else in his offensive arsenal. Due to his obvious inability to shoot, the rest of his offensive limitations go under the radar.
Thompson is a very mediocre finisher despite his physical and athletic tools. Per Cleaning the Glass, he was in the 58th percentile among wings in rim percentage. He is in the 32nd percentile on shots between 4 and 14 feet. He rarely finishes through contact. This means that defenses aren't really too scared of him when he is cutting or roaming around the basket.
Due to his lack of off-ball gravity, the Pistons like to give Thompson the ball. This hasn't necessarily produced great results, either.
Last season, among 85 players who played at least 60 games and ran at least one pick-and-roll per game, Thompson ranked 70th in points per possession, per NBA.com. When you are not a threat to pull up or get to the basket to finish, it becomes very difficult to be an effective on-ball creator.
Right now, Thompson is very clearly a negative offensive player. This was apparent in the playoffs when he was completely invisible in half-court offense and ended up not finishing certain games. There is a reason Thompson only played 26 minutes per game in the regular season and only 30.5 minutes per game in the playoffs.
If Thompson really was one of the three best players on the team, you would surely want to play him more than 30 minutes per game in the playoffs, right?
Pistons have to be open to letting Ausar Thompson go
Thompson is still young. He has the physical tools to get better in a lot of these areas. But this is a possibility, not a probability.
For some reason, the Pistons are treating Thompson as the player he could become in a couple of years rather than the player he currently is.
This isn't to say that Detroit should trade Thompson. His defensive chops and upside are worth investing in him. But he can't be untouchable in trade talks. The Pistons have to look for ways to upgrade their Big 3. If the only way to do that is by trading Thompson, then they have to be open to the idea.
Add us as a preferred source on Google