THE Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boys era has always divided opinions among NBA fans.

This resulted in a lack of respect for one of the greatest teams in league history, as far as former Pistons center James Edwards is concerned.

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Edwards won two NBA titles with the Pistons in 1989 and 1990Credit: Getty

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He won his third title with the Bulls in 1996Credit: Getty
Edwards’ career began at Washington where he starred for the Huskies from 1973-1977.

Named an All-Pac-8 First-Teamer twice, he was picked in the third round of the 1977 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.

And as it turned out, Edwards didn’t have to wait long to make his NBA bow.

During their first game of the season against the Milwaukee Bucks, starting center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke his hand by punching his counterpart Kent Benson, as per NBA.com.

Edwards stepped in to replace the future Hall of Famer and never looked back.

After 25 games for the Lakers, Edwards was traded to the Indiana Pacers to take over as their starting center midway through his rookie season.

During the course of his four seasons in Indiana, Edwards became the Pacers’ all-time highest-scoring center.

In 1981, he made the move to the Cleveland Cavaliers in free agency, however, his time in Ohio was short-lived.

After just over one season he was traded to the Phoenix Suns where he’d go on to play for the best part of six seasons.

Edwards joined the Pistons in 1987 where he won two NBA Championships as a member of the storied Bad Boys team alongside the likes of Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas among others.

But despite their legendary status, Edwards doesn’t believe they were liked around the league.

“With the way we played, nobody really liked us except for the people of Detroit,” he told the Basketball Network.

“They could understand the hard work that we did out on the floor, but we didn’t really get any respect (nationally) after we won those two championships.”

And this dislike for the Bad Boys was clearly felt strongly from the direction of one of their biggest rivals of the time – the Chicago Bulls.

Edwards explained in an interview with SB Nation in 2008: “It was hatred. I mean, I didn’t really hate them but I think they hated us.

“And our physical style of defense kind of messed them up until they finally got over the hump.

“I think our team made their team great because if they could beat us, they could beat anybody, which they proved because they swept us that one time.”

Traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 1991, the then 36-year-old returned to the Lakers after just one season.

After two years with the Lakers and one with the Portland Trail Blazers, a 40-year-old Edwards closed out his career with a single season with Michael Jordan and the legendary Bulls.

Following the 1995 season, he retired having made 1,168 career appearances, averaging 12.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 0.7 blocks, and 1.3 assists per game.

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Edwards started 143 games for DetroitCredit: Getty