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.
Detroit Pistons’ best all-time draft starting lineup
The guards were probably the easiest choices, as the other great guards who played for the Detroit Pistons came via free agency or trade.
Shooting guard: Joe Dumars (1985)
There really isn’t much to argue about here, as Joe Dumars is easily the best shooting guard the Pistons have ever drafted and arguably their most important player of all time when you consider his work in the front office.
Fans who are too young to have seen Dumars play live really did miss one of the great two-way guards of all time, as Joe was a player who could get you 25 points on offense and then guard the other team’s best player.
Along with his six All-Star appearances, Dumars made the All-NBA team three times (during the Golden Era of shooting guards in the NBA) and made the All-Defensive team five games, four as a member of the first team.
He was one of the few players that ever had any type of success guarding Michael Jordan and I would argue that his defense is wholly underrated now.
Joe Dumars won two titles with the Pistons, a Finals MVP and eventually an executive of the year award, a feat that may never be repeated.
Point guard: Isiah Thomas (1981)
Another no-brainer, Isiah Thomas is not only the best point guard the Pistons ever drafted, but arguably the franchise’s best player of all time.
Cade Cunningham hopes to eventually take this spot, but he’ll have his work cut out for him, as Thomas made the All-Star team in 12 of his 13 seasons in the league, only missing out in his final year when he was hampered with injuries.
He was tough and skilled, the two traits that came to define the Bad Boys era and you could argue that the two-time champion and Finals MVP was the greatest point guard of all time.
I think if he career hadn’t been cut short by injuries, he’d be a frontrunner in that discussion.
Detroit Pistons’ best all-time draft starting lineup
Power forward: Dennis Rodman (1986)
What an era this was for Pistons’ drafts, as they just kept stacking talent year after year, which is the main reason they went on to win two titles. The Pistons drafted “The Worm” in the second round when he was already 25-years-hold, which is hard to imagine now.
Rodman only made the All-Star team twice and All-NBA twice, but he was also Defensive Player of the Year twice, made the All-Defensive team eight times and led the league in rebounding a whopping seven times in his career.
But more importantly, Rodman was a winner, as he has five rings between the Pistons and the Bulls. Though his recent legacy has been more about his off-the-court life, Rodman is arguably the most unique player to ever play in the NBA, as he was a late bloomer who couldn’t shoot and became one of the best rebounders and defenders of all time through sheer will and otherworldly athleticism.
There was no one like Rodman and I doubt there ever will be again.
Small forward: Grant Hill (1994)
Hill probably gets overlooked as an all-time great in the larger picture of the NBA, but he really was something special.
His versatility and all-around greatness on both ends made him one of the best players of his era, a triple-double machine who could do a little bit of everything and was a pioneer of the point-forward.
Hill was a seven-time All-Star but you have to wonder what his career might have looked like if he hadn’t had to miss so much time to injuries. From 2000-2004 (the prime of his career) Hill only played 47 games total, missing most of four full seasons.
If he hadn’t missed those seasons we might be talking about him as one of the greatest small forwards in league history, as few players have been able to impact the game like he did. Nevertheless, he is still the best small forward the Detroit Pistons ever drafted.
This starting five has a combination of offense and defense that would be tough to match up against, and you’d be hard-pressed to make a better all-draft team from just about any franchise.