Like all teams, the Detroit Pistons have a draft history that is all over the place.
They have made some great choices at the top of the draft, taking players who ended up becoming Hall-of-Famers or even all-time greats in the NBA.
They have found some steals later in the draft, players taken in the late first or even second round who went on to have long and successful careers.
But they have also had plenty of busts, more than their fair share in modern history, but hope they have found their next superstar in Cade Cunningham.
We recently put together a team of all-time Pistons’ draft busts, a painful reminder of how often teams get it wrong.
But if you put together a starting five based on the Pistons’ best draft picks, you get a team that would be difficult to beat.
Detroit Pistons’ best all-time draft starting lineup
Center: Bob Lanier (1970)
The center position is probably the thinnest for the Detroit Pistons, which is why Bob Lanier is such an easy choice.
The Pistons really haven’t drafted any great centers other than Lanier, as Bill Laimbeer came in a trade and Andre Drummond was just a rebounder who didn’t do much else.
Lanier made the All-Star team eight times in his career and his number is in the rafters even though his teams never enjoyed much success.
Lanier passed away recently but was already a legend for what he did off the court as well as on and will go down as the greatest Pistons center of all time until someone comes along and knocks him off that perch.