Isiah Thomas 12x NBA All Star on Detroit Bad Boys, Magic Johnson & Feud w/ Michael Jordan |The Pivot

Isaiah Thomas on the court can do so much more than like a friend could just do it right away charity event I know oh maybe a Merry Christmas shirt on with Mike Tyson merry Christmas Christmas I've already discovered we are also dealing with two guys who have won championships in their respect for sports so we're the odd man out man they're gonna talk again yeah we just talked about it what was the question he said who who has won a championship on every level he's like so many people like even Superstar basketball players did when in high school didn't win one in college didn't win uh one in the lead but he won one high school college in the league it's hard to win no no what the point I was making is is like we we take winning championships for granted but when you when you look at like how many people have really won championships it ain't a whole lot of them at any level right so whether it be high school college or Pro you know it ain't out of the whole group it's only a small group of people that really won at any level even when you win multiples different level in multiples like you did the second one the third is still that excitement well yeah and even I don't know I played one playoff game you got hell beat out of Me by Ed Reed alone well imagine how Ed Reed fell to win and to be at the highest level of winning it it is the most and for me it was the most intoxicating feeling ever you know it's like when you can when you can look out at everybody at every team and know that okay my team is better than your team your team and your team no matter where we play at right that that's a hell of a feeling yeah they got a few group chat [Laughter] bad boys think ever right that's all it is I'm a part of it now too but to this day yeah let me let me oh that's all that's hard I thought she was joking let me show you how we get down Chad you could be a part of that group chat that's like the perfect group chat for you oh I'm sure it's not PG-13 that is you know you can scroll scroll up and down [Laughter] boys got some dogs man hold up Limitless [Music] [Music] [Music] man well listen welcome to the pivot um you need no introduction but I would like to give at least a little bit uh first off my father's favorite player to ever touch a basketball that was the first thing that was the first thing I ever told you when we finally met I was Starstruck to be honest it was one of those times even with all the people I met in my life it was like when you were a kid and I didn't realize that you weren't just on TV that you were an actual human that was able to do all the things you you were doing that that day kind of solidified it for me I was like man that's mother F and Isaiah Thomas thank you you know and so Basketball Hall of Famer uh now we know I don't even know this champion on every level two-time um NBA champion one of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball in I know you know that but every time uh the the top 50 or the top 75 rows around I'm glad the world gets to be reminded and even more than that man just been such a a gracious human to me and OG and I think that's the one thing that matters most whenever I get an opportunity to speak at you so welcome to the pivot got my boy Channing in this Merry Christmas Merry Christmas shirt I know we love Mike it's the holidays you know Freddie T he brought out a new pair of dunks for us today uh the DraftKings happy Dad thank you guys so much for your sponsorship and your partnership also to everybody who's subscribed we're now over 600 000 subscribers that's extremely important into us we don't take it for granted how much you guys support us and uh it's going to be a Hall of Fame almost Championship episode this way this way it's Championship episode hey let's hey Phil let's talk about being all Americans though [Laughter] Isaiah you know you your kid from Chicago people I'm sorry west side of Chicago and people think of Chicago and they only think of the NBA team that is there not the countless Hall of Famers not the countless great basketball players that all seem to have a level of toughness about them that's extremely different and you make the decision to go play at Indiana yeah with Bobby Knight what was that decision like for you how much did that help you grow into the man today but first of all you're giving me a little bit too much credit saying that I made the decision because my mother made the decision you know you're not kids put their hat on and say hey I've decided to go to you know X University yeah my mom called the press conference and said my son has made his decision he was eating lunch I said right now right next to her like she said my son has decided that he's going to Indiana University to play for bob Knight and I was like I know Mama yes I am it's a different era back then like you know you kids and our days they they can make their own decisions back then uh you you weren't making no decisions and you know I was heavily recruited and I was one of those kids in one of those families we were extremely poor we got offered a lot of money and we wanted to take the money my brother's name and we we wanted to get paid to go to college and I never forget you know this and I won't name the name of the school this one man came in but you know he said it was fifty thousand dollars in a briefcase open the briefcase up it's cash now we had never seen that kind of money before in our life so it could have just been a hundred dollars in there right but he said it was fifty thousand we don't know right and so we we jumping up we yeah yeah yeah yes time to get now man you we ain't got no lights wow ain't no food in the refrigerator okay we have roaches too right you know it's like so and all my recruiting visits had to be in the daytime because we had no lights so so now everybody's happy you know wanna know high five and then but we was giving each other five right and and I never forget you know how you look at that one person and they looking like you right now they ain't smiling they ain't doing nothing that was my mom wow my mom got up went over to the briefcase closed it looked at the guy and said my son's not for sale at that time all we had in the refrigerator was a jug of water and in one sugar water it was just just a straight jug of water that was it no food no nothing and you know my brothers and everybody was mad you know now that I'm older I understand what my mom was saying and what that meant but back then we was like Hey I'm we for sale like you know we need some money mom ain't nothing in the refrigerator so coach Knight came and when he came he said um I'm off for your son three things that's me sitting there he said he knew you were making a decision at this point he's like hey Miss Tommy I'm happy I'm off of your son three things right a is going to be a gentleman B he's going to graduate from college and see I'm gonna teach him everything about the game of basketball that I know and me and my brother's name we were sitting in the room he was like well this this ain't gonna work we ain't we ain't going to Indiana it's nice seeing you coach you know and that was it my mom said you know you you're going to Indiana is is that why it's just recent stores back then and Bobby Knight I'm gonna call him crazy you correct me if I'm wrong because slapping people punching coaches choking out soccer or was a wrestling coach he choked out some resident coach I read a bunch of stories but you and him had some problems oh yeah yeah is that is the pushback of you not wanting to go there your personality differences why did you why did he kick you out of practice why y'all I heard y'all got into a aggressive arguing all of that right all of that everything that you just said all of that happened now here's what I'm gonna say now that I'm older I'm so happy and glad that coach Knight had the courage to coach me and to have confrontation with me right he wasn't trying to be my friend I didn't know the talent that I had and I didn't know the type of person that I would grow to be but I knew at 17 I wasn't the person that I wanted to be or the type of player I was going to be my mom and my brother's name you know they was like okay you got to do right but at the same time yeah we had those confrontations but all of us as players we didn't have friend coaches like the coaches now they want to be your friend they don't want to coach you right and to be to really get the best out of what you have you know somebody's got to pull it out of you and it's got to be a little confrontation yeah and coach and I I appreciate him because he wasn't afraid to have confrontation with me and you know did that make me better yeah a lot of times he was wrong and I went I want the type of guy you can holler and scream at and like I said I'm from Chicago so it's like you get up in my face hollering and screaming that means okay we we getting ready to do something right and so I would just say to him hey look just just tell me what you want me to do all that other stuff that ain't necessary I'ma do what you want me to do but all the other stuff you you can't talk to me that way because now that make me feel like I got to do something back right like we got a real issue and we talking like that yeah this ain't practice no more no no no if you if you if you run up on me like that my my reaction is okay we getting ready to do something and unfortunately I grew up liking the fight and I said I'm not one of them guys who say they won all they fight because I didn't you know but growing up you know the first thing you got to do is you got to learn how to take up excuse me when I say this you gotta learn how to take an ass weapon yeah yeah you and you you know you gotta take something to give some right and then yeah and and you know so you don't win all the time but then you get to liking it so I grew up liking the fight and then I learned how to fight like really really good so you know when he would talk like that I went back and down and I wasn't afraid and he was looking at me like and you act like you want to do something like I do yes yeah yeah but then people would realize like like my friends would be like man you let them talk to you like that because at the end of the day you realize like okay Coach tonight wasn't a little dude man he was six six you know and he would get all red when he started screaming in Holland it was like okay this is gonna be this is gonna be a long battery you said uh your mom made a decision for you yeah and I've heard some stories why I looked up some stuff is it true that she was packing that heat oh my mom was a straight gangster absolutely my mom Carrie it like they got these metal detectors and stuff now my mom couldn't have got in the game [Laughter] on in the game and at the game and then my my aunt she had a switchblade up in her wig so she and so real wait what yeah so my So my aunt always had a switchblade and my mom you know she had a switchblade too so so when I was little growing up your mom you know they could do tricks with them switchblade so your mom be talking to you and they'd be sharp and they blade and then they started doing tricks but not Junior ass to school now you know did you do your homework today son with the blade and they sharp and they switchblade but but back then they could do tricks with them switch blades man they can yeah boy what you said in the wig though we didn't we didn't hide nothing right so I remember like the first couple of games they would they would Fried Chicken they would you know they would bring food to the game they would bring they drink to the game and so they sitting in the front row and you know people come by hey can I get you some popcorn and they going to their personal we good you know they sitting there watching the game cause we had never been to like NBA games and stuff like that and in about a third quarter I'd never forget this referee God bless his soul his name Earl Strom right by third quarter you know my mom had a little drink she drink about third quarter it was like she's cursing everybody out he's so Earl strong came by me and he said uh Isaiah can you uh can you tell your mama like to you know kind of calm her down I said nah man you gotta talk this is what my mom said and I and I truly understand this right she used to always say this she said baby it ain't always good when the white people got all the guns um I was like all right you gotta respect that though yeah yeah yeah because you know in those in those buildings right you come in that's what the security was yeah the security the the the cops and all those people so you're my her mindset was one of us got to have some heat too my mom's from Vicksburg Mississippi and she got ran out of Mississippi at 14. and she never let us go back when her sister died she didn't even go to the funeral it's safe to say your mother's your your best your your best and favorite coach yeah my mom and dad straight you know yeah absolutely but my mom you know if I had to pick one out of the two I I have to pick my mom my dad used to call my mom Joe Lewis that was his nickname that was his nickname [Music] [Laughter] Yeah Yeah you mentioned your mom being at the games in Detroit and the referee coming up to you saying hey man get you get your mom to chill when you do make that transition and obviously you go to a place you know Chicago and Detroit with much of like high African-American uh black communities and you know communities that you know back in those times were you know people thought that that's where the violence was and you became really active in the community just in in reading about you Aretha Franklin becomes someone you get close to and you ingratiate yourself into Detroit when you got there was becoming a man away from the court was that something that was extremely important to you it was but it was scary um because I left home at 17 when I left to go to Indiana I was 17 not knowing that I would never go home again right so when I when I was at Indiana played on the Pan Am team then played on the Olympic team that got boycotted so I was away from home the whole summer went to both sessions summer school and now I'm in the pros right and I had never been on my own had never handled a checkbook or anything so when I got to Detroit I didn't know this but this had gangster my mom was she had called the mayor Coleman Young you know whatever conversation they had I don't know what they said but I know the way he welcomed me and brought me into Detroit as if to say he one of us and then said I spoke to your mama you know what the conversation was like and so we we come from a a family of activism like activism is you know that's the family business my mom worked with Fred Hampton march with Martin Luther King um on the west side I always say I'm from the west side of Chicago because on the west side of Chicago you had the Black Panthers you had the Vice Lords you had um you know Noble Drew Ali in terms of mores and Moorish teachings uh and when Martin Luther King moved into Chicago he literally moved four blocks from my house so my mom you know would take us to all the marches and you know there was no babysitters so you know we walking down the street but that's it's a street name that my mom in Chicago now on Holman and Jackson and that's you know that's who she was so when I got to Detroit that's what Detroit was all about so getting involved in activism getting involved and you know standing up for who we are uh beating back stereotypes and what Detroit was being portrayed as as you know every stereotype that you labeled or put on black men and women that's what they were saying about Detroit and so fighting and beating it back and then coming into the NBA you know it was it was definitely different and you talk about activism now in sports and you know the Colin Kaepernick when that happened a couple years back and now every league is you know to stop hating they're wearing stuff putting on the court WNBA NBA NFL coming from a family of activists did you feel open to articulate that when you were playing because I was bro you I'm gonna call you old I.T but yeah yeah that was back when it wasn't accepted for athletes to speak their mind absolutely and and we we and I were speaking all Minds in Detroit which made us controversial you know when you talk about race class gender culture that's what the Pistons was talking about right so um you know when you when you look at the things that we were stepping on the stage talking about like I think it was in 83 or 84. which made it you know real controversy or I said I at that time the only people who were covering All Sport were white males there were no females there was only one black editor at that time in the United States wow only one black editor and everybody who was covering a sport were white men and I said I I did what was my quote I said I do I do not want to be judged or perceived through only the gays of the white male that became like you know crazy and then I was vice president of the Players Association at that time and then I became president of the Players Association and I said to David Stern you know back during that time I said hey my my team's not going to play until we get you know some they call it diversity now I said until we get some black people covering our team David Stern was like all right okay okay now to this day in Detroit and if you go back and you look at the Detroit Pistons then we were the first team that had two African Americans on a Beat one two females covering our team and every beat writer became a columnist um from Terry Foster to Drew Sharp Brian Burwell we had Clifton and and even even when you look at the Pistons now in Detroit I think they still have two black beat writers covering their team now that became really controversial I became controversial and by the way a lot of other writers didn't like me and today it's cool to talk about diversity but back then it wasn't but Detroit that's what we that's what we represented and I say this to you we we talk about lamb beer right the first time Lambert was ever called a thug in his life Bambi ain't never been called a thug in his life is when he played with the Detroit pistol right now think about that right so these labels that they were putting on us we were fighting and pushing back against those labels and because we were fighting and pushing back and then calling them out we became controversial and when Nelson Mandela got out of prison in 1990 the first city he visited was the Detroit was Detroit and the first team that he took a picture with was me John Sally and the Detroit Pistons and that spoke volumes to the lead because we have been pushing back on this whole black male Thug the way you talk about us narrative and you know so race class culture you know that's where I come from on the west side so your mother is from Mississippi I'm sure she experienced some racism down there back in her time back in the day he moved to Chicago inner city on the west side I want to ask you later I don't know the differences of the size of Chicago but we can talk about that in a few the South Side get all the food and all the money okay all right that's that's enough hey man listen basically these are facts do you know what I'm saying yes and also another fact is that draftking Sportsbook DraftKings wants to help you win and we want to help you have some fun so any new customer using the promo code pivot any pre-game money line wager bet of five dollars you hit it you get a hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets and they got more for you and with the bonus best play the same game Paul is I wish I could have parlayed some I.T overs when he was back there playing but same game parlays multiple bets on the same game and you could even have a chance of winning more money and no matter where you are draftking has some for you if you don't have the sports book in your state don't worry DraftKings daily fantasy you still get paid listen get your mobile device Out download the DraftKings sports book app and remember any new customer using the promo code pivot a pre-game moneyline wager on any football game you hit it that's 150 in bonus bets now back to the show and then you go to Indiana um and I'm sure that probably has some similarities to Mississippi you know that making those transitions did that make you more of an activist it made me more of an activist and it also gave me more knowledge experiencing all that because there was a fight that my that my brother and Coach Knight got into on a recruiting trip when coach and I came to the house because my brother asked coach Knight he said going down to Indiana you know you have a lot of the clan in Indiana and you know if something jump off you know they call me Junior there's like who gonna take care of Junior and I thought this is a great answer back coach tonight but my brother didn't like it coach Knight leaned back and he said well if we winning they gonna look out for that's actually real life he says we if we win and they gonna look out right and my brother didn't like that answer so this one I knew it was going real because my me and my brother and him got up and my brother was like you know saying what he say right and so and then Coach Knight say well we can take this outside right and he stood up dude coach Knight stood up took off his coat started rolling up his knees and the whole hospital no no no no we can't we can't fight you know you know how it is in the crib right you're trying to break it up and then everybody's like heated like really heated and then you look over there again and my mom's sitting there like this I was like she like this dude [Music] so so yeah all that gave me knowledge and it gave me understanding so now when you step on the stage in sport right and they walk into the locker room and they put the mic in front of your face and they asking you questions and the people who are asking you questions wanting you to respond a certain way and if you don't respond the way they want you to respond then they don't want to talk to you or back in the day it ain't like it is now think about this back in the day they were interview you write down what you say and then they will go back in the editor again would critique what you say and then they would put it in the newspaper and that's what you said wow and it never changed because because it's nobody's fact checking nobody's going back and saying the editor fact check wow and and now I'm interviewing you now I'm writing it down not saying that anybody was doing anything bad but there were a couple of bad ones right we did have some bad ones recently you uh there's a quote from you and I'm a paraphrase there was a very very popular documentary that recently came out that you were called the [ __ ] on yeah yeah yeah and then you got the as you watched the documentary the person at the documentary was about was actually an [ __ ] throughout the entire documentary yes and so and and in that though when you're mentioning about the perceptions of you and you say how different people didn't like you normally because you say winning right if you win they go look out for you normally when you do win people do look out for you yeah there there are things that are excused from winners and champions that people who aren't very talented or people who aren't good at things they don't get how much did being on a team with Chuck Daly as a coach who wasn't a pretty boy coach he wasn't a coach that said what people wanting to say and playing with them horns and the lambeers you actually being tough not only skilled but a dude that was willing to fight how much of that though goes into the way people perceived and wanted to put out a negative Narrative of you a lot of that went into it um but also you know again what we represented you know the way we came to the arena the way we carried ourselves and then what we stood for again we we had just changed the whole industry in terms of how the game was going to be reported and talked about just by bringing in some black males to cover all Sport and then the next thing we said is oh no we we got to upgrade all hotels right we were the first team to start standing five-star hotels and then we the first team to start traveling with our own private plane oh wow yeah we we upgraded all the standards in the league across the board and check this out to this day you you hear Bad Boys when you talk about the Detroit Pistons right yep we were the first team to introduce another color that we took from football the Oakland Raiders the silver and black we y'all know Mike Ornstein right okay so Arnie was the one who kind of put the whole marketing thing together putting us with the Oakland Raiders the silver and black intimidate dominate you know we go out for shoot around and we got on Raider football jerseys and we and that became our third color yep one of one or third colors in the NBA so all of this all of this you know new color third Jersey uh shooting shirt hotels travel we changed all that right that was controversial we weren't supposed to be doing that now they give others credit now I'm gonna say something else because now y'all got me talking that's what we got you in for they like to give the Lakers and the Celtics you know they changed the league back they brought the league back but let me this is this is how I remember it now when the league took off is when the Detroit Pistons really showed up that when we showed up we was putting 50 000 in the stands these are all documented now 50 000 in the stands sixty thousand in the stands forty thousand thirty thousand then they say well y'all was playing in the silver Dome yeah but [ __ ] it was still 50 000 people there watching us play basketball right the highest rated games of the 80s these are the highest rated games Pistons against Lakers Pistons against Celtics Pistons against Bulls those are the highest rated games of the 80s and they all have one thing in common that's the Detroit Pistons are you crazy now you can you can talk about all them other teams if you want those are the facts to piggyback off RC's question because it didn't seem like he was upset being called an [ __ ] I've been called an [ __ ] no I was upset I was highly upset is that it's not negative it was the last dance the Last Dance documentary we obviously know everything that was said about Isaiah throughout that and that was one of the quotes and in it was quoted and then he quote tweeted it and said read the quote in its entirety don't cut it up I meant what I said yeah yeah now now here here's why I'm I was upset of watching a documentary of a guy being an [ __ ] to everybody but then call me an [ __ ] and I ain't been nothing but nice to this dude got this real talk go back and document it you can go back on the west side of Chicago I ain't talking about Michigan Avenue where they used to kick me off for shining shoes I couldn't shine shoes on Michigan Avenue I couldn't shine shoes on Rush Street they kicked me out of there on the west side of Chicago that's where I'm from okay now on the west side of Chicago where Michael Jordan got to Chicago I made it real easy for him to walk those streets on the west side of Chicago um my family took care of him my sister and his brother hung out as friends my little nephew lived with Michael Jordan wow I'm gonna say this again my little nephew lived with Michael Jordan now I'm being extremely good to this dude I'm calling his house during this period of time so all this you know Isaiah was an accident no no no no dude I was looking out for you now when we played right you ain't seen me hit Michael Jordan as a matter of fact you ain't seen me hit nobody Lambert and Mahorn would hit somebody and what they would do they would come hit me or say Isaiah here I said no no no no but that's the dude who fight him right oh well you told him to hit me so then they want to fight me okay well I know how to fight so I ain't backing down we can do that right but in Chicago during that period of time watching that doc here's the thing that I was most disappointed at I talked to you about Chuck Noll and how Chuck Knoll had like great respect in his coach right during that period of time in the 80s these were the five GMS read our back Jerry West Jack McCloskey Wayne Embry and Jerry cross those were the guys right the way I seen them treat Jerry Krause now imagine you get on your bus on your team bus and the president of the team is sitting there and you walk by the president of the team and you making jokes and you treating him bad and that's accepted now we are athletes nowhere in the history of the game have I ever seen such disrespect for a president or a general man even if you don't like him that ain't never happened on your watch they never happen on your watch they never and as a matter of fact any team you played on if a player would have walked on and been that disrespectful to the president of the team and the team number that's real talk somebody gonna check it somebody's gonna check that hey amen you can't act like that now here's the other thing that was disappointing the man is dead kids his family people are watching that you ain't got to do that I can't respect that I can't respect that a lot of fans and everybody else oh yeah Jerry was this Jerry well in the basketball world Jerry cross won six championships put together you know nice Squad so the bad boys we were so bad right I want you to look at Chicago Bulls championship teams that had Dennis Rodman yep John Salley James Edwards Robert Parish they took half our team and then took some of the Celtics team now it was bad for us but all of a sudden they're good for y'all as the girls say come on make us make sense on on air on get up and one I just think it's amazing that Isaiah Thomas texts me first off I'm just gonna be honest I say that in the commercial I'm like oh yeah Zeke just text me he said this but anyway I'm just saying so I was talking about that Tony Romo called Patrick Mahomes Michael Jordan and I was saying well Michael Jordan never had a Joe burrow a guy that beat him three times like that and then I get the text message he was like nah Michael Jordan had me and I was like damn right he did when when you are going through that and you guys are the champion you are the the premier point guard in the league alone with Magic Johnson and the people in the the public the the league they are rooting against you they want that dude to win what is that like feeling like man I've done all this work I've been this not only for my team for my community for the league as the president and that's how you treat me for him what was dealing with that like in the locker room for the bad boy I was great it was great you you all want him to win y'all changed all the rules so he can win a midnight and these are the facts right I go down the lane I get my ass beat you see pictures of Michael Cooper scratching Larry Bird's Jersey off right you see Kevin McHale slamming Kurt Rambis to the floor you see Dr J you know buying on Bird right everybody getting hit oh but he can't get hit yeah so we gonna change all the rules so he can dunk yeah because they marketing the dunk it used to be how high you fly in the air can you dunk can you dunk and everybody's like oh yeah you can dump okay that's cool now you can jump all up in there and do a 360 and everything and and everybody be like yeah that's cool but that's Steph Curry go shoot that through go shoot that three that's what we marketing now so the Bad Boys okay we ain't gonna let you dump you know just you know go take it too free throws oh we can't sell that so now did it make us mad did it make me did it make me mad no it it made me want to beat you more and even though all of that had happened right dude if I don't mess up my wrist this is how I feel they don't win now they may feel different and they're supposed to feel different but this is how I feel now the other thing is if they don't change the rules for you so you can win yeah it's different it's different is that why y'all walked off no here's why here's why we walked off right there was a lot of things that were going on we down 3-0 Jordan and Phil Jackson but mainly Jordan has a press conference the day before they getting ready to beat us and he called us thugs bad for basketball you know all that was being talked about but then they still went and got half my team all right but here's a little something there yeah a little something there no I didn't listen I missed a lot of [ __ ] there's a lot of something because because it ain't it just been lying they ain't been telling the truth and then called us undeserving Champions hmm now we didn't beat the Lakers we didn't beat the Celtics we didn't beat y'all several times ain't nobody had a heart of March to the NBA finals than the Detroit Pistons we didn't got cheated we didn't got beat up we have beaten the best of the best to ever play this game if Jordan they saying you the best beat your ass magic and Kareem beat you bird and McHale beat you can't nobody else say that we the only one that can say that now when you say we undeserving and then we bad for basketball and you you throw these stereotype labels and the black community in Detroit and then put them on our team now you go back and you look at that clip yeah we walked off but the first person who was in front of us his name was Terry Foster who writes for the Detroit News it's a brother and he won't you were mad too he had the whole the whole city was mad not because they beat us but the way they had labeled keyword the way they had labeled and used the stereotypes against us as a basketball team and then to trade as a city you said that they pointed fingers at you when the hard fouls happen you also said that not until Lambert got to Detroit they decided to label him a thug how much of West Side Chicago that was in you how much did you lead them or inspired the whole bad boy mentality it came from uh you were the leader I wasn't oh absolutely I was the captain of the team I mean you were the one that said look keyword right we have to hit back got it that's how the game was being played then we didn't change the rules they changed the rules so he can win got it right this how the game was being played it's all on film you can go back and look Robert Parish Bob Lanier rest his soul took day fist and hit land beer right boom and was punching him in the face right Lambert never retaliated like hey they gonna get thrown out of the game hey yeah they're getting thrown out of the game but all reputation right it's so we gotta we gotta compete right we go down when we go down the lane that's how it is in the NBA it is physical oh y'all play football I give you this analogy them cute wide receivers they was running down and outs yeah they weren't running across the middle back in the day when you ran across the middle you knew it was held to pay the least that that was just that's just how did she go that's how I went right right well same in the NBA when you came down the middle that's how it was the big guys were like hey man you you can't come down here you need to stay out there and shoot your little jump shot you know and be pretty out there but when you come down this middle or you come anywhere in this paint hey man it's a price to pay for that and everybody was paying that price that's how I was that's how I was in football they don't do it no more in football so the wide receivers can come across the middle catch them look what y'all call them the Slants seems they they doing that all day now so do you think you guys's reputation yeah run the slant run the slant in 1977. [Laughter] um the 88 game six yeah do you think you guys reputation cost you that game they caught a Tic Tac file on Lambert against Kareem and sent him to the line dude we felt in Detroit we were straight getting cheated now that that's that's how we felt in boxing what you had you got Dr champ out you can't win on no decision yeah if they go if we go to 15 rounds hey man you didn't knock the champ out uh that's how it was back then right so that file that they called on lambeer we felt that we had won that game and if you go back and you look at that Series in 88 we want every statistical category but lost the Series that's how I was so now we come back in 89 I mean we got to be better we just got to be better because I was asking him Chan before you came in before we actually got started I I wanted to ask him which series motivated them the most because I know they lost in 88 right 891 at 90 they won it but sometimes well I guess this is Champion talk between these two but you had a different motivation for each one right I've always been motivated to win the championship it's just a matter of how long is it going to take me so I grew up fighting on the streets right so you got to fight it's like like me and you got into it right now you're gonna beat my ass but but I just want you to know my mentality is how long is it going to take me to win right I I ain't I ain't they don't give up it's like and I may lose 10 times but that one time I win it may take me 10 years it may take me five years it may take me six years but that's that's how I was built so coming into the NBA when we had heartbreaking losses in 87 I threw the ball away now in 87 they say the two best teams that ever play in the NBA Lakers and the Celtics 86-87 well guess what that 87 Celtics team we had them beat I throw the ball away Dennis Johnson yes bird bird steal it Dennis Johnson led up we got them beat we come back we win in 88 now we got to play the Lakers that was different [Laughter] but we had them beat yeah you we had them beat right right so 87 88 we all up in the mix you know and we lose to what our people arguably say the greatest basketball teams ever we got those teams beat and then we knocked them off right and then this dude sit up there and say y'all undeserving y'all bad for the game you got all the writers we got all the crew little crew we got our little crew in Detroit trying to stand up for Detroit but we can fight the onslaught of the national media and what they was putting on Detroit and talking about that you're talking about um how the game was changed for MJ and he brought the receivers my sport which it made me think the sport as a business and you're a great businessman yeah the sport as a business benefited from people not getting their teeth knocked out come across 100 so you know what I'm saying so can you look at it with your disdain for one side look at it that was a great I don't have a disdain I got respect and I got honesty and Truth so don't mistake my honesty and Truth for dislike or disdain right and don't and don't classify it or categorize it as hate or jealousy it is honesty and Truth now here's also the truth what Michael Jordan did for the NBA hey man we all still eating off of that at that time being president of the Players Association we was getting 53 percent of the gross but no basketball related income see we weren't good accounting yeah so every dollar that came in we got 53 cents on every dollar and Michael Jordan was good for business yeah he was he was great for business and what Michael Jordan did for the NBA in our league he took it to a level that none of us could we appreciate him for that we honor him for that still getting paid off of that so business-wise yeah great move marketing wise great move I mean when he came in he came in with a megaphone with Nike and we had never seen nothing like that right yeah I mean the megaphone that Nike had and and the commercials and all that stuff that that stuff wouldn't happen hey that that's good for us that's good for everybody it was good for him that's real talk yeah right that don't mean I dislike them or hate them those are the facts Michael Jordan made a lot of money for this league now here's the next fact it's only two players who've ever done this but Michael Jordan has done and now what LeBron James has done the the monies that these two guys have made for the NBA and what LeBron James has done in the money he's made for the NBA I don't know if they're ever I don't know if it'd ever be done again guys making 40 million a year yeah this group when it's all said and done when they they don't want to give them their credit now but when LeBron James and Kevin Durant and all them walk out the door when you look back at what they just did compared to what my generation did man these guys have taken it to a place that none of us could ever imagine wow you know and they and they ain't get no credit for it they ain't getting no credit for it 15 years from now when people look back on LeBron James Kevin Durant Steph Curry and all that hey man in your time though like you're speaking about these dudes all those dudes kick it Isaiah you know like Kevin Durant says great things about LeBron James and LeBron James and Steph Curry like this is like the Friendship League yeah a Banana Boat crew yeah the banana boat I'm not sitting on the banana boat with like if us folks go on the trip We're not gonna be riding behind each other like this you said being like this is this is different yeah but the one relationship you did have which I always thought was intriguing was with magic absolutely and when you guys sat down it's kind of like like what we do now is a form of what happened with y'all two right to the the fact that two black men yep sat across from each other and said one I love you yep but my bad yeah and they did it and y'all did it publicly yeah what was that moment like for you because watching y'all walk out on the court I'll be honest I never as a kid I kind of like these dudes kiss each other on the cheek before they toss the ball up every game what was that like for you when you guys finally got to sit down man and really have that man-to-man conversation I might have to go back a little bit please to just bring you to how we got there we were the the first that I can remember in our generation that really displayed love and emotion for our brother as males right so back then you know you just used to be hey how you doing yeah but at home with your family yeah you know you were hug and embrace so magic and I as friends I was like I mean I can't I can't I can't do this no more right imma hug you and kiss you like I do with my brother when I see them that's how we that's how we get down that was like so controversial back then yeah right they hugging they kiss fast forward in any sport today football baseball basketball you see black men yeah hugging you know giving each other love back then they they said you you can't do that so we broke that barrier fast forward magic and I ain't speaking for a long time we get to the NBA finals and Magic was my mentor I was so lucky to come into the NBA magic had just came off of winning the NBA Finals MVP by the way that game won televised tape delayed so all this yeah they they took it all where the Pistons had a lot to do with that too I'm just saying all facts now these are facts but but I was so lucky because I got to hang out with magic that summer George Gervin Dr J before my season started and then magic and I and Mark McGuire we became real tight now I'm trying to figure out how to win what better teacher to have and he was so gracious in giving you know one had nothing do when the Lakers won the championship I was in the locker room watching them celebrate then I knew Mikhail since high school so when the Celtics was in the locker room you can go back and you get it on film I was at every NBA Finals game taking notes how can we win because it was just a party for the Lakers and the Celtics in the 76s every now and then them was only the three teams we were playing well I gotta learn I got to go to school right so magic giving me like like straight game I'm watching him on his heartbreak I'm watching him dribble out the shot clock in Boston and they call him tragic Johnson and then in the next year he come back and he dropped a baby hook right and they win it you know so I'm I'm I'm getting to see all of this I'm getting to learn right I watched the past that I threw out of bounds bird steals it I watched James Worthy though that same pass Gerald Henderson stole it Lay It Up but I got to see the Lakers cry I got to see magic lay on the floor we in this hotel room dude spread out on the floor crime hard tears me and Mark just sitting there acquire like we had never seen Magic Johnson fail right and now he just he just spread out on the floor we stayed in his room to about 4 30 4 45. they had a 5 a.m bus because you take the first flight out they went flying private yeah they first played out that dude laid on the floor and cried that whole night wow that whole night got up washed his face didn't even take a shower walked out of the room got on the bus they lost the Series so that next summer so now I'm getting to see all this so now I get to the NBA finals magic like I used to stay at the house he used to send the car to give me we still had dinner first game nah you can't come to the house to me I can't come to the house I see you at the game all right so we beat him game one game two after the game we normally go out no I'm just gonna go home all right okay you know so me and my going to see me in the morning like we hang we eating everything game two we got him beat again go back and watch the film we got them beat again we have two and we get a shot clock violation how D was good we can D up my high school team is the best defensive team college team was the best defensive team my pro team was the best defensive team okay I was kind of good at that whole defensive scheme and stuff right the shot clock run out the referee says oh we made a mistake and they put 14 seconds back on the shot clock gave it to Magic out of bounds magic ride to the basket get a three-point play that's how they win game two those are facts yeah now we don't speak you know we leave they come back to Detroit game three now we got games three four and five in Detroit they come back to Detroit game three and you know my son Joshua is born magic don't come to the crib don't send no acknowledgment nothing I'm like what's this all about anyway so not game three we walk out on the court we walk out on the court I got the hug I got the kiss but then I saw that look that they had gave the Celtics [Music] foreign I didn't realize it until I saw it right like oh that's how Kareem looked you know it just it just flashed back oh [ __ ] that's gonna be a hard game I think they beat us 99 to 87 or something like that but that's the game that I'm coming down the lane and Magic you know knocks me out of the air now I jump up and I push him now they all know I like to fight now when you hear magic describe that magic say oh he got up and swung on me that's a big difference between swinging on somebody and pushing around right now I didn't swing on them but he knocked me down I got up and pushed him as if to say you know what and you can read my lips what the [ __ ] that all about well fast forward he's like okay Pat Riley I told him we can't be friends he got to stick around okay cool we don't talk for years for years you know our relationship is different so now we finally get to sit in the chair and now we gotta be real with each other and not knowing that being this real with each other what it would do for the world yeah simple Act of hugging way back when and then another Act of forgiving compassion coming together breaking down crying showing real emotion and I was all right until he said you know I just I want to apologize to you and I broke because I knew what had had taken place but the fact that he was man enough to say I'm sorry I had to accept that and I broke the thing about that is is we try to do that here you know we've had those those conversations but as we get older like we got OG's too you know every time I hit you I'm like yo gee I appreciate you big bro just whatever it is because you did teach us so much not only whether it was our fathers or our parents or the guys we grew up with we got to watch you and you showed us how to live in a sense of I can love this man I can still be a dog though right I can we could go through things and then we could still forgive and kind of we got to watch you be an entire human when you look back though on some of the things that you have gone through the things that you've accomplished what are some of those moments that you always that you Mark is like you know what that's an Isaiah Thomas movement that's something that people are going to talk about for me and with me even long after I'm no longer here the way I've been with my teammates and my family the the thing you'll notice about the interviews and the people that they ask about me they'll never ask my friends about me they ask the people that I beat that's the opinion that y'all that y'all have gotten over the last time you ain't got you ain't got my my teammates opinions right so the thing that I'm most proud of is I hope that when you look back I was able to leave my family which is what I'm still fighting for other than leaving them some newspaper clippings and a jump shot but a way that they can eat right like how do how do I take my family out of poverty I was the I was the first one in my family to have a chance so how do I continue to uplift and bring my family out of poverty this second and third generation because I still got people back in Chicago that's suffering suffering hard I didn't make 30 million I didn't make 40 million I made my little 400 000 and I thought I was rich man could tell me nothing right but but how do I that that's what I want to leave behind I want I want to leave some food right I want to leave a place where you can go and get a paycheck you know if this guy down the street don't hire you you can work here right can't can't work you you really got to work here right you got to put in some time you can get a paycheck here you can get a meal here you know that's that's what I want with all the success man and I brought the business stuff too your damn business resume is you know long as my jail resume actually but uh it's like all the success the Championships at all three levels just all the great decisions you made I'm in Florida and I remember your FIU yeah yeah yeah and then the other coach Adventures yeah are you a good coach because you keep trying it ain't much coming out on the back end big no no no that that no that's that's a good question yeah here's what you should do go ask the players that I coached go talk to Ron our test talk to Jermaine O'Neal talk to Reggie Miller talk to Jamal Tinsley now here's what happened to me in Indiana yeah I got my team rolling I coached Michael Jordan's last All-Star game I was the coach of that team that mean my team was kind of good right get that by your record I had some young some young guys that I had put a little Peppa in and and they they we ready to win now that we ready to win you know they tapped me on the shoulder actually Larry Bird tapped me on the shoulder and said you know you've done a good job here I like what you've done and as a matter of fact I like it so much I'm gonna give it to my friend and his name was Rick Carlisle and Rick Carlisle took my team and winning one 61 games with and then had to malice at the palace and all of that right and I've said before it wouldn't have been No Malice at the palace if I was coaching that team because I don't think the Detroit Pistons fans would have acted that way with me and by the way if I was up 15 in Detroit I wouldn't have had my starters out on the floor at that time I just wouldn't I definitely wouldn't have had our tests in the game at that time because I knew my players I knew my team I think Rick was still learning those guys so I leave Indiana and then I go to New York now in New York I have a I have a bad run my first year as a coach I almost make the playoffs Jamal Crawford who I work with now at NBA TV he had just dropped 50 on Miami scored 16 straight jump shots we was rolling at Channing Frye David Lee had a nice little crew by the way Channing fry David Lee Trevor Riza all them guys went on to win NBA championships with other teams all right these are the facts oh I'm sorry Eddie Curry one one two the one that they say one couldn't play well he won one with the Miami Heat so I had four or five guys young guys that other teams and other players thought they was all right now my second year coaching I shouldn't have been coaching I was I was mentally messed up my mom was that my mom was dying I had just come out of a terrible situation I I shouldn't have been coaching shouldn't have been coaching now I go down to FIU have you ever heard of a FIU basketball program no neither had anybody else you would have told her to town Thomas is down there now I come down and I'm gonna make a basketball program on my way to making a basketball program my third year after getting talent and after losing now my third year I'm ready to turn it around I didn't get my players in I'd have got my system right I get fired Rick Pitino Jr he come and take my team that fourth year they win and he bounced from FIU and go where where did he go he went to Minnesota and took Tubby Smith's job after having my squad at FIU that I have them now they give you my FIU record yeah but they don't tell you the foundation that I laid those three years now all y'all didn't play and you know when you when you take over new the news program it'd take you about two three years to get your stuff right get people in and and now I got talent coming in so he grabbed all my talent win stay there six months and then he get the head job at Minnesota that's what happened at FIU and by the way I graduated 26 out of 28 players how about that yeah I'm sorry I was looking at records the records I yeah they speak for themselves but you do you do have to build that Pro get the culture in it's what all the every good coach you talk about that their their system their culture their implementation of what they do the young talent that I've had in the NBA across this league I would hope that one day somebody would go and ask the players that I've coached the players that I've been with y'all don't even have two opinions about me and they all come from the same people I for you is this I went downstairs to get you um obviously I know who you are but a lot of times when you see football players they know the big guy right basketball you know a dude hooped because he's long as hell when you walked in man you had your little your little puffer coat on you know your cardigan and he walks it it just looks like I know he's Isaiah Thomas but I don't think that anybody else is wrong is going to know he's Isaiah Thomas dude walks by him and I see him I see him catch Isaiah right you know he saw him too so he tried to you know how you do you don't want to lock eyes you don't want to lock eyes with the wolf right you don't like eyes with the wolf and the kid comes over man uh you know young white guy and goes your Isaiah Thomas and he goes I am it's a pleasure to meet you and he starts to cry the kid the kid's crying the young man is crying and he's like I watch you all the time I watch your games all the time and he's and it wasn't one of those I'm faking or I'm acting he was dead serious he was that excited to me and he was like man happy holiday he's like let's take a picture and the kid was so excited when you realize what you did has that type of effect on people still today how does that make you feel I I am so blessed that I have been given the gift where you literally can make somebody's day just by being nice to them but you can also ruin that person's day if you be mean to them now that kid that you just described waterfall interaction with him would have been one of we were dismissive to him that would have crushed him yeah right so understanding that gift and that power I go out of my way every single day that when I meet someone I'm trying to make that person's day because remember I was that little kid that they used to run me off of Michigan Avenue and off of Rush Street when I was trying to shine shoes and I was that little boy who was walking around where they walked by you but they don't want to look at you because you look bad you ain't right so I know that feeling of of Shame and embarrassment right so I don't I don't ever want to put that on nobody I don't never want nobody to feel that way I got one more and just here and now hearing everything you've told us now and it's funny you just said we've only heard opinions from two people in 30 years why is but why is that all the stuff you did on the court on the court we know look at Wikipedia two-time Champion MVP all that multiple All-Stars but you don't know he missed his uh first free throw his uh rookie All-Star game what's up what air ball I was so scared yeah I was so scared but actually off the court what you've heard the stories I've heard you were one of the first guy first teams you were part you were the captain of the first team that ever had alternative jerseys you changed the diversity in Detroit media in a big Market the activism you were 30 years ahead of people but that's true we don't know that story why don't we know that story why haven't I seen the documentary about your ass you should ask that question and don't ask me but why have you been fed that false narrative about me because somebody been lying yes like I said you've heard two three opinions about me from two three people for the last 30 years I know more about some two-way players than I know about you well you know man you honestly you know we've been talking about getting this done this was the first time I've sat here in a long time and I felt like I was watching somebody else's show listening to you tell those stories man and just the historical value of them but also how new that felt to me there were things you told us today and we all do it man like he talked about Googling and that's that's all we do before we get into the interview because we don't ever want to get an interview and not have a question or have it be still and you taught us so much in this very short time about who you were we didn't really talk about basketball and it shows how much more a Hall of Fame basketball player one of the greatest to ever live how much more he accomplished as a man as someone who was willing to give of himself to people he could remember being and I think so many times we forget that so thank you so much this has been uh amazing and I would love a part too if you ever got time hey man let me tell you something I I am I'm a fan of of all of y'all and I I love football and I that's my favorite sport to watch but seeing y'all on the scene and seeing how your career has taken off and what y'all done with this show you know it's just beautiful to watch not only is it beautiful to watch but I've always said this you know I think the hardest sport to win in is football and the reason why I say that is because yeah I used to have 52 people was 45 years 53 it's 47 you dress up yeah amen the the amount of material that y'all take in on a weekly basis from an educational standpoint I'm just blown away and then [ __ ] happens so fast it's like [Laughter] [Laughter] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] get me up

Channel: The Pivot Podcast

Views: 1,233,008

Keywords: the pivot, the pivot podcast, new podcast, football podcast, channing crowder, channing crowder podcast, fred taylor podcast, fred taylor, ryan clark, ryan clark podcast, nfl, nfl 2022, football, super bowl, super bowl podcast, full send podcast, nfl 2023, nfl podcast, superbowl 2023, Isiah Thomas 12x NBA All Star on Detroit Bad Boys, Magic Johnson & Feud w/ Michael Jordan |The Pivot, isiah thomas, isiah thomas interview, isiah thomas highlights, nba podcast

Id: W432qQzolKE

Length: 78min 35sec (4715 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 20 2022