Detroit Pistons: 5 worst free agency moves in franchise history

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5. Kwame Brown

Contract: 2 years, $8 million

Reeling from a loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2008, president of basketball operations Joe Dumars vowed to make some bold changes to a team he felt had plateaued.

Enter the Pistons’ favorite kryptonite, an underwhelming seven-footer. In this case, that seven-footer was a former No. 1 overall pick named Kwame Brown.

Brown spent the prior season in Los Angeles and Memphis respectively. He played in 38 games (15 starts), averaging 4.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 18.8 minutes per game.

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The Pistons signed Brown to a $8 million contract. The two-year deal included an option for year two. Giving Brown such a lofty deal seemed like a head scratcher to many, though ESPN‘s Marc Stein made a case for the move when the deal was announced.

"“The Pistons, can counter with multiple success stories — most notably Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Rasheed Wallace — when it comes to working with former top-five draft picks who endured problematic starts in their careers. Detroit will try to make Brown its latest reclamation project, figuring that his size, athleticism and relative youth are still too enticing to pass up.”"

Detroit should’ve passed. Wallace, Billups, and Hamilton might have needed to evolve a bit, but Brown was never anything more than a large disappointment, only occasionally showing flashes of what might be.

The biggest knock against Brown was the suspicion that he didn’t play hard all the time. He often looked awkward and unskilled in his career. To make matters worse, Brown spent a lot of time injured as well.

The Kwame experiment in Detroit lasted 106 games. He averaged 3.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game during his time with the Pistons.

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