A few weeks before retiring in 1994, Isiah Thomas joined Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson, and John Stockton as the only players in NBA history with 9,000 assists. Isiah had few peers when it came to penetrating and kicking the ball to an open teammate. Though only an average shooter himself, Thomas was capable of tremendous scoring binges, including the night he scored 16 points in 94 seconds. Best of all, he was a winner, capturing an NCAA crown with Indiana University and back-to-back NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons.
The youngest of nine children, Thomas (born April 30, 1961) grew up in Chicago, attended suburban St. Joseph's High School, and became the best prep guard in Illinois. He enrolled at Indiana in 1979, making All-Big Ten as a freshman and consensus All-America as a sophomore. In his second season, he led the Hoosiers to the national championship and was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.
Satisfied with his accomplishments -- including a spot on the 1980 U.S. Olympic team -- and eager to escape firebrand coach Bob Knight, Thomas forfeited the rest of his eligibility to enter the NBA draft at age 20. The Pistons made him the second pick, after the Dallas Mavericks chose Mark Aguirre.
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Isiah Thomas won two NBA
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"Zeke" loved center stage. At the 1984 All-Star Game, he scored all 21 of his points after halftime as the East rallied for a 154-145 victory in overtime. He chipped in 15 assists and won the game's MVP Award. Two years later, coach K.C. Jones employed Thomas in a one-guard offense late in the game as the East won 139-132. Thomas had 30 points and 10 assists, taking MVP honors for the second time in three years.
While Thomas's legend grew in the mid-1980s, the Pistons were being built into the "Bad Boys" of the NBA. Mainstays Joe Dumars, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn, and John Salley joined the team from 1982-86, and Chuck Daly was hired as coach in 1983. No-holds-barred defense and methodical offense became Pistons trademarks.
Thomas was their leader, a street-fighter whose Cheshire grin masked a serious mean streak. After a disappointing loss to the Boston Celtics in the 1987 playoffs, the Pistons won the Eastern Conference and played in the NBA Finals the next three seasons, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games in 1988, sweeping the Lakers in four games in 1989, and disposing of the Portland Trail Blazers in five games in 1990. Thomas won the Finals Most Valuable Player Award in '89.
Thomas had his share of embarrassments over the years. He once caused a furor when he said that if Larry Bird were black, "he'd be just another good guy." He was the goat of the 1987 Eastern Conference finals when his inbounds pass in Game 5 was stolen by Bird and converted into the winning points for the Celtics. He suffered a broken wrist throwing a punch at Bill Cartwright, and he refused to shake hands with the Chicago Bulls after the Bulls bounced the Pistons from the playoffs in 1991. His biggest blow was being left off the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in 1992. The "Dream Team" had room for only two point guards: Magic Johnson and John Stockton.
In 1994, Thomas was picked for Dream Team II but couldn't participate because of a ruptured Achilles tendon. Already a successful businessman, Thomas announced his retirement from the game in May 1994. Soon afterwards, he was named executive vice-president and part-owner of the Toronto Raptors, an NBA expansion team.
When Thomas' bid to move into ownership in Toronto failed, the Hall of Fame guard moved on to the Indiana Pacers as coach. However, former rival Larry Bird arrived to take over Indiana operations and canned Thomas, who landed quickly in New York. His attempts to rebuild the Knicks, first as general manager and later as general manager/coach, were controversial, costly, and unsuccessful.
Yet for dramatic effect, nothing topped his Herculean effort against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals, when he scored 25 points in the third quarter, the last 11 after suffering a painful ankle injury. He finished with 43 points, but the Lakers won 103-102. For his career, Thomas averaged 20.4 points and 8.9 assists in 111 playoff games. |
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