I've never liked the Detroit Pistons.

Growing up--15 minutes south of The D--I loved Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. You can't call me a frontrunner, either, because I was cheering for the G.O.A.T., Pip, Pax and the rest of those guys when the Pistons were beating them to get to the Finals in the late-80s and early 90s.

The Bad Boys played dirty. They whined, elbowed, punched and kicked their way to two chips back in the day.

Bill Laimbeer was so sneaky on the court, he could have survived an extended bid in Em City. Isiah Thomas was like the little mob guy in the old Looney Tune cartoons, he let the big, dumb guys do all the dirty work. They employed the "Jordan Rules," which amounted to nothing more than, "F#ck that m%hf*ck@ up whenever he gets into the paint."

I was glad to see them struggle when the old guard faded out. I reveled in the fact that a team that was so rough and brutish came out on some nights with guys like Bill Curley and Pete Chilcutt. I thought the organization was dead when Grant Hill's ankle exploded, and when they traded Tamia's husband, I figured there would be no Detroit Pistons, no Two Championship Drive, no Palace of Auburn Hills, either.

Then Bill Davidson and his crew made their best decision since they used a first-round pick on him in the 1985 NBA Draft. They gave Joe Dumars the keys to the car and he smashed on the gas.

Since Joe D took over in 2000, the Pistons have made the playoffs each year. Three of those years, 02-03, 03-04, 04-05, "Goin' to work" has made it all the way to the conference finals or the championship round. And in 2004, they beat the "juggernaut" that was the L.A. Lakers in a "five-game" sweep for the franchise's third title.

As a player, Joe "Duuuuuuuuumaaaarrrss" took a backseat to his more flashy, flamboyant backcourt mate, Zeke Thomas. I will even venture to say that few outside of the vicinity of Woodward Ave. remember that Joe was the Finals MVP when the Pistons swept the Lake Show in the '89 Finals.

As an executive, Dumars is second to nobody. Thomas is takin' up the rear. Thomas wanted a behind-the-scenes role with the team when he retired. Imagine that, Palace-goers. You could potentially have a roster chock full of small forwards and overpaid out of shape centers who show up to practice hungover.

Instead you have a team of professionals. When they got to Auburn Hills, some of them were castoffs. Air thought Rip Hamilton was expendable. A number of execs thought Chauncey Billups couldn't thrive in The League. Twenty-three squads passed up on Tayshun Prince. Ben Wallace, one of the league's premier defenders, was mired in obscurity in Orlando. Hell, even King Hothead, Rasheed Wallace, has stayed relatively docile since coming here.

Those expendable guys now make up the best starting five in the L. Hamilton is the energizer bunny. Billups has a Finals MVP trophy at his crib. Prince has blossomed into one of the league's better all-around guys. Sheed's remained solid, and Wallace has remained at his defensive best.

It still remains to be seen if they'll win a second title in three years, but their league-best 28-5 start is evidence that those boys are on a mission. Li'l Flip Saunders has let them freelance more on the offensive end, and they're still solid on D.

Oh...and in no way, shape or form is this a lovefest. They did beat my team in that five-game sweep, afterall. But if they didn't, I wouldn't have written this. And the brilliance of No. 4 in the red, white and blue would still be in question.