Why the 1988-89 Detroit Pistons are a top-5 team of all time

The 1988-89 Detroit Pistons were a true team

The champion Detroit Pistons from 1988-89 could beat you in a lot of ways, mostly because they had unselfish players that embraced whatever role they were given.

Consider Mark Aguirre, a guy who was the number one overall pick and one of the best scorers in the NBA.

When he joined this team via trade, he was no longer the #1 option and saw his shot attempts go way down playing a secondary role to Thomas, Dumars and sometimes Vinnie Johnson.

Aguirre then started to lose minutes to an up-and-coming Dennis Rodman, but never complained, played his role and still had some huge games for the Pistons.

It was this mentality that made the Pistons so hard to beat, as if a team focused on stopping one guy, he would just defer and let a teammate take over.

Aguirre was the Pistons’ 6th leading scorer in the Finals, as they rode the hot hand of Vinnie Johnson, who averaged 17 points per game in the sweep.

No one cared about individual numbers on this team, and there have been few teams in NBA history that had this many weapons on both ends.

When you combine that top-end talent with quality depth and unselfishness you get one of the best teams in NBA history and it is time that they are recognized.