New York, NY - Thon Maker's decision to request a trade away from the Milwaukee Bucks in January didn't come lightly. It wasn't a scenario where he felt he just had to get out of town -- the Bucks after all were sitting on top of the Eastern Conference at the time -- rather, Maker just wanted a chance to play.
"I was always engaged 100 percent," he said prior to Monday's game against the Nets in Brooklyn. "I was never mentally halfway in and halfway out. I was focusing on day-to-day stuff like communicating with my teammates and coaches, and I just stayed ready and took care of my body at the same time and wherever I wound up I just had to stay ready for that."
Maker has shown flashes of his potential since being drafted 10th overall by Milwaukee in 2016, but towards the end of his time with the Bucks, Maker had been in-and-out of coach Mike Budenholzer's rotation, so at the trade deadline the Bucks granted him his wish and sent him to Detroit in exchange for Stanley Johnson.
In 13 games with the Pistons, Maker is averaging similar scoring numbers than at Milwaukee (4.5 ppg to 4.7 with the Bucks), but has seen his minutes per game increase to 16.2 per game, compared to 11.6.
In addition, his assists have also increased slightly by almost one per game. Maker joked that he is one of the most "underrated passers in the NBA," and added head coach Dwane Casey wants to see more of that from his game this season.
"It's something he wanted to see from me, but it's something I've always had," Maker says.
"It's an art and it's a part of my international game, moving the ball, finding space. I think the past few games I've done a good job of it, but it comes with caution. You've got to take care of the ball, and to be trusted to take care of the ball like that, you must be really good at what you do so I take pride in that."
Despite Monday's loss, the Pistons are still 8-2 in their past 10 games, and finally, Maker is getting a chance to be a part of a regular rotation which has enabled him to start enjoying his basketball once again.
"This is what we love to do, just get out there and play," he said. "You've been working your whole life for this, just to get on the floor and you do that every single day consistently so it feels good to be out there, just seeing your craft being used and just enjoying yourself. It's the best thing you can do as a player."
Casey is in his first season with the squad and is trying to balance implementing a new system and new players, with winning enough games to squeeze into the playoffs. Maker has been a seamless fit, however, as Casey was familiar with the Australian from his time with the Raptors, coaching against Maker's Bucks.
Casey praises Maker's approach to the game.
"Thon is a beautiful young man," Casey said pregame. "He's a breath of fresh air; he's positive; he's upbeat; he reminds me of [Pascal] Siakam in terms of, his motor's always going - he doesn't get tired and his shooting is a positive, but his defense is relentless.
"Again, he's a young kid in this league. Once he gets his core strength and body strength together his future is going to be bright."
Maker says he's thankful the Pistons coaching staff have trusted him from the beginning.
"He [Casey] said 'I know what you can do from when you've played against me'. He appreciates the way I play hard and just wants me to go out and play," he says.
Maker also finds himself in a situation again where he has another seasoned veteran to play with, and learn from. Blake Griffin, a six-time All-Star, was traded to the Pistons last season. Maker admits that watching Griffin's game, he initially felt Griffin was a player focused on himself, but after playing alongside him for over a month now, he says Griffin has a very unselfish game, and he is learning a lot from watching him, and Andre Drummond.
"He's a smart guy when he's out there on the floor as well," he says. "He's punishing defenses, and put him together with Andre, he plays really well with Andre.
"I've learned a lot in terms of the way they play, just the way they play with them, on the floor with them, and I can see that they're players that play hard. On the outside looking in you don't see that, but when you're actually watching up close and a part of it, you can actually tell that their intentions are always good, always trying to make the right play and always trying to make the winning play."
While Maker's former team has already clinched a playoff berth, the Pistons are in a fight for one of the East's lower seeds. No matter where they end up, Maker is confident this squad is capable of making some noise.
"I think we're really dangerous," he said. "The biggest part is just the match-up problems that we create; we have size at a lot of positions and a lot of teams don't have that. It's gonna be tough [for opponents] when we get to the playoffs."