Isiah Thomas watched The Last Dance and was shocked by what Michael Jordan said about him and by how the documentary treated Jerry Krause. Thomas recalls convincing Vince Carter to give up an All-Star starting spot for Jordan and explains why championship teams used to shake hands after losing.
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What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love, but you can get everything the Draymond Green Show right on our YouTube channel. So make sure you subscribe, check that out. Thank you. In 2020, and I know you've heard this a lot, in 2020, we all sitting at home watching The Last Dance with nothing else to do. And I was just wondering, number one, did you watch that? And if you did watch it, what was your experience like watching that? Being that you were such a huge part of The Last Dance and, or just the Bulls becoming who they became as a whole, did you watch that? And if you did, what was your experience like in watching it?
Yeah, I watched it and I watched it with, you know, it was during COVID so, family, we gather around and this is going to be great because for me, and you understand this when I say this, being a champion, right? This was the first time I really got a chance to peek behind the opponent's curtain, right? And no one else could understand that, right? But you would understand.
Absolutely.
It's like, OK, now we getting ready to see what's behind the curtain. And I must say that I was disappointed at what I saw. And here's why I was disappointed. You have Bob Myers there as your president and GM. Mm-hmm. Chicago Bulls had Jerry Krause as their president. The way they treated Jerry Krause and the disrespect that they showed for him, I was blown away. Totally blown away. Now, can you imagine Bob Myers getting on y'all championship bus and y'all dogging him and calling him out his name and everything else. You can't even fathom that. No, no chance. We were thinking, you know, in our era, these were the dudes. Jerry West, Red Auerbach, Jack McCloskey, Wayne Embry, Jerry Krause. Those were the dudes. And to watch how they treated him and the disrespect and lack of respect that they gave him as a person and as a man, I— it was cringeworthy watching that. I cringed for him and his family. And then the man, you know, he was dead, right? So—
Mm-hmm.
They just going off on him in the doc. Now, in terms of Jordan and I, As I said, my little nephew lived with Jordan, lived with him for like, you know, 5 years, and then was a ball boy for the Chicago Bulls. And so my whole family was like, you know, we were all interacting and everything else. The All-Star Game, Michael Jordan's last All-Star Game, I coached his last All-Star Game. Vince Carter.
Wow.
Yeah. Vince Carter had won the starting spot. It's Michael Jordan's last All-Star Game. I took Vince Carter aside and I convinced him to give his spot to Michael Jordan. He said, "Why?" I said, "Because I gave mine to Dr. J when Dr. J wasn't voted on." That's how it goes. Vince Carter gave up his spot. Michael Jordan, we interacted, everything else. I never knew this dude felt the way he felt until The Last Dance.
Wow, really?
I'm like, all these years you've been standing behind a tree throwing stones and letting somebody else take the fall for it. I never knew he had dislike and anger for me. Had I known, okay, I'm a grown man, I ain't got no problem. We come from the same place. At one point in time in my life, I used to fight really, really good and I enjoyed it. I can't do that as well as I used to now. But we wouldn't throw hands or anything, but I'm just saying, had I known you felt that way, I definitely would've treated you differently. But I was very gracious to him, not only in Chicago, but everywhere we went. I never thought there was any type of, you know, he, Ahmad, and I, when I stopped playing, we went out to dinner several times. So I never knew, like, until the last dance, like, this dude really felt this way about me. Now, some people will say, "Oh, Isaiah, you should have known. How could you not know?" Hey, I only know how people are with me when they treat me. Like, when you and I talk, it's like, it's love, right? Now, if you walk away and you like dogging me, I don't know that.
Yeah.
I only know how we interact. And when you and I interacted, was always good.
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Now some people will say, well, why didn't you shake his hand? Let me give you all a history lesson, okay? The champions And I went to every NBA Finals. Boston Celtics, the LA Lakers, Philadelphia, when they were all competing, at the end of the game, they always left the court and they would let the other team celebrate. And then they would come into your locker room after the game and shake your hand and say, congratulations. Congratulations. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, y'all find me the tape and the video that show them shake hands at the end of their championship wins or losses. Show me the tape, show me the video where they all shaking hands, where Larry Bird and Magic Johnson shaking hands. I want to see that. Now, in the locker room, You walk out, then you come back and you shake hands and you congratulate everybody in the locker room. So when the Boston Celtics walked off the floor on us, we understood the program.
Mm-hmm.
You would see afterwards, Casey Jones, Jimmy Rogers, couple of the players, they came into our locker room and they congratulated us. Okay, that's how it goes. Chicago, they're the only champion that still cries about somebody not shaking their hand. Interesting.
So I ask you this question. I, I appreciate those facts. I got a couple questions for you. Um, number one, Do you regret, like the way that that all played out, with it almost being like, I mean, you were essentially, for lack of a better term, demonized for that. It was like, "Oh, that was Isaiah. Isaiah ducked." It was all, "Isaiah didn't wanna shake they hands because he got a thing against MJ." Do you regret that now in seeing how it all played out? Nah.
Of course, the way it all played out, right? Had we known that this would be the impact, of course we all would stop and shake, "Oh, I do shake your hand." But nobody was thinking like that back then. It wasn't like that. It really wasn't a thing till they made it a thing.
Yeah.
And we sitting here, what is it, almost 30 years later, And they still making it a thing.
