Bird still hates Thomas

[the real dill]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1604235

[F Duke]

Poor Isaiah. Does anybody like him. Jordan hates him, Bird hates him. Maybe he can go ruin the NBADL since he already destroyed the CBA

[HassAndre]

Poor Jermaine. He was the one that got tricked into resigning because he thought Thomas was going to stay. Bird tricked Jermaine and Jermaine is the one to feel sorry for.

[F Duke]

They did lie to Jermaine but Carlisle can coach circles around Jermaine and this is only going to help his career.

[the real dill]

looks like ol Jermaine may be demanding a trade

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1604766

[HassAndre]

Bring him back to Portland.

[F Duke]

He needs to fire his agent for not getting that in writing. He'll get over it. I expect the Pacers to win 55-60 games with Carlisle next year. Winning will erase personal feelings

[HassAndre]

55-60 games

I dunno about that. They do play in a weak conference and I like the coaching change, but can you really expect them to win 55-60 games with an unhappy forward and a coaching change. BTW, Carlisle isn't highly appreciated as a 'players-coach'.

[F Duke]

55-60 is a very bold prediction but he led a no name Detroit team that I think is inferior to Indiana (on paper at least) to 50 wins. Last year Indiana was inconsistant and disorganized. You're right about Carlisle though. He is an excellent X's and O's guy but does have a reputation as being tough on his players. 55-60 is probably an an exaggeration but I think they could win 50-55 which would still be an improvement from last year.

[F Duke]

ESPN2 had an interesting take on the firing.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/whitlock/030828.html

[CDlockedJG2001]

Originally posted by F Duke
Poor Isaiah. Does anybody like him. Jordan hates him, Bird hates him. Maybe he can go ruin the NBADL since he already destroyed the CBA

stern destroyed the cba by creating the nbdl and stealing the tv contracts and arenas.

[F Duke]

Once again CD, you could not be more wrong. The CBA folded because Thomas ran it into massive debt. He refused to sell to Stern and the NBA who were looking to make the CBA a minor league NBA system. Thomas was too stubborn to admit defeat and would not sell for the price they were offering. Then when the Pacers came calling, he had to sell the team because you can't have ownership of a league / team and be a coach in the NBA. Most fans of the league would know this. The CBA went down because of Isaiah Thomas, not David Stern.

[CDlockedJG2001]

Originally posted by F Duke
Once again CD, you could not be more wrong. The CBA folded because Thomas ran it into massive debt. He refused to sell to Stern and the NBA who were looking to make the CBA a minor league NBA system. Thomas was too stubborn to admit defeat and would not sell for the price they were offering. Then when the Pacers came calling, he had to sell the team because you can't have ownership of a league / team and be a coach in the NBA. Most fans of the league would know this. The CBA went down because of Isaiah Thomas, not David Stern.

stern refused to create an nba minor league system for YEARS and ONLY attempted to do so when he saw isiah was serious about it. why should isiah sell to stern when he did all the legwork?

he didn't sell when the pacers came calling. the CBA was already in trouble by then, because stern created the NBDL and secured all the television contracts and arena deals that isiah had been working on.

stern only created the NBDL because he didn't wanna have to deal with isiah thomas as the commissioner of the NBA minor league system.

go get your facts straight. there are only a FEW journalists who covered the FACTS of the cba's demise and chose to dig a little deeper than "oh, it's isiah's fault...and you know what he said about larry bird...let's hate him." what were the major factors behind the CBA's demise. can you even give me ONE, other than the competition from the NBA's NBDL? i guarantee you can't.

and the NBDL is losing money, but with the NBA backing it...who cares?

[F Duke]

Does it bother you that your an idiot. Do you lie awake at night asking yourself why you like to say false things just to get arise out of people? Isaiah Thomas ran the CBA into bankruptcy all by himself. David Stern had nothing to do with it. He was an arrogant player who thought he could play Mr. Businessman and failed miserably. He had to sell the league at the last minute even though he didn't want to when he got the Indiana offer. How is your ugly sister doing?

"In October 1999, Thomas purchased a majority
ownership in the Continental Basketball League,
eliminating individual team owners and proposing to
make a "farm team" system for the NBA. Unable to find
a buyer for the league, Thomas was forced to put his
ownership in a blind trust when he became coach of the
Pacers. In February 2001, financial problems forced
the CBA to suspend operation and some angry coaches
and players blamed Thomas for the demise of the
league."

[F Duke]

CBA DEAD; TEAMS SCATTER
By Mike Chappell
Indianapolis Star
February 10, 2001

Rich Coffey remembers the promises issued by Isiah Thomas shortly after
the former NBA standout purchased the Continental Basketball
Association in October 1999.

"He said he was going to take the league to a new level,'' Coffey,
general manager of the Fort Wayne Fury, said Friday afternoon.

No one, Coffey said, expected that "new level'' to be rock bottom.

Thursday evening, Coffey and management officials from the other nine CBA franchises were informed via fax that the league, 55 years old but financially impaired, had suspended operations.

Coffey said the term "suspended'' wasn't accurate.

"We're history,'' he said.

Coffey, who has served as the team's GM since it joined the CBA in1990, angrily blamed Thomas, the Indiana Pacers coach, for the demise of the Fury and the CBA.

"The CBA has been around for 55 years and was run fine,'' Coffey said."It took Isiah Thomas 12 months to screw it up.

"All of the things he promised -- take the league to a new level, withhis name he was going to generate national sponsorships, higher quality of play, change the way the game was played, things like that -- none of it came to fruition. He lied to us. His goal was to coach in the NBA. From the point he began to pursue that, he treated the CBA as the proverbial red-headed stepchild.

"The CBA and the Fury as we know them no longer exist.''

Thomas, in Washington, D.C., for the All-Star Game, had no comment
Friday.

At least three CBA teams are expected to survive the league's fall:
Sioux Falls (S.D.), Rockford (Ill.) and Gary.

Sioux Falls and Gary already have been sold to local investors. Both
said Friday that they have joined the International Basketball League
and will play each other today in Sioux Falls. IBL vice president Greg
Burke expects other teams to follow.

Gary Elbogen, commissioner of the American Basketball Association, said
he'd been approached by several former CBA owners but that his league
wasn't interested in a link with the single-entity CBA.

Thomas purchased the CBA in 1999 for more than $9 million, but his
ownership was placed in a blind trust after he was named coach of the
Pacers in July 2000 and was unable to find what he considered to be a
suitable buyer for the league.

When recent efforts to sell the CBA failed, Ivan Thornton, who is
trustee of the blind trust, decided the league must revert to local
ownership.

Considering the enormous debt facing the league and each franchise,
that amounted to a death sentence. According to the Fort Wayne Journal
Gazette, the league has lost $1.5 million this year. Although players
were paid through their last game, Coffey said neither he nor his
front-office staff have been paid for a month. He said Thomas owes the
Fury approximately $385,000. Moreover, Thomas reportedly still owes Jay
Frye, former owner of the Fury, $400,000 from Thomas' original purchase
of the team.

According to a Pacers spokesperson, an agreement regarding the blind
trust prohibits Thomas from discussing the CBA situation any further
than the statement he released on Thursday.

In that statement, which addressed the return of local ownership to CBA
franchises, Thomas said, ". . . the decision allows basketball to
continue in the cities that have supported the CBA for many years. This
will be good for the players and the communities.''

Coffey could find absolutely nothing good in the decision.

"We're out of business,'' he said. "It's unfortunate because it never
should have happened. It teaches you something about character, and
(Thomas) has none. I would say that to his face.

"What next year may bring, who knows? It would be nice to have a
professional basketball team in a league, but it would have to be the
right situation.''

Ann Davis has worked in the Fury's front office for six years, the past
season as the team's assistant general manager. Davis and Coffey spent
Friday consoling local fans, season-ticket holders and sponsors who saw
their team suddenly disintegrate.

Davis also said she has mixed feelings regarding Thomas, who has not
spoken with members of the Fury organization.

"I don't think he did this on purpose,'' she said, "but it's hard for
me to be angry with him because I don't believe he even cares that he
did it. I wish he cared.

"It makes me feel very insignificant when there are people out there
who just don't care. But that's the way it works when (Thomas) is at
the top. This is what you can do to the little people.''

[CDlockedJG2001]

Originally posted by F Duke
Does it bother you that your an idiot. Do you lie awake at night asking yourself why you like to say false things just to get arise out of people? Isaiah Thomas ran the CBA into bankruptcy all by himself. David Stern had nothing to do with it. He was an arrogant player who thought he could play Mr. Businessman and failed miserably. He had to sell the league at the last minute even though he didn't want to when he got the Indiana offer. How is your ugly sister doing?

"In October 1999, Thomas purchased a majority
ownership in the Continental Basketball League,
eliminating individual team owners and proposing to
make a "farm team" system for the NBA. Unable to find
a buyer for the league, Thomas was forced to put his
ownership in a blind trust when he became coach of the
Pacers. In February 2001, financial problems forced
the CBA to suspend operation and some angry coaches
and players blamed Thomas for the demise of the
league."

http://www.qctimes.com/rednews/2001/02/12/build/thunder/story92.html


“The new league will give a kid a year or two and then forget them,” the old coach said.

Said Dan Panaggio: “They can have the NBDL. They will never have a Don Mason, a Fred Radunzel or a Crazy George. And I emphasize the Crazy.

“It had a lot of character to it, and it can’t be duplicated,” he said of the CBA. “It can’t be the same because you had an open system and you made it on your merit.


doesn't seem like they're too concerned with blaming isiah, because they know it was the creation of the NBDL that led to CBA's demise.

are you really so fukkin stupid that you can't piece together these simple facts:

1. people had been pleading with the NBA for YEARS to create a minor league system, because many kids obviously weren't interested in school.

2. isiah, seeing an opportunity, buys the entire CBA, and wants to negotiate with stern to create an nba minor league system. he makes a presentation to stern, showing that they have arenas that can be ued in various cities across north america and networks are interested.

3. stern says NO to isiah...AND A YEAR LATER ANNOUNCES THAT NBA IS CREATING THE NBDL....WHAT A FUKKIN COINCIDENCE, YOU MORON!!!!

4. NBDL, with nba money backing it, leases all the arenas, takes all the TV contracts for LESS money and puts inferior talent on the court. and the CBA is done.

you are an idiot. period. i schooled you and i'll do it again.

[F Duke]

You schooled absolutely nothing you imbecile. He bankrupted the CBA because of his GREED and EGO. I find it humorous that I post numerous articles with quotes from people involved with the CBA who blame ISAIAH THOMAS and you come back with a response with your opinion. CDDORK, you're a joke. Your opinion is worth just about as much as your sister on Sunset on a Saturday night. Come back with something besides your opinion b/c it aint worth $hit.

Put that in your pipe and smoke tool.

[CDlockedJG2001]

Originally posted by F Duke
You schooled absolutely nothing you imbecile. He bankrupted the CBA because of his GREED and EGO. I find it humorous that I post numerous articles with quotes from people involved with the CBA who blame ISAIAH THOMAS and you come back with a response with your opinion. CDDORK, you're a joke. Your opinion is worth just about as much as your sister on Sunset on a Saturday night. Come back with something besides your opinion b/c it aint worth $hit.

Put that in your pipe and smoke tool.

i find humorous that you post articles that all repeat the same story but i post one where CBA owners blame the creation of the NBDL and you downplay it.

greed and ego aside. isiah got strong-armed by stern and he still didn't lose a dime, because he's not an idiot. you are.

[F Duke]

i find humorous that you post articles that all repeat the same story

Um, idiot, when several articles say the same thing, it usually means it's true. You can argue all day about 2+2 = 5 but it doesn't mean it's right.

[CDlockedJG2001]

Originally posted by F Duke
Um, idiot, when several articles say the same thing, it usually means it's true. You can argue all day about 2+2 = 5 but it doesn't mean it's right.

and when there are articles that contradict those articles, it usually means that someone is lying.

[F Duke]

First off, you linked to a site that doesn't work. And secondly, I don't think the Quad City Reporter qualifies as a periodical that is so highly regarded that it eliminates 95 other articles that SAY THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF YOUR ARGUMENT.

[CDlockedJG2001]

Originally posted by F Duke
First off, you linked to a site that doesn't work. And secondly, I don't think the Quad City Reporter qualifies as a periodical that is so highly regarded that it eliminates 95 other articles that SAY THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF YOUR ARGUMENT.

the quad city reporter is EXACTLY THE KIND OF JOURNALISM THAT I WOULD TRUST REGARDING NEWS ABOUT THE CBA, YOU MORON!

95 articles written by idiots who have hated isiah for the last 15 years.