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The Detroit Pistons are one of the most storied franchises in NBA history as they have been part of the league since the 1948-49 season, the third and final year of the BAA (when the team was known as the Fort Wayne Pistons).
Moreover, the Detroit Pistons have won three NBA championships and certainly rose to big prominence in one of the NBA's biggest eras, as their late 1980s and early 1990s 'Bad Boys' marked an era of physicality in the league.
Isiah Thomas and coach Chuck Daly led Joe Dumars, Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman and others to two NBA championships in 1989 and 1990, while beating Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the postseason.
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That team seemed to be full of outsiders, but it certainly left a big mark in the history of the NBA. More recently, the Detroit Pistons won the third NBA championship in franchise history after beating the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant LA Lakers in 2004.
The core of the 2003-04 Detroit Pistons made it to two NBA Finals (losing in seven games against the San Antonio Spurs in 2005) and appeared in the Conference Finals consecutively from 2003 to 2008. Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince were at the core of that squad.
The Detroit Pistons have also made it to the NBA Playoffs 42 times and have played a total of seven NBA Finals (including two as the Fort Wayne Pistons). However, there were some players that could not taste the NBA's title-winning champagne with the franchise, although they came close to doing so.
In this article, we will take a look at five players from the Detroit Pistons who were close to reaching NBA glory, but the title evaded them for different reasons.
Without further ado, let us start.
#5 Kelly Tripucka
Kelly Tripucka made it to two All-Star games during his stint with the Detroit Pistons. He was part of the franchise from 1981, when the Pistons drafted him with the 12th overall pick, until 1986.
Tripucka, a two-time All-Star with Detroit, was a great offensive contributor for the team during his time at Detroit. He led the team twice in points per game and put up an average of 21.6 points per game in his career with the Detroit Pistons (fifth-best in franchise history).
With Tripucka on the team, the Detroit Pistons were promising in the early 1980s, but the farthest the team got in the postseason was a second-round appearance in 1985.
#4 Dave Bing
Dave Bing was the premier guard in the history of the Detroit Pistons before Isiah Thomas came along, and he definitely deserved credit for what he did for the franchise from 1966 to 1975.
Bing achieved six of his seven All-Star appearances with the Detroit Pistons, the team with which his career started. Bing won Rookie of the Year award, led the NBA in scoring and earned three All-NBA selections while playing for the Detroit Pistons.
However, he only managed to reach two Division/Conference Semis with the Detroit Pistons, losing to Bill Russell's Boston Celtics in 1968 and to the Chicago Bulls in 1974.
Bing averaged 22.6 points game in his career with the Detroit Pistons (second-best in franchise history) and 6.4 assists per game.
#3 Bob Lanier
Bob Lanier is one of the NBA centers to never win a championship, and he spent most of his career with the Detroit Pistons. The Hall of Famer played in the NBA from 1970 to 1984, and with the Detroit Pistons from 1970 to 1980.
He is the Detroit Pistons' all-time leader in points-per-game average (22.7) and is tied for second in terms of rebounds per game with 11.8.
Lanier made it to seven All-Star games with the Detroit Pistons. He also made it to a couple of Conference Semis with the Pistons, losing to the Chicago Bulls in 1974 and to reigning champions Golden State Warriors in 1976.
#2 George Yardley
George Yardley was the eighth pick of the 1950 NBA Draft by the Fort Wayne Pistons, but he made his NBA debut in 1953.
The Hall-of-Fame small forward made it to five All-Star games with the Pistons and led the NBA in scoring in the 1957-58 season, with an average of 27.8 points per game.
He averaged 19.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game with the Detroit Pistons (384 games). Yardley also earned two All-NBA selections in his career.
He played in two NBA Finals with the Fort Wayne Pistons in 1955 and 1956, losing in seven and five games, respectively.
#1 Adrian Dantley
Adrian Dantley is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was one of the best pure scorers of his era. He played for seven teams in his NBA career, and the Detroit Pistons rank second among those in terms of games played.
After making it to six All-Star games with the Utah Jazz, Dantley was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Kelly Tripucka in 1986. The two-time NBA scoring champion led the Detroit Pistons in points per game in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 NBA seasons.
In the 1987 NBA Playoffs, the 'Bad Boys' fell to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games in a memorable series, with Dantley leading the Pistons in scoring.
In 1988, the team made it to the NBA Finals, but fell to the 'Showtime' LA Lakers in an iconic seven-game series, with Dantley again leading the team in points per game with 21.3 in the series.
Dantley ended up being traded to the Dallas Mavericks midway through the 1988-89 season, in exchange for Mark Aguirre.
