Isiah Thomas: His Own Worst Enemy

(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

It's pretty ironic that prior to reading what I saw on ESPN.com about Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson, I was listening to Lit's 1998 Modern Rock hit "My Own Worst Enemy." You'll know why in a second, but for those that aren't familiar with the Thomas-Johnson drama, well in a very swollen nutshell (more details on ESPN.com ), this is it.

Former Boston Globe and current ESPN columnist Jackie MacMullan collaborated with NBA legends Larry Bird and Magic Johnson for the book "When The Game Was Ours."

The book details the Bird-Johnson rivalry from their perspectives and features their takes on a number of moments, interactions, among other things they experienced during their playing days.

Okay, now you know about the book. What's the controversy?

Well to sum it all up, the book states Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, as well as others kept Isiah Thomas off the original Dream Team (sorry, Beijing brothers).

The reason?

Isiah Thomas's personality was the reason, particularly a loss of respect by his peers for allegedly telling people/thinking/asking/who-knows-what-else that he thought his best friend Magic Johnson got infected with HIV because of his sexuality.

Yes, allegedly Zeke figured that Magic Johnson contracted the virus because he was gay or bisexual. Now there's nothing wrong with whatever a person's sexuality is. "To each their own," as my buddy Ben Ostner once told me. That being said, Magic already had enough problems in the early 1990s.

He retired, then un-retired. His teammates were scared to hug and kiss him. He was under a ton of media attention. Most importantly, he must have been scared as heck about his health.

If I'm in Magic's shoes and I've gone on record saying I obtained the virus via numerous interactions with women, specifically unprotected sex, I don't need my best friend questioning my explanation or sexuality—especially to my peers.

That's pretty much what Isiah Thomas is being accused of—being a two-faced liar of a best friend. Unfortunately, while this revelation is surprising to say the least, it's not that far fetched given the fact that Isiah Thomas is the name of the apparent antagonist.

I'm not going to say I really grew up watching Thomas because at 20-years old, when I think of the NBA during my childhood, the following names come to mind: Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill, Shaq, Penny Hardaway, Patrick Ewing, as well as many more I waste your time with by listing them.

Luckily for this column's sake, I consider myself a student of the sport, trying to study all the history of the game, so I have watched a lot of Isiah Thomas.

Isiah Thomas was a phenomenal basketball player in his day.

He nearly averaged a double-double for his career (19.2 points and 9.3 assists per game), had 12 All-Star selections, made the All-NBA First Team three times, won two championships, was named the 1990 Finals MVP, and oh one more thing—he became member of the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Thomas was not good. He was great. He was undersized by NBA standards, but made up for it with incredible quickness, tenacity, and clutch shots throughout his career as a Detroit Piston. Sorry, Allen Iverson, but Thomas is the greatest small man in NBA history.

However, his basketball career off the court has been the complete opposite of great, unless that word is preceded by the term “disappointment.”

Just look at Thomas's stint as president/coach/media punching bag with my New York Knicks from 2003-2008. The Knicks went from a prestigious franchise to a team that was kind of on a decline to the “Oh my God, we are THAT bad?!” depths of lottery hell.

Yes, Knicks owner James Dolan deserves a good amount of blame for keeping Thomas around for seemingly forever (at least to Knicks fans) without success to show for the franchise's commitment in the Hall of Famer. Yet, Dolan hired Isiah to make the basketball decisions in the first place and he did so—horribly.

I even pained myself to write about how the Knicks were the Amy Winehouse of the NBA!

That was painful. Here's a rundown of the Best of the Worst of Isiah Thomas's Knicks tenure (oxymoron I know, but you get my point):

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