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#9 Isiah Lord Thomas III (1981-94, Career Points- 18,822)
The Pistons continue their success of picking up and developing a few of the best Point Guards in NBA history. Isiah Thomas had nothing short of a phenomenal 13-year basketball career. He played for the Indiana Hoosiers in the NCAA and also led them to the championship in 1981. He submitted his name for the draft the same year and was selected by the Pistons as the second overall pick. After a sensational first season, he made it to the All-Rookie First team and that set a precedent. In his 13 years, he made it to 12 All-Star Games.
Between 1988-90, he went to the NBA Finals all three times and won twice, both consecutively against the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trailblazers respectively. He was Finals MVP in the 1990 Finals averaging 27.5 Points and 7.0 Assists per game. The Pistons continued their dominance after their championship run but always failed to shake off the emerging Chicago Bulls Dynasty. He retired one month before the end of the 1994 season because of a torn Achilles tendon. He still holds records with the Pistons for scoring, assists, and steals. His number 11 jersey was retired by the Pistons and he was also inducted into the Basketball hall of fame scoring in 2000.
Also read: Top 5 Point Guards in NBA history
Sometimes after many successful years in one particular field, it is difficult to move away. Legends of the game always come back as Coaches, Pundits and always keep ties to the game. Isiah came back as a basketball coach replacing Larry Bird as the head coach of the Indiana Pacers, a team that had just won the Eastern Conference title the earlier year.
He converted the Pacers from a veteran-dominated playoff experienced team to a younger, less experienced team. He coached bright young players like Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Brad Miller along with the veteran leader Reggie Miller but failing to carry the team deep into the Playoffs, forced the franchise to relieve of his duties after 2003.
In 2006, he was also appointed as director of Basketball Operations by the New York Knicks and promised to build them a championship team offloading the veteran players like Steve Francis and Channing Frye but that experiment didn't work out as well and ended in 2 years in 2008.
Guess the Lakers players!
