Isiah Thomas is kind of like basketball’s Alexander the Great.

Depending on your location, say Macedonia in the latter’s case or Detroit in the former’s, you could hear him praised or, if you’re in ancient Persia or midtown Manhattan, hear him vilified. Thomas is credited with being everything from once-in-a-lifetime player to a historically bad, bordering on irresponsible, executive. He’s battled Larry Bird, New York tabloids, and coworkers; but for as many enemies as Thomas supposedly has, he’s also made some friends along the way.

Pistons president Joe Dumars happens to be one of those friends, and, Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reports, that’s helping Thomas’ quest to return to the NBA. According to sources, Dumars is supposedly considering two former teammates, Thomas and Bill Laimbeer, as well as Mike Woodson and Kelvin Sampson to replace former Pistons coach John Kuester. The sources added that Thomas is not the leading candidate, but he is definitely being considered for the position.

Thomas was rumored to be returning to the Knicks front office, but that no longer appears likely.

What is likely is Thomas’ imminent departure from Florida International, where he’s posted an 18-44 record in two seasons as men’s basketball coach. Obviously there are cases when a new college coach is hampered by the previous regime’s dismal recruits, but this isn’t one of those times. The players weren’t great when Thomas arrived and they haven’t gotten any better. Interestingly enough, Thomas’ eventual successor will have that exact problem as Zeke hasn’t put the effort into recruiting at FIU. Center Joey De La Rosa originally intended to play for the Golden Panthers, but after Thomas tried and failed to sign with the Knicks as a consultant, changed his mind.

“It was discussed with Joey, that Isiah might just leave,” De La Rosa’s uncle Victor Urbaez told Adam H. Beasley of The Miami Herald back in April “That was not really at the forefront of the decision. But it was a consideration.”

Another player, Cedrick McAfee, made a similar decision back in September and opted to go to Auburn instead of FIU.

But while Thomas has shown disinterest in the college game, he’s reportedly pining to get back into NBA, where he posted a 187-223 record in five seasons as a head coach. The Pacers did make the playoffs in his three seasons with the team, but he had considerably less success in New York. Of course, Thomas’ career as the Knicks head coach may have been sabotaged by Thomas the executive, who splurged on dead weight like Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis and Eddy Curry.

With Dumars calling the shots in Detroit, one has to wonder if Thomas could conceivably resurrect his image as a coach with the Pistons. The team is coming off a 30-52 season, but there is young talent at center (Greg Monroe) and point guard (Rodney Stuckey), so the job does have some upside. The challenge for Thomas or whoever winds up taking the gig will be to blend the team’s youngsters with aging veterans like Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Ben Gordon.

Fortunately for Thomas, that was the exact situation he was presented with when he arrived in Indiana before the 2000-2001 season. The Pacers, who were coming off an NBA Finals appearance, ignited a youth movement by swapping veteran Dale Davis for 22-year-old Jermaine O’Neal. Ron Artest and Brad Miller joined Thomas during his second season with the team, and all three players seemed blossom under Thomas. O’Neal went from scoring 3.9 PPG with Portland to dropping 12.9 PPG in his first season with the Pacers and 19.0 PPG the following year. Meanwhile, Artest initially saw his scoring suffer when he went to Indiana, but he corrected that by 2002-2003 while cementing himself as one of the game’s best defenders.

Thomas may not be everyone’s cup of tea as a head coach, but when he’s not making personnel decisions, his record can be described as a mixed bag rather than a total disaster.

{AUTHOR_BOX}Good News for Malcolm Lee

Eamonn Brennan of ESPN.com, a UCLA blog called Bruinsnation.com and ESPN commentators Tom Penn, Chad Ford, Len Elmore and Fran Frischilla touched upon something recently that is starting to affect the draft process: The perception that coach Ben Howland’s offense masks the talents of his players.

It goes without saying that Howland produces great defenders (Darren Collison, Jrue Holiday, Luc Mbah a Moute, Arron Afflalo and Russell Westbrook to name a few), but it’s rare that his players get noticed for that they do on the opposite end of the floor.

Now, however, scouts are starting to take into account the lethargic pace of UCLA’s offense, which tends to use up most of the 35-second clock. For a player like UCLA combo guard Malcolm Lee, for instance, this trend could help explain his disappointing assist average (2.0 APG as a junior) or his modest scoring numbers (13.1 PPG).

“… The system [Howland] runs does not highlight some of the things that NBA teams really value in these guys,” Bruins Nation quoted Ford as saying during the Chicago pre-draft camp.

Of course, there is a positive side to “The UCLA Effect.” For instance, teams know what to expect defensively when they draft one of Howland’s players.

“Going back to Chad’s point about UCLA guards, they’re not all created equal,” Bruins Nation quoted Penn as saying. “There is a subtle—[maybe a] not so subtle—similarity that you end up having between these players and it increases the likelihood of success [in the NBA] potentially in your own mind and when you’re selling these things internally.”

Essentially, UCLA players have no problem proving their worth defensively, but it takes some imagination from a scouting department to predict what they’ll be like on offense.

And Once Again…

The NBA Finals was the highest-rated program once again. Game 4 pulled in an 11.1 overnight Nielsen rating, which means it was the highest-rated primetime program on Tuesday night, which marks the 23rd consecutive time that has happened.

When the HEAT and Mavericks squared off in Game 4 of the 2006 NBA Finals ratings were 22% lower than they were last night, which shows some of the progress the NBA has made with audiences over the last few seasons.

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