Chapter 26: The Fall of the Iron City

Ben Gordon, old fans will be familiar with this name, he is a 2004 scout show, the first five years of his career, has been playing for the Chicago Bulls, 191 cm tall, a shooting guard, he is a natural scoring machine, breakthrough ferocious, superb shooting, except for not being able to pass and not liking to pass, everything else is perfect, rookie season, he became the first rookie best sixth man in NBA history, and since then it has been out of control, scoring 20+ as a routine, Last year's playoffs in the first round of the Celtics, the game was very miserable, seven games and four overtime, Gordon and Ray Allen Pierce rushed to each other, the second game shook the Green Army Gordon was 42 points, he not only scored outstandingly, but also scored at critical moments without mercy, and scored cold-blooded three-point points at critical moments in the game many times, and got a nickname "Ben Jordan", but Gordon in addition to scoring, Gordon in other aspects, especially the organization and defensive ability in general, after the rookie contract expired, Gordon asked for an annual salary of 15 million, but the Bulls were only willing to give 12 million, the price was not negotiated, Gordon signed a one-year mid-level contract for a year temporarily, in 09 Rose landed in Chicago, Gordon's hopes of being quite old were dashed, so he was 26 years old, and Ben Gordon, who averaged 20.6 points per game last season, switched to Detroit at a price of $58 million for five years.

Charlie Villanueva, nicknamed "No Eyebrows", was the No. 7 rookie in the first round in 2005, and scored 46 points in his rookie season as the fourth highest score among rookies in NBA history at that time, shocking the world, and was later traded to the Bucks, and once became the team's stable signature player, and later the Bucks sought to rebuild, focusing on cultivating Bogut and Ilyasova, and for Villanueva's defense, the Bucks changed from the general manager to the head coach, and Villanueva made up his mind and applied for a trade from the Bucks. As a result, a season passed, the trade plan was decided, and there was no real hammer until the end of the season, Villanueva's contract expired, and he moved to Detroit for 38 million in 5 years, which was at the peak of the no-brow hero, and last season, he was able to average 16.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, and his average playing time was only 26.9 minutes per game.

Jonas Jerebko, is the Swedish player selected by the Pistons with the 9th pick in the last round of the 2009 draft, and is also Sweden's first NBA player, 208 cm tall, serving as a forward, his physical fitness is average, his understanding of tactics and reflexes are also average, rebounding ability is average, but he has good shooting ability, shooting range far beyond the three-point line, Jerebko has also become an important rotation player for the Pistons in the future.

Austin Daye, the No. 15 pick in the first round in 2009, 211 cm tall, serving as a forward, Daye's body is thin, although he is tall enough, but he lacks strength to support the interior, rebounding and interior defense ability is at the lower level, but he has a good shooting technique, especially the three-point shot, which made the Pistons look forward to it at that time.

The two rookies selected by the Pistons have the same characteristics, that is, they have enough shooting skills, but they are not good at defense, and the Pistons want to find an interior teacher who is good at defense to guide them, and that person is Ben Wallace.

Wallace had a conflict with the team's head coach at the time Sanders because of the team's tactics, and the contract price offered by Dumas was not enough, which led to Big Ben switching to Chicago and becoming teammates with Ben Gordon, who is now a new recruit, but he did not succeed in Chicago, and Noah's rise replaced Big Ben's role, and was later sent to the Cavaliers to assist James, and then was sent to the Suns in a trade involving Shaquille O'Neal, and the rebuilt Suns had no intention of leaving the aging Big Ben behind. He was then cut, and the 35-year-old Big Ben thought about retiring for a while, but in the end, it was his old teammates Prince and Hamilton who stepped in to save Big Ben's career and moved Big Ben, and finally returned to Detroit on a one-year contract.

It's only been four years since Big Ben's last year in Motor City, but in the past four years, too much has changed, the team first recruited Mohammed to replace Big Ben, and then signed the aging Chris Webber, and then the team selected Starkey and focused on training, and then Billups was sent to the Nuggets in exchange for Iverson, and then there was this year's big change, the other one of the Pistons Five Tigers, Rasheed Wallace is 36 years old, and the contract expires. Tianzun announced that he would join the Celtics this season and chase a championship ring at the end of his career.

Tianzun only joined the Pistons in the second half of his career, his real peak, belongs to Portland, but Rao is like this, his form is still good, in the Motor City, he was selected as an All-Star twice, at present, Tianzun grabbed 2890 rebounds for the Pistons in the regular season, ranking 16th on the team's all-time list, 623 blocks are ranked 7th in team history, and in the playoffs, he scored 1373 points for the Pistons, ranking 6th in team history, and grabbing 722 rebounds is ranked fourth in team history, The 166 blocks are second only to Big Ben and the second highest in team history!

In addition to Tianzun, another Pistons veteran also announced his departure from the team, he is McDyce, his contract will expire this year, weighed it again and again, announced that he would join the Spurs with a 3-year small middle-class contract, chasing championship rings in the few remaining careers, McDyce also played for five years in the Pistons, starting or as a substitute, has always been no regrets, hard work, when the team has a strong interior line, he is willing to sit on the bench, and when the team does not have a strong interior line, he carries the team to start the game, At present, McDyes's 2,687 rebounds for the Pistons in the regular season rank 19th in Pistons history, and his 268 blocks are 13th, while in the playoffs, McDyes's 637 points for the Pistons ranked 13th in team history, 722 rebounds were fifth in team history, and 45 steals and 62 blocks were ranked 13th and 7th in team history, respectively.

At this time, Dumas is completely an exhausted gambler, putting all his hopes on the generals brought in this summer, on paper, the Pistons at that time, although not enough to become a championship team, but still counted as a strong team, but God did not fulfill people's wishes, and when Dumas was about to roll up his sleeves and do a big job, Hamilton and Prince fell due to injuries.

These two are the representatives of the iron men in the league, Hamilton has played so far in his career, with an attendance rate of more than 85%, and Prince has been in full attendance for 82 games in 6 consecutive seasons, which is no one in the league at the time, but in this year, the two Pistons veterans, due to injuries, both fell, Hamilton only played 46 games intermittently, averaging 18.1 points per game, but the shooting rate was only 40.9%, and Prince played 49 games, averaged 13.5 points per game, and the two-yuan general fell, making other role players sprung up, and Starkey took the opportunity to get on the top, averaging 16.6 points per game, playing the highest average points per game in his career, but the shooting rate is still not high, 40.5%, and the three-point shooting rate is 22.8%, and the arrival of Ben Gordon cannot shake Stucky's position in Dumas's heartDumas has a mysterious newcomer to Starkey, so the fans gave Starkey a nickname "Prince Kid", Ben Jordan, who scored like chopping melons and vegetables, in front of Prince Ji, can only play off the bench to average 13.8 points per game, Ben Gordon wants to be the boss, but unfortunately the Pistons only use him as a role player, Will Bynum took the opportunity to play this season, the temporary worker played 63 games, 20 of which were starts, and was able to contribute 10 points and 4.5 assists in 26 minutes, and he wanted to perform well, and on the inside, rookie Jerebko got a chance, starting 73 of the 80 games he played, averaging 9.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, shooting 48.1 from the fieldIn the 69 games played, 67 games were started, averaging 5.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks, and the shooting percentage was a team-high 54.1%! Villanueva and Marc Hill came off the bench as interior players, with the former averaging 11.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and the latter averaging 6.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.

The Pistons have been shrouded in injuries all season, in addition to Prince and Hamilton, Ben Gordon has missed 20 games, Bynum has missed 19 games, Big Ben has missed 13 games, and the average attendance rate of the whole team is only 80%, plus although the head coach Kuster has rich experience as an assistant coach, it is the first time in his career to lead the team alone, and it is not good enough for the whole team, after the season, the Pistons only won 27 games, ranked fourth from the bottom in the East, and missed the playoffs, This is also the first time since the Pistons Five Tigers era that the team has missed the playoffs.

It doesn't matter if last season's record was poor, every team has peaks and lows, but Dumas was too eager for quick success, which led to the team's own misfortune, the summer of 2010 was a big year for the free market, many big fish contracts expired, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson, Paul Pearce, Joe Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, Shafrick Randolph, Amare Stoudemire all entered the free market, However, due to the Pistons' excessive reinforcements last year, the salary space was firmly locked, and they were unable to bring in big names, and only used contracts in the corners to sign several role players.

Tracy McGrady is the Pistons' biggest gain in free agency this year, Maddy at his peak is one of the hottest swingmen in the league, two-time scoring champion, seven-time All-Star is the best proof, and he is only 32 years old, far from his prime, but last year he experienced an injury, minimally invasive surgery on the knee, and then Maddie's state plummeted, not only on the court, but also the degree of control of his body, injuries are not terrible, The scary thing is the attitude of the players towards injuries, after Maddy was traded to the Knicks by the Rockets, he also recruited James on behalf of the Knicks and practiced with him, at that time James sighed, Maddy's body is like rust, and it seems that this is indeed the case, Maddy's body is a whole circle fatter than before, just when everyone is about to lose his job in the NBA, the Pistons gave him a contract to allow him to continue his career, but the contract, It's just a $1.3 million a year veteran's base salary.

Maddy after a big injury is not the only gain of the Pistons this summer, the highlight of this summer is the draft, the Pistons got the No. 7 pick in the first round due to their poor record, and they used this draft pick to choose Greg Monroe, a big center from Georgetown University, and this super interior player who became famous in the United States in high school,

Greg Monroe, 211 cm tall, is the height of a big center, but his technical characteristics determine that he is more suitable to play a big forward, Monroe has a very good dribbling and mid-range shooting skills, and his passing ability is also excellent, in high school, and Cousins, who was drafted together that year, was hailed as the best American interior in the next decade.

So can the highly-anticipated Greg Monroe lead the Pistons out of the quagmire?