The Franchise: Building a Winner With the World Champion Detroit Pistons, Basketballs Bad Boys

by Cameron Stauth

Chronicles the Detroit Pistons' world championship season of 1989, revealing the battle of egos between the teams' superstars and the building of a champion franchise

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction

365 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1990

Reviews

[Tom Gase · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better basketball books I've ever read. Really took me back to the late 80's when this Detroit Pistons team was very good, and controvesial. A lot of people will say this "Bad Boys" team didn't play the most exciting style of basketball with their bruising ways, but it did work. This book tells the inside story of the 1988/89 season in which the Pistons won the first of their two NBA titles, this one coming against the Lakers. A lot of good stuff on Isiah Thomas, Rick Mahorn (who comes off as an #$%hole) and Bill Lambeer (who basically is an #$%hole), Joe Dumars, Mark Aguirre, Dennis Rodman, Chuck Daly, John Salley and the arhitect of it all, Jack McCloskey, the GM.

Any Detroit Pistons fan will love this book and most NBA fans will love it as well. Laker fans may hate it because this is the year Byron Scott and Magic Johnson got hurt in the NBA Finals after they had previously swept their three series before the Finals. But the author, Cameron Stauth, does a good job of reporting, and you can tell he is not bias to the team. Well done.

[Michael Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super detailed deep-dive on the 1988-89 Pistons and what it took to get their first championship. The game recaps throughout the book were well-written and captivating, but it was definitely a trudge through the beginning and middle parts of the book. Stauth gets really deep in the weeds of some of the day-to-day drama surrounding the team, which works well being on a beat through the whole season, but can get pretty boring when you’re reading it all consecutively, especially when you know how the season ultimately turns out.

Really useful as a historical basketball document with some fun upswings in excitement.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A full on nostalgia read for me. While I loved revisiting one of the first teams that I truly loved, the writing felt very dated, and there were elements of the book that just didn't work. I wanted deeper dives on some of the characters and a bit less on others. It would have been a lot more fun to read this if it had included reporting on the second championship season as well.

For die hard Pistons fans, it's worth your while. Everyone else can safely pass.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice complement, especially for a Pistons fan. to Bill Simmons' revelation, through Isiah, that the secret to basketball is that it's not about basketball. Seems like the author didn't get too close to the players, though, and the story suffers as a result.

[Jchung7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books. Jack McClosky and Isiah Thomas's obsession in winning a championship is fascinating and often times even frightening. What a team.

[Wade Jodeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

** I've loved the Bad Boys almost as long as I've been following the NBA. This book takes us along the arduous road of how Jack McCloskey built the 1989 Champions, The Bad Boys. I got to learn more about Isaiah Thomas and Dennis Rodman's upbringings. The trade to acquire Mark Aguirre was a very controversial one, and now I understand why it caused so much devastation to Adrian Dantley and fierce criticism. Also have a better understanding as to why the entire world seemed to hate Detroit.

** A great behind-the-scenes demonstrating that for champions, basketball is never "just a game", winning was a mentality. Isaiah Thoma spoke words of wisdom on how important the mental factor was to becoming champions and to avoid the disease of "more," which is how so many teams of championship potential self-destructed due to focus on MORE salary, MORE minutes, MORE box score stats

** I think I finally understand what "cole-miner style" is and how that persistence led to a championship.

** There never seemed to be a moment of reprieve. With every victory, no one was celebrating, no one seemed to be satisfied until they actually attained the championship. When that happens, this novel expertly avoids giving a "happy ending".

As the verbiage goes and is repeated throughout the book: "The Pistons...they'll break your heart."

[Jeff Wait · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most access to a front office that I’ve ever seen a journalist get. As a result, you get so much information about the building of a champion and the anxiety that comes with the decision-making. We get a big mid-season trade, injuries, rivalries and an upcoming expansion draft. Really cool to see a true fly on the wall. The writing sometimes feels like a long newspaper column, but with enough breaks, it made the book something I looked forward to reading each night.

[Craig Willms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out I don't like coal miner basketball nor the extremes it was taken to in order to disrupt an otherwise beautiful game.
Added insight into how badass Zeke was and how the Pistons were built around him but ultimately I lost interest in hearing about building slow physical grinding basketball.

[Ryan Nelsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read for anyone looking for 80's NBA stories or the impact of culture in an organization.

[Mike Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost some points for a late-in-book shot-in-passing at Kareem: "He was an angry young man who had no reason to be angry."

[Matt M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic sports book made even better by the great narration of Matt Martucci in the audiobook. Worth a read for sports fans and definitely worth a listen for audiobook fans

[Andrew Mellor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Great insight into a team first and winning mentality!

[Jason Villeneuve · Rating 4 out of 5]

There can’t be more than a handful of NBA teams that were more intriguing to follow and write about than the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons of 1989. Author Cameron Stauth truly struck journalistic gold with the year and the team. Not only did the Pistons win their first NBA championship in 1989, but for team that reached the pinnacle there was constant drama along the way and even after the title. I grew up in Michigan and was in Junior High School when the Bad Boy Pistons were born, so it’s a shame it took me over thirty years to read this great coverage of a truly memorable squad.

The book starts in the summer of 1988 as the Detroit team has just lost a heartbreaking seven game series against the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. This following an epic playoff collapse against the Boston Celtics (Bird steals the ball!! RIP Johnny Most) in the Eastern Conference Finals in the summer of 1987. The 1989 season was going to be a make-or-break one for the team and Pistons General Manager Jack McCloskey. The window is only open so long for a team to win the title and McClosky feels that stress during the season as he uses every resource the franchise has to finally win that championship trophy.

Most tales of the NBA revolve around legendary players and coaches, but The Franchise mainly follows McCloskey as he works every angle to achieve greatness. He is constantly working to properly assemble a roster that has the perfect balance of youth and experience, passion versus talent, and the right amount of chemistry. Searching the waiver wire, reaching out to other GM colleagues to explore trades. One of the Piston stars, Adrian Dantley, is not happy with playing time or money. One unhappy player can sink team chemistry. Will “Trader” Jack pull the trigger and trade away a Detroit icon?

While McCloskey is the main protagonist the Detroit players cannot be forgotten. This team is littered with some of the most memorable players in NBA history. Isiah Thomas is one of the NBA’s greatest point-guards of all time and definitive leader of the Bad Boys. Superb on the court and seemingly always in some type of controversy off the court. Bill Laimbeer may be the most hated man in the NBA…ever. Dennis Rodman was just getting started, but the man was a walking controversy. Rick Mahorn is an all-time NBA bully and he seemed to torment the media as much as his opponents on the court. Even head coach Chuck Daly was a future Hall of Famer and out of nowhere style icon. This was an all-time unique cast of characters.

The book could not lose following this team, but I give full credit to the author for the original angle. The all-encompassing look at everything it takes to run an NBA franchise was a unique treat and that’s why this book should go down as one of history’s greats similar to the Bad Boy Pistons.

[Judd Vance · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first basketball book I ever read. Since then, I have read hundreds. And this one may be the very best of all of them.

The author was allowed inside the brain trust of the Detroit Pistons for an entire 1988-89 season, which happens to be the season they won the first of their back-to-back titles and also their first season in the Palace. You see how the team chemistry is blended, how the trades are pulled, how the GMs think, how the college talent is evaluated. You learn how franchises try to entertain audiences and just how much of the NBA is a money-making business. You see how Pistons' GM Jack McClosky tries to win a title, without trading away the future. You see how beat writers try to pry stories out of players who give generic answers. You see the locker rooms and how players interact with one another at practice. You learn the REAL reasons behind the Adrian Dantley for Mark Aguirre trade. You see how McClosky agonizes over the coming expansion draft, knowing he can only protect 8 of the players in the the Piston's 9 man rotation. You see the rookie camps and how guaranteed contracts sometimes count more than talent. You see how McClosky built a team specifically to beat the Boston Celtics. In other words, you learn all about the behind-the-scenes workings of a championship-caliber NBA franchise.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's some great material in The Franchise about how "Trader" Jack McCloskey constructed the powerhouse, no-stars Detroit Pistons teams of the late 80s--material that's no less relevant in an era of bloated salaries and ridiculous salary cap strictures that makes every NBA contract a potential albatross to be removed at the first opportunity. However, there's also a bunch of "year in the life" game summaries in here, and after reading so many of these goddamn John Feinstein-esque things, I simply can't bring myself to keep my eyes from glazing over as I plow through those paragraphs (Mark Bowden's "Bringing the Heat" appears to be a welcome exception, and a truly glorious book besides). The highlight of Stauth's book, at least for me, is McCloskey's anguished decision to let go of overweight enforcer Rick Mahorn in the expansion draft even as the Pistons celebrate their first NBA title. C'est la vie.

[Neal Compton · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite sports book of all time about one of my favorite teams of all time. Stauth gives you a behind the scenes look at a championship NBA team throughout their championship season. I find the chapters about Jack McCloskey to be fascinating.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

i learned that the author thinks that basketball players have large gluteal muscles, among other astounding facts. this is a really good chronicle without any mitch albominations.

[Adam J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The early 1990s version of Halberstam's seminal "Breaks of the Game," this book follows around the Bad Boy Pistons from the GM's perspective. Really good behind-the-scenes insight.

[Brent Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inside look at the 1989 Detroit Pistons. One of the better sports books I've read.

[Tony Romine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about one of the best NBA teams to take the court. Very highly recommended.

[Bobbyportisfan73 · Rating 3 out of 5]

they were the bad boys, but the weren't *bad* boys?