A Hoosier Hero Comes Home

Basketball Digest, Dec, 2000 by Brett Ballantini

Interview: Isiah Thomas

The new Pacers mentor is trying to do something his biggest rivals haven't--coach a team to the NBA title

HALL-OF-FAMER ISIAH THOMAS is one of only a few players to win championships at both the collegiate and professional levels. Now he's trying to do something his '80s superstar rivals and NBA ring-holders Magic Johnson and Larry Bird tried and failed--to also win a championship as an NBA head coach.

After achieving what Thomas call his "proudest achievement"--winning back-to-back titles with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and '90--Thomas was forced to retire after a series of injuries hampered his play during the 1993-94 season. He's still the Pistons' all-time leader leader in games played, points, steals, assists, field goals made and attempted, and free throws made and attempted.

After his playing career ended, Thomas joined the expansion Toronto Raptors as part-owner and vice president of basketball operations. A fight for ownership of the team saw Thomas leave the Raptors during the 1997-98 season, putting him on the NBA periphery as an NBC analyst.

In the past year, Thomas has been working at his usual speed (an all-out sprint), juggling his gig at NBC while interviewing for head coaching vacancies and buying the Continental Basketball Association. On July 20, Thomas was named Bird's successor as the head coach of the Indiana Pacers.

It's been almost two decades since Thomas first stepped on NBA hardwood. Now, he's a rookie again, only this time he's the one holding the clipboard. Thomas the coach recently swerved off his learning curve to talk to BASKETBALL DIGEST about the Pacers' prospects, his coaching mentors, and the legacy of his playing career.

BASKETBALL DIGEST: You said at the time of your hiring that everything you've learned about winning has come from Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Can you explain what both of them taught you?

ISIAH THOMAS: I was able to observe them in the NBA when I was younger. Watching them compete, I saw how intense their rivalry was and I was able to learn from them. I also have learned from their teams, which were run as successful organizations. I'm now able to bring some of the things that they had in their organizations to the Pacers.

BD: Magic dipped his toe in the water as coach before either you or Larry, and his experience seemed a little bittersweet. What do you make of Magic's experience with the Lakers?

IT: You have to remember that Magic took over a team that was maybe 11 games out of the playoffs. He was asked to take over that team and turn them around without the benefit of training camp. You just can't compare my situation of being able to start at the beginning of training. camp, with his, coming in the middle of the season.

BD: You've said that basketball takes you on journeys to places you thought you'd never go. Did you ever think you'd be a head coach in the NBA?

IT: The business of basketball means that you never know who you're going to be working with. That's the beauty of basketball. Ever since I was playing it as a kid, I got to travel the world and meet different people in different places. Basketball's given me nothing but good things, and being the head coach of the Pacers is just the next step in the journey.

BD: At the time of your hiring you mentioned that you talked with Bobby Knight and Chuck Daly about becoming a head coach. What are the things that Knight and Daly taught you when you were playing for them?

IT: Bob and Chuck have different views about the game, but they both have been extremely successful going about it in different ways. I'll try to take some things from Chuck and some things from coach Knight. I'll also try to take some from one of my mentors, a man named John McClendon, who's passed on but who was a student of James Naismith. [McClendon, who died on October 8, 1999, was Naismith's student at the University of Kansas in the '30s and went on to be a pioneering black coach on both the collegiate and professional level. He worked individually with Thomas as a teenager in Chicago and then was later hired by Thomas as a consultant with the Raptors.--Ed.]

BD: Is there any one thing you'll take into coaching from those three men?

IT: It's an overall philosophical view of the way they all see the game. Of course I'll use some things that they've been able to instill into their teams, but for the most part, I'll develop my own identity. A lot of the way I've come to see the game and understand the game has come from those three gentlemen.

BD: We're going to see a little different Pacers team this year. You are missing Mark Jackson, Rik Smits, and Dale Davis, you added a young big man in Jermaine O'Neal, and you fully invested in new young stars like Jalen Rose and Austin Croshere. What do you expect from the Pacers this season?

IT: Although we're a team in transition, I like the core and the youth of our team, the makeup of our team. You look at Reggie Miller, Sam Perkins, and Derrick McKey and you have a great veteran foundation. You have a strong foundation with those three there.