The real reason why Isiah Thomas was left off the dream team

[paksat]

Defend MJ?

There will be a thread about Kyrie Irving or Russell Westbrook and 3ball's reply will say "LeBron" within the first sentence. Sometimes literally within the second word.

Pay attention

because he has to, to keep you idiots from taking over the minds of young people

[TheMan]

That dude has absolutely no clue who Dino Radja is lol. Dropped a list of names he's never heard of and jumped to conclusions about things he has no clue about. Next he'll be dropping his wisdom about the 88 Soviet Union team with some scrub named 'Sabonis' or something.

Yup, that Croatian team was really good. Petrovic would've gone down as one of the GOAT shooters if he didn't tragically pass away. RIP Kukoc was also a legit baller... Kids today have no clue.

[jayfan]

In his book, Magic, long time friend of Zeke states "nobody on that team wanted to play with him"

And there was nothing Chuck Daly, coach of the dream team and coach of the Pistons could do about it.

With 7 seconds left in the ECF, Zeke led his team off the court and told them we aren't shaking hands with the Bulls to the dismay of coach Daly.

That rubbed the players on the dream team the wrong way.

No one wanted someone that exhibited such poor sportsmanship to be on an Olympic team that represented the USA.

Isiah Thomas says he regrets walking off the court without shaking hands with the Bulls after the Pistons were swept in the 1991 ECF.

"We all should have taken the high road," Thomas said during a taping for NBA TV's Open Court.

1. Is this breaking news?

2. Had nothing to do with 'poor sportsmanship representing USA' bs. They just didn't like him. Period. "They" being MJ (no one else really mattered), and the walk-off was a major reason why.


.

[Nowoco]

Wow the OP has his finger on the pulse, this news only came out in 2012.

Jordan, Bird and Magic hated Isiah and the Pistons and no-one wanted him on the team. As those three were the faces of the league, they got their way and who can blame them? You reap what you sow.

[bizil]

This was a life lesson in general quite frankly! Watch what you say and how you treat people! Because THOSE SAME PEOPLE can be in a position to cost you something significant! Very ironic that Isiah froze out MJ in the '85 All Star Game. And then showed bad sportsmanship when the Bulls beat their ass! And from there, agreed with Rodman about the hater shit on Bird. And to top it off, was questioning other people and stirring the pot about how Magic got HIV! INSTEAD of asking one of his best friends in Magic how.

Those are four significant things where Zeke was discrediting or disrespecting somebody! And on top of it THE THREE KINGS of the sport! Huge Zeke fan on the court though. And in general OF COURSE he belonged on that team! In my mind ANY REAL US DREAM TEAM must have Nique and Zeke on that squad! But of course various factors happened where neither was chosen.

[FKAri]

Like 90% of the reason, at least to me, was his "walk off" in the 1991 ECF against MJ. Isiah simply fu*ked with the wrong dude, who by the time of the Dream Team selection process 1992, MJ pretty much ruled the world. He didn't want Isiah on the team and that was it.

And the sad part about all this was that Isiah DESERVED to be on that team over Stockton. Everyone in the world knew it. And Isiah, being the competitor that he is, is still salty about it. No gold medal for Isiah for messing with the GOAT.

Don't you think it's pathetic of MJ to leave him off the team for that?
It wasn't MJ alone anyways. Nobody liked Isiah or the Pistons.

[Smoke117]

because he has to, to keep you idiots from taking over the minds of young people

You're a moron if you think 3ball is here just to "defend" Jordan.

[ronniec]

Isiah was a weak shooter from everywhere outside 5 feet. You would be hard pressed to find any better than average pg from that era that didn't shoot better than Isiah.

For his career

29% from 3
75.9% from the foul line
46.8% on 2s



Look at Kevin Johnson

30% from 3
84% from the line
50.4% on 2s

If I remember right Bird didn't want to be on the team at all but Magic talked him into it. His back was really bad.

You are correct, Bird did not want to be on the Dream Team.
It was Magic to persuade him and change his mind.
Bird got selected by his merit and contribution (with Magic) to the league. Everybody knew he deserved that honor.

Also Magic and Bird wanted Jordan to be the captain, but Jordan said he had too much respect to them and refused the offer.
So Magic and Bird were the co-captain.

[andgar923]

And those Olympic games were GIMME gold medal games, too. Back then international scouting and development was super low. Fast forward to 2019 and we could very well have the MVP and ROY winners both being international players (Giannis and Luka). I mean, just look at the opponent the Dream Team faced in 1992 for the gold medal game.

You're an idiot.

About half of those players played in the NBA and the others were highly recruited by scouts but decided to be stars and win chips abroad. Imagine if Giannis, Luka or Dirk never left Europe?

It was a different time politically/socially and professionally back then. The flood gates for Euro players wasn't open. On top of that the style of play was different in the NBA. The NBA was more physical and style of play didn't match the Euro player's style.