90 Pistons vs 04 Pistons

[CodeBreaker]

Which Pistons team was better?

90 Pistons:
PG - Isiah Thomas
SG - Joe Dumars
SF - Dennis Rodman/Mark Aguirre
PF - James Edwards
C - Bill Laimbeer

04 Pistons:
PG - Chauncey Billups
SG - Rip Hamilton
SF - Tayshaun Prince
PF - Rasheed Wallace
C - Ben Wallace

[MotownMadness]

04

[mercury]

Depends on if you're using today's pussy cat rules or letting them bang.

[DocRI]

Bad Boys, and it's not even that close. Way better top end talent (three Hall of Famers, although Rodman was pre-prime at that point), a better coach, and a much better bench. Bad Boys were at least every bit as good on the defensive end (if not better) and miles superior on the offensive end.

[Warspite]

Billups couldn't keep an injured Jason Kidd in front of him and struggled vs every quick PG in the league would be up against the GOAT PG who destroyed Terry Porter.

I think 04 is vastly superior on defense but the 90 team has a 25ppg type scorer on the bench and Vinnie. That is just a ton of scorers for 04 to deal with.

[Cowology]

I tend to agree with Doc; Bad Boys and it's not particularly close. Sheed is probably the only guy on '04 who I'd take directly over their counterpart. Ben is arguable, depending on era and all that stuff... but even then I think you look at Lambs range and the sort of value that would have in todays league. Tougher, deeper, better coached.

[MotownMadness]

IDK, That 04 team put up some ridiculous defensive stats after getting Sheed.

[sc8581]

Zeke wouldn't be getting to the hole, turning him into a jump shooter. Dumars would get worn out chasing RIP around and Joe would struggle to score against his length. Tayshauns range would keep Rodman honest on D. Buddha would get dominated trying to score on Ben and Lamb couldn't get a shot off against Sheed, too much length and high IQ.

[ImHeisenberg]

Billups couldn't keep an injured Jason Kidd in front of him and struggled vs every quick PG in the league would be up against the GOAT PG who destroyed Terry Porter.

I think 04 is vastly superior on defense but the 90 team has a 25ppg type scorer on the bench and Vinnie. That is just a ton of scorers for 04 to deal with.

This. Love both teams, but Bad Boys stopped legends like Jordan, Magic and Bird from reaching the promised land. They were one hell of a team.

[Dutch Michigan]

Bad boys. And ........ They had The Microwave.

[In SVG We Trust]

Depends on if you're using today's pussy cat rules or letting them bang.

This is always the old man wrong assumption. Rules are now softer than then because the defense started to eclipse the offense by far. The 90's are probably the worst offensive basketball you could watch in the NBA modern history.

Don't talk about guys are soft now. Think the other way: if you let guys like Kawhi Leonard, Bradley or Tony Allen defend as hard as the referees allowed in that era, NO ONE is scoring more than 10 points against them. Players nowadays are way better on D and have a way way way better athleticism, if you don't make the rules "soft" this game would be unwatchable.

[Pharaoh]

Depends on if you're using today's pussy cat rules or letting them bang.

This is always the old man wrong assumption. Rules are now softer than then because the defense started to eclipse the offense by far. The 90's are probably the worst offensive basketball you could watch in the NBA modern history.

Don't talk about guys are soft now. Think the other way: if you let guys like Kawhi Leonard, Bradley or Tony Allen defend as hard as the referees allowed in that era, NO ONE is scoring more than 10 points against them. Players nowadays are way better on D and have a way way way better athleticism, if you don't make the rules "soft" this game would be unwatchable.

Bulls v Pistons wasn't unwatchable!

Jordan still did what he did against defenses

IF you believe no one could score more than 10 on Leonard under the same rules Jordan played against doesn't that mean the offensive stars of today aren't better than those of eras past?

If the defenders are better would the scorers be better?

On topic: Bad Boys all day

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

[Canadafan]

Bad boys destroy goin to work. 1990 team had Vinnie Aguirre and Salley off the bench playing big roles.
Isiah was one of the best and even the Wallace's wouldn't be able to deny him. Joe D would absolutely school Rip. Rips length wouldn't bother him a bit. Jordan was 6'6" and would cover Joe D. And oh my lord would Rodman ever destroy Tay lol. Buddha was slow as molasses though but luckily he didn't play much with Sally coming in and Rodman playing PF when Aguirre would come in. Sheeds head would explode dealing with Laimbeer hahaha. Sheed couldn't deal with Varejo or Gooden mentally

[Liqourish]

Bad Boys for too main reasons, depth and Daly. Goin' to work crew were really heavily dependent on starters. Larry Brown was great at getting that roster to feel like it was them against the world and to bring out the most emotionally. Daly did that on a whole other level where it was the Bad Boys vs everyone and he had the x's and o's to do with it.

[hoophabit]

Bad Boys. Deeper with better overall talent.

[El Chivo]

Bad Boys in 5 or maybe 6 games.

[tmorgan]

Something like this:

Bad Boys: 90 offense, 95 defense
Goin' to Work: 75 offense, 100 defense

The most recent Pistons champions got by with unreal individual and team defense and just enough offense. Only Chauncey was a really efficient scorer, because Rip didn't get to the line and Sheed took dumb shots most of the time. Tay and Ben were not good offensive players.

The Bad Boys had real scorers. Isiah wasn't the most efficient guy, but he could get whatever shot he wanted. Joe D was efficient. Laimbeer was, too. The forwards didn't score a ton because it wasn't their job, and yet Aguirre and Vinnie were certainly way tougher covers than Okur and Mike James.

They wouldn't be pretty games, but they'd be great ones, but I think the offense of the older squad wins out in a bunch of 88-78 games. Oh, and Big Ben breaks Laimbeer's nose after taking a cheap clothesline.

[Uncle Mxy]

Bill Laimbeer would get someone to technical foul himself out of the game... guaransheed!

[In SVG We Trust]

Depends on if you're using today's pussy cat rules or letting them bang.

This is always the old man wrong assumption. Rules are now softer than then because the defense started to eclipse the offense by far. The 90's are probably the worst offensive basketball you could watch in the NBA modern history.

Don't talk about guys are soft now. Think the other way: if you let guys like Kawhi Leonard, Bradley or Tony Allen defend as hard as the referees allowed in that era, NO ONE is scoring more than 10 points against them. Players nowadays are way better on D and have a way way way better athleticism, if you don't make the rules "soft" this game would be unwatchable.

Bulls v Pistons wasn't unwatchable!

Jordan still did what he did against defenses

IF you believe no one could score more than 10 on Leonard under the same rules Jordan played against doesn't that mean the offensive stars of today aren't better than those of eras past?

If the defenders are better would the scorers be better?

On topic: Bad Boys all day

Sent from my SM-J110F using RealGM mobile app

Wrong statement man

Guys were A LOT worse physically than now. Do you think Laimbeer could play as starting C in this era? Hell no. You guys need to forget your child idols. I mean, they were great, I'm not denying that, but there's no way half of the 80's basketball player could play today. It's not they were tougher and the league was more physical, it's they couldn't defend properly without being tough because they hadn't the physical tools.

Now people are faster, stronger, handle the ball better, shoot way better, pass better... Man isn't even close. Aside from superstars, because I believe they would be great in any era, you pick the regular player of the 80's or 90's and you pick the regular player of nowadays... Isn't a fair comparison man.

I was talking about the 90's and you changed to the 80's for your argument. Basketball in the 90's was awful, a lot of isos, no basketball movement and hard defenses.

Guys were getting better and better on their physical condition and the change of rules to favor the offensive basketball was necessary because defense were evolving way more than offense, and with faster and stronger guys basketball would be boring as f

Man, look the Goin to Work Pistons. Allow them to defend with 90's rules and I'll guarantee you you couldn't see 82 games even if you're a die hard Pistons fan. Scores like 60-53 every night man, that's awful.

[BDM22]

Billups couldn't keep an injured Jason Kidd in front of him and struggled vs every quick PG in the league would be up against the GOAT PG who destroyed Terry Porter.

I think 04 is vastly superior on defense but the 90 team has a 25ppg type scorer on the bench and Vinnie. That is just a ton of scorers for 04 to deal with.

This. Love both teams, but Bad Boys stopped legends like Jordan, Magic and Bird from reaching the promised land. They were one hell of a team.

You could say the same thing about Lebron, Kobe, Shaq, etc.

Just playing devil's advocate. I think these comparisons are impossible given the rule changes, style of play differences between eras, etc.