Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas has gone down as an all-time great, but does he think he gets the recognition he deserves? It’s Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird who get talked about the most from his era, and Thomas was asked about being in the mix with them, but not getting the same recognition on The Good Investor podcast.
“I feel like I get enough credit, right?” Thomas said. “And then I also get enough disrespect, and the way I look at it is like from a playing standpoint, all the guys that you have ranked above me, I can’t debate or compete with your opinions or your beliefs, right? But all I know is when we were on the court in between the four lines, head-to-head competition, referees, people watching, TV audience, my team against their team, my team beat their teams more than they beat mine.”
Co-host Chris Broussard asked Thomas if he was referring to his Detroit Pistons beating Jordan, Johnson, and Bird’s teams more often than they beat them, and he was. The 65-year-old simply said that’s what the records say. Let’s take a look.
Thomas holds a 12-10 head-to-head record against Jordan in the postseason. His Pistons eliminated the Chicago Bulls in the 1988, 1989, and 1990 playoffs. Jordan and the Bulls would get their revenge in 1991, sweeping them in the Eastern Conference Finals. That wasn’t enough to flip the head-to-head, though.
We get to Johnson next, and Thomas went 6-4 against him in the playoffs. They first met in the 1988 NBA Finals, with the Los Angeles Lakers taking down the Pistons in seven games. We’d then get a rematch in the 1989 NBA Finals, and it proved to be a no-contest.
The Pistons swept the Lakers, and that was partly down to Johnson going down with a hamstring injury. He suffered the injury in Game 2, and that was pretty much that. Johnson played a few minutes in Game 3, but then had to exit, and he’d play no part in Game 4. The Pistons ultimately went 7-4 against the Lakers over those two matchups.
Lastly, we get to Bird, and Thomas actually went 11-11 against him. The Pistons were 16-12 against the Boston Celtics in that era, though. Both Thomas and Bird missed some of the games with injuries, which explains the difference.
“All the guys that you got ranked in the top 10, three or four of those guys, possibly five of them, head-to-head competition, they had ‘arguably’ better players,” Thomas said. “… I’m just saying that. So that’s all I can do. I can’t compete with your opinions, your beliefs, and your bias. But what I can do is say when we on the court competing against each other, my team against their team, my team won.”
Broussard pointed out that Jordan, Johnson, and Bird had more teammates who made the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team as well. Thomas then brought up another advantage they had.
“They were bigger, taller,” Thomas said. “They were bigger than me… I can rest firmly on this. If we all were the same size, there wouldn’t even be a conversation. Make them my size and see if they can do what I did.”
Thomas was listed at just 6’1″. Bird and Johnson were at 6’9″, and Jordan was 6’6″. They definitely had a big advantage over him.
Very few small guards have managed to lead teams to a championship in NBA history. Jalen Brunson joined that group this year, and Thomas was arguably the first one in it. He won two titles, one Finals MVP, and one assists title in his 13 seasons with the Pistons. How much more could Thomas have accomplished if he were taller? We’ll never know for sure.
What we can say is that Jordan, Johnson, and Bird wouldn’t have had as much success as they did if they were 6’1″. They still would have found ways to win titles and gone down as all-time greats, but success would have been harder to come by.
