It's been a while since we went down this road, and I'm in the mood to think about something positive that is Pistons related.

I've got my list honed down to four guys.

Joe Dumars

Jon Barry

Antonio McDyess

Ben Wallace

I'm vacillating back and forth (hey now!) about who #1 might be.

^ Nice list.

Bob Lanier

Dave Bing

Vinnie Johnson

Zeke

Joe Dumars #1

Joe D is my favorite too.

Billips, McDyess and Barry would be in my top 5 too.

My all time favorite NBA players in general are Joe D, Thunder Dan and Steve Smith.

I think we win at least one of those titles without JoeD. We don't win either without Zeke.

Or are we just doing likeable guys here?

your favorite

Literial Green

Pepe Sanchez

Eric Montross

#1 is Zeke. Without Zeke, we don't win in 89 or 90.

ahhh, I was waiting for it (re: #7)

Fuck it, I'm going with Barry.

It came down to him and Dice, and Barry made me smile/laugh more.

Chauncey, Dyess, Maxiell, and focused Sheed are my favs...

I also liked Zeljko Rebraca alot, and I thought he was going to be a stud after he made All-NBA Rookie 2nd team.

I'd have to throw Carmelo up there too.

#1 is Zeke. Without Zeke, we don't win in 89 or 90.

are you trying to derail this thread?

He said favorite, not best ever. Doesn't matter whether the player caused more wins or not.

People can vote for the Tross if they want to.

Fuck it, I'm going with Barry.

It came down to him and Dice, and Barry made me smile/laugh more.
My favorite Barry moment was the tying his shoe lace technical.

ben.

My favorite Barry moment was the tying his shoe lace technical.


Mine is the Washington game when he hit that corner three and mocked the crowd.

We've talked about that many times before here, I'm sure.

Although I also loved it when he did the "horns thing" that Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles were doing vs. the Clips.

don't remember the washington one. got a clip of it?

don't remember the washington one. got a clip of it?

A quick search turned up nothing. Maybe somebody else has it?

He hit a corner three to ice the game and turned around and started yelling "Goodnight now! Drive home safely!" or something similar.

ben.
I agree with Herm.

Ben was the whole story, underdog who because a superstar, impenetrable defensive strength, still flawed enough to identify with, mostly silent and stoic (outside of the locker room), lead by example and sheer will, game changing through simply effort level, had his own shticks. Everything you could want.

Terry Mills.

Sheed can jack up as many threes as he wants. He's never going to hit 13 straight.

He's also never hit as many game winning shots in his life as Mills did in a single week.

are you trying to derail this thread?

He said favorite, not best ever. Doesn't matter whether the player caused more wins or not.

People can vote for the Tross if they want to.

My favorite player is the one that helps us win...especially titles. Its a bottom line thing for me.

are you trying to derail this thread?

He said favorite, not best ever. Doesn't matter whether the player caused more wins or not.

People can vote for the Tross if they want to.

BTW...We've been on topic on this board lately to the point of it getting old.

I think its getting time to change things up again.

Thoughts?

I had TMills on my preliminary list, too, lol.

I still remember him rolling around on the scorer's table being mobbed by his teammates yelling "fuck yeah, motherfucker".

Gl'enn, do you think we've been doing a good job of staying on topic around here lately?

I don't really pay attention, to be honest. I think it's self-policed pretty well.

If the topic is interesting enough, it will generally get back on it's own.

If it's not, then sometimes it's better to stray, that's where some of the best shit comes from.


^IMO.

I agree. What are your most favorite derails ever?

Not this one.

ok, back on topic.

BTW...I was expecting a I see what you're trying to do here type of thing.

Not this one.

That was very me.

Grant Hill

don't remember the washington one. got a clip of it?

This isn't about the game that I was talking about, but it's fun nonetheless:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/2001/10/11/jordan_game_ap/

Grant Hill

He may have been the most talented Pistons player ever. It just didn't work out here with the injury and when he was on this team, we didn't exactly have a lot of talent around him.

Ben Wallace

Chauncey Billups

That's all. If forced to pick one, I choose Chauncey, mostly because he was so cool under pressure and could be counted on to seal the deal when the game was on the line. Seriously, did he ever fail us with the game on the line? Okay, don't answer that, but we all know he came through in the clutch when it mattered most.

I'm coming with the unpopular choices today, so...

Laimbeer.

No, seriously.

What? Stop laughing. Dick.

I like him specifically because of his awesomely infantile anger management problem. Dude spent exactly 0 seconds crying about the fact that everyone hated his guts. He knew it was gonna be like that from the start. He had a lot of rage to burn off, so he got gangsta. He was loyal to his own team, but it was almost like basketball was his way of acting on the hatred he felt for every single living human.

I know, I know - flatfooted, slow, skills, cheap shots - but he was easily the most competitive personality ever to put on a Pistons jersey, and I love him for it.

Next would probably be Ben. Ben was cool as fuck, and was the spirit of this currently-disintegrating version of the team. For his size, he was a gonzo big man when he was here. Not one of those rebounds or swats was the result of him being lucky enough to be born big. He worked his ass off for everything he did. I respect that a lot. You guys remember that he was on the cover of NBA 2K5? How weird is that now, when you think about it?

I like Dyess too for the same reasons, but I also gotta show some love for fuckin' Dennis Rodman, man. I guess I like all defensive players, but he was just crazy on every possible level. I think he genuinely frightened his opponents, either because they thought he was a fruitcake or because he just shut motherfuckers down.

I mean, come on. Anyone can say he liked Isiah or Grant Hill or Chauncey. You could be a genetic defective and living under a rock in Uzbekistan and be a fan of those guys. It's like saying you like McDonalds. Yeah, no shit, billions and billions served, etc. The guys I like are always gonna be the ones that don't get as much love.

lol- since you love laimbeer so much (i do too of course, but i don't think i can pick a 'favorite') you'll appreciate this story.

my dad took me to see the pistons play the celtics at the old boston garden. as the pistons took the court, naturally the crowd was booing like crazy because it was a heated rivalry back then.

to make matters worse, LAIMBEER led the team down the court to start warmups. he ran in his typical plodding, heavy footed funny looking run, dribbling the length of the court before throwing down a 2 handed slam. he then hung on the rim long enough to bring a smirk to daly's face and send the crowd into a frenzy.

i don't know how better to describle it, you had to be there to appreciate it. if he wasn't so hated and was athletic, the move might not have been booed quite so hard. but there was something about him barely clearly the rim and hanging onto it afterwards with that evil look that made it all the more satisfying!

he was hilarious. those were the days when tough guys actually existed in the nba. it was a MUCH better game back then...

1986 to 1992 version of Dennis Rodman. I just loved watching him play. All the energy and the enthusiasm. I loved when he dunked on fast breaks and held up the #1 sign, when he got so pumped up when he took a charge, when he beat the crap out of Brad Lohaus in the 1988 ECF, got ejected, and then the cameras were watching him go crazy in the locker room as the Pistons clinched the game. The Worm. Great stuff.

When he played for the Bulls, there were stretches where he wasn't playing up to his character and just played basketball. And I loved watching him play, even for the Bulls.

Holy shit. I forgot about The Worm. One of the ten best defensive players ever. A flat-out freak of nature. I'm changing my vote from Hill to Rodman. 1. Rodman 2. Hill 3. Zeke

JOHN CROTTY!

Jerry Stackhouse, for many reasons.

Him being my favourite player way back when led me to becoming a Piston fan

Which led me to go back through the history of the franchise

Which led me to find Real GM so I could post all my knowledge (lol)

Where I met many of you guys here

You guys got into some shit on Real GM

Which led to the creation of WTF which is my fucking home online.

So, without Stackhouse I'm not here and I certainly wouldn't be such a big NBA fan if not for many of you.

So bow down to Stackhouse - he lacked God-given talent but at least he punch the fuck out of Laettner.

Stackhouse - he lacked God-given talent but at least he punch the fuck out of Laettner.
Say what you want about Jerry Stackhouse, he did punch Christian Laettner in the face.

I never had a problem with Stack. I had a problem with the fact the team was so lousy that he was the only option out there on offense.

I had a problem with him fumbling and kicking the ball out of bounds on the final possession of the game about 6 times a year.

Please note that this is not an official appreciation thread, and if it was, I would have not made this post.

I'm in the Laimbeer camp for all-time favorite, but I have a soft spot for most of the Pistons of that era.

First off, I'm like Mxy and that's my era too.

I loved Joe D and I pretty much have always said he was my favorite player. But I've never really been sure about that one. To be honest when I first fell in love with the Pistons Isiah was my favorite player. To be really honest, after everything that's happened to him post-playing, I still have a soft spot for the guy. I know he's become a total joke now, but it is somewhat amazing that he's getting so little mention here.

I remember when he was the future of the Pistons, their star, their great hope. When I started watching them consistently he played with (and this is off the top of my head so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) Tripuka, that other white dude (Benson?), and John Long. I remember the series against the Knicks where he went toe to toe with Bernard King (this series gets some love from Bill Simmons).

He changed his game to win. We talk so much in Detroit about how Yzerman did this to get the cup. But we no longer talk about Isiah went from incredible scorer to incredible point guard. It was just as important to the Pistons as Stevie Y playing better D (hey Barry, learn to catch a pass).

Later we got Laimbeer and AD and Joe D and we had a great team. But without Isiah the Pistons were never going to win those championships (which could very well have been four if not for his famous pass against the Celtics and his injury plus some horrendously homer refs in the first Lakers series). He would do anything to win. Third quarter 88. And we all talk about the kissing, but does anyone remember when Isiah had an easy lay-up and Magic checked him and sent him flying and Zeke gets up and runs over the Magic and shoves him with everything he has yelling at him the whole time? The guy competed.

And he represented Detroit. He cared about the city, defended it and wore a Pistons uniform with pride. I admit that was more common back then, but it also was something important to me.

Of course along the way he did a quite few things that even bothered me. I don't think I'll ever forgive him for the AD-Aguirre trade. And, if my memory serves me correctly, it was the punch he threw at Lamb at practice, and the injury he sustained afterward, that led to Lamb just retiring. I can't say his choking a news guy was the smartest decision either.

Another bad decision (to put it nicely) was leading the team in walking off the court in 91, which is without a doubt completely indefensible. But remember how horrible Jordan had been dissing the Pistons. Remember how the rest of the US was so glad to watch this and how much shit we had to take at that time. There was no changing of the guard like we at least got with the Celtics. It was about how these thugs who never deserved their titles were finally vanquished. Again, what he did was indefensible. But as a young Detroiter I felt that same anger (and took it to me to college to be honest).

I didn't watch an entire Dream Team game in 92. I saw a bit of one or two but really couldn't stand watching it. Why? Because I was so pissed off about Isiah being snubbed for Stockton.

Side note: Remember when that came out and Isiah, just to prove his point, schools Stockton the next game so bad that Malone throws that cheap shot elbow?

Here's Bill Simmons take on this in 2001:
http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=1245830


As for the greatest sports injustice of all-time -- as much as I hate to admit it -- it happened when Isiah Thomas was left off the original Dream Team in the '92 Olympics (in lieu of John Stockton).

Granted, Michael Jordan (allegedly) refused to play unless Isiah wasn't there, and Stockton's skin color probably helped, and Isiah could have crippled team chemistry (being a little backstabbing weasel and all). But this team was supposed to celebrate the superstars of the '80s and the rising stars of the '90s. Looking back, Isiah had to make the team, if only because he was the fourth-biggest superstar during the '80s (the watershed decade in NBA history).

Compare his career to Magic Johnson's career: Magic won five rings, but he also played with two Hall of Famers (Worthy and Kareem) and a number of accomplished role players (Wilkes, Nixon, Cooper, Scott, etc.). Only during the '87 and '88 title seasons -- when Kareem was losing it -- did Magic unquestionably emerge as the MVP on his own team. Don't let anyone tell you differently. And please don't forget the fact that you couldn't hide Magic defensively.

Meanwhile, Isiah played with one second-tier All-Star (Dumars) and an eclectic mix of role players ... yet his Pistons teams netted two titles and should have won a third (in '88). And Isiah was Detroit's GTG (go-to guy) for his entire career -- he didn't have the luxury of dumping it to Kareem for an automatic deuce. And while we're at it, nobody ran a basketball team better than Isiah; I'll go to my grave believing that. He was the best pure point guard of my lifetime.

Here's my point: You could at least debate the "Magic vs. Isiah" argument. But there wasn't a single moment in John Stockton's career -- I mean, ever -- when he was better than Isiah Thomas. Isiah deserved to make that team. Case closed.

(I can't believe I just spent five paragraphs defending Isiah Thomas, the same man who once claimed that Larry Bird would be "just another good player" if The Man were black. Blasphemer! Let's just move on ...)

(Ironically I no longer really read Simmons but this was one of the first columns of his I'd ever read and I loved how even a Boston homer could defend some things about the Pistons.)

Of course everything after playing has been bad. But remember that he simply underachieved with the Pacers; it was Bird who ruined them. And in all this time Jordan has destroyed two franchises, had some known gambling escapades and a messy, embarrassing divorce.

I probably sound too apologetic to Zeke. The truth is his actions have led to everyone's opinion of him today. No doubt. But still, had it been another player, would that guy have become the joke that Isiah is today? To the point that almost no Pistons fan on a Pistons fansite calls him his favorite player? I wonder.

zeke was always the guy i tried to emulate on the court. i had his life size poster. loved everything about him from his playing days. so i suppose if i have to choose one guy, it would be him.

dumars is damn close though. and a lot of other guys too but i guess those 2 stand out.

Zeke gets the short end in favour of Joe because Joe is still here and presided over a 5-year dynastic team?

If that's true it's understandable