How Good Were The "Bad Boy" Pistons Actually?

They're the greatest villains in NBA history. They revolutionized how to play defense and beat Jordan in the playoffs three times. They had the best rebounder in NBA history, the dirtiest player in NBA history, and their leader was one of the most cunning point guards ever. But were they as evil as their nickname

[music] suggested? And how good were the bad boy Pistons actually? In 1980, the Pistons lost 66 games, [music] the worst record in franchise history. And in 1981, they followed it with another 60 loss season. The Pistons [music] had the worst attendance in the NBA with an average of 5,000 spectators. So their Silver Dome Stadium with

[music] a capacity of 82,000 felt like a ghost town. But the worst part was that no player wanted to play for the [music] Pistons and nobody wanted to live in crimeinfested Detroit. And yet there was hope on the horizon because in the 1981 draft, the Pistons had the second pick and they wanted to draft Isaiah Thomas.

Isaiah was a college [music] superstar who had just won an NCAA title with the Hooers under the great Bobby Knight. But [music] there was a problem. Isaiah wanted to get drafted by his hometown Bulls. He didn't want to live in Detroit and was doing everything in his power to sabotage his pre-draft interview.

The things he taught me while I was there. The first thing was you. But where the Dallas Mavericks, who had the number one pick, [music] got bamboozled by Thomas and his deceiving tactics, the Pistons GM, Jack McCleskkey, saw right through Isaiah's BS. And Jack McCloskkey was asking me all these questions and I was

intentionally answering every one of them wrong. And finally at the end, he looked at me, he goes, I know what you're doing. He said, "But I'm going to draft you at number two if you're there, and you're going to love it here." 6'1, [music] 180 lb Isaiah Thomas of the University of Indiana. McCluskey became [music] the