Detroit Pistons’ Best Point Guards in History

The

Detroit Pistons

have historically had good fortunes at the point guard position. Two of their best point guards even helped lead the team to titles. If history provides any clue for how the Pistons can return to contention,

Cade Cunningham

is a great start. Maybe someday he can crack this list, but with a total of three Hall-of-Famers, 12 All-Star appearances, two Finals MVPs, and three All-Star game MVPs, Cunningham has a ways to go.

3

Dave Bing

Dave Bing has the numbers but not the postseason success

The Detroit Pistons lost a coin toss for the number one pick in the 1966 NBA Draft. The team wanted to select hometown favorite and Michigan alum Cazzie Russell, but they went with Dave Bing. It worked out great for the Pistons.

Bing won Rookie of the Year, averaging 20.0 points and 4.1 assists per game. The following season, he led the league in total points, played in his first All-Star game, was selected to the All-NBA First Team, and finished fourth in MVP voting. The Pistons made the playoffs in that season, 1967-68, for the first time in five years.

Bing, however, would never win a playoff series with the Pistons. The next time the team made it came in 1973-74 after the Pistons had drafted fellow Hall-of-Famer Bob Lanier. Still, the Pistons wouldn’t advance in the playoffs until after the team traded Bing. However, Bing remains in the Pistons record books: eighth place in games played, fourth place in points scored, and third place in assists.

Although the team traded Bing, he returned to Detroit after his playing career, opening Bing Steel and serving as Detroit’s mayor from 2009 to 2014.

2

Chauncey Billups

Chauncey Billups led the Pistons to the 2004 NBA title

Chauncey Billups came to Detroit as a journeyman. The Pistons were his fifth team in just six years. As a former lottery pick, Billups came to Detroit looking for an opportunity. He fit in perfectly. The Pistons were primarily a defensive-focused team in the “Goin’ to Work” era.

Billups, mostly known for his offense and point guard skills, was an underrated asset on that end of the floor. He was selected to two All-Defensive Second Teams and even received Defensive Player of the Year award votes in 2007-08. He finished fifth in MVP voting in 2005-06, behind Steve Nash,

LeBron James

,

Dirk Nowitzki

, and

Kobe Bryant

.

Another underrated element of Billups’ game was his assist-to-turnover ratio. With his career average of 5.4 assists per game, Billups never broke any assist record, but he didn’t turn the ball over much either, with a career average of 2.0 per game. Billups is also the best three-point shooter in this group, making 890 on 39.7 percent shooting with the Pistons.

“Mr. Big Shot” saved his best performances for the postseason. In six seasons with the team, he played in 111 postseason games, averaging 17.6 points and 5.9 assists per game. Billups is one of five Pistons with a 40-point playoff game (Bing, Isiah Thomas, Richard Hamilton, Kelly Tripucka). In the 2004 NBA Finals, Billups was awarded the Finals MVP, averaging 21.0 points and 5.2 assists. Ultimately, team success puts Billups ahead of Bing.

1

Isiah Thomas

Isiah Thomas remains one of Detroit’s most beloved athletes

The Detroit Pistons had never been very good. In 1981, the Pistons selected Isiah Thomas with the second pick in the draft. Thomas, the only player on this list to play for Detroit his entire career, became the star Detroit needed.

He made the All-Star game in his rookie season, as he would every year except his final season. The Pistons won 18 more games in his rookie season than the year prior. In his third season, they made the playoffs, losing to the

New York Knicks

in a series that featured Thomas scoring 16 points in the final 94 seconds of the series-deciding game. While the Pistons lost that season, it was just the beginning of Thomas’s story.

Thomas led the league in assists in his fourth season and won two All-Star game MVPs. He accumulated personal accolades while postseason success eluded him, receiving MVP votes in his first 10 seasons. In 1989, the “Bad Boy” Pistons won their first championship. The following season, they won their second, becoming the third franchise in league history to win back-to-back titles (

Boston Celtics

and

L.A. Lakers

). Thomas won the 1990 Finals MVP, averaging 27.6 points, 7.0 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game.

Thomas remains among the tops of the Pistons record books: first in points, steals, and assists. He holds eight spots in the Pistons’ top ten single-season assists records. Thomas retired at 32. He played in an era of significant physicality, enduring multiple injuries. Perhaps Thomas’s most famous performance came in Game 5 of the 1988 NBA Finals when he scored 25 points in the third quarter with a severely sprained ankle. Thomas has greater accolades and success than both Bing and Billups. He put Detroit on the map as a basketball city.

All stats provided by Basketball Reference and StatMuse

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