The 10 Greatest Pistons in history, ranked by Player Efficiency Rating (PER)

#1: Bob Lanier (PER 22.8) 

Coming in first is Bob Lanier, a man whose name and number are hanging in the rafters of Little Caesar’s arena as one of the franchise’s greatest players and ambassadors. Lanier played 681 games for the Pistons, and like Hill, has a huge “what if” attached to his career, as he played much of it on an injured leg. 

But he still averaged 22.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game in his 9+ seasons in Detroit, seven of which ended in All-Star appearances. 

Lanier was known as one of the toughest competitors in the league and was even referenced by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his famous scene in the movie Airplane, as Kareem often said Lanier was one of the toughest opponents he ever faced. 

It’s amazing that Lanier was able to do what he did considering his career began while he was still recovering from a devastating knee injury. Lanier rightfully had his jersey retired by both the Pistons and Bucks and became one of the great ambassadors for the game of basketball.