Back row from left: John Salley, Joe Dumars, James Edwards, Mark Aguirre, John Long, Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, Fennis Dembo and Mike Abdenour. Front row from left: Isaiah Thomas, Jack McCloskey, Vinnie Johnson, Michael Williams, Brendan Malone, Brendan Suhr and Cydney Daly. — Andre Smith photo
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since the Detroit Pistons won their first championship and changed how professional basketball was played. 1989 was the year, Isaiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Mark Aguirre, Rick Mahorn, Bill Laimbeer, James Edwards, John Salley, Dennis Rodman and Vinnie Johnson were the squad, and “Bad Boys” was the name. Many considered this team the best Detroit basketball has ever seen, and according to the voice of the Detroit Pistons, George Blaha, “the toughest team ever in the NBA.” So that made the Bad Boys Unite reunion weekend that took place March 27-28 that much more special. It truly was a touching reunion to reminisce on the heyday of Detroit basketball, and celebrate the magnificent team that brought the whole state together and made the city of Detroit a city of champions.
The celebration started off with a charity event on Thursday, March 27, at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in downtown Detroit. This private event raised funds for local Detroit charities including Forgotten Harvest, Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Cornerstone Schools, Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, the Rhonda Walker Foundation, and CATCH (Sparky Anderson’s charity for children). The event was sponsored by Piston owner Tom Gores, the Detroit Pistons, the William Davidson Foundation, Lear Corporation and Penske Corporation.
It was truly a basketball royalty event with attendees including all the Bad Boys (except for Dennis Rodman) and former NBA commissioner David Stern who made a special trip to the D to celebrate with the championship team.
Other attendees included current Pistons Chauncey Billips and Andre Drummond and a host of Detroit’s finest. The event was festive and filled with well-wishes and reverie for the honorees of the night. Each Bad Boy could be seen accepting hearty handshakes, hugs, shared memories and admiration for what they had accomplished. The heartbeat of the team, hall of famer Isaiah Thomas, shared his sentiments on how it felt to be back in the city of Detroit and celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first Detroit Pistons championship.
“It feels awesome to be back celebrating, and just passing on the stories and beliefs of the tradition we tried to establish in terms of winning. Also the style of play, and the culture of how we as Pistons live, act and believe,” he said.
It is amazing how Thomas still looks like the same baby-faced young man from the Detroit Edison commercial (remembers those ?) and how excited he was to talk about his old team. But his focus that night was giving back to the city that lists him as one of its legendary sports figures.
“Tonight is about giving back to the city. The money that we will raise tonight will touch some lives,” he said.
The “Bad Boys” nickname started in the late 1980s and was created due to the physical defense-oriented style the Detroit Pistons utilized. It was a perfect match for the city the Pistons represented and the type of basketball playing the 1988-1989 team would display was unlike anything the NBA had seen before. Also, it forced new rules to be introduced to the association.
John Salley remarked how the man who instituted those new rules, David Stern, was at the charity event with “a lot of security.” In his trademark witty delivery, he went on to say, “David coming here to Detroit for this means a lot. When I got in the league it was a different mentality. David changed that mentality.”
The Pistons’ 1989 championship win saw them battle the Los Angeles Lakers and sweep them in a four-game series. This would be almost the same story when talking about their last championship run, the 2004 championship win also against the Lakers (but taking five games to win instead of four). But nothing can compare to the first time that would demonstrate the power of a true team effort that the Detroit Pistons would become known for.
At the Pistons vs. the Heat game at the Palace of Auburn Hills the next evening, fans from all over the Detroit area came, many in their vintage 1989 Bad Boy vintage t-shirts (some even sporting “Hammertime” tees that represented the Pistons’ 1990 Championship) and excited to see the half-time commemoration.
Before the halftime show, there was a touching video montage dedicated to the beloved Pistons coach, the late Chuck Daly, who passed away in 2009. There to represent him was his daughter Cydney Daly. She was visibly emotional watching the tribute to her dad and when asked what this evening would have meant to her dad she said, “I think that this would have been like a family reunion to be honest with you. As everyone knows we weren’t just a team, we were a family. I think that with the coming together of the team, he would see that the love was still there. He would feel blessed to be here.”
Daly (who has her father’s smile) went on to say that she remembers attending every game as a child.
“I was able to experience the absolute exuberance that this team was able to get from the fans and the city of Detroit and the love they gave me and my dad. It was the greatest feeling in the world,” she said.
And that was the theme of the 15-minute commemoration that was given to the 1989 Detroit Pistons championship team during halftime. With “The Final Countdown” by the band Europe playing in the background, each player was introduced to thunderous applause and Isaiah Thomas spoke for his team when it was time for remarks, and he made it all about the fans.
“Thank you, Detroit. With your support and being behind us we all persevered to become champions,” he said.
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