From the West Side of Chicago, to the Basketball Hall of Fame, to this week’s episode of Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, it’s the OG Isiah Thomas (aka Zeke).
The guys start by taking it back to Zeke’s high school days playing for legendary Chicago coach Gene Pingatore (2:27). Zeke recounts a few memorable moments from his college recruitment process (7:32), including the time one coach showed up at his house with a briefcase full of cash — and the time his mom called a press conference to announce his commitment to Indiana for him! He laughs about deliberately tanking interviews with NBA teams in an effort to get drafted later in the round by Chicago, but admits that going to Detroit was a huge blessing after all (17:59). Zeke then takes the guys through the history of one of the most underrated great teams in NBA history: the Bad Boy Pistons (21:01). We’re talking Dennis Rodman, Mark Aguirre, Joe Dumars … you know the lineup. Q and D recall their feelings when Isiah was left off the 1992 Dream Team, but Zeke holds no grudge, saying he realized that the basketball gods had a bigger plan (41:38). The Knuckleheads share some of their favorite stories from Isiah’s coaching years, including one with a lesson on how not to react after someone dunks on you (58:45). And Isiah has a message for all the NBA front offices: You want Jamal Crawford on your team, on your coaching staff — somewhere. Straight up (1:23:27). The guys wrap up talking about Derrick Rose, the kid from Chicago who got to live out that dream they all had: to be a Bull (1:14:11).
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