What made the Goin’ to Work Detroit Pistons enjoyable to Watch

The Need for ‘Sheed

Rasheed Wallace is the exact kind of player who you absolutely hate until he is on your team. He whined to the refs constantly, picked up untimely technical fouls, chucked up too many three’s at times and probably never fulfilled his enormous potential. But Sheed was one of the things that made the Goin’ to Work era so enjoyable.

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Despite his antics, Wallace had an incredible basketball mind, a dominant post-up game (when he decided to do that sort of thing) and was really the final piece of the Pistons’ puzzle; the guy who brought it all together. He played amazing defense and always seemed to be in the right place to the point you thought he might have the other team’s plays, but he brought a lot more than blocks and steals.

Rasheed Wallace gave the Pistons attitude. He’d deliver hard fouls. He’d get in the other team’s face. He gave lively interviews and generally didn’t really care what you thought about him. He took pressure off his teammates by always putting it on himself. If he thought he’d been called for a bogus foul (which was every foul in his mind) he’d scream “BALL DON’T LIE!” after karma refused to reward the player with a made free throw.

Before the games, ‘Sheed would dance in the center of the circle and get everyone going. In many ways, his personality was everything that Ben Wallace’s was not – brash, overstated and cocky. They were the perfect duo in that regard and the Pistons probably would not have won a title if ‘Sheed hadn’t joined the team in one of the all time great Pistons’ trades. Most fans hated Rasheed Wallace but that was exactly how he wanted it and exactly why we loved him. “It was time for the world to seeeee, Rasheeeeeeeed!” and he didn’t disappoint.

There was so much to enjoy about this team, I feel like I barely scratched the surface. Before you go back to work, enjoy your Labor Day and remember a time when the Pistons ran the NBA and did it with style.

What’s your favorite memory of the Goin’ to Work Pistons? Let us know in the comments section or join the conversation on the Piston Powered Facebook page and on Twitter @PistonPowered.