Throughout the history of the Detroit Pistons organization, few players have walked into the building and had such a wide-ranging impact as Isiah Thomas did. Thomas, who was the catalyst for the Bad Boys back-to-back NBA Championships in 1989 and 19990, cemented himself as a Pistons legend in that timeframe, but he continued his basketball career after retiring as a player in 1994.
Thomas joined the New York Knicks in a head coaching position ahead of the 2006-07 season, and by that time point guard Nate Robinson was already a member of the squad. Now, Robinson was more than familiar with Thomas’ exploits as a student of the game himself, so he knew that ‘Zeke’ was a legendary player. However, Robinson was more than a little bit surprised, to say the least, to find out that Thomas still possessed a mountain of skills by the time he decided to coach the Knicks more than a decade after retiring from his playing career.
“This is when I knew Zeke was that real deal,” Robinson said during an interview. “I had heard stories like as a kid– that was my Dad’s favorite player– and I was like, ‘alright Dad, I’m going to see for myself.’ I remember one time he practiced with us. He had sweats, clip[board], whistle… He didn’t even lace his shoes really, and he was cooking [Stephon] Marbury. No disrespect to Marbury because Marbury is a God too. He’s a baller and all that.”
Now, Zeke was a highlight reel machine during his Hall of Fame NBA career, but Robinson was more than impressed with the former Pistons’ ability to attack the rim and get buckets during that short practice exchange in New York. Thomas had already been retired from his playing career for years at that stage, but Robinson’s story lends itself well to the phrase ‘class is permanent.’
“When I say cooking, he was cooking, like showing the play, everything is working, getting buckets,” Robinson said. “I was like, ‘what?’ I couldn’t believe it. It was crazy. He was making shots, floaters, left-hand runners off the backboard. I was like ‘bro, that’s our coach out here? You can still play’. He said ‘man, I don’t need no attention. I’m just showing y'all what I would do if I was still playing.’”
Also, Thomas’ ability to demonstrate the exact concepts that he was teaching his players on the Knicks would feasibly help the players understand the finer, technical aspects of the given drill or play, so Thomas’ demonstration helped serve multiple purposes.
Either way, it is impressive to hear from 11-year NBA veteran Robinson that Zeke was able to effortlessly compete at such a high level after his own playing days were long expired. Now, Thomas’ coaching tenure with the Knicks was relatively short-lived after he was ousted in the middle of the 2007-08 season, but the Detroit Pistons legend left a lasting impression on one of his players that showed just how dominant he was during his heyday.
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