Detroit Pistons all-time roster: The best players in franchise history
By Zac Snyder
Shooting Guard: Joe Dumars
Although Joe Dumars is best known for his role on the the Pistons’ hard-nosed “Bad Boys” team, his personal reputation was beyond reproach. So positive is his reputation that the league named an award after him: The Joe Dumars Trophy is now awarded to the NBA Sportsmanship Award winner each year.
But for Dumars, being a good sport didn’t mean playing soft defense. The guard from McNeese State was named to five All-Defensive teams (four first teams and one second team) and, legend has it, was designated by Michael Jordan as the toughest defender to play against.
Dumars spent all 14 of his playing seasons with the Detroit Pistons and earned All-Star honors six times. He’s the franchise leader in career games played (1,018) and three-point field goals made (990) and ranks second in points scored (16,401).
Joe D. was a key starter for the 1989 and 1990 NBA Championship teams and was named the most valuable player of the 1989 NBA Finals after he averaged 27 points and six assists in the Pistons’ sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Dumars’ peak spanned from 1989 to 1994 when he averaged more than 20 points per game and garnered nominal MVP attention as a vote-getter in four of those years. He endured three seasons of teal uniforms before retiring in 1999. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2006.
Dumars also spent 14 seasons as the team’s President of Basketball Operations. His tenure in that role ended with the roster in shambles, but he played a definitive hand in building the 2004 championship squad (he signed, drafted, or traded for Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Price, and Rasheed Wallace).