Pistons Sign Kwame Brown, Trade Next?

The Detroit Pistons signed Kwame Brown earlier in the week, a move that left fans of the Detroit Pistons either scratching or shaking their heads in most cases. Kwame Brown was the number one pick as a teenager with the Washington Wizards but since then he has been anything but the type of player Joe Dumars normally seeks to acquire for the Detroit Pistons.

Brown has often been described with words such as timid and lazy and his play has been wildly inconsistent. The Pistons have had their biggest problems since 2004 when they have gotten away from their gritty, intense, physical style of the past and become more of a finesse team. Brown is a great athlete but he has exactly wowed people with any of the aforementioned athletes.

But still, the Brown signing makes some sense from a number of standpoints for the Pistons.First off, the Pistons are an average rebounding team and Brown, while a bad shot block considering his size and gifts, is a pretty good rebounder despite his stone hands.

Secondly,Joe Dumars signed Kwame Brown because he has a habit of stock-piling big men. You can never have enough in the NBA when you're going against guys like Kevin Garnett and possibly even Tim Duncan if Detroit were to make the Finals so you need all the fouls and bodies you can get.

Finally, Kwame Brown is good insurance in case the Pistons swing a trade. Dumars has said already that he intends to make a big trade this off-season, possibly involving either Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, or young Amir Johnson. If the Pistons deal one of them, Kwame Brown can come in and at least fill a void and play a role for the Pistons without getting in the way too much.

Then of course, there's always the slight chance that Kwame Brown finally "gets it" under the intense new players coach Michael Curry and starts to finally live up to his talent. In that case, the Pistons will have gotten a steal. While Brown doesn't quite fit the culture of hard-working players the Pistons seek to build up yet again, there's a chance he might fall in line under the veterans like Chauncey Billups and McDyess and that could lead to improved play in the future from Brown, who is still young and entering the prime of his career.

Whether or not the prime of his career will actually be a good one is yet to be seen but the Detroit Pistons aren't risking a whole with this two-year signing anyway so that would be a bonus.