(1989) The Great Thomas Robbery

[Ed Monix]

I use to wonder why the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons had such a complex in regards to their place in NBA history, but now I know why.

The 1988-89 NBA season would be Detroit’s first championship.

Chuck Daily had the Pistons playing tough defensive basketball. Bill Laimbeer, Joe Dumars and a young Dennis Rodman did the dirty work on the defensive side, but unequivocally, Isiah Thomas was their leader, offensive star and cog in a lubricated defensive piston.

Detroit finished the regular season with the best record in the league, 63 - 19 (.768%). They were 6 wins ahead of second placed Cleveland & the Los Angles Lakers.

With such a dominant display in the regular season, you could imagine how it would be reflected in the NBA awards, but you would be wrong. Not a single Detroit player would make an All-NBA team in 1989, something unfathomable today.

Thomas would play in 80 from 82 regular season games. He would average 8.3 assists and 1.66 steals (team leader) and score 18.2 points per game, second only to Adrian Dantley (18.4) whom was traded halfway through the season.

Thomas was the most important player, on the best team, and not only was he looked over for All-NBA, but he would finish a paltry 13th (tied) in MVP voting.

The Pistons would go on to win the championship, dropping only 2 games (to the Bulls) all playoffs, this includes sweeping the Celtics (3-0) in the first round and the Lakers (4-0) in the Finals.

Although the Pistons got their title, there was a theft in Detroit, with Thomas the biggest victim.

[Sophomore]

Thomas and Dumars were wonderful, very skilled players. The rest of that team, though, and the way they won, were bad for the game. The mugging, grabbing, and hard fouls might have a place on a football field, but they didn’t belong on the hardwood.

[CelticsWhat35]

My first inclination was to say that it’s not incredibly surprising that they didn’t have an all-nba player that season, especially if Isiah’s numbers were only 18 and 8 that year.  That doesn’t scream all-nba to me.  However, looking at the list, I see that Mark Price made the 3rd team with similar stats.  It was a little bit of a down year for him, stats-wise, so maybe they figured they’d give it to someone new if it was so close.  Either way, I wouldn’t qualify this as a “robbery”

[Walker Wiggle]

Interesting post. I think the reason Thomas and Dumars didn’t get on those teams was that back then they voted strictly by position and there just happened to be great PGs and SGs in that era. Mark Price, for instance, was absolutely filthy at that stage of his career and made the 3rd team. The 1st team PG was Magic and the 2nd was all-time assist leader John Stockton. I do agree, however, that writers and other observers of the NBA in those days must have hated the Pistons and how they played.

[Moranis]

Mark Price had better stats and his team was also very good (2nd best team in the East behind the Pistons that year).

[slamtheking]

Interesting post. I think the reason Thomas and Dumars didn’t get on those teams was that back then they voted strictly by position and there just happened to be great PGs and SGs in that era. Mark Price, for instance, was absolutely filthy at that stage of his career and made the 3rd team. The 1st team PG was Magic and the 2nd was all-time assist leader John Stockton. I do agree, however, that writers and other observers of the NBA in those days must have hated the Pistons and how they played.

any observer of the NBA in those days hated the way the Pistons played.  it was outright thuggery.  refs got tired of calling all the fouls so they just let them get away with hammering the opposing teams.