Isiah Thomas fired as coach of Pacers

[Guest Lethargic]

And I'm sorry, but Rick Carlise had the league leading rebounder, shotblocker, sixth man of the year, Chauncy Billups putting up 19 a game and rip Hamilton putting up 20+ a game. How in the blue hell is that NOT a talented team. The Pacers have a iffy point guard, a bad year from Reggie, a non scoring hot head at SF, Jermaine Oneil and a spotty center... Harrington was worthless this year, Croshere continues to be Croshere, Ron FUCKING Mercer...where is this great team that Isaiah was suppose to lead to the finals?

This all just proves how much of a better coach Carlisle is. Ben Wallace didn't become the monster that he is until Carlisle came in and turned him into it. Chauncey Billups was a mediocre journeyman until Carlisle turned him into a respectable contributor. Corliss Williamson was looking to be a bust in the league until Carlisle turned him into the sixth man of the year. Hamilton was stuck in a rut with the Wizards until Carlisle allowed him to turn into a scoring machine.

 

And all those problems you talk about on the Pacers are Thomas' fault. Thomas is the one that has stifled Tinsley's development by completely breaking his confidence. Who took the ball out of Reggie's hands. Who let Artest run wild and destroy everything that moved including the team's chemistry. Who has retarded the growth of Harrington and Bender by not giving them consistent minutes to develop. Who has made Croshere worthless by putting him at the end of the bench for no reason at all. Who never used Mercer hardly enough when they had him.

 

Honestly, every single thing you said that's good about the Pistons happened BECAUSE of Carlisle and every single thing you said bad about the Pacers happened BECAUSE of Thomas. There's no doubt in my mind that if they had just kept Carlisle three years ago, these two team's fortunes would be totally reversed. Pacers would be the team getting the best record and the Pistons would still be mediocre.

 

Hey, I understand why Jermaine is upset. Because he's the ONLY PLAYER ON THE TEAM that Thomas did anything for. He didn't seem to give any respect to any other player on that team. It's like he just picked Jermaine to be his boy and ran with him. He babied him and coddled him while the rest of team just scratched their heads at their lack of minutes due to Thomas' poor player management and inconsistent rotations.

 

As far as all this lying, nobody here on either side knows who lied to who. You have NO IDEA if they knew they were going to fire Thomas when they re-signed O'Neal. That's nothing but speculation. They could've known, they might not have known. Either way it doesn't matter. This is the best possible move they could've made. It SHOULD have happened three years ago but it didn't. Better late than never. Besides, in a few weeks O'Neal will be over this. He's just spouting off right now with knee jerk reactions. Give him some time and he'll most likely come to his senses.