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Isiah Thomas

Isiah Thomas built a legacy as an unflappable competitor on the basketball court, from his title run at Indiana University to his back-to-back NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons, but it was his decisions without the ball that would leave it tarnished. Chicago-born Thomas arrived on the national stage as the leader of the University of Indiana's 1981 championship team. Drafted by the Pistons that year, the 6'1" point guard did not record all-world stats, but proved a ferocious leader in clutch situations and became a perennial All-Star. Through the late 1980s, the Thomas-led Pistons earned their "Bad Boys" moniker for brutal defense on their way to two championships in 1989 and 1990. Their playoff meetings with the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls became epic clashes, particularly as a bitter rivalry with Michael Jordan and the Bulls heated into one of sports' great rivalries. Upon retiring in 1994, Thomas bounced through a succession of front-office and coaching positions, most notably a high-profile and disastrous five-year-stint as president of basketball operations and coach of the New York Knicks. Renowned as a "babyfaced assassin," Thomas became a Detroit legend but, for many hoop wags, his play would wind up secondary to a reputation for caprice and arrogance.