Why the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons are a top-5 team of all time
The 1988-89 Detroit Pistons were two teams
Very few teams in NBA history had the depth of the 1988-89 champion Detroit Pistons, as they essentially had two teams worth of great players.
The Pistons starting lineup for 1988-89 looked like this:
- PG: Isiah Thomas
- SG: Joe Dumars
- SF: Mark Aguirre
- PF: Rick Mahorn
- C: Bill Laimbeer
The trio of Thomas, Dumars and Aguirre (and Dantley before him) could light up the scoreboard and defend their positions while Mahorn and Laimbeer provided the interior defense and intimidation.
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People forget that Laimbeer was the prototype for the stretch-5 and was actually a very good 3-point shooter even though the 3-point shot was not nearly as big a part of the game back then.
Now check out this bench:
- Dennis Rodman
- James Edwards
- Vinnie Johnson
- John Salley
When you have perhaps the best 6th man of all-time (Vinnie Johnson) and one of the league’s best rebounders/defenders of all-time (Dennis Rodman) coming off your bench, you know your team is deep.
The 1988-89 Detroit Pistons had a million ways to beat you and could run teams off the floor with a three or even four-guard lineup or beat you up with some of the best defenders to ever play the game.
This squad was also a “team” in the truest sense of the word.