3 free-agent flops Pistons rightfully avoided, 5 home runs they missed out on

Free Agent Misses

Dillon Brooks

I'm not going to lie and say I wanted the Detroit Pistons to sign Dillon Brooks, as I thought his antics in Memphis, coupled with his salary, were not things we wanted to inflict on the young core.

The Rockets disagreed and inked Brooks to a 4-year/$80 million deal, which turned out to be a bargain for a guy who was fresh off making the All-Defensive team.

You may not like some of Brooks' idiosyncrasies, but it's hard to argue with the results. He's not only defending the other team's best player every night, but scoring 13 per game and doing it efficiently on 45 percent from long range. The Rockets are 8-7 and look to be taking the next step of their progression as a team while the Pistons just keep getting worse.

So I was wrong about Brooks, and so were the Pistons, who claimed they wanted to build around defense, and then passed on an All-Defensive player to trade for the corpse of Joe Harris, who couldn't guard me.

Grant Williams

The Pistons could have had Williams for even cheaper, as he ended up signing for 4 years/$53 million. I've brought his name up a lot only to be told "he's too much like Isaiah Stewart!" as if you should be making personnel decisions based on your 4th or 5th best player.

Williams is not an All-Star, but he's a competent defender who has been on good teams and knows how to make winning plays. He's averaging just under 10 points per game and shooting 43 percent from long range on over five attempts per game.

So a 3-and-D forward who is healthy and shoots the lights out couldnt have helped the Pistons? Ok.