Tuesday, June 12th, 2012 at 1:35 pm  |  92 responses

Isiah Thomas Heavily Criticized in Dream Team Documentary



Plenty of hype has been built around the Dream Team doc airing on NBATV tomorrow night (9pm EST), and rightfully so. One of the more under-played aspects of the program to this point, however, is the criticism of Isiah Thomas – who was famously left off the team – by some of the Dream Teamers. Per the NY Post: “In a sneak preview shown at The NBA Finals for media Monday night, Michael Jordan reveals one of the ‘stipulations’ for him joining the Dream Team was having his Pistons rival not included but claimed the sentiment also came from the top. It has been long speculated Jordan kept Thomas off the club but the documentary reveals the snub ran deeper than just MJ. Jordan’s Bulls teammate, Scottie Pippen, also said he didn’t want Thomas on the club. ‘I despised how he played the game,’ Pippen said of Thomas. Pippen charged that Thomas spearheaded Detroit’s ‘Bad Boys’ and incited the rough play. ‘Isiah was the general,’ Pippen said. ‘He was the guy who would yap at his teammates and say ‘Kick them on their ass. Do whatever you have to do.’ No, I didn’t want him on the Dream Team.’ When asked if Jordan wanted Thomas on the 1992 Olympic club at the Barcelona Olympics, Pippen said, ‘I can’t speak for Michael but I don’t think he wanted him on the team.’ Jordan said in his interview that he was reluctant to join the Dream Team because he had a bad first Olympic experience as part of the college group and treasured his offseason. But he came around after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, David Robinson, among others, were all in. ‘That was one of the stipulations put to me that Isiah wasn’t part of the team,’ Jordan said. ‘I was getting strong innuendos it wasn’t just…it was coming from a higher place who didn’t want Isiah on the team.’ Former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Thomas was not considered because of the incident at the end of the recent Bulls-Pistons playoff series in which he had his teammates bolt the court before the final buzzer. It was seen as a lack of sportsmanship. ‘We were picking a group just after the Pistons had been eliminated by the Bulls,’ Granik said. ‘It was very bad timing for Isiah. Everyone had that impression in their mind, the picture of Isiah walking off the court.’ Rod Thorn, part of the Olympic selection committee and who drafted Jordan, said, ‘When the Pistons walked off the court before the final bell, it left a lot of bad taste in a lot of people’s minds.’ NBA TV officials said Monday a strong effort was made to get Thomas to participate in the documentary to give his side but he declined.”

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  • http://www.fiba.com Darksaber

    Since it’s Dream Team reminiscing week, here’s Lang’s excellent oral history of the best team ever assembled. Fantastic stuff in there.
    http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/201207/dream-team-20th-anniversary-1992-olympics-usa-basketball

  • AD

    i thought rough play was cool back then but I guess There is no pleasing people. Jordan was no saint EITHER. I would have smacked him around too if i was going against him. Jordan shot free throws with his eyes closed hahaha… Hypocrites

  • http://www.soundcloud.com/tray-5 T-Ray

    That’s pretty low for that to have happened if it’s true. Isiah has constantly gotten a bad rep since he has retired. Can’t wait to watch the documentary tomorrow.

  • http://www.fiba.com Darksaber

    Ha, Zeke declined to participate huh? Why would he now, he wasn’t a Dream Teamer. But still….you mad, Isiah?

  • Sparker

    does this qualify as kicking somebody when he’s down?

  • http://www.fiba.com Darksaber

    I could be wrong but didn’t the Pistons walk-off happen a full year before the olympics, in the ’91 playoffs?
    One would think the lasting image in people’s heads a year later was JORDAN HITTING ALL THOSE THREES IN GAME 1 of the Finals in Portland, no?
    Hmm, i call shenanigans on Granik’s statement.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    Poor, poor IT.

  • Ctk

    he flatout should of made the team …at the time only Magic/Bird had more rings ….n Stockton wont touching him ….Wilkins should of made it over Mullin too

  • O

    Who knew Zeke was such a burgerduck? Seriously, what does James Dolan see in this kid again? They should run off to Canada and just be with each other forever. Let Donald Trump or some Arab oil billionaire buy the Knicks and go all in like the Luxury Tax doesn’t even exist…

  • bike

    Considering the egos, money, hype, and publicity surrounding this team, it’s no suprise that some bad blood entered the equation. Hoping the doc doesn’t dwell on the negatives. No point now.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    Stockton was a better floor general and better defender. Not by astronomical amounts, but still better.

  • Big B

    I don’t see where Isiah would’ve fit in with the rest of the team. What I don’t like is how Karl Malone was cool with playing with Magic to get a medal but was against him playing in the league again because he didn’t want to get the HIV virus.

    @ AD – Shooting free throws with your eyes closed & being the ring leader in unnecessary physical play are two totally different things. I Stevie Wonder how that labels Jordan as a hypocrite.

    @ Darksaber – It says they were picking the team the year before & that’s why that was one of the ‘reasons’ why Isiah didn’t get picked.

  • LA Huey

    Anyone else find it odd that some of the Dream Team players did not want Zeke on the team because of his Bad Boys exploits but was OK with Daly as their coach? I wish they’d just say they didn’t like Zeke and Stockton was a better fit.

  • Omar

    Respectfully disagree with you, Lakeshow as far as Stcokton being a better floor general. The difference is that Isiah did not have Karl Malone on his team.

  • tavoris

    cold how they all hung him out to dry, but nothing surprising here. We ALL knew that Isiah was persona non grata outside of Detroit at that point. Bird and Magic already had the sentimental inclusions on the team. (remember that Bird could barely run at that point in his career).

    a young Jordan, Pippen, & Barkley didn’t need more than one PG on that roster.

  • http://slamonline.com Caboose

    I can’t stand Zeke as a person but they sound sooooooooo ghey. Like, get over it. All of you romanticizing these old timers like they were stand up dudes are even more annoying. A bunch of grown men getting together like teenage girls tryna blackball another player is petty and feminine.

  • LA Huey

    I’ll co-sign a version of Caboose without all the sexism.

  • martey

    Zeke was better than stockton in every shape or form…anyone who lived the era and is not reading stats twenty years later knows this…someone mentionned up there that wilkins was better than mullins..very true but if im not mistaken, wilkins was born in france..same goes for olajuwon who is nigerian…those three would have really made that team iconic..as far as zeke he is like a kevin garnett..his team loves him but i doubt other players do.imagine kg as coach and gm ten years from now…..

  • Heals

    but Omar he had Dumars, Lambier, VinnyJ, MarkAguire, Mahorn, and I’m forgetting a couple. Not saying I agree or disagree with LS, just that using Malone as the difference isn’t enough. Plus Malone wasn’t remembered fondly for his “clutchness.” As far as Isiah’s reputation I’m kinda indifferent. I’d like to have an opinion, but it’s tough cause although he has been wronged by others, he’s also done his fair share to deserve some of that backlash. All I know is the dude could ball out and was tough as nails so much like MJ’s short comings I’ll choose to focus on the court (and front office) rather than the personal baggage…

  • AD

    @Big B i was calling the people hypocrites… I mentioned jordan because it shows the hypocracy of jordan doing the things he did and only mentioning Isiah.

  • AD

    @heals what does clutchness have to do with performance?

  • sid

    cosign caboose

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    Zeke still accomplished more in his career than all of them except the obvious big three.

  • bdogg

    i respect his game but zeke was punk and did not deserve to be on the team..period! he ratted on magic too! thanks zeke …good bye!

  • sebby

    @Darksaber

    They were selecting the team right after the ’91 playoffs, so that image of walking off the court was still fresh in the minds of conservative, judgmental, higher ups like Granick and the like.

  • sebby

    The dream team was more about marketing and honoring the great players of the preceding decade, than finding the right “fits” for the club like they do now. To leave Isiah off, and not honor one of the top 5 players of his generation, and one of the greatest of all time, because of petty childish differences was completely dishonorable and pathetic. Cats like Jordan should have taken the opportunity to apologize to Isiah, yet, apparently, they are digging in their heels further . A shame too, because its not as if Jordan, Malone, Bird, Magic, etc are complete saints. Just disgraceful.

  • Harlem601

    Guess playing for you country wasn’t enough you got to pick the team too.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    I love how these cats hated Zeke guts but allowed Stockton to be on team. Stockton was one of the most dirtiest players of all-time right up there with the bill lambier’s and reggie evan’s of the world.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    he wasn’t that dirty at that time JT. you are completely right, but he wasn’t considered so dirty in 92

  • Do Work

    @slick ric i’m guessing you mean the big three would be jordan, magic and bird, which means you think pippen, 6 championships, or robinson, 2 championships, accomplished less than isiah? what about drexler? he only won one ship but went there twice. you could even argue that stockton accomplished more minus the championships, same for barkley.

  • http://www.sportsgrid.com/media/shaq-kobe-highlights/ shutup

    I have to disagree with Caboose on this one, Isiah took competition to a whole new level, he dwelled in the grey area between playing hard and playing dirty. Why would Jordan want to play with him? and if this article is based on facts then the decision didn’t come down to Jordan, you do have to remember they were representing a nation not just a sport or city. Although some incidents did occur with some of the players, Isiah was not a necessity and his lack of sportsmanship ultimately was the reason he was left out.

  • Heals

    Malone has been (fairly or not) remembered for coming short/being unreliable when his team needed it most…

  • ab40

    Isiah said Magic was gay and that was the reason he got HIV, dissed him a lot after that whilst before that they were best friends. Magic was the leader of that team. And if you had to choose between dumars and thomas vs jordan and pippen you’d choose the latter. Not just on basketball skills alone but on marketability also.

  • http://slamonline.com Caboose

    There is a difference between not wanting to play with someone and refusing to play if they were allowed on the team. And I never said Jordan was the sole decision maker. Zeke wasn’t the only player in the league to border on dirty and playing hard. He was the most successful to play that way, at the expense of the same guys who hated him. A bunch of grown men collectively shunning another player is very effeminate to me. It’s very high school girl catty.

  • Heals

    For those interested in this check ClydeDrexler’s quite honest interview in 3rd hour of the DanPatrick Show today…

  • http://www.slamonline.com Slick Ric

    @Do work, Robison and especially Pippen didn’t accomplish more than Thomas because neither one of them lead their team to the finals and none of them went through Magic, Bird and Jordan in their respective primes.

  • BadBoyz

    Isiah Thomas not making Team USA will forever be a black eye on the NBA. I don’t care what the perception is. The fact is that Jordon basically used his clout to keep him off the team. So right away they had special treatment for players at the expense of clearly and I mean CLEARLY deserving other players. Thomas was an icon of that generation on the level of Bird, Jordon, and Magic. It was his Pistons that literally willed themselves to victory playing team basketball and hard core defense and yet somehow that is some sort of mark against them. When Bird, Magic, and Jordon did it, it was the mark of a leader…what crap. The fact were still talking about it 20 years later shows what a travesty it was.

  • ClydeSays

    Seems like the Olympic Committee took that no-handshake thing to heart. I’m no Zeke fan, but he clearly deserved to be on that team.

  • rob stewart

    Just think if the Dream Team had Zeke and traded Leatner for Shaq!

  • Compton 310

    Didn’t Karl Malone elbow Zeke in the face? Karl probably didn’t want Zeke on the Dream Team either. I take Stockton over Zeke anyday.

  • http://lele0164@yahoo.com Detroit lele313

    I will not be watching the docmentary for the following reasons: The NBA and the Dream Team overall board should have been dismanteled for not allowing Isiah on the team. They select Isiah’s coach but not him, one of the top 5 point guards at that time. The NBA is fake because Isiah walked off the court which was not good sportsmanship. I agree 100%! But we can listed a number of things on Malone, Magic, Bird and Pippen since he had the nerve to say something about Isiah that does not represent good sportsmanship or morals for represnting our country. But you all don’t want to hear that because nobody would be going or there would not be a good team representing America. Pippen sound like a like girl talking about Isiah play was too rough, it was the entire team and because our defense was working now you want to cry. NBA is all about money they have no moral or loyalty unless you are kissing their butts like Magic is doing now. Friends tell the truth Magic lifestyle is the main reason he contacted the HIV virus. I’m glad Isiah decline to speak, the entire NBA as a whole have been disrespecting him since him and Magic fell out. For the record Magic is copying off Jaylen Rose special but he told truth, Magic will be sugar coated!

  • crowcolorado

    What comes around goes around. Zeke remember the 1985 All Star Game…. Thomas is a piece of crap with a bigger ego than Jordan. It was nice to see him get his!

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    If you have to choose between Jordan and Thomas, you choose Jordan. Chuck Daily knew that. You should too. End of story.

  • http://slamonline.com Billy Sunday

    so the celtics walked off the court before the game 7 ended and didnt shake hands with the heat and no one is talking about that unless I missed something…

  • sebby

    @ NBK nobody should have to “choose”. Isiah deserved to be on that team — here is a player, barely over 6 ft., so talented he made Bobby Knight bow down, and change his whole coaching ideology to accommodate him. Zeke repeatedly beat Larry Bird’s celtics, Jordan’s Bulls, and Magic’s lakers, leading a very good but not great team. Zeke played himself out of poverty and was one of the toughest, and most dedicated players of all time. Zeke’s non-inclusion is all about pettiness and ego, not honor.

    Malone fathered a child out of wedlock refusing to financially, or emotionally support the child, publicly says he wouldnt play against an HIV-positive magic, almost killed Isiah w/ a nasty cheap shot, yet Malone was included and honored. Isiah wasnt perfect, but he was disrespected here, and I know that hurt him a lot.

  • Bob

    20 years later and the dream team is still talking about the MAN they blackballed. How interesting.

    Isiah Thomas. #11. Greatest Piston ever. 2-time NBA Champion. 6′ 1″ tall.

    What a blessing we in Detroit had to experience a decade of the most exciting highest caliber hoops ever in the NBAs greatest time.

    Dream Team whatever…. Joke.

    If only Barry Sanders could have willed his team to a Super Bowl like Zeke DID.

  • Dingo Rob

    Jordan hold grudges, proven in his HOF speech that even after winning everything and being the greatest ever he can’t let go. Piston Bad Boy is a load of BS, seriously I still think it comes to how he was frozen out of the all star as a rookie

  • tshane

    Stockton is the greatest PG of all time!!! and his assist record will never be touched!

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    If everything went as it “should” we would all be nba superstars bruh

  • Scot Peirson

    Look, no matter what anyone says, Isiah had developed a nasty rep around league circles outside of what he had done to Jordan and the Bulls. Remember, when he came out of Indiana in 1981, Dallas had the first pick in the draft. Then Mavs’ owner Donald Carter wanted to personally interview Isiah and Mark Aguirre separately to determine who the Mavs would pick. Isiah was interviewed first…and Carter came out of the interview flat out saying the Mavs were picking Aguirre. No one has ever known what Isiah said that would make Carter drop any idea of picking him.
    As for MJ not wanting him on the Dream Team…look, Isiah led the freezeout of Jordan at the ’85 ASG. The implementation of the Jordan Rules with the Pistons was one thing, but Zeke didn’t have the stones to go near MJ to participate. When the Bulls finished off the Pistons in the ’91 ECF, Isiah showed his butt with the walkout. He was a frontrunner. Couldn’t deal with the loss. Then he wanted to complain about not getting picked for the Dream Team??!? He had already gone way beyond the standards for cranial/rectal inversion.
    As for Malone’s elbow to Zeke that opened up Thomas’ eyebrow early in the ’91-92 season, that came a week after Utah had gone to Detroit and Isiah had dropped 44 on Stockton–I’ve often thought that should have been considered a league-approved hit job.
    No, the members of the basketball team that went to Barcelona didn’t want Isiah on that team. Personally, I NEVER BLAMED THEM ABOUT THAT FOR A SECOND.

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