Advertisement

The NBA's all-time starting five: Detroit Pistons

You’re in your second semester of AP Basketball History, you love really good teams, and you love lists. With precious little drama left in the NBA’s 2015 offseason, why don’t we hit the barroom and/or barbershop, pour ourselves a frosty mug of Barbicide, and get to arguin’ over each franchise’s most formidable starting five-man lineup.

[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

Because we don’t like making tough decisions, the lineups will reflect the All-NBA line of thinking. There will be no differentiation between separate forward and guard positions, and the squads will be chosen after careful consideration of individual merits only – we don’t really care if your team’s top shooting guard and point guard don’t get along.

These rankings will roll out based on when each franchise began its NBA life. We continue with the Detroit Pistons, a squad that began its NBA existence in a town that currently features a D-League team.

C: Bob Lanier. The Dobber (as in “Doberman”) wore a size 22 shoe and was an All-Star fixture throughout the 1970s while working on some middling Pistons teams. The top overall pick in 1970, Lanier managed 25.7 points and 14.2 rebounds per game in just his second season, and he would approximate those averages throughout his decade-long run with the team. Also basically invented the And-1 mixtape.

F: Grant Hill. Hill’s injury-plagued career following his time spent in Detroit was more or less a cruel prank, but at least he got to showcase his brilliance during a six-year stint with several capable Pistons clubs. Working as a point forward, Hill’s slashing style was at its peak during a 25.8-point, 6.6-rebound, 5.2-assist 1999-00 season when a misdiagnosed ankle break ruined his career as a go-to force.

F: Rasheed Wallace. It is true that Wallace played too big a role in undermining the work of the coaches that followed in the wake of Larry Brown leaving the defending Eastern Conference champions, but for five-plus years he was a needed catalyst on both ends of the court and the tipping point that helped turn the 2004 Pistons into NBA champions.

G: Dave Bing. Working as a martyr of sorts as the Pistons continually went through an unending list of coaches (sound familiar?) and would-be saviors, Bing was the steadying backcourt force that helped keep the team relevant and, possibly, in business. Bing played nine seasons with Detroit, averaging 22.6 points and over six assists a contest.

G: Isiah Thomas. Thomas’ efficiency numbers and his executive acumen may not have aged well, but he was the driving spirit behind two NBA championships and quite nearly a third in 1988. Teams like the Pistons, and guards like Thomas, just did not win championships prior to the team’s 1989 conquest. Thomas’ dogged determination and out and out game changed all that.

For a team that has struggled through too many low years, this was still an impossibly-tough list to conjure up.

Ben Wallace went from a sign-and-trade throw in to franchise center during his time in Detroit, the rock the team needed to make six consecutive Eastern Conference finals appearances. Bill Laimbeer was far more hateable, but his 3-and-D game at center was decades ahead of his time. The Pistons are lucky to have had both in the pivot.

Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups both enjoyed superb, All-Star seasons on several contending Pistons teams. As did Isiah-era forwards Adrian Dantley and Mark Aguirre. Bad Boy stars Dennis Rodman and Vinnie Johnson managed to have their numbers (appropriately) retired by the team even while coming off the bench for most of their Piston careers, while Kelly Tripucka and Jerry Stackhouse could certainly fill it up.

Joe Dumars, a “Mr. Detroit Piston” if there ever was one, just missed the cut behind Dave Bing. That’s how deep this all-time roster runs.

This is the five we’re going with. Who would you take?

Previous entries: Golden State. Boston. New York.

- - - - - - -

Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!