The Last Dance: 'It Really Should Motivate' The Pistons, Says Casey

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Like the rest of the basketball world, Pistons head coach Dwane Casey has been glued to each episode of 'The Last Dance.'

"It's great television," he said last week on the Jamie and Stoney Show. 

And Casey hopes it can be meaningful television for his team. 

For one, the Pistons who stood in Michael Jordan's way personified the kind of grit Casey wants to see in the Pistons moving forward. For another, they proved that the city of Detroit responds to a team that plays tough, winning basketball. 

While the Pistons have ranked last in the NBA in attendance each of Casey's two seasons in Detroit, the Bad Boys enjoyed big crowds at The Palace every night. 

"To see how good the Pistons were, it really should motivate our players," Casey said. "It does motivate me to see how excited and packed the arena was and how great Isiah, Laimbeer and Rick and those guys played. It's great television, and it should be a motivator for us."

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It's not to say Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose need to start throwing elbows next season. With a laugh, Casey acknowledged a common foul back then would result in a 20-game suspension today. 

"Just think about that, how hard the Pistons were putting Jordan on the floor. And he just kept coming back, he just kept coming back, like Freddy in Friday the 13th. Every time you knocked him down, here he comes again," Casey said. "It was fun basketball to watch."

It was fun basketball because it was high-stakes basketball. That's what's been missing around here since the mid 2000's, and it's what Casey hopes to bring back. The Pistons got a taste of it last spring. Little Caesars Arena sounded hungry for more.