Isiah Thomas gets to restart his coaching career in college

Bad in-game bench tactician, bad judge of players' skill sets, lousy businessman.

What's the upside here?

 

No, he's awful. He took Larry Bird's Pacers that went to the Eastern Conference finals three times in three tries (making it to the NBA finals in 2000, Bird's final year on the bench) and never got past the first round in three tries. First thing Bird did when he came back to the Pacers' front office was to shitcan Zeke, and rightfully so.

He may think he can be a good coach but his past results clearly indicate otherwise.

 

But my thing is this - Who cares? College and the NBA are VASTLY different animals. In college - Recruiting is king. Once you are at the TALENT level of the best teams, then coaching is a big factor; but with superior talent, and sub-par coaching you can still be a very good team.

Isiah Thomas is one of - if not THE - most charming people I've met in my life. And while to suburban families he may not have great press - the kids/families he'll be recruiting will not care about the CBA, they won't care about the harassment suit, they won't care about the Pacers.

They'll care about his career, and what he says to them in that room. And what he's going to say to these families in the hood, in the broken public schools of florida, to the kids that had to move away from their families to play ball, to the single parents is this: "I've won national championships and NBA championships. I know what it takes to win in college, and in the NBA. I've been able to spot talent in what is considered "lower tiers of players" by a lot of analysts. Come with me and I will do everything I can to get you to win at this level, and get you to the next level." By the time he starts talking about his childhood, his mother THAT RAISED HIM - they'll be packing their kids bags.

The people that i know from the hood, and from the inner city don't even believe Zeke did the stuff that he was accused of. I'm not saying he didn't, and i'm not giving him a pass in any way - i wanted him out of new york as bad as anyone - but I'm speaking to WHAT is RELEVANT to these families.

I'm telling you, this is a brilliant move. NCAA teams with great talent and mediocre coaching have won championships - it happens all the time. He'll get talent, and in two or three years - after he stabs a few great players from bigger, better schools - and gets himself into the tourney once or twice. He'll be coaching at a bigger school... and we won't be talking about new york, or the pacers, or the cba. We'll be talking about him as a recruiter, and how he WAS ALWAYS built for college - not the NBA.

 

Isiah isn't even charming. I found him quite smarmy in interviews when he was with the Pacers, and after trying to throw his own child under the bus, most parents aren't gonna buy his shit.

Oh, and he's a horrendous coach.

 

And you have evidently succumbed to his charm.

Except his coaching record clearly indicates that he does not know what it takes to win in the NBA — specifically, that he does not know how to develop young players (as indicated by the decline of the Pacers on his watch) or gameplan on the fly, much less in advance. Moreover, he's competing with coaches who actually have a winning track record while representing a program that's at the bottom of the Division I totem pole.

You're quite insane. He won't get talented players. On Monday, Zeke comes to call; on Tuesday, Billy Donovan's stopping by. Hmm. On Friday, Zeke's begging a juco guy to give FIU a shot.

Hell, FIU's not even the biggest dog in its own backyard and they just hired a coach who can't pick good players and can't gameplan. In three years FIU will be right back where it is now, if not worse.

Isiah Thomas was a great point guard. That's all.

 

FIU hiring Isiah Thomas = University of Houston hiring Clyde Drexler.

The Glide didn't want to work hard enough to be a college coach; he was more interested in his tee times than recruiting. Same goes for Zeke. He hasn't had to bust his ass since he retired from the Pistons.

 

How much college basketball do you watch?  It appears very little.  Clearly I was referencing him talking about his playing career - which will be the pitch.  Playing dumb to benefit your argument is unbecoming.  2muchcoffee man is well versed and has followed zeke through his professional follies.  But a struggling family  in the panhandle hasn't, it isn't relevant to them - and I don't know how somebody can ignore that perspective.

And you're quite ignorant, and again showing a lack of familiarity with college basketball.  Do you really think that FIU was ever going to compete with UF?  or a school in that caliber?  Because I don't.  But do you think he might be able to recruit somebody that's looking at USF, that might have to wait a year or two before he can compete for minutes?  Or a good player that's looking at UCF?  What about players that might have to settle for a bench role in South Carolina?  What about a good player looking at Middle Tenn. St?  or South Alabama, or FAU?    See, THAT is who he's recruiting against. 

Do you really think it is out of the question for him to convince a kid to come to school with him instead of UAB, or a Georgia Southern?  Because these are good teams that get talent in those areas - Ark Little Rock, Western Kentucky, South Alabama, North Texas.

And then to say "he can't pick talent" - is just completely incorrect. It may be the only positive, but his nba tenure showed that he can pick capable talent out of the lower "tiers" of players.  You don't think that's a helpful skill for HIS CURRENT SITUATION at FIU?  Laughable.

I just don't understand how somebody could so blatantly ignore the perspective of an entire group of people - one that MAKES UP THE MAJORITY of the sport he's talking about.

I can't believe that somebody would bring up Billy Donovan, as if that's even relevant to FIU.  We're talking about the Sun Belt Conference.  Thomas needs to get talent with respect to HIS conference.  Let's try to keep it realistic and use a little perspective before forcing the usual talking points and comical dismissive attitude.

 

I really wonder if many of the people hurling around insults about Zeke's past REALLY believe that Isiah's work with the CBA, NY and Indiana is going to play a role in a parents decision to play under this tutelage.

Do you REALLY think a lot the sports pages taunts of Isiah is going to have a REAL impact on the parents homes he's going to be walking into?

Please tell me that some single mom with a superstar athlete of a son checked for Sportscenter or the Isiahs jokes said in here.  Please tell me that your thoughts about what he did with the CBA is going to resonate just as strong to a parent as Isiah speaking on his upbringing.

Some of you guys have no idea about the complete chasm and disconnect between the type of people Isiah will be pushing his program towards and your personal feelings towards him.

The arrogance by some in here almost Peter "in the hood they call it" Vescey alarming. 

 

Isiah Thomas ... for when your program just isn't shitty enough.

 

Oh, I think the mothers of the kids he is recruiting will care quite a bit about the harassment suit.

And if they aren't aware of it you can sure as shit bet the coaches he's recruiting against will make them aware of it.

 

FIXED.

Like I said, it's so obvious to me that some of you don't realize the chasm between what you think and the reality of the type of homes I know full well about.


Keep hope alive. The arrogance in here is incredible. I can tell you that Isiah's personal story about coming up no differently than them will resonate moreso than the sexual harrassment charges you're clamoring for.