There were plenty of big players in the free agency market in 2013, including league rising stars Terrick Evans, Monta Ellis and O.J. Mayo, stocky rebounder DeJuan Blair, all-round power forward Al Jefferson, and equally excellent Paul Millsap, well-rounded Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala, David West, who has a good interior attack, and more importantly, super guard Chris Paul and super center Dwight Howard, any team, As long as you can get one of them, you can take a big step forward in the strength of the salted fish in a very short period of time.

Of course, the Pistons thought so too, so they desperately cleaned up the salary space, but there was always a pain before the dream, that is, the team's strength this season was not too strong, and it went down another level.

After 82 games, the Pistons won only 29 games, ranking 11th in the East, missing the playoffs for four consecutive years.

In this season, Monroe is one of the few bright spots in the team, averaging 16 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, shooting rate of 48.6%, the data can only reflect one aspect, Monroe offensive means in the game, the inside single footsteps and its solid and steady foot, but on the defensive end, Greg Monroe is still more than enough and not enough, the outside line can't be defended, the inside line can't top the big center, and the No. 9 rookie Andre Drummond, who is expected to be highly, mainly played as a substitute for Mark Hill in his debut season, averaging 20 minutes per game, handed over a beautiful report card with an average of 7.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 60.8% shooting per game, or that sentence, the data can only reflect one aspect, Drummond in the game, although the offensive means are limited, but the success rate of the inside finish is very high, the body is thick, and has initially shown the potential of the defensive gate, that is, the 37.1% free throw shooting rate is a bit painful, but the flaws are not hidden, Drummond is still selected for the best rookie team this season 2 teams.

Monroe can attack, Drummond is good at defense, and a pair of super-polar interior lines that seem to complement each other are quietly realized in the Pistons' imagination.

Compared with the two super insiders, the team's other potential star Brandon Knight, who was expected to be high, was a big disappointment, averaging 12.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.6 turnovers per game in his rookie season, compared with this year's average of 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.7 turnovers, not much improvement, not only that, Knight's shooting percentage actually declined significantly compared with his rookie season, which was 41.5%, 38%, and 75.9% in his rookie season. This season, it's 40.7%, 36.7%, 73.3%, a shocking comparison, and more importantly, Knight's playing time this season is 0.7 minutes less than his rookie season, you calculate yourself, there is less playing time, and the shooting percentage is declining, but the score is more than last season, which shows that Knight's efficiency has dropped too much compared to last season.

In fact, for Knight, this season is more sad, first of all, in the rookie match, Knight was first shaken by Irving's feints, and then under Irving's fierce tiger-like operation, his feet were unsteady and fell to the ground, and 24 days later, Knight was taken by Jordan Jr.'s shocking sky and became the object of the background board and the league's ridicule, (if you are interested, you can search for the video to take a look) But despite this, in my opinion, this is not only not Knight's slot, but precisely Knight's merits, dare to fight, Be willing to defend, after all, no matter how good Owen is, you can't shake down a person who doesn't defend you, no matter how good your little Jordan is, you can't dunk a person who doesn't jump, you're right.

If you ask Dumas, the president of operations of the Pistons, which summer excites him the most after the Pistons Five Tigers, he will definitely say without hesitation that in 2013, it is Di, and in the summer of this year, the Pistons ushered in a great change.

First, the team option of 5 million for 2 years and the second year signed the team's meritorious veteran Chauncey Billups, who was 36 years old at the time and made little contribution on the field, but the purpose of this deal is to promote the team's future star better, Brydon Knight, but who knows that Dumas still has a move, so he will not mention it for the time being.

On July 11, 2013, the Pistons took the lead in signing a big fish, 28-year-old swingman Josh Smith, nicknamed "The Eagle King."

Smith is the No. 17 rookie in the first round in 2004, 206 cm tall, can play the third or fourth position, and the small ball lineup can also be temporarily topped to the fifth position, Smith's physical condition is very good, when he first entered the NBA, his running and jumping ability, physical strength are already above the NBA average, and his template is the representative of the violent forward, Sean Kemp, from this point alone, you know how good Smith's physical condition is, but he can't even enter the lottery in the draft, It shows that he still has a lot of flaws, first of all, he has poor mid-to-long-range shooting ability, and he can't shoot three-pointers, in fact, it doesn't matter, James is not good at shooting three-pointers when he first enters the league, but Smith's biggest problem is that he has a mysterious confidence in his shooting choices, when watching the game, everyone thinks he should shoot, he doesn't shoot, everyone thinks this opportunity is not very good, hey, he shot......

Smith spent the first seven years of his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks, and by his final season, the 2012-2013 season, Smith was averaging 15.6 shots per game, 2.6 from beyond the three-point line, and 16.6 percent of his three-point shots, but he shot only 30.3 percent from three-point range......

Of course, this is not to say that Smith can't do it, on the contrary, the 28-year-old Smith is in his prime, averaging 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.8 blocks per game with the Hawks last season.

The Hawks got Smith's nearly ten-year-old lineup, to be honest, it's still good, Joe Johnson was traded in 05, Bibby was traded in 07, and Al Horford was selected, relying on this team, the Hawks reached the Eastern Conference semifinals for three consecutive years from 2008 to 2011, but they were successively defeated by the league's newly rising super teams, the Cavaliers with James, the Magic with Howard, and the Bulls with Rose, and the record has never been able to go further, so the team management sought change, the first to bear the brunt, It's Josh Smith, who is not in stable form.

In fact, the idea that the Hawks wanted to trade Smith was defeated by the Ross in 2011, and after the end of the season, the Hawks' new general manager Danny Ferry was planning a deal for Smith with the Celtics, but the deal failed to be reached, although the deal failed, but the rumors that the Hawks wanted to trade Smith have been boiling, and everyone knows that you want to trade your players, and you want him to play well for you and show a good performance, you think everyone is Pau Gasol, so, Josh Smith, who has some temper, naturally doesn't want to stay at his old club, the so-called don't keep his master here, he has his own place to keep his master.

Therefore, in this context, Josh Smith, who seemed to be a big bargain at the time, was picked up by the Detroiters at a price of 54 million for 4 years.

With Smith out of the way, it's time to talk about Knight.

On July 31, 2013, the Pistons made a deal with the Bucks, and the Pistons sent Knight and Middleton to the Bucks to get guard Brandon Jennings.

From the perspective of hindsight, the development trajectories of these two players are not too similar, but under the circumstances at the time, the potential and ceiling exchanged by Jennings are much better than Knight, Jennings is two terms earlier than Knight, Jennings was talented in high school, known as the first guard in high school, after graduating from high school, trapped and the One-and-done system introduced in NBA2006, simply put, it restricts high school students from entering the NBA draft directly after graduating from high school. He had to go to college for at least one year before he could be drafted into the NBA, but Jennings didn't choose to go to college, but instead went overseas to play, went through a year, and then was drafted by the Bucks with the 10th pick in the first round in 2009.

Jennings is also a player with very clear advantages and disadvantages, the advantage is that he is fast, he is very fast in the transition between offense and defense, and he is a left-handed player, which makes him have a certain advantage in shooting, or breaking, the outside shooting arc is high, and he is very confident, the disadvantage is that the outside shooting is too confident, and Josh Smith has a problem, that is, he has a mysterious confidence in the choice of his shot timing, does not like to pass, the basket is bigger than everything in his eyes, his right-handed ability is average, and he is easy to be clamped down, resulting in unstable play, The physical fitness is relatively weak, and the height is only 185 cm, which is easy to be eaten by strong defenders.

Jennings' most famous record is probably that he scored 55 points in the 7th game of the rookie, and Jennings at 20 years and 49 days surpassed James at 20 years and 80 days to become the youngest Mr. 55 points in NBA history, which is also the highest scoring record in the 2009-2010 season......

Jennings has averaged more than 15 points per game in four seasons, with the highest average of 19.2 points per game in his third year, so the question is, how can the Bucks be willing to let go of such a talented rising star?

Last season, Jennings' backcourt partner was Monta Ellis, the eldest brother is a well-known star play, very eating the ball, it turns out that Ellis is playing in the Warriors, the Warriors sent Ellis to the Bucks in order to cultivate Stephen Curry, with Jennings, how do you know that these two off-court personal friends are okay, the court just can't pee in a pot, no way, there is only one ball, these two people are not enough to score, Jennings can't stand it, he said he wants to go, but he is not so decisive, the Bucks still fantasize about one day, reached the pinnacle of his life with two stars as the cornerstones, but who knew that this year's free market went wrong.

Ellis, who was originally silent, suddenly jumped out of the last year of the contract worth $11 million, Jennings was unhappy, Lao Tzu was not happy, the Bucks hurriedly sent a 2-year $24.8 million contract, but Ellis was like a stone to go, and finally looked for it in the free market and signed a contract with the Mavericks, 3 years and 25 million ......

Ellis's departure, marking that the Bucks have no hope of making the playoffs next season, since they can't make the playoffs, they can only save money, Jennings' rookie contract expired, asking for a long-term contract with an annual salary of $12 million, the Bucks only plan to give 8 million, this time the arrogant Jennings broke out, threatening to leave the Bucks immediately after the season, the Bucks sent him away as soon as possible in order to avoid losing Jennings in vain, in exchange for Bryden Knight, who is younger and still in the rookie contract.

The Pistons also scored in the draft in addition to Jennings and Josh Smith this season, and selected Kentaveos Cardwell-Pope from the University of Georgia with the eighth pick in the first round, a 198 cm tall and thinner scoring guard, Pope's biggest characteristic is stability, three-pointers, defense, and fast breaks, but they are not at the top level, and the free throws that Pope is proud of now are also average when he first entered the league.

Last season's Pistons did not meet expectations due to their results, and the head coach Lawrence Frank, who coached the Pistons for two seasons, became a scapegoat, and he was dismissed, and the person who replaced him was NBA legend Maurice Cheeks, and now many fans don't know this person, this person is not an unknown person, Morris was the NBA's steal king when he retired as a player, won a ring, was selected as a four-time All-Star, and was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2018, After retiring, he coached the trailblazers of the post-Tianzun era and the 76ers of the post-Iverson era, with a win rate of nearly 50%, and his coaching style is fast and likes to play fast-paced.

The starting No. 1 position, Jennings, the No. 2 position is Will Bynum, who just signed a two-year, $5.75 million contract extension this season, the No. 3 position Josh Smith, the No. 4 position Monroe, and the fifth position Drummond, and another point must be mentioned, the team's starting power forward Jason Markhill left the Pistons on a two-year, $5 million contract after undergoing retinal detachment surgery this summer.

Mark Hill played a total of 8 years in the Pistons, it can be said that the best time of his career was dedicated to the Pistons, from the younger brother of the double Wallace back then, step by step to grow into the team's starting inside, and the black and hard style of play strives to maintain the tough guy style of the post-five tiger era, at present, Mark Hill sent 426 blocks to the Pistons, ranked ninth in the Pistons' vast team history, wearing the No. 54 jersey of the Pistons uniform, played a total of 523 games, ranked 14th in Pistons team history. Mark Hill was trapped by injuries after coming to the Magic, his state declined rapidly, and he was finally cut by the Magic, and joined the Hornets next season, but the Hornets have Al Jefferson, Cody Zeller, Bismarck Biyombo, and promising star Noah Vonleh, Mark Hill got very limited opportunities, after the end of the season, Mark Hill came to China CBA Tianjin team to play, and then went to Turkey to play, on August 4, 2017, the Pistons in order to express their gratitude to the veteran's sincere heart, Signed Mark Hill, and immediately after signing the contract, Mark Hill announced his retirement as a Pistons, and Marc Hill is still active in the basketball world, playing BIG3 games.

On October 30, 2013, the Pistons opened at home against the Washington Wizards, and finally the Pistons defeated the Wizards 113-102, the rhythm of the game has been controlled by the Pistons team that has completely transformed, the Wizards are struggling to score points behind the Pistons butt all over the court, and Jennings has not been able to play in this game, Billups replaced the starter, Greg Monroe completely dominated the interior, scoring 24 points and 16 rebounds on 6-of-15 shooting, The Washington Wizards' starting interior linemen, Nene Hilario and Trevor Booker, combined for a total of 14 points and 8 rebounds, Monroe's solid interior offense made Nene and Booker unable to parry.

In the second game, the Pistons lost to the iron-blooded Grizzlies 108-111, and in the third game, the Pistons defeated the Celtics in the post-Big Three era 87-77, and the Pistons won 2-1 in three games, showing a completely different competitiveness from last season, which made the team's management and the team full of infinite fantasies and possibilities for the newly assembled Pistons.