WOW isiah acting classy

[OhNoTimNoSho]

As great as MJ was, he's a billion times more of a douche bag than LeBron could ever be.

Yeah, but he won and thats all that really matters.

[nycelt84]

Agreed. This was about more than Jordan. As I wrote in another thread on this topic, Bird and Magic didn't like Isiah either. Karl Malone and Scotty Pippen didn't want him on the team. Heck, Barkley called the Pistons A**holes in the documentary!


This was about much more than just Jordan.

Here is Karl Malone decking Isiah Thomas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bM-Y4UoiAY

The Malone elbow was post Olympics. Isiah had destroyed Stockton in a game because he was upset at Stockton being on the Dream Team instead of him and that was Malone being a bitch about it.

[guy]

People fail to point this out, but it wasn't exactly a given that Isiah was better then Stockton. For example, he had stopped making all-nba teams after 1987, while Stockton was a regular. Not saying thats the end all be all, but people are acting like Isiah was on the level of Magic, Bird, and Jordan when he really wasn't regardless of the fact that he had won titles.

[Da_Realist]

People fail to point this out, but it wasn't exactly a given that Isiah was better then Stockton. For example, he had stopped making all-nba teams after 1987, while Stockton was a regular. Not saying thats the end all be all, but people are acting like Isiah was on the level of Magic, Bird, and Jordan when he really wasn't regardless of the fact that he had won titles.

More than anybody left off, Isiah should have been on the team. I don't think Magic was comfortable hanging out with Isiah Thomas all summer after feeling like he was so betrayed. And if he felt that way, I don't blame him. I think all this other reasons we've been given all these years is bullsh*t. The Isiah Thomas decision was personal and no one else had a personal vested interest in not wanting to play with him aside from Magic. I think a lot of other players went along with it and some of them were maybe glad he didn't come, but I think Magic was the guy behind the scenes that said no. That's my guess. I find it hard to believe they didn't ask Magic about him considering the things he said in his book. If someone did ask him, I wonder why that footage was left on the cutting room floor.

[guy]

More than anybody left off, Isiah should have been on the team. I don't think Magic was comfortable hanging out with Isiah Thomas all summer after feeling like he was so betrayed. And if he felt that way, I don't blame him. I think all this other reasons we've been given all these years is bullsh*t. The Isiah Thomas decision was personal and no one else had a personal vested interest in not wanting to play with him aside from Magic. I think a lot of other players went along with it and some of them were maybe glad he didn't come, but I think Magic was the guy behind the scenes that said no. That's my guess. I find it hard to believe they didn't ask Magic about him considering the things he said in his book. If someone did ask him, I wonder why that footage was left on the cutting room floor.

I think in his book he said he didn't try to get him off the team, but he wasn't going to push for him to be included and try to convince the people that didn't like him like Jordan, Bird, Pippen, Malone to be okay with playing with him, which he would've probably done before if it wasn't for that betrayal.

[Da_Realist]

Ok, scratch what I said about Magic. I was wrong. The selection committee had already made the decision to leave Isiah off the team by September 1991. Magic didn't announce to the world he was HIV positive until November 1991.

So...sh*t. I don't know. Maybe the reasons were legit.

[t-rex]

People fail to point this out, but it wasn't exactly a given that Isiah was better then Stockton. For example, he had stopped making all-nba teams after 1987, while Stockton was a regular. Not saying thats the end all be all, but people are acting like Isiah was on the level of Magic, Bird, and Jordan when he really wasn't regardless of the fact that he had won titles.

True.

But the dream team was an award for great play. Not a true test of who where the best NBA players of 1992.

Bird in 1992 was not among the top 2-3 best players in the league. But he was put on the team kind of as a career legacy award.

Magic Johnson had technically retired, and hadn't even played in the NBA in a year, and he made the the team too.

One could make the case that Isiah Thomas was in that class as an all time 1980s great who deserved a spot. Furthermore, in 1992, Thomas is arguably closer to his prime than certainly Bird and probably Magic were. And you have to remember we are talking 1992 here, not 2012. In 1992, people think Stockton is good. But nobody is calling him an all time great. You saw in the documentary how unknown Stockton was to the fans. That scene easily could have taken place, in many U.S. cities too. And its not a race issue, because everyone certainly knew who Bird was.

Isiah didn't make the team because many of other players on the team didn't want him. Period.

[t-rex]

The Malone elbow was post Olympics. Isiah had destroyed Stockton in a game because he was upset at Stockton being on the Dream Team instead of him and that was Malone being a bitch about it.

Good point. I was only pointing out that there was bad blood between Malone and Thomas over the Olympic team selection process.

[t-rex]

People fail to point this out, but it wasn't exactly a given that Isiah was better then Stockton. For example, he had stopped making all-nba teams after 1987, while Stockton was a regular. Not saying thats the end all be all, but people are acting like Isiah was on the level of Magic, Bird, and Jordan when he really wasn't regardless of the fact that he had won titles.

True. But in the history of the game, how many people stand with Magic, Bird and Jordan? Lets see, Kobe, Duncan, Shaq, Russell, Jabbar, Wilt, Hakeem, maybe West and Robertson, and that's about it.

Isiah Thomas was one of the faces of the NBA throughout the 1980s. He was on a level right below the 1980s "Big 3". If he had a nicer disposition, he would have been on the team.

[pegasus]

It's that asshole in him which is what made him the GOAT. He wasn't going to take shit from anybody and, in fact, he was going to make sure you ate his shit. If you didn't like it, he doesn't care. But you better acknowledge he is better than you.

LeBron is a *****.

Agreed. Jordon talked the talked and then walked the walk.

Lebron talks the talk, but when it comes to walk the walk... he does this instead:

[guy]

As great as MJ was, he's a billion times more of a douche bag than LeBron could ever be.

There's been stories about Lebron being a douchebag too. I remember there was something about how he treated some cafeteria workers like sh*t during the Olympics back in like 2004. There's also that youtube video where it looks like he's purposefully throwing his warm ups away from that ballboy when he could've just handed it to him. He doesn't seem like this very nice guy either.

[CelticBaller]

As great as MJ was, he's a billion times more of a douche bag than LeBron could ever be.

no, lebron is just a pvssy

[Knicksfever2010]

Im confused, I thought isiah/magic were good friends, especially the way they interacted at the all star game in orlando when magic won MVP. They were buddy-buddy and hugged/kissed each other. Maybe Magic was just putting on a good show?

[Crown&Coke]

Zeke was a dick, no doubt. He grew up in a tough enviornment and played like he never left. I loved the way he competed. Still, he was a dick, just like many our our all time greats. MJ, Kareem, Russell, Big O, Malone; all were known to be huge jerks. But the fact remains, the NBA was trying to grow internationally back in 1992. So having the most popular guys was the way to go. And Zeke simply wasn't liked outside of Detroit, even his hometown Chicago hated him (which ate away at him)

Had Lebron played in 1992, he isn't as despised as he is now, its just a sign of the times. JFK was a notorious adulterer and he is beloved, spoken of like he was a King who fed the peasants at his own table. Bill Clinton gets a BJ and he gets murdered for it. More infomation is out there, good and bad.

[Crown&Coke]

Im confused, I thought isiah/magic were good friends, especially the way they interacted at the all star game in orlando when magic won MVP. They were buddy-buddy and hugged/kissed each other. Maybe Magic was just putting on a good show?

Magic said after he got HIV, Isiah was going around asking if Magic was gay (which was the popular stigma around the virus). Magic felt betrayed, because he really did like him and couldnt figure why he wouldn't just ask him instead of going behind his back perpetuating the stigma, in NBA circles no less. Talk about a low blow...