AUBURN HILLS – The Goin’ to Work Pistons were the most egalitarian NBA champion since the New York Knicks of Reed, Frazier, Monroe, Bradley and DeBusschere from two generations previous.
Rip Hamilton’s jersey gets run up to The Palace’s rafters at halftime when they host Boston on Sunday, but once Ben Wallace’s went up last season – followed the next month by Chauncey Billups’ – it seemed inevitable that they’d all be there someday, together, flying side by side like five laundered dress shirts from another work week drying on the line.
Hamilton becomes the third. In some ways, he was most taken for granted.