Youtube Gold: Isiah Thomas

For all his remarkable gifts, Isiah Thomas came along at a tough time in NBA history – well for him, anyway.

Think about all the Hall of Fame talent during his era: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was still playing. The Larry Bird-Magic Johnson rivalry was white-hot. And not long after he entered the league, guys like Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler, Scottie Pippen, and Michael Jordan entered the league.

The one thing all those guys have in common? They’re all much bigger than Thomas.

At 6-1, Thomas was one of the great small guards in NBA history. Arguably, his only rivals for being the best are Allen Iverson (6-1) and Calvin Murphy (5-9).

Despite his lack of size, Thomas played inside quite a bit, and held his own. Still, he took a lot of punishment, notably from Utah’s Karl Malone, who gave Thomas 40 stitches in the first quarter of a 1991 game, when he tried to block Thomas’s shot with his elbow.

Thomas, demonstrating his toughness, actually returned to the game later.

Despite his undeniable greatness, Thomas was not well-liked and is still despised by Michael Jordan, who essentially kept him off the Dream Team when he said that he wouldn’t play if Thomas was on the team.

In this video, we see some of Thomas’s astonishing talents. Keep in mind that while he looks small on the court, he’s taller than most of us. If you’ve ever been around an NBA player, even casually, you’ll understand the courage it took for Thomas to go inside against these behemoths.

In a different time, he might have been a great warrior, although there would have always been the chance that one of his soldiers might have killed him in his sleep.

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