NBA News: Detroit Pistons Officially Sign Aussie Aron Baynes

The Detroit Pistons have officially signed former San Antonio Spurs backup centre Aron Baynes. A press conference was initially scheduled on Saturday but was delayed because Baynes had a reaction after taking medication to help with a stress test. The Australian big man signed a three-year deal worth nearly $19 million with a player option in his third year.

The 6-foot-10 centre played for San Antonio where he won an NBA championship in 2014. Baynes said he left the Spurs because he had a limited role and looks forward in getting more opportunity in the lineup of president of basketball operations and head coach Stan Van Gundy according to ESPN.com. He also added that he looks to bring Spurs’ wining culture to Detroit.

"They've been successful for a number of decades now. Just being around that can't help but one grow as a person, grow on the court, the understanding of what it takes day in and day out, and hopefully I can bring some of that and do it through how I come out here and work every single day, so that's probably the main way I'm going to try and bring it into the program here,” Baynes said according to the reports of Freep.com.

After playing backup role in San Antonio behind Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter, Baynes looks to bring the same system he learned from Greg Popovich and play alongside Pistons big man Andre Drummond. Van Gundy said he will not hesitate to play Baynes and Drummond together when facing sturdier frontcourt of Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies, and Spurs.

"One of the things you need to address with your roster is to be able to play as many different kinds of lineups as you can possibly play. We think there are going to be chances where we play Aron and Andre together because of Aron's ability to step away from the basket and his ability to put the ball on floor,” Van Gundy said.

Baynes averaged 14.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per 36 minutes last season with the Spurs. The Pistons lost centre Greg Monroe to free agency and also traded for Milwaukee Bucks’ Ersan Ilyasova. Detroit also got Marcus Morris and Reggie Bullock in a trade with Phoenix Suns in the offseason.

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