Detroit Pistons: 5 ‘Bad Boys’ who would fit in with the franchise

1. Chris Paul (Houston Rockets)

The best “pure” point guard of his era is probably the closest thing to Isiah Thomas the NBA has seen since Thomas was running the show for the “Bad Boys” in the 1980s and 90s.

Paul’s skill-set mirrors Thomas, with his crisp ball-handling, brilliant passing, finishing ability at the rim, mid-range and long range shooting, and aggressive defense. His leadership and fiery competitiveness are also reminiscent of Thomas.

There remains a debate over whether Paul is clutch or not. It shouldn’t be up for debate. But because some short-sighted fans only view “clutch” through the lens of championships and buzzer-beaters, Paul’s legacy has been damaged by the fact that he still hasn’t made an appearance in the NBA Finals, and only last season did he make it to the conference finals for the first time.

What shouldn’t be forgotten is that Paul, like Thomas did decades ago, has guided several playoff teams with his clutch play. He can take over a fourth quarter as a scorer, or dominate crunch time without taking a shot thanks to his playmaking and defense. Paul doesn’t have championship rings or a Finals MVP like Thomas, but he is similarly clutch.

Paul has that sometimes nasty edge that Thomas had too, and with both of them, a lot of people didn’t see that coming.

When Paul first surfaced on the mainstream national radar as a high school All-American beginning his college career at Wake Forest, his story was a heartwarming one in which he was the sympathetic hero. (Similar to Isiah being viewed as the kid with the big smile and the underdog story at Indiana University.) Paul’s grandfather had been murdered at 61 years old, inspiring Paul to go out in his next high school game and score exactly 61 points in his honor.

Everyone was rooting for Paul after that, and so it threw off some people’s wholesome image of him in college when he punched NC State’s Julius Hodge below the belt. In the years that followed, Paul remained a very marketable “good guy” as he became an NBA superstar, but he’s also shown the ugly sides of his fierce competitive nature.

Just like a true Bad Boy.