[Kotyara]

And in other news, water is wet.

Bottom line is this:

Isiah was the leader of the Bad Boys, a beloved franchise in Detroit, but hated pretty much everywhere else. And as the leader, of course Jordan and his puppet hated him.

Not only that, but Rodman once made a comment about if Bird were black he'd just be another player. Isiah essentially agreed with Rodman, and Bird never forgot about it. In fact, when Bird took over the Pacers, Isiah was still the HC, and was fired.

Isiah also took a viscious elbow from Karl Malone that led to a big melee. I can't recall if that was before or after 92 though.

The only person Isiah seemingly had in his corner was Magic, but by all accounts he and Magic weren't as close as they once were after Magic's AIDS announcement.

As a Pistons fan back in the day (I can no longer stomach the NBA), I loved Isiah's grit, determination, and leadership. He dominated men who were regularly 6 inches (or more) taller than him, and like it or not, the Pistons had a long run with him at the helm with the two rings to show for it.

There's no doubt as an outsider, I can see why fans and players alike despised the guy. We've seen all his shortcomings and failures since then, but Isiah wasn't only a great Piston, on merit alone he deserved to be on that Dream Team.

However, I think the bigger travesty was Christian Laetner over Shaq.