Monday, September 6th, 2010 at 12:55 pm  |  97 responses

Isiah ‘Strongly Disagrees’ With Jordan, Magic on LeBron Criticism

While still disappointed that James didn’t choose to play for the Knicks, Thomas says he doesn’t agree with his fellow legends about LeBron’s decision. From the NY Post: “Thomas added Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan were wrong to condemn LeBron for joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. ‘I strongly disagree with their comments,’ Thomas said. ‘[Magic] had a great team. They said they wouldn’t have left but look who they were playing with. Those teams were stacked.’”

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  • namik

    Good point. Would be even better if the Cavs hadn’t won the regular season the past 2 seasons. Or if they hadn’t been the heavy favorites to win the title both years. Remember the whole “LA-Cavs” dream finals that were supposed to end with Bronnie officially snatching the torch from the Kobester? Or is that all moot in hindsight?

  • drosefan

    Of course Isiah disagrees…he’s the same guy who tried to get LeBron to New York.

  • The Philosopher

    I always felt that Zeke should be a politician.

  • JTaylor21

    Of course this is the first time I’ve heard of this story, the media only cares when someone says something NEGATIVE about his decision. He beat all those guys in the prime, so he knows what he’s talking about. Zeke is just as GREAT as any of these guys, so give him the same kind of respect and coverage whether you like him or not.

  • Robb

    Jordan didn’t condemned LBJ, he was asked about it and gave his opinion, if you’ve watched the video you know MJ was very respectful.

  • Robb

    *didn’t condemn

  • Nigel

    This is why none of those guys mess with you Isiah.

  • JTaylor21

    This is why I got so much LOVE and RESPECT for zeke more than any of those guys COMBINED. He speaks his mind and doesn’t FOLLOW the crowd.

  • tavoris

    @The Philospher-he already is a politician. Only someone in politics would throw their suicide attempt on their own daughter. He’s a sleazeball.
    @Nigel-he’s clearly someone on the outside of the fraternity looking in.
    @JTaylor-once Jordan hit his prime (age 27 is typical for most guards), NO ONE could slow him down. Don’t get it twisted. The Pistons beat an undermanned Bulls team.

  • The Philosopher

    @tavoris:
    Yeah, I suppose.

  • tavoris

    JTaylor-u respect Zeke? The dude who 1)crippled the Knicks, 2)harassed a subordinate, 3)singlehandedly destroyed the CBA, and 4)lied to make it look like his own daughter tried to commit suicide?

    Really?
    Really?

    I respect Zeke the player. But, the man is scum, homie.

  • JTaylor21

    @Tavoris of course NO ONE could slow down MJ but the Bad Boys did slow down and stop the bulls for 4 straight years and bulls had same lineup as when the won their first chip. I know you’re a hardcore MJ fan but PLEASE don’t try to downplay what the Pistons accomplished that no other team could even DREAM of doing. Also you act like you REALLY know Zeke, all the accusations you stated are what you heard from the media just like everyone else. The knicks have being SUCKING for years before he arrived and he at least tried to make moves to improve the roster. What has the GREAT SAVIOR; D’Antoni done since he’s being there, NOTHING. I hate when people act like they know people from what they see or hear on tv.

  • The Philosopher

    JTaylor21:
    Isiah tends to put himself “out there”, you know?
    But, at the same time, I think you make good points about the perception he has via the media.

  • http://beforepartb.com/ Roger

    Zeke has a point about Magic… he walked into the league and immediately started playing with arguably the greatest center ever. Magic was essentially one of the pieces being installed around Kareem’s building block. He never had to learn what it was like to struggle with sub-par teammates.

    But Mike’s another story. He stayed put while a team was built around *him*. He endured let-downs in the playoffs for a number of years before the right people came on board to help him over the top.

  • tavoris

    JTaylor-Isiah and the Piston’s beat MJ when he was 23-26 years old…The Bulls at that time were a one-man show. Isiah was playing with a deep, experienced, physical team-and had one of the best coaches EVER at the helm.
    For the record, I think MJ is a sleazeball too.

  • tavoris

    @The Philosopher-those perceptions are partially fueled by the fact that he really has no friends amongst his peers. Which has a great deal to do with his spinelessness-which he’s proven over & over again over the last two decades. GREAT, GREAT player. And while he is correct to a degree, it’s his own fault that he has no credibility to anyone but Dolan.

  • The Philosopher

    tavoris:
    Isiah still has credibility, though.
    He has more influence than many of us know.
    Trust and believe that.
    He has more friends in higher places than many of us know.
    True politician.

  • tavoris

    @The Philosopher-I agree. Dolan is still pretty enamored with him. He’s just not considered relevant in basketball circles anymore-even when he’s right.
    How long did it take for someone to ask him his opinion on this? I’m sure the New York Post (which is a step above the National Enquirer) just asked because it would be rude to NOT ask.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    I strongly agree with Isiah. Those teams were stacked.

  • Javy

    I will only listen to “MR. Airness” and that’s it.
    Everybody else who speaks with regards to Lebron has no say and please change the logo to “Jumpman” once and for all!!!

  • Kwame

    I think I should ALSO start WRITING every SECOND word WITH capital LETTERS^^

  • MikeC.

    Bashing Isiah the GM is too easy. NY’s biggest problem is Dolan. I loathe that man.

  • The Philosopher

    tavoris:
    I’ll say this.
    He scored that job down in Florida.
    Not easy to get that kind of job when one has Isiah’s kind of documented baggage.
    He knows the right people.
    Now, I may be wrong, but I would be willing to bet that Isiah “volunteered” his take concerning The King to the newspaper. He has a history of inviting himself into places and situations where he may not be particularly welcomed.
    But, because of his clout, he is “let in”…
    Isiah is a beast.
    A Chicago hustler type dude, man.

  • JTaylor21

    @Tavoris, I don’t understand why people would think that MJ is more qualified when it comes to making credible basketball decisions than Zeke when MJ has been just as BAD a GM/Owner with the wizards and bobcats (though they’ve gotten slight better). Dude picked Kwame Freaking Brown as the #1 pick for heaven sakes, that is worse than anything Isiah did with the knicks in my opinion.

  • MikeC.

    @ Kwame. YES you SHOULD. I SUPPORT your ENDEAVOR.

  • http://jayemmbee.blogspot.com ClutchPerformer

    co-sign Hamik

    @Javy Im the most Hardcore MJ fan and even that I wouldnt say, I rather they just retired his number but thats my bias speaking

    anyways Isiah is the prototype of Lebron, in terms of no class. Lebron just took it further on the court and Isiah off the court
    both are douches in terms of loser to the Better man,
    Lebron refusing to shake with the Magic after being beat

    and Isiah walking off the court b4 shaking after the bulls swept them

    Isiah is the “who asked you” legend, hes great but we often dont care what he has to say since he speaks out his ass.

  • MikeC.

    @ JTaylor. MJ picking Kwame was a bad move, but that was a very weak draft for franchise talent. It’s not like MJ had any other obvious choices. Tyson Chandler? Eddy Curry? There was some talent deeper down the board, but nobody knew Tony Parker was going to be this good. Joe Johnson was questioned for coming out so early. Pau Gasol wasn’t well known. In hindsight, taking Kwame still seems defensible based on what people thought at the time. Kwame was big, athletic, and viewed as a good defender and rebounder with raw offensive potential. If we’re going to trash MJ, the Rip Hamilton trade was worse.

  • The Philosopher

    Michael only took Kwame because he wanted to stick it to The Bulls.
    The ONLY reason.

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    Jtaylor: “Dude picked Kwame Freaking Brown as the #1 pick for heaven sakes, that is worse than anything Isiah did with the knicks in my opinion.” That is your opinion. My opinion is, your opinion is stupid. Picking a highschool phenom as #1 pick was a high risk-high reward decision. Taking Jerome James however, knowing full well that he sucks, with an insanely overvalued contract, well that’s just plain bad.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    He’s absolutely right.

  • http://www.shawnkemp.com Masr

    cosign mikec.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    tavoris: How do you know Isiah faked his daughter’s suicide attempt? Has this been proven? I just want to know because I’ve heard nothing about it.

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    There’s also Dan Dickau. And Jerome Williams. And Penny. And Francis. And Curry. And Maurice Taylor. And countless draft picks.

  • The Philosopher

    @teddy:
    The police said so, no?

  • MikeC.

    ^ from what I’ve read, Isiah almost OD’d on sleeping pills, but tried to spin it and said it was his daughter, not him.

  • JTaylor21

    @Krishan, I don’t care whether or not picking a HS player #1 was a high risk/reward decision. Anybody who saw Kwame in high school knows that he wasn’t gonna turn out to be nothing more than an average NBA player at best. Dude has absolutely no offensive game, cement hands, lacks athleticism, and struggles to understand even the most basic offensive sets. Like I said picking one of the BIGGEST busts of all-time at 1 is worse than any transgressions Zeke had.

  • tavoris

    Teddy-google “isiah threw daughter under the bus”. The first result is an article from Yahoo Sports. Isiah had said that his daughter was going through an ordeal, but then the police cheif came forward and said that EMT’s responded to a 40-something year old man unconscious at Isiah’s home.
    Unless Isiah’s daughter is a man in her 40′s, he spun the ‘ish out of that.
    @MJ isn’t a better exec than Thomas…but he is more credible as a person who was in a similar situation to James.

  • http://slamonline.com Krishan

    You’re right Jtaylor. Picking a 19-year old with what was perceived as upside to a three-year contract of about 3mil per year is worse than snagging a 30 year old center with abysmal averages for 5 years and 6mill per year. When they could have easily not taken him, nevermind paying him less. And then playing a total of four games. I see your point.

  • http://sdjkflf.com Jukai

    ^^^^^
    Fantastic

  • drosefan

    JTaylor
    Isiah is as great as Jordan and Magic?…What planet are you from? This is the same guy who ruined the Knicks organization. Same guy who spoke negatively about Magic upon hearing about him and his HIV virus. There’s a reason why almost all of the NBA greats who were associated with Isiah don’t have a lot of nice things to say about him.

  • total scrotal implosion

    How different would the league be if pau went no 1

  • JTaylor21

    @DRose, I’m from a planet where there’s NO GOAT. What does zeke’s greatness have to do with his off the court transgressions huh. Also yes Zeke is as great as those guys, one of the biggest reason being that his Bad Boys beat down MJ/Magic/Bird’s teams when they were all in their prime. No NBA player/team in history can say they accomplished that.

  • tavoris

    Once again-he did NOT beat MJ in his prime. MJ was-at the time-a selfish prodigy with no real talent and/or experience behind him.
    Plus, those Pistons teams were much, much more than a one-man show.

  • kabelion

    wait, Isiah is a sleazeball, and lacks credibility but the guy taking retrovirals and the other guy with the gambling problem and monthly ex-wife payments have it and arent?
    Keep drinking the Kool-aid.

  • drosefan

    Jtaylor,
    His on the court prowess didn’t match Jordan or Magic in no way either. So on the court or off, he’s not on the level of either one of these men. When Detroit was beating the Bulls, MJ had a young Scottie Pippen and he had not grown into the team player he would later be. Not only are you against Kobe for no reason, you also seem to harbor some resentment towards MJ. Michael wasn’t in his prime during those years. He was at his most explosive form athletically, but not his prime.

  • Darius (Eastern Michigan’s Future)

    The 1st smart thing Isiah has ever done in his life

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Yall cats are acting like MJ couldn’t be beat, he couldn’t, people forget that MJ had refs and Stern in his back pocket, he got every call. Barkley his friend even called the NBA out on it. I was and am a hughe MJ fan. I love Zeke game, and like the fact he was the only one of the dudes back then that would have tried to tear MJ head off. Zeke has a point, Magic had stacked teams like Larry and MJ had the greatest defensive player in his peak, then with Pippen in a tougher NBA, got the greatest rebounder ever. People forget Magic ran off his coach, so imagine if Magic had a subpar team and no ring in 7 years, he would have made a punk move too. Imagine MJ playing for 10 years and no ring, he would have killed someone, so I like Zeke view. Zeke get critized for the NY team mess, but Knicks suck with Dnotoni now and will with him later. HECK Knick fans, they passed up Brandon Jennings, I would be more mad at that for a kick that shoots 3 pointers from Syracuse. Zeke is my number one pick for point guard in any era. BOOK IT!!!

  • JTaylor21

    The seed OMG, I AGREE 100% with every single thing that you said. The last sentence is the one I love the most; I TOO would take Zeke over any point guard in history even the GREAT magic. Zeke just possessed a strong minded demeanor and a “I don’t give a F*CK” attitude that so few point guards have. Other greats didn’t like him and he didn’t care one bit.

  • The Philosopher

    Michael didn’t start winning until Isiah and ‘em got old.
    Get ‘em JTaylor21!
    The Seed came off today, too…

  • http://www.slamonline.com Pardeep

    Isiah is right… Michael could say what he wants but Magic had a stacked stacked team. Jordan had Pippen and no other star

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