RandomAct Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 If I can be real here, I think the BIGGEST reason that team gets overlooked, is because they were the scumbags of the league for all those years. No one wants to celebrate a bunch of assholes, no offense intended towards the Pistons fans here. Whoever mentioned the early 80's Sixers was right on the money as far as forgotten teams go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 The best part of the 30 for 30 was the moment when you can see when Isiah Thomas became who he is now. He makes the comments about Larry Bird being pretty good for a white guy and they are doing this bull shit press conference with Bird. He is making this comment about how it was a joke and humor and right in the middle of the sentence some kind comes up to the podium and plays the comment on tape. The reaction of Thomas as this is playing was just priceless. You can see he wanted to stand up and strangle that guy. The other great thing was Mahorn in DC just destroying people with the most ordinary pick play. I mean it looks like he crippled Mo Cheeks on that one play and he hardly moved an inch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Mann Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 They also had to move the mountain to Muhammed in order to get Jordan to come on board, and no one was going to undermine that by inviting Isiah, which even McCloskey/Daly understood. There was a bigger picture than JUST meritocracy. Bottom line: If it was going to be a dealbreaker for your best player, it wasn't worth going 15 rounds over your backup point guard when there were at least five other guys besides Isiah who could have been put in that role with only a minor drop-off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 I guess a modern day equivalent would be like if LeBron and Kobe didn't get along and Kobe had been left off the last Olympic team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Kobe is a colossal international star. I assume LeBron is now too but there's really no marketing advantage either way... Kobe was like MJ at the Olympics. EVERYONE wanted a picture with him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muhammedboehm Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 The best part of the 30 for 30 was the moment when you can see when Isiah Thomas became who he is now. He makes the comments about Larry Bird being pretty good for a white guy and they are doing this bull shit press conference with Bird. He is making this comment about how it was a joke and humor and right in the middle of the sentence some kind comes up to the podium and plays the comment on tape. The reaction of Thomas as this is playing was just priceless. You can see he wanted to stand up and strangle that guy. The other great thing was Mahorn in DC just destroying people with the most ordinary pick play. I mean it looks like he crippled Mo Cheeks on that one play and he hardly moved an inch Though at the same time the dude starts the recording while Isiah was talking which is generally rude even if the person talking is totally bullshitting his way through and answer. Also is there any story why Larry leaves half way through other then he was done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 If I can be real here, I think the BIGGEST reason that team gets overlooked, is because they were the scumbags of the league for all those years. No one wants to celebrate a bunch of assholesWell, except the NBA itself, which was more than happy to market the Bad Boys on shirts and videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlfredoE Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 If I recall Magic mentioned that Jordan was vocal about Isiah not being on the team. Bird didn't want him on either. Magic also mentioned he didn't go to bat for Isiah because a lot of players at that time had mentioned Isiah kept questioning Magic's sexual orientation after he announced he had HIV and he was upset at isiah back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Isiah's supposed reaction to Magic's HIV gets overlooked now, but that was a very ugly moment between them. I don't think they've been close since. Karl Malone may have been a backwards-thinking country bumpkin regarding the matter (though he was hardly the only person who thought like that at the time), but at least he was honest and put his name to his comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 The best part of the 30 for 30 was the moment when you can see when Isiah Thomas became who he is now. He makes the comments about Larry Bird being pretty good for a white guy and they are doing this bull shit press conference with Bird. He is making this comment about how it was a joke and humor and right in the middle of the sentence some kind comes up to the podium and plays the comment on tape. The reaction of Thomas as this is playing was just priceless. You can see he wanted to stand up and strangle that guy. The other great thing was Mahorn in DC just destroying people with the most ordinary pick play. I mean it looks like he crippled Mo Cheeks on that one play and he hardly moved an inch Though at the same time the dude starts the recording while Isiah was talking which is generally rude even if the person talking is totally bullshitting his way through and answer. Also is there any story why Larry leaves half way through other then he was done? I think Bird just had to leave to get ready for the game that night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 Isiah's supposed reaction to Magic's HIV gets overlooked now, but that was a very ugly moment between them. I don't think they've been close since. Karl Malone may have been a backwards-thinking country bumpkin regarding the matter (though he was hardly the only person who thought like that at the time), but at least he was honest and put his name to his comments. Another thing mentioned in the book was how everyone was expecting Magic to die(maybe not overtly). He was given maybe a little more latitude and probably humored about being a 'captain" of team than he might have been otherwise. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 I watched the Hillsborough one yesterday. I got almost physically ill watching all those people caged in even before the awful (blurred out) closeups of the crushed bodies. I'm not claustrophobic at all but just the idea of that many people standing in that tight of a space turns my stomach. Even at the capacity for it being "safe," it seems completely insane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 If I can be real here, I think the BIGGEST reason that team gets overlooked, is because they were the scumbags of the league for all those years. No one wants to celebrate a bunch of assholes, no offense intended towards the Pistons fans here. Whoever mentioned the early 80's Sixers was right on the money as far as forgotten teams go. Just watching it now, and man they come across as a bunch of crybabies on alot of stuff. There was some legitimate beefs, but stuff like Mahorn and other trivial stuff. Thug and crybaby is a bad combo. . . and add in the complete lack of class following the Bulls series, and they deserve to be forgotten. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 And here I always thought this board cheered the heels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 And here I always thought this board cheered the heels. I wasn't following basketball at all then(I would have been between 7 and 11 or 12), but that doc turned me off of them, especially Laimbeer in a big way, and the self pity is just too much. If Jordan is the ultimate NBA face, then I rooted for the heels, just later on. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Laimbeer may very well be the devil himself. But man, he was our fucking asshole. And you have to love the one team in the entire era who played basketball the way your high school coach wanted you to. Full effort on defense, team before self, not caring about numbers. After that lone Sonics title in the late 70's, there have only been three teams in the NBA to win the title without having a single player average at least 20 a game during the regular season that year: The 88-89 Pistons, the 89-90 Pistons, and the 03-04 Pistons. And man, I think it says a lot about how much they bought into that team concept that 25 years later, it still bothers them about Rick Mahorn, and Rick still can't talk about it. That's love for one another. And, hey, if Jordan hadn't been a complete arrogant prick in the newspaper, Bill probably never would have started the walk-off. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomAct Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 The bad part is, they were a GOOD team without having to murder guys. Y'all know I love physical play, but flying lariats, and fist fights aren't good basketball. They had an amazing chemistry together, and would have been successful without resorting to all that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Laimbeer may very well be the devil himself. No, just a Sleestack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Interesting follow-up to one point there: The Spurs leading scorer this season was Tony Parker, at 16.7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supremebve Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 The bad part is, they were a GOOD team without having to murder guys. Y'all know I love physical play, but flying lariats, and fist fights aren't good basketball. They had an amazing chemistry together, and would have been successful without resorting to all that. They were not the only team doing that stuff at the time though. They each only had six fouls to give, they decided to make each and every one of them count. They wanted you to know that if you went into the lane, they would get hammered, and it worked. They were bad, but they were nowhere near as bad as the 90s Knicks, Pacers, and Riley's Heat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 How different would the dream team have been of Isaiah replaced Laettner? Oh Jeez- they would've beaten everyone by at least 30-40 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 They may have gotten into actual fist fights with each other in between beating teams by 30-40 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuetsar Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 They may have gotten into actual fist fights with each other in between beating teams by 30-40 points. Two words: International Incident Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 They may have gotten into actual fist fights with each other in between beating teams by 30-40 points. Two words: International Incident Please. The team survived Charles Barkley vs Angola. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted April 23, 2014 Share Posted April 23, 2014 and add in the complete lack of class following the Bulls series, and they deserve to be forgotten. I have never excused the walkoff against the Bulls. I thought it was wrong at the time and I still do. That said, it was initiated as a response to the public trashing that the Bulls had been doing for weeks prior to that series. Lots of namecalling and all kinds of other low class stuff from the Bulls. A number of the Pistons felt like they couldn't return respect to those who had disrespected them. I still disagree with them but I understand the motivation. We're talking about a team that learned from the Celtics and one of the enduring images from those wars is Kevin McHale shaking Isiah's hand at the end of the '88 series, wishing Detroit good luck and telling them to beat L.A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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