On Wednesday June 13 the NBATV docu about the 1992 Dream Team coached by Daly of the Pistons deleted Isiah Thomas who by many accounts was the best point guard in the league.

Via Slam magazine: http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/06/isiah-thomas-heavily-criticized-in-dream-team-documentary/

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012 at 1:35 pm | 8 responses Isiah Thomas Heavily Criticized in Dream Team Documentary

Plenty of hype has been built around the Dream Team doc airing on NBATV tomorrow night (9pm EST), and rightfully so. One of the more under-played aspects of the program to this point, however, is the criticism of Isiah Thomas – who was famously left off the team – by some of the Dream Teamers. Per the NY Post: “In a sneak preview shown at The NBA Finals for media Monday night, Michael Jordan reveals one of the ‘stipulations’ for him joining the Dream Team was having his Pistons rival not included but claimed the sentiment also came from the top. It has been long speculated Jordan kept Thomas off the club but the documentary reveals the snub ran deeper than just MJ. Jordan’s Bulls teammate, Scottie Pippen, also said he didn’t want Thomas on the club. ‘I despised how he played the game,’ Pippen said of Thomas. Pippen charged that Thomas spearheaded Detroit’s ‘Bad Boys’ and incited the rough play. ‘Isiah was the general,’ Pippen said. ‘He was the guy who would yap at his teammates and say ‘Kick them on their ass. Do whatever you have to do.’ No, I didn’t want him on the Dream Team.’ When asked if Jordan wanted Thomas on the 1992 Olympic club at the Barcelona Olympics, Pippen said, ‘I can’t speak for Michael but I don’t think he wanted him on the team.’ Jordan said in his interview that he was reluctant to join the Dream Team because he had a bad first Olympic experience as part of the college group and treasured his offseason. But he came around after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, David Robinson, among others, were all in. ‘That was one of the stipulations put to me that Isiah wasn’t part of the team,’ Jordan said. ‘I was getting strong innuendos it wasn’t just…it was coming from a higher place who didn’t want Isiah on the team.’ Former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Thomas was not considered because of the incident at the end of the recent Bulls-Pistons playoff series in which he had his teammates bolt the court before the final buzzer. It was seen as a lack of sportsmanship. ‘We were picking a group just after the Pistons had been eliminated by the Bulls,’ Granik said. ‘It was very bad timing for Isiah. Everyone had that impression in their mind, the picture of Isiah walking off the court.’ Rod Thorn, part of the Olympic selection committee and who drafted Jordan, said, ‘When the Pistons walked off the court before the final bell, it left a lot of bad taste in a lot of people’s minds.’ NBA TV officials said Monday a strong effort was made to get Thomas to participate in the documentary to give his side but he declined.”

gunsnewing wrote:

chewy wrote:Yea bc he found out Thomas was saying he got HIV bc he was gay.

Zeke always a classy gentleman

Yeah seriously.

ShellTopAdidas wrote:Dream Team documentary was awesome, but they the reason why all these stars want to play together. DAMN YOU DREAM TEAM!!!! Lol!

If anything, watching the scenes of practices where a player would say, "No, I'm better than him and I'm going to prove it right now" shows a different kind of player. I think what bothered most people about Lebron teaming up with Wade is that he didn't have that same competitive spirit to prove that he was the best.

Uptown wrote:The documentary was really good. Actually, I would have like to have seen more footage from the practices. That was where the real battles and competiton was. As far as Isiah being left off, I thought it was a bit unfair. So Jordan and Pippen didn't want to play with the enemy (Isiah) but it was okay to play for the coach of the BadBoy enemies? Regardless of what you think of him, Isiah was a flat-out better player than Stockton and his resume suggested that he deserved a spot on that team. But as we now know, politics played a bigger role.

I liked it too, Barkley was hilarious, it was funnier overall than I expected. My guess is Jordan believed that Isiah had more to do with the cheap shots than Chuck Daly.

Stockton is the all time NBA assists and steals leader so lets not get carried away here. He deserved to be there as much as Isiah, as good as he was. Jordan and Pippen weren't the only ones who didn't want him on the team.

Uptown wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:

Uptown wrote:The documentary was really good. Actually, I would have like to have seen more footage from the practices. That was where the real battles and competiton was. As far as Isiah being left off, I thought it was a bit unfair. So Jordan and Pippen didn't want to play with the enemy (Isiah) but it was okay to play for the coach of the BadBoy enemies? Regardless of what you think of him, Isiah was a flat-out better player than Stockton and his resume suggested that he deserved a spot on that team. But as we now know, politics played a bigger role.

I liked it too, Barkley was hilarious, it was funnier overall than I expected. My guess is Jordan believed that Isiah had more to do with the cheap shots than Chuck Daly.

Stockton is the all time NBA assists and steals leader so lets not get carried away here. He deserved to be there as much as Isiah, as good as he was. Jordan and Pippen weren't the only ones who didn't want him on the team.

How am I getting carried away? Isiah was a better player than Stockton. Isiah won 2 rings and was named finals MVP in 90 finals. Isiah beat Jordan's team more than Jordan's team beat his. Not many if any players can stake that claim other than Isiah. Stockton was a tremendous pg, and he ranks as one of the best but I have Isiah ahead of him. Keep in mind, Stockton played 19 seasons so of course he's going to own a few records.

And you are correct, Pippen and Jordan weren't the only ones who didn't want him on the team. Karl Malone and Isiah got into it during a game where Isiah was giving Stockton the business. He was dominating Stockton and Malone retaliated by giving Isiah a harsh elbow to the head that drew blood. Also, there's a history with Larry Bird aswell.