Can Isiah Thomas Resurrect His Image?

I can’t believe I’m actually doing this, but I’m going to post some positive thoughts and opinions about Isiah Thomas – sort of.

There’s no point in going down memory lane about Thomas, especially if you’re a Knicks fan, but here’s a quick recap (following his Hall of Fame basketball career):

• Becomes part owner and first executive vice president for the expansion Toronto Raptors. After four years, Thomas leaves the organization with the Raptors in shambles following a dispute with new management.

• After a short stint in broadcasting, Thomas purchases the Continental Basketball Association for $5 million. In less than three years Thomas runs the 54-year old league into the ground and, ultimately, bankruptcy. Thomas’s poor management skills doom the CBA as his bad decisions, including the rejection of an $11 million offer from the NBA to purchase the league, eventually forces the CBA to fold.

• In 2000, Thomas takes over for Larry Bird as head coach of the Indiana Pacers. Bird had returned the Pacers to prominence when he took over the club in 1997, directing a 19-game turnaround from the previous season and building the franchise into a postseason staple. Thomas struggles as head coach and the Pacers slip from its elite level to getting bounced from the first-round of the playoffs in each of his three seasons. Following the 2002-03 season Bird returns to the team as President and, in his first move, fires Thomas.

• For reasons I’ll never understand (even if I lived a thousand years), the New York Knicks name Thomas President of Basketball Operations on Dec. 22, 2003 – or as I call it, “The darkest day in Knicks history.” The next five seasons are filled with historic losing, horrendous trades and personal moves, and a number of off the court embarrassments including the disgraceful firing and subsequent buyout of Larry Brown, the acquisition of Stephon Marbury and the sexual harassment accusations against Thomas by a team executive – costing the Knicks more than $11 million in a lawsuit.

Keep in mind this is just a brief outline of Thomas’s coaching and executive career.

Isiah Thomas is a fascinating sports personality. There’s no question he was a phenomenal point guard and one of best players of all-time. He has a 100,000-watt smile and oozes charisma. But he’s been his own worst enemy, allowing his arrogance, stubbornness and pride to bury every organization he’s touched since retiring as a player.

To no surprise, Thomas has gotten another chance to run a basketball organization. I can’t understand why, but I knew it would happen.

What is surprising, though, is his new opportunity isn’t with an NBA club or a high profile ACC or Big East college program. Thomas returns to basketball as head coach of the Florida International University Golden Panthers.

Quick: What conference do the Golden Panthers play in? Name one famous basketball player out of FIU. Where is FIU?

I couldn’t answer these questions either without looking it up:

- FIU plays in the Sun Belt Conference (Division I)
- Raja Bell of the Charlotte Bobcats played his college ball at FIU
- FIU is in Miami, FL

I have to admit that I’m impressed with Thomas’s decision to “start over” at FIU. His reputation, deservedly so, has taken an absolute beating over the last few years. A once great sports personality has dissolved into a laughing stock and now commands very little respect in the basketball world.

So for Thomas to, once again, pick himself up, dust himself off and move on to a small and relatively unknown college is admirable. Thomas was still under contract with the Knicks and could have remained “scouting in Europe” (a euphemism for “stay away from the team”) - earning millions of dollars. But in an attempt to rebuild his image and basketball resume, Thomas has swallowed his pride and will attempt to reinvent himself as a successful and respected basketball coach.

Thomas, most likely, could have gotten another high profile coaching or front office position. Maybe not now but in a few years he could have resurfaced with another NBA team. But Thomas decided to go to a small college program and learn how to coach and manage an organization. Something he should have done a long time ago.

Maybe Thomas is fooling everybody again. Maybe after a season or two in Miami he'll rehabilitate his rep some and then turn on that 100,000-watt smile one more time and talk his way into another high profile post, leaving the Golden Panthers behind.

But perhaps he’s sincere this time. A once great player, Thomas has a lot to offer young basketball players and could be a great teacher...without the hype and limelight.

If Thomas does reform his ways and resurrect his name and reputation, it will be one of the greatest comebacks of all time in sports PR.

BLOG NOTE:

Regarding my previous blog posting, “Mets Miss on Much Needed PR Opp”, check out this story in today’s NY Times.