The Lessons of Chicago's West Side

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/sports/pro-basketball-the-lessons-of-chicago-s-west-side.html

By Liz Robbins

Jan. 27, 2004

To make it to 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, Isiah Lord Thomas III first had to get from Congress Street to West Jackson on Chicago's West Side, where the warmest place of refuge was the gym at Our Lady of Sorrows.

He and his brothers walked out of their row house, chased away the giant rats that had scared off the cats, and after scouting the territory for gangs, dodged the Vice Lords on one block and the rival Black Souls on the next.

''To me, the West Side was strictly about survival,'' Thomas said.

''Every day was about surviving. How you're going to eat, how you're going to act in school. It was a test of your instincts. There were no written rules. Everything was about how well you listened, how well you observed and how quickly you processed that.''

From the West Side -- which Thomas wears as a badge as much as a chip -- he learned the skills he needed to get out: how to play basketball, how to be a star from age 3, how to fight for himself and his family, how to hustle, how to win.

Ultimately, that last quality may be all the Knicks' faithful want. In the weeks since he replaced Scott Layden as team president, Thomas has used other skills from his upbringing to reconstruct the Knicks, surgically, if not ceremoniously, and jolt their status quo.

He rid the team of six players, made a blockbuster trade for point guard Stephon Marbury, fired Coach Don Chaney and two assistants, unearthed Lenny Wilkens, and made Mark Aguirre, his West Side friend and former Pistons teammate, an assistant coach.

Thomas is fueled by one vision. ''He told me, 'We're going to get a championship in New York,' '' said Ruby Carlsen, his sister and confidante. ''He hasn't told me when yet, but he has never been wrong.''

Throughout Thomas's controversial Hall of Fame career as a player and then as a coach and executive, his family has always shielded him as he has rescued them, their symbiotic support held by indomitable roots of struggle and overcoming.

Two of his six brothers have died of complications from drug and alcohol addiction, and Thomas has made it his life's work to help rehabilitate other brothers who were afflicted. Thomas said he woke up recently crying over his fun-loving brother Gregory, whose ashes were spread into the cold cement on a vacant corner of the West Side.

When the Thomas family convenes today, though, more often they laugh and shout in a cacophony of love. The clan gathered in the suburban living room of the Thomases' strong-willed 81-year-old matriarch, Mary, earlier this month to spin tales about their youngest brother, Isiah, whom they call Junior, interrupting each other and embellishing with the fervor of a preacher and his choir.

Larry Thomas recalled the day he saw Isiah rolling dice in his hand and walking down Madison Street in Larry's spiffy suit -- bought, Larry said, with money Larry had earned from pimping.

Isiah had been suspended from seventh grade for insubordination. ''Junior, you're going the wrong way,'' Larry said.

Larry and the oldest Thomas brother, Lord Henry, had chosen their street life over basketball. ''You're the last one, Junior; you got to take this ball, you got to take it to the N.B.A.,'' Larry recalled telling Isiah.

Thomas revered his older brother, and still does. He listened.

''Do you know what we call him?'' Larry said. ''The Deliverer.''

At every stop in his professional career, Thomas, 42, has defied expectations, especially as a 6-foot-1 point guard, and he has left a trail of paradoxes.

He was called the ''smiling assassin'' during his Bad Boys days with the Detroit Pistons. He has also been described as ambitious and power hungry, arrogant and warmhearted, defensive and innovative, mercurial and a commanding leader.

His brother-in-law Bruce Carlsen said that Thomas's perceived arrogance was also rooted in the West Side. The family, Carlsen said, knows the real Isiah.

''It was the defense mechanism for the elements that existed there,'' Carlsen said. ''One of the reasons why people may not particularly care for him is because they know he's going to come right after them, between both eyes.''

Controlling Emotions

Thomas won two championships in Detroit, resurrecting the franchise. He also orchestrated a jarring walk-off as the Bulls were beating the Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals: Thomas and other starters who were already on the bench left before time had run out.

He became part-owner and general manager of the Toronto Raptors, drafting Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady. But he resigned after losing a power struggle over buying the team.

Thomas bought the struggling Continental Basketball Association and left it in bankruptcy to coach the young Indiana Pacers. After three seasons with the Pacers, he was fired by his old rival Larry Bird in August.

''What I've always found myself fighting against was that being from the West Side of Chicago, people did not expect nor did they accept someone like myself,'' he said. ''They told me, 'There's got to be something behind you.' ''

Competitors and colleagues wonder what lies behind his charming smile; some think they know.

''He kind of wears a mask,'' Jerry West, the Memphis Grizzlies' president, said. ''He doesn't get too high or doesn't get too low, and I think that's a really great quality. Behind the exterior, you know what he wants. That's what keeps him working, keeps him competitive.''

When Thomas was 12 and shining shoes at a pool hall, a man burst into the room, seeking retribution for the rape of his sister. Thomas happened to be at the door, so someone put a gun to his head.

He kept quiet and lived.

The West Side taught him how to hide his emotions and gauge his opponents, especially when hustling at pool, dice or hoops. ''We were very entrepreneurial,'' Thomas said. ''It was still marketing, distribution and accounting.''

He added: ''The way I learned the game of basketball, I didn't learn X's and O's. The game was about people and about moving people on the court and making a person feel what you wanted him to feel. And if you could control their emotions, you could beat them.''

Thomas emulated his brothers' moves and learned to shoot in the dark at the court in Gladys Park. Usually, his mother was still working as a cook at Our Lady of Sorrows.

The brothers remember fights their father, Isiah Lord Thomas II, had with their mother and that he left the household when Isiah was 6. Bursting with ideas, his father was adamant about education and wanted his family to be like the Kennedys, Thomas recalled.

Mary Thomas worked various jobs and moved her family of nine children often, to stay ahead of rent collectors. Many days all she could provide were beans and cornbread, but the neighborhood flocked to the Thomas house, filling it with strangers and even gang leaders.

''All we had when we were growing up was each other and basketball,'' said another brother Mark, who has been a police officer on the West Side for 24 years. ''When we realized that Isiah could really play this game, that's when it really turned serious. We told him, 'You are probably going to be the driving force to move us from point A to point B.' ''

Point B is Clarendon Hills, a Chicago suburb, and the ranch house that Isiah bought for his mother after signing his first contract with the Pistons in 1981.

They were the first black family on the block. Mary, or Dear, as her children call her, held a barbecue in the huge backyard to embrace the neighbors, a tradition she continued with Thomas's teammates and other celebrities.

When Thomas got the call from the Knicks on Dec. 19 to come for an interview, he was with his mother as she was getting a pedicure. He had given Mary a spa day, but it was Thomas who had been rejuvenated.

Gene Pingatore, Thomas's high school coach at St. Joseph's in Westchester, Ill., was not surprised by his immediate impact on the Knicks.

''He takes over a game the same way he would take over an organization,'' Pingatore said.

At St. Joseph's, Thomas learned to be a star in two worlds, first by outrunning everyone. When he got off the bus after his 90-minute commute every morning, Thomas would be chased by local boys because he was black. When he got home, Thomas ran past the gangs.

Fulfilling Promises

Thomas promised his family he would make St. Joseph's the first Catholic school to go to the Illinois state tournament. He delivered, but the team could not win a title, losing in the finals his junior year and being upset in the quarterfinals his senior year.

At Indiana University, Thomas finally won his championship, in his sophomore season. Then he left for the N.B.A. The Thomas family's first encounter with Bob Knight, his coach at Indiana, is now Chicago legend. Knight arrived at the Thomas house to find most of the neighborhood and every sibling inside.

They turned the visit into an interview of Knight. Gregory, who was known as Gay-Gay and who had been drinking, objected to one of Knight's answers and the two nearly came to blows.

''To his credit, he kind of downplayed it,'' Thomas said of Knight. ''My family would come to games, my brother Gay-Gay. The people at Indiana, and Coach Knight in particular, never made me feel ashamed or embarrassed about what was taking place.''

Instead, Thomas believes his brothers are champions.

''Isiah devoted most of his life and a lot of his money to making sure his brothers were clean and sober,'' his sister Ruby said. ''He's very proud and it's taken a long time, but he did it.''

Thomas has always had a bold vision, but there are those, especially in the C.B.A., who thought they had been hustled.

''Isiah's an absolute master at public relations,'' said Clay Moser, president of the Great Lakes Storm, who was Thomas's regional director after Thomas bought the league from individual owners.

''Almost every time he sat in front of the ownership group prior to owning the league, he had a great presence. He was very charming and I remember when he left there was a buzz in the room.''

But Moser said Thomas was not an approachable chief executive or well-versed in the business operations of the franchises.

With the Knicks, Thomas has begun redefining his predecessors' idea of character. He explained why he would consider pursuing troubled players like Rasheed Wallace, Eddie Griffin or Leon Smith.

''One of the values of character is courage, the courage to overcome failures in life like my brothers have,'' Thomas said.

New York, with its grand ambitions and challenges, might seem like the perfect place for Thomas. He has another view.

''I think the perfect place for me, no matter what city I'm in, it will always be in the living room, with my coach, brothers, sisters, my family, just listening to them talk,'' Thomas said. ''That's the place I long to be every day.''

A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 27, 2004, Section D, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: PRO BASKETBALL; The Lessons of Chicago's West Side.