I have been watching the Chicago Bulls ESPN ten episode series on Sunday nights called, The Last Dance. It’s about that final year of Michael Jordan in a Bulls uniform.The last year where the team won their sixth title and earned their second three peat. The series flashes back to the past and tells you how the Bulls got to the level they did. How the Detroit Pistons were a team that the Bulls had to overcome in the Eastern conference. That’s where Isaiah Thomas comes in.The leader of those bad boy teams which was nicknamed for what they did on the court in the two championships the Pistons racked up. Michael Jordan respected Isaiah Thomas’ game on the court but threw the word HATE when it comes to his arch-rival. Then in an interview with Isaiah, he plays the card of how Jordan’s comments are shocking. Isaiah Thomas has that baby face and he comes off innocent. Deep down, Isaiah is just a bad dude like some Batman villain who got shafted in life and seeks retribution.

Iasiah Thomas was born in Chicago, Illinois and played high school basketball at St.Josephs. Perhaps in his younger days, the bad seed did not sprout. Thomas went on to Indiana University. In 1981, Thomas led the Hoosiers to a NCAA Championship. Isaiah Thomas was drafted number two overall in 1981 from the Detroit Pistons. From 1981-1994, Isiah Thomas was a 12 time all-star. One of the best point guards in the game of basketball on the highest level in the NBA. Thomas was named one of the 50th greatest players in NBA history. Thomas helped win two championships in Motown. It’s the way the Pistons won those championships. It’s the way Thomas and that team conducted themselves, on and off the court. With a roster Detroit had, with Dennis Rodman, John Salley, Joe Dumars, Mark Aguire, Vinnie Johnson, Rick Mahorn, Adrian Dantly and with Isiah Thomas… did they need all the cheap shots on the hard fouls they gave to be effective? Maybe Bill Laimbeer did.

The dirty dozen assembled in Detroit in the late 1980’s, led by head coach Chuck Daly who believed in hard fouls, “if you dare try to score on us down in the paint.” Hard fouls were part of the game in those years.The Detroit bad boys took hard fouls to a whole other level. A slap or a punch in the face. The ole rabbit punch to the kidneys. The quick elbow to groin were extra stuff the Pistons needed. The extra and the hard foul combination that brought you down to the hard wood of the court needing to get back up and ailing. Isiah Thomas resembled a character from the Bad News Bears, Tanner Boyle. Tanner in Bad News Bears was never scared of anyone and was the smallest kid on the field. Tanner would take on the opposing team by himself. Isaiah Thomas had his rag tag bunch behind him, especially Bill Laimbeer, his henchman. Thomas got in the faces of all the superstars in the league like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. No wonder he did not get an invite to the dream team in 1992 to play for his country in the Olympics. No one wanted to play with him on the same team. As a villain, this would irritate Thomas and send him deep into the sewers of Gotham, plotting and planning. I give credit to Isaiah because he did not need to be at the country club sipping champagne with the big dogs. This dog ran his own pack. However deep inside, this did not fit right with Isiah Thomas as he all along wanted the respect from the best in the league.

Isiah Thomas has a list of things he has failed at after his play on the court was over. Some of the things he has done on the court and off the court make you scratch your head and sum him up as just a scum. In 1992, with 7.9 seconds left on the clock in the elimination game as the Bulls were about to finally prevail versus their arch-rival, the Pistons walked off the court. Only Joe Dumars and John Salley stayed behind. As a leader of your team this is what you do? You can’t take defeat so you retreat without shaking hands. What happened to sportsmanship? Shows what a class act Isaiah Thomas is. The Bulls when they lost to the Pistons over and over, stayed, swallowed their pride and shook hands with their nemesis.

After his playing days, Isaiah did everything basketball related from coaching to being a General Manager to even owning a league. Isaiah Thomas owned the CBA, the Continental Basketball Association, and ran that into the ground. Filing bankruptcy. Isaiah failed as a coach. Ruined a pretty good Indiana Pacer team and suffered quick exits from the playoffs in round one. When Isaiah stepped in to coach from his executive position as head of the New Knicks, he went down in flames. Thomas’ strategy of hard fouls in the paint, led to a big brawl between the Knicks and the Nuggets. All of Thomas’ executive decisions, which included control over the roster, brought New York Basketball to the lowest level of mankind. When Thomas was finally fired by the Knicks, I still to this day think the whole organization has not recovered from his butchering. Then the sexual harassment suit filed against Isaiah Thomas in 2006. Anucha Browne Sanders, a female executive for the Knicks, settled for 11.5 million dollars because Isiah was being frisky. That is a lot of reasons to feel guilty with that kind of cheddar. Then you had the paternity case before Isiah Thomas tied the knot, as another pay out in the 1980’s. Perhaps Thomas’ best best hire was bringing in thug Bill Laimbeer to coach the women’s New York WNBA team. Those poor women in general dealing with both Thomas and Laimbeer.

After the Detroit Bad boys finally broke up, most of the players on their roster are likeable guys. Dennis Rodman’s time in Chicago helped with the Bulls’ second three peat. I respected how hard Rodman worked. To do all the dirty work that hardly ever shows up in the stat columns. John Salley came off the bench for the Bulls during that three peat and helped them win some games with his play. Joe Dumars had a very nice career in the NBA and now is doing great things in the front office in the league. Vinnie Johnson, AKA the microwave, scoring points off the bench. A spark plug type of player that was fun to watch. I think Isaiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer are in the same boat as guys that you will always hate except if you’re a Pistons fan. Laimbeer might be the better citizen than Isaiah Thomas over time. Isaiah still playing his politician style in front of the camera. Bill Laimbeer still blunt at what spews out of his mouth and may want to fight you after school by the bike rack. While Thomas is just a worm who slithers around in the soil these days. Just don’t turn your back, he may shiv you from behind after you think he’s your friend.