Sign In Using Facebook  |  Sign In  |  Sign Up

What Ever happened to Detroit’s Bad Boys?

Bamababe2k9 Written by Bamababe2k9, Thursday August 20 2009
Text Size - A +

Since the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, there hasn’t been a team as controversial as the Detroit Pistons. They were known as the Bad Boys and for a good reason. These Pistons were rough and tumble players who literally fought their way to the top of the NBA. They were the ones who knocked off Larry Bird’s Boston Celtic teams of the 1980’s and won back to back NBA Championships in 1989 and 1990.

 

Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls ended Chuck Daly’s Bad Boys reign over the NBA and began a dynasty of their own that would last throughout most of the 1990’s, but for a short time it was the reign of the Bad Boys of Detroit that ruled the NBA.
 
Since those days, hard times have befallen some of the Bad Boys. Scandals, death and life in general have taken its toll on this team, yet they still manage to live on as one of the greatest and one of the most memorable teams in NBA history. Here is the story of what happened to some of the Bad Boys.

Isiah Thomas- Isiah Thomas, who was the captain of this team, probably has had the most intriguing and puzzling post-Pistons career. At one point Isiah was the owner of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), head coach of the Indiana Pacers, head coach of the New York Knicks, an executive with the New York Knicks and now head coach of Florida International University. Under Thomas the CBA folded because of his refusal to let his league become the official minor league of the NBA though the NBA offered to pay Thomas 11 million dollars for the takeover. After the CBA folded, he became the head coach of the Indiana Pacers succeeding Larry Bird. With the Pacers, he found little to no success. Though the Pacers did manage to make the playoffs a few times under him, eventually once Larry Bird return as director of operations for the team, Thomas was fired. Thomas would then end up as an executive with the New York Knicks which lead to another disastrous career choice. Thomas would hire then fire Larry Brown as head coach and take over for him. Thomas again would make poor decisions with the Knicks with free-agency moves, draft choices and coaching style. Feed up, with his tactics and the fans disapproval, Thomas was finally removed from the Knicks organization, but not before he was hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit by a former employee. Late in 2008, it was reported that Thomas took an overdose of pills, a charged he denied, but the police alleged it was true and that Thomas tried to blame the incident on his 17-year old daughter. Thomas will now try to reinvent his career by becoming the head coach of Florida International. Time will only tell if Thomas is able to regain the respect of his peers.
 
Bill Laimbeer- Surprisely, Bill Laimbeer has found success as a head coach in the WNBA winning three championships with the Detroit Shock, but recently decided to step down as head coach to pursue a career as a head coach in the NBA. ESPN did a story last Sunday on Laimbeer as his purses a career in the NBA. But according to reports, the main reason Laimbeer hasn’t been given a shot yet is because of his bad boy reputation and there are some NBA executives (some of which are former players) that still hold a grudge against Laimbeer therefore, he hasn’t been given a chance although some including NBA commentator Charles Barkley not only believes Laimbeer deserves a chance, but will eventually get his chance to prove himself.

Dennis Rodman-Out of all the former Pistons, Dennis Rodman had has the most interesting life outside of the NBA. Rodman left the Pistons and found success again with Michael Jordan and the Bulls where he won a few more championships. But Rodman found himself a nomad and moved from one NBA team to another playing for such teams as the San Antonio Spurs, LA Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavericks move was more publicity stunt for Rodman then playing for championships. Rodman would go on and write books, star in movies, marry movie stars and in general lead a very entertaining life.  But Rodman has had his share of controversy as well. He married actress Carmen Electra in a drunken state, dated Madonna who once said she wanted to have his baby, dress up in a wedding dress to promote his book  Bad as I want to Be, proclaimed himself as bisexual and as late as 2008 was involved in a domestic dispute with his current wife. Rodman has become a sad figure to many in his later years, though he makes not apologies for the way he has lived his life.  

Joe Dumars-Out of all the Bad Boys, Joe Dumars has been the least controversial and probably the most successful. Dumars is the President of Player Operations for the Detroit Pistons and is responsible for help bringing the Pistons a third NBA title in 2004. Under Dumars, the Pistons brought in players such as Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Antonio McDyess, Richard Hamilton and Jerry Stackhouse. Dumars’ Pistons would make the Eastern Conference Finals six years in a row before the streak was ended by the Boston Celtics. For his accomplishments, Dumars would be name NBA Executive of the year in the 2002-2003 season. Though the Pistons are in a rebuilding period, Dumars is still considered one of the best executives in the game.
 
Chuck Daly- The Mastermind behind this assembled group of players coached for the Pistons until the 1991-92 season before moving on and becoming the head coach of the New Jersey Nets and later the head coach of the Orlando Magic. Daly’s tough tactics gave team’s(especially Michael Jordan’s Bulls) fits, but his coaching style was very effective.  Daly lead the United States and the “Dream Team” to a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics before finally retiring from basketball in 1999.after 14 years in the NBA. Sadly, Daly died in May 2009 from cancer.
 
One thing is certain, this team, coach or its play whether you like them or not will never be forgotten.
 
 

Tags:  



Recent Pistons Articles






Leave a comment

Name *
Email *
Website

Create date
— :

Article

Sport

City

Team

Photo

X

Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login

Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!



Click here to browse




0 comments