Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and Joe Dumas/Dennis Rodman
Detroit Pistons, 1984-1995
The Bad Boys had their own TV segment, so you can’t deny their importance to the NBA. Yes, I admit my biased part in this one, with Thomas being my favorite player of all-time. But it was something about the way they played the game that reminded me of the playground pickup games we used to play in our younger days.
Thomas was the little engine that could. He guided the Pistons to two straight NBA championships, countless game-winners, while backcourt mate Dumars was as smooth as they came with his pinpoint perimeter game and lock down defense that even gave Jordan fits.
But none of their success could not be without Laimbeer and Rodman. Laimbeer was that guy that after the game you checked the stats and noticed he destroyed you for 20/10, which you didn’t realize because you were too busy trying to ignore his mouth.
Let’s be honest, do you really think it’s a coincidence that Rodman is on this list twice with two teams? They may not get the recognition of the Jordan-led Bulls, but without these Pistons there would not have been any Jordan-led Bulls.
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