Linball

This is not baseball where stats tell the story. Thomas could have averaged 25 a game if he was a pure gunner. Thomas stayed within the pistons team concepts. You completely underestimate how good Isiah was.

 

I think it is foolish to claim Thomas was not one of the top 10 player in the game during their run. He simply dominated games. As an absolute Piston hater it used to drive me nuts how he could take over games. The stats don't tell the story.

 

What is ignorant about it?

Have you watched this man play throughout his NBA career? He drifts in and out of consciousness.

 

This is miles away from "destroying" them.

 

A moronic statement. He led two teams to the finals. He is the best player in the NBA in the past 15 years. He was the best player in the playoffs by far before the finals.

 

Bury the lede much?

 

In the last 30 years, the NBA Champions almost always have one focal point or player. Bird, Magic, Thomas, Shaq, Kobe, Pierce/Garnett, Erving/Malone, Jordan, Kareem, Hakeem, Duncan, Billips/Wallace and a few others.

When you subdivide that list by only keeping guys who were focal points on NCAA Champions, the list is pretty short/

Kareem
Walton
Magic
Jordan
Thomas

I might be missing someone, but that is quite a list, and Zeke is on it.

 

Well, if you're going from "star" to "focal point," you'd have to put Rip Hamilton on there, and then you're off the rails on this argument.

But I agree, the idea that Isiah wasn't a top-flight (top-10 i think is the category) NBA player is ridiculous. To use the stat line to argue that he didn't have the impact of Karl Malone would border on childish reasoning.

 

No. You argued that it was somehow an aberration that the Heat and Lebron played defense in order to beat the Bulls. That is a simply not reality.

 

I don't know how much clearer I can make myself. Isiah Thomas was an all-time great. I don't think he was one of the 10 best players in the NBA when the Pistons won their titles. He had previously been the third-best player in the NBA, while he was in his prime.

 

OK, I get you. Yeah, they are consistently one of the better defensive teams in the league. I was more sounding off about his general apathy regarding key moments of key games - though it's largely on offense.

 

Its wasn't apathy. It was anxiety. There is a huge difference.

Everything you're saying about James suggests you've watched very little of his career outside of last year's Eastern Conference Finals and Finals.