Business with Isiah

An interesting article on Isiah Thomas's CBA experience. Isiah was a great player with a marketable smile. The Raptors, the CBA, the Pacers, and now the Knicks are learning that leaders need more than that to be successful.

Some excerpts:

"He ruled with intimidation," says Bosshard, who owned the La Crosse (Wis.) Bobcats with her husband Bill before selling to Thomas. "It was just like, 'If I swear enough or if I act like I'm tough enough you're going to back down.'"

...

"Just the rudest person that I have ever run into in my entire life," says Rich Coffey, the former GM of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Fury and now the owner of the Fort Wayne Freedom in the Arena Football League. "He's a very poor business person. He doesn't listen to people. He's always right. He makes poor decisions, and I'm talking about the CBA in particular.

"Who he listens to are people who tell him what he wants to hear. The fact that he's still in basketball and running the Knicks just astounds me."

...

"He came to Boise when we were turning the ownership over to him. We did it at a Boys and Girls Club, which he is a former member of," Ilett says. "After the press conference, he met with some children. He was giving the old owl-eye smile that Isiah is good at when answering questions, and one little girl in the back of the room put up her hand and said, 'Isiah, why didn't you bring Michael Jordan with you?' Immediately, I could see his whole personality change and he actually went cold shoulder to the whole situation and finished it up and wandered out of there."