Isiah Thomas is the most underrated player in ISH history

[tpols]

Because of Jordan and his performance. No one is suggesting it's one v.s. five. There were plenty of times that when removing each team's best player, an opponent had superior and deeper talent than MJ had with the Bulls. The early 90's Bulls many times were on the lesser side of the talent pool v.s. other teams like the Blazers, Knicks, Suns, Sonics, Magic, Heat, etc.

Sure he had Pippen, a perfect sidekick, but there were many teams with superior rosters that he had to overcome. Don't pawn off bull shit to suit your "bring Jordan down a peg" agenda here.

The Bulls minus Jordan were better than the Sonics. Take off Gary Payton and you have a team led by Shawn Kemp.. which wasnt much better or deeper outside of what the Bulls had.

Take Ewing off the early-mid 90s knicks you have a team led by John Starks and I guess Charles Oakley or Anthony Mason. Tough team but they dont compare to bulls without MJ. Who the hell is taking

starks/anthony/oakley/greg anthony/hubert davis

over

pippen/kukoc/grant/armstrong

??

Nobody. Best first two players and they had guys to take care of the dirty work as well.


Magic? So you take Shaq off that team and what are they? Its not even close.

Only team that can really be made a case for even being equal to is the trailblazers outside of clyde.. suns might be close but Id still take bulls supporting cast. Scottie was always the best second option. Phil was always the best coach.


Isaih was just as fierce a competitor as Jordan and he in much the same way willed his teams to victory in an absolutely stacked era.

[Fawker]

stockton or isiah for final pg spot on the dream team?

[Young X]

Isaih was just as fierce a competitor as Jordan and he in much the same way willed his teams to victory in an absolutely stacked era.

Yes, but you're not realizing that those Pistons teams were some of the most stacked and deep teams of all time. Isiah while great, wasn't the clear cut most productive player on those teams, Dumars was just as productive and had the same recognition as Isiah. Jordan on the other hand was the clear cut most productive player on his team. Neither won alone though which is what people don't understand.

Only team that can really be made a case for even being equal to is the trailblazers outside of clyde.. suns might be close but Id still take bulls supporting cast. Scottie was always the best second option. Phil was always the best coach.

If Jordan and Barkley canceled each other out and played equally the Suns definitely have a chance to beat the Bulls. If Jordan and Drexler canceled each other out would the Blazers not have great chance against the Bulls? Jordan was the difference.

[Sarcastic]

[L.Kizzle]

No he didn't, the PISTONS beat the Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls because they were the better, more healthy team. Nobody wins alone. Joe Dumars was playing just as well as him and not only did he make the All NBA 3rd team over Isiah, he won FMVP over him too.

You can't beat teams by yourself when you're not even making All NBA 3rd teams in your prime.

Why is that Pistons team so underrated? They're one of the deepest teams ever and one of the best defenses of all time. They had 5-6 all-star caliber player on one team.

Everyone knows Joe isn't in the same league at Zeke Thomas.

Zeke was blackballed from individual awards in the late 80s. There no way guys like his teammate Joe D and Dale Ellis should have been making All League Teams over him.

And speaking of injuries, if Zeke isn't hurt in 1988, they win 3 straight titles.

[joeyjoejoe]

Na he's not underated that pistons team was a collective effort that's for sure he's an all-time great pg but don't compare him to mj more comparable to Nash or cp3

[ZMonkey11]

This is a thread about him being underrated. Not him being better than Jordan, not him having a deep team.

You guys just haters.

[MastahX]

stockton was better period

[Marchesk]

This is a thread about him being underrated. Not him being better than Jordan, not him having a deep team.

You guys just haters.

It's not about hating on Isiah, it's about countering the claim that he carried the Pistons to two titles, when they had Dumars, Lambier, Acquire, Rodman, and Vinnie Johnson.

[AirFederer]

Ja ja!

[ProfessorMurder]

He's not underrated when he's on nearly everybody's top 3 PGs list.

[FatComputerNerd]

Most people recognize how great Thomas was.

An underrated PG would be Mark Price, who in his prime was considered by many to be on par (or even better) than Stockton, yet nobody ever talks about him.

[ZMonkey11]

It's not about hating on Isiah, it's about countering the claim that he carried the Pistons to two titles, when they had Dumars, Lambier, Acquire, Rodman, and Vinnie Johnson.

But would you say he was the main reason the Pistons took those championships? The smallest guy on the court got the team to take on his personality. Made all of them stronger.

The Pistons 1989 championship run, one all-star and it was Isiah that year.
1990, 3 All-stars in Isiah, Joe, and Rodman.

In Isiah's buildup to the championship teams, he had 2 teammates make the All-star team, Bill Laimbeer (4x) and Kelly Tripucka (2x).
When the Pistons were getting to be very dangerous (1987), he was playing with no All-star teammates. He was willing these dudes to win.

Yes, these Pistons teams were deep, but you make it seem like a deep team is a super talented team. Isiah made these teams deep. He expected more out of his players. And those players stepped up their games because of Isiah. Watch some documentaries on the Bad Boys and see how those players talk about Isiah. He whipped those mugs into shape.

Isiah gets the Kobe hate treatment here without any of the adoring fans. That is why he is the most underrated player on ISH. Good job OP.

[ZMonkey11]

Most people recognize how great Thomas was.

An underrated PG would be Mark Price, who in his prime was considered by many to be on par (or even better) than Stockton, yet nobody ever talks about him.

Same class as KJ. Why? No chips.

Who did these players have to go through to get to the championship? Look at the road Stockton had to take. Accolade after accolade after accolade for Stockton, he just couldn't do it. Couldn't get over the hurdle. And he had one of the top PFs of all time by his side.

Mark Price had to go through Jordan, someone Isiah and his Bad Boys dominated for the longest time. And he had one of the great centers in Brad Daugherty.

Isiah took out the guys that stopped these other PGs from getting chips. And then people mention these dudes in the same tier as Isiah. Naaaaahhhh, no thanks.

[TheMan]

OP gonna act like Dumars, Dantley, Aguirre, Laimbeer, VJohnson, Rodman, Mahorn, Salley and JEdwards isn't a stacked team. They also were coached by one of the best NBA coaches in Chuck Daly...that team was hella deep.