All-Decade Team: Best Detroit Pistons of 2010s
By Ryan Love
All-Decade Second Team
Yikes.
I will take this time to remind readers that this list only applies to accomplishments and body of work with the Pistons during this decade. I understand this list can be jarring.
The Trial and Error Era
The time between the “Goin to Work” Pistons and the Blake Griffin-led Pistons was one of hardship.
However, talented players who carried the team’s counting numbers earned their spots on the All-Decade Second Team almost by default. Charlie Villanueva was simply not going to make one of these teams.
Although the team’s results were not pretty, these players individually showed spells of potential and talent that put them above the Third Team.
Josh Smith – for all of his flaws and the contract the Pistons are still paying for – received that contract originally for the potential he showed with the Hawks.
That talent didn’t fall off when compared to the rest of the players who came and went in Detroit over the last decade.
Smith’s one full season in Detroit was a roller coaster, to say the least, but his individual numbers were among the best for a Pistons player in that era.
He averaged 16.4 points, 6.8 assists, 3.3 assists, and just over one block and one steal per game in the 2013-14 season.
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He played 77 games, leading a 29-win team in points, steals, minutes played, and field goals made. Unfortunately (or fortunately for him), he continues to be paid by the team today – perhaps solidifying his impact and position on this list.
Brandon Jennings found his way to the list by way of a short, dominant run as well as the value he built to bring in a First-Teamer.
Jennings served as the transition player between the Josh Smith era and Jackson’s arrival as a talented player that fans could root for. He averaged about 15 points per game as the starting point guard in Detroit and had several offensive explosions that gave the team and fans hope.
As with a lot of the players on the Second and Third All-Decade teams, Jennings earned a spot by merely keeping the team afloat as it searched for its identity.
Rounding out the team are three players who the Pistons used first round picks on and only lived up to their potential as the most talented young players on dreadful teams.
Greg Monroe, who was quickly replaced by Drummond, actually earned a spot on the 2010-11 All-Rookie Second Team and finished top-15 in the NBA in rebounds four seasons in a row.
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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, bearer of the infamous #PayKCP movement in the Pistons Twitter community, came just short of earning that maximum contract in Detroit.
He was another guy that kept fans hoping for more than the 11.7 points, 3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game he offered in his four seasons in Detroit. KCP averaged 35 percent from 3-point range in his final Pistons season and was the beginning of the youth movement – until he wasn’t.
He ranks seventh in franchise history in 3-point field goals made.
Rodney Stuckey earned his spot here as the one to hold down the fort in Detroit for much of the decade.
Stuckey, who was drafted 15th overall by the Pistons in 2007, served his time in the Pistons rotating backcourt for seven seasons. He averaged 13.4 points, and 3.6 assists during that time in a part-time starting role.
Although he could never take the next step to be worthy of a full-time starting role, Stuckey provided energy, scoring, and defense on a team that struggled with all of those traits for the decade.