When I first informed a close friend, a long-suffering fan of another franchise, that I was writing a piece on Thon Maker, his response was predictable: “Why?”
On the face of it, Maker didn’t do a lot this year to warrant much attention. The Sudanese center averaged a mere 4.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.9 minutes per game in 2016-17.
Peer closer into the numbers and a more enticing player emerges. Maker was a lot more productive during his time on the court than traditional stats suggest.
Basketball-Reference defines a league average player efficiency rating (PER) as around 15.