All these years later, Isiah Thomas regrets
his stupid, calculated handshake snub vs. the Bulls in 1991:
"We were coming down, Michael Jordan was coming up," Thomas said.
"And in coming up, you have certain emotions; and in coming down as
champions, you have certain emotions. ... Looking back, over the years,
had we had the opportunity to do it all over again, I think all of us
would make a different decision."
"I've paid a heavy price for that decision," Thomas said. "And in
paying that price -- I understand this is the sports world and
everything else, but at the same time, looking back over it in terms of
how we felt at that particular time, our emotional state and how we
exited the floor -- we actually gave the world the opportunity to look
at us in a way that we never really tried to position ourselves in or
project ourselves in that way. So it's unfortunate that it happened."
Okay, maybe I believe he's sorry, maybe not. But of course the NBA's worst cretin of all time, Bill Laimbeer, has no regrets:
Laimbeer remains unapologetic, telling Nichols that Jordan and the Bulls were "whiners."
"They
whined and cried for a year and a half about how bad we were for the
game, but more importantly, they said we were bad people," Laimbeer
said. "We weren't bad people. We were just basketball players winning,
and that really stuck with me because they didn't know who we were or
what we were about as individuals and our family life.
"But all that whining they did, I didn't want to shake their hand. They were just whiners.
The difference between Isiah and Laimbeer, of course, if that Thomas is an elite, all-time player who has a real stake in worrying about his legacy. No matter what we think of him, the history of the league will always include him. Meanwhile, Laimbeer has neither any such legacy nor anything to lose by doubling down on being a shithead.
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