The Last Dance

[Apollo]

Bad Boys are associated with "that era where it was bodychecking and 74-70 type scores and the games were ugly" but that's not fair. So, the decade before that belongs to Bird and Magic, beautiful ball, then the decade after belongs to Jordan and them, but we're gonna take those 2 or 3 Pistons years and call those the ugly years with asterisks? I'd be pissed too.

Yes bad boys were rough, but there is 1 big reason they were back to back...DE! FENSE!..John Salley was elite, Zeke was like another Lowry type, tenacious as fuck, Lambeer, oh and I haven't even gotten to one of the best defenders of all time, The Worm. Fuck, that team was better than the sum of their parts sooo much. Not seen again until....the 03 Pistons

It's unfair for sure and sprinkle in there MJ and Pippen pulling a power move to keep Zeke off the Dream Team. Anyone would be frustrated with all that.

[Apollo]

IT has rephrased his comments about 3 or 4 times this week. It's gone from "that's just the way the game was" to taking direct shots at MJ and the Bulls. I find him pretty insincere. Just come out and say what you want to say - he's competitive and got an ego like everybody else, but seems like he also wants to be liked and seen as the good guy. Other Bad Boy Pistons have been a lot more straightforward than him this week.

Well a documentary just came out that only offered one side of the story. People are talking shit about him. How would you handle it? Also he doesn't need to act now to be viewed as a good guy. He's been living that for decades. I think what happened this week is he's expressing his side and he has a right to do that and we should all listen if we're interested in the topic. It's the only way you get the full story.

[chris]

I don't know what Isiah's gripe with Pippen is but Isiah talks about Pippen like he's some scrub. Pippen is one of the 50 greatest players of all time. When the Pistons were beating the Bulls, Pippen was just a youngster. The first time Pippen made his first all star team they pushed the Pistons to 7 games. Game 7 was the Pippen migraine game where he was a complete non factor. The following year when Pippen became a full blown star, the Pistons had no chance. That's where the Bulls dynasty started.

if pippen didn't get that migraine the bulls probably have 7 chips.

[KeonClark]

What the Pistons did was bullshit it was a "bitch ass move" as Horace Grant said so eloquently. But i think that Isiah does have a point that Bad Boy team doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves they were a great team who won back to back. They had to go through some of the hardest competition with the twilight stages of the 80s stars and the beginning of the 90s stars. The rockets back to back has the asterisk that they won the one Jordan wasn't around for but those pistons teams still had to beat the top end competition.

Isiah did alot of things that made other not like him. The Larry bird comments about if he were black, the behind the scenes stuff about how he dealt/talked about magics AIDS and then the walk off. He had to pay for all of those by being left off the dream team, he has to regret it but may be too deep to really admit he fucked up and is just doubling down.

Bad Boys are associated with "that era where it was bodychecking and 74-70 type scores and the games were ugly" but that's not fair. So, the decade before that belongs to Bird and Magic, beautiful ball, then the decade after belongs to Jordan and them, but we're gonna take those 2 or 3 Pistons years and call those the ugly years with asterisks? I'd be pissed too.

Yes bad boys were rough, but there is 1 big reason they were back to back...DE! FENSE!..John Salley was elite, Zeke was like another Lowry type, tenacious as fuck, Lambeer, oh and I haven't even gotten to one of the best defenders of all time, The Worm. Fuck, that team was better than the sum of their parts sooo much. Not seen again until....the 03 Pistons

[The Great One]

Preach

[bertarapsfan]

What the Pistons did was bullshit it was a "bitch ass move" as Horace Grant said so eloquently. But i think that Isiah does have a point that Bad Boy team doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves they were a great team who won back to back. They had to go through some of the hardest competition with the twilight stages of the 80s stars and the beginning of the 90s stars. The rockets back to back has the asterisk that they won the one Jordan wasn't around for but those pistons teams still had to beat the top end competition.

Isiah did alot of things that made other not like him. The Larry bird comments about if he were black, the behind the scenes stuff about how he dealt/talked about magics AIDS and then the walk off. He had to pay for all of those by being left off the dream team, he has to regret it but may be too deep to really admit he fucked up and is just doubling down.

[The Great One]

I don't know what Isiah's gripe with Pippen is but Isiah talks about Pippen like he's some scrub. Pippen is one of the 50 greatest players of all time. When the Pistons were beating the Bulls, Pippen was just a youngster. The first time Pippen made his first all star team they pushed the Pistons to 7 games. Game 7 was the Pippen migraine game where he was a complete non factor. The following year when Pippen became a full blown star, the Pistons had no chance. That's where the Bulls dynasty started.

[The Great One]

IT has rephrased his comments about 3 or 4 times this week. It's gone from "that's just the way the game was" to taking direct shots at MJ and the Bulls. I find him pretty insincere. Just come out and say what you want to say - he's competitive and got an ego like everybody else, but seems like he also wants to be liked and seen as the good guy. Other Bad Boy Pistons have been a lot more straightforward than him this week.

Isiah Thomas has been taking shots at MJ's Bulls team specially Scottie Pippen for years and years(video below). He's salty that nobody gives a shit about his Bad Boy Pistons team.....that when people talk about the 80's they talk about Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.

It's just funny because Isiah has been on the defense after last sunday's episode. The guy is shook. He was on ESPN the whole day last monday defending his Pistons, now he's saying MJ is the 4th greatest player. It's just hilarious to me. If you can't take it then don't fucking dish it.

[G__Deane]

IT is hilarious. He tries to be the nice guy but is clearly both petty and still pissed after all these years. At least MJ's straightforward about how he thinks and feels.

Anyone trying to diminish MJ's accomplishments only diminishes their own credibility. Guy could win a scoring title and a DPOY at the same time. 6 for 6 in the Finals. Just nuts, nuff said.

There were GREAT players in the 90s who couldn't do anything while MJ and the Bulls were at their peak. Hakeem, Barkley, Shaq, Stockton/Malone - guys high in the GOAT rankings themselves, and everyone knew MJ would win those chips.

What is hilariously consistent is how almost every former pro thinks the era after him is crap and couldn't hang with his own team/era. Always refreshing when guys like Gretzky admit the current era is bigger, faster, and more skilled than his own. Cause that's true in almost every sport. It's most clear in individual sports like track where the outcome is objective across eras. Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster. Period.

The elite of past eras would still be great in this era .... just not (as) elite.
Would Gretzky still challenge/win a scoring title today? Yup
Could Ovie score in every decade? Sure.
Would Jari Kurri or Mike Bossy or Rick Vaive score 50-60 today? Debatable or no.

Would lebron be the force he has been in any era. Likely but also not a dominant in some ways since he'd finally be hard fouled non stop and no bogus phantom foul whistles to prop up his numbers.

[MixxAOR]

That's why I think we need to separate the eras. Just say Top 5 players of 60-70. Top 5 players of 70-80. Top 5 players of 90-2000 and etc. You end up with much honest list and you include more people that you would otherwise don't include because "you gotta put Wilt" in there or something

[S.R.]

Haha, pretty sure I did that first one by accident going down the stairs to shower first thing in the morning.

[S.R.]

I didn't interpret what Zeke said as trying to diminish what MJ did. I think he was trying to provide context to the times, what had just happened before MJ blew up and went on the run. He provided his side of the story. Are there things there he said that are lies? Point those out.

I believe MJ is the GOAT but I don't agree with the notion you can't saying anything critical of MJ or MJ could do no wrong. The infallible MJ.

IT has rephrased his comments about 3 or 4 times this week. It's gone from "that's just the way the game was" to taking direct shots at MJ and the Bulls. I find him pretty insincere. Just come out and say what you want to say - he's competitive and got an ego like everybody else, but seems like he also wants to be liked and seen as the good guy. Other Bad Boy Pistons have been a lot more straightforward than him this week.

[Apollo]

IT is hilarious. He tries to be the nice guy but is clearly both petty and still pissed after all these years. At least MJ's straightforward about how he thinks and feels.

Anyone trying to diminish MJ's accomplishments only diminishes their own credibility. Guy could win a scoring title and a DPOY at the same time. 6 for 6 in the Finals. Just nuts, nuff said.

There were GREAT players in the 90s who couldn't do anything while MJ and the Bulls were at their peak. Hakeem, Barkley, Shaq, Stockton/Malone - guys high in the GOAT rankings themselves, and everyone knew MJ would win those chips.

What is hilariously consistent is how almost every former pro thinks the era after him is crap and couldn't hang with his own team/era. Always refreshing when guys like Gretzky admit the current era is bigger, faster, and more skilled than his own. Cause that's true in almost every sport. It's most clear in individual sports like track where the outcome is objective across eras. Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster. Period.

I didn't interpret what Zeke said as trying to diminish what MJ did. I think he was trying to provide context to the times, what had just happened before MJ blew up and went on the run. He provided his side of the story. Are there things there he said that are lies? Point those out.

I believe MJ is the GOAT but I don't agree with the notion you can't saying anything critical of MJ or MJ could do no wrong. The infallible MJ.

[MixxAOR]

IT is hilarious. He tries to be the nice guy but is clearly both petty and still pissed after all these years. At least MJ's straightforward about how he thinks and feels.

Anyone trying to diminish MJ's accomplishments only diminishes their own credibility. Guy could win a scoring title and a DPOY at the same time. 6 for 6 in the Finals. Just nuts, nuff said.

There were GREAT players in the 90s who couldn't do anything while MJ and the Bulls were at their peak. Hakeem, Barkley, Shaq, Stockton/Malone - guys high in the GOAT rankings themselves, and everyone knew MJ would win those chips.

What is hilariously consistent is how almost every former pro thinks the era after him is crap and couldn't hang with his own team/era. Always refreshing when guys like Gretzky admit the current era is bigger, faster, and more skilled than his own. Cause that's true in almost every sport. It's most clear in individual sports like track where the outcome is objective across eras. Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster. Period.

[S.R.]

IT is hilarious. He tries to be the nice guy but is clearly both petty and still pissed after all these years. At least MJ's straightforward about how he thinks and feels.

Anyone trying to diminish MJ's accomplishments only diminishes their own credibility. Guy could win a scoring title and a DPOY at the same time. 6 for 6 in the Finals. Just nuts, nuff said.

There were GREAT players in the 90s who couldn't do anything while MJ and the Bulls were at their peak. Hakeem, Barkley, Shaq, Stockton/Malone - guys high in the GOAT rankings themselves, and everyone knew MJ would win those chips.

What is hilariously consistent is how almost every former pro thinks the era after him is crap and couldn't hang with his own team/era. Always refreshing when guys like Gretzky admit the current era is bigger, faster, and more skilled than his own. Cause that's true in almost every sport. It's most clear in individual sports like track where the outcome is objective across eras. Athletes are bigger, stronger, faster. Period.