How the Bad Boy Pistons turned into a slop bucket of in-fighting

Thanks to patreon.com/secretbase, Collapse is back! We found time to make a limited run of episodes, so keep your eyes out the rest of the summer for more.

We're kicking things off with the ignoble, steep, and rapid plummet of the Bad Boy Pistons. A team that, in both 1989 and 1990, celebrated championships! With Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, and Joe Dumars at the helm, could they go for a three-peat?

I'm mean, yeah, sure they could go for it... but they wouldn't get it. What they would get instead was embarrassing and even legacy-threatening.

In an attempt to quickly capitalize on aging stars the Pistons refused to die and rebuild. Instead they tried to patch things up with quick fixes which could also be described as rash decisions that jilted cornerstones like Vinne Johnson.

It led to a bitter locker room full of bad boys-- which led to practices where teammates attacked each other. Or the GM, one guy did strangle the GM, so it wasn't limited to teammates, I should clarify that.

Written and produced by: Clara Morris
Directed and edited by: Charlotte Atkinson
Motion graphics by: Tyson Whiting

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