Hall of Fame Enshrines Isiah Thomas
S P R I N G F I E L D, Mass., Oct. 14, 2000 -- He beams that high-voltage smile moreoften now, but the scars around his mouth and eyes betray anotherside of Isiah Thomas.
It’s the side that earned him and his Detroit teammates the“Bad Boys” nickname, helped him fit right in with Dennis Rodman,moved him to chomp Boston Celtic Robert Parish’s hand in a fightfor the ball.
It is this inner fistfighter — married to championship smartsand skills — that lifted the 6-foot-1 guard Friday into theBasketball Hall of Fame beside the game’s giants.
“Not that I wanted to be bigger, but I wanted them to besmaller,” he said with a stare before his induction. “Because ifwe were all the same size, I would have killed them.”
Thomas, who took over in July from Larry Bird as coach of theIndiana Pacers, entered the Hall of Fame with high-scoring BobMcAdoo and Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt. Other new members are Morgan Wootten, the winningest high school coach ever, ofDeMatha High in Hyattsville, Md.; Kentucky athletic director C.M.Newton; and the late Syracuse Nationals founder Danny Biasone, whointroduced the 24-second clock.
Always In the Fight
Perhaps none of the hall’s 238 members, though, wanted to winmore than Thomas. He thought back Friday to growing up in a roughChicago neighborhood and eventually finding peace of mind when hewon on a basketball court. He said losing just about always madehim feel sick to his stomach.
“I can’t say I was one of those guys who won every fight,” he said. “But I was in the fight.”
And in 1989 and 1990, Thomas, Rodman, Vinnie Johnson, Joe Dumarsand Bill Laimbeer did win the biggest fights in their back-to-backNBA championships.
“I’ve also had players who did not care,” their former coach, Chuck Daly, said Friday. “I’d rather have a challenging team.”
As floor leader, Thomas injected intensity into their muggingdefense. But he could also leap, shoot, pass and steal with fewequals, averaging 19.2 points and 9.3 assists in his career. Heranks fourth in NBA assists. A 12-time All-Star, he commanded aspot on the NBA’s list of 50 greatest players in 1996.
Even in college, Thomas wanted to win everything. He led Indianato its 1981 NCAA championship. To this day, he speaks warmly ofthat team’s recently fired coach, Bob Knight, who also isn’t afraidof a tussle.
Mighty McAdoo
With good height at 6-foot-9, McAdoo punished largely withfinesse and touch. Yet, as a boy playing in YMCA games, he was arebounder. “I saw the scorers were getting all the attention,” hesaid Friday.
He later worked out his own style, almost hiding his face as hisarms went up for the shot. Los Angeles Laker Jerry West, McAdooremembers, once called it “the ugliest shot I have ever seen.”
No matter: McAdoo turned it into one of the best and mostversatile jump shots ever by a big man. He led the NBA in scoringfrom 1973-1974 through 1975-76, averaging more than 30 points ineach of the three seasons. He averaged 22.1 points and 9.4 reboundsfor his career. He played for seven NBA teams and helped the Lakerswin NBA championships in 1982 and 1985.
Jack Ramsay, who coached McAdoo when he played for the BuffaloBraves, called McAdoo “a scoring machine.”
“Bob McAdoo never met a shot he didn’t like,” Ramsay said at Friday’s ceremony at the Springfield Civic Center before about1,600 former players and coaches, basketball officials and fans.
Summitt led the Lady Vols to six national championships in her26 seasons at Tennessee. One of her teams went 39-0 record in itsunforgettable 1997-98 season. Summitt holds a 728-150 win-lossrecord.
She coached the U.S. women at the Olympics when they won the1984 gold medal.
But Friday, she said it felt like nothing else to join the Hallof Fame: “I feel like a basketball angel in heaven.”