Detroit Pistons: 25 Best Players To Play For The Pistons
By Phil Watson
13. player. 64. <strong>How acquired:</strong> Trade, Utah Jazz, Aug. 21, 1986.. SF. . Adrian Dantley
The Detroit Pistons had become a perennial playoff team, but were looking for a change in chemistry when they acquired a former two-time scoring champion, Adrian Dantley, from the Utah Jazz in August 1986.
The Pistons got Dantley along with second-round picks in 1987 and 1990 in exchange for Kelly Tripucka and Kent Benson.
While Dantley’s numbers dropped off a bit with Detroit, the Pistons became a legitimate title threat, reaching the NBA Finals in 1988.
In that series, a seven-game loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Dantley averaged 21.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 36.4 minutes per game, shooting .573/—/.859.
Dantley was traded in February 1989 with a 1991 first-round selection to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Mark Aguirre.
In parts of three seasons in Detroit, Dantley–a rugged small forward with a knack for getting to the foul line–averaged 20.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 32.4 minutes per game on .525/1-for-8/.835 shooting.
A two-time All-American at Notre Dame, Dantley declared for the pros after his junior season, during which he averaged 28.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game.
The Buffalo Braves took him with the sixth overall pick in the 1976 NBA Draft and he went on to earn Rookie of the Year honors in 1976-77.
He was traded to the Indiana Pacers in September 1977 and then to the Lakers in December of the same year.
His career erupted after he was traded to Utah in September 1979.
He was a two-time All-NBA selection for the Jazz, earning six All-Star Game nods. He led the league in scoring in 1980-81 and 1983-84, finishing second in 1985-86 and third in both 1979-80 and 1981-82.
He also led the NBA in minutes per game in 1980-81, was second in 1979-80 and 1981-82 and fifth in 1983-84.
Throw in that he was fourth in field-goal percentage in 1979-80 and fifth in free-throw shooting in 1982-83 and you had one of the most dynamic offensive threats in the game at the time.
He was waived by the Mavericks in April 1990 and sat our a year before signing a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks in April 1991.
Dantley, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, worked for several years as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets, filling in for head coach George Karl while the latter underwent cancer treatment in 2009-10.
He is 27th in NBA history with 23,177 points, 25th with a field-goal percentage of .540, 49th with an average of 35.8 minutes per game and 17th with an average of 24.3 points per game.
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