Paranoia

I always thought one of the prisoners from the 1978 documentary Scared Straight! had an interesting take on paranoia and prison, “It’s not paranoia when it’s real!” I bring this up because Marty Burns’ recent piece on Isiah Thomas brought paranoia to a whole new level. The article revolves around Thomas’ displeasure over Greg Anthony’s draft day criticism of Renaldo Balkman. This type of thing isn’t that unusual. You may recall when Mark Cuban squared off against Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley last fall. So Thomas questioned Anthony’s competence as both a TV commentator and NBA player:

“Greg Anthony should never ever be in a position to question myself on anything about basketball. I do remember the kind of player he was. I'll leave it at that.” - Isiah Thomas

What’s the big deal? Well Thomas went on to connect seemingly benign questions to his new found disdain for Anthony. Consider the following exchanges:

1. “When asked whether he could see Balkman someday defending LeBron James or Tracy McGrady, Thomas replied, ‘Wait a minute, hold on now ... you can run him out there but he'll probably get stepped on a little bit ... Unlike Greg Anthony, I do have respect for others.’"

2. “When asked about the Knicks' dismal season a year ago, and what role all the injuries played, Thomas said, ‘We all were in a funk last year ... Greg Anthony was in a funk.’”

3. "Later, when talking about Balkman's ability to handle the ball, a reporter jokingly asked if he had a better handle than Greg Anthony. ‘Most definitely,’ Thomas said. ‘Greg could only go left.’”

That last one was a bit of a set up but I sense a theme. It’s going to be a long year if Thomas decides to go after his critics in this manner. Who’s next? Steven A. Smith? Tim Legler?

Furthermore, there is a much bigger issue lost in Thomas' venting. Regardless of Balkman’s encouraging start and the home crowd warming up to him, it was a bad pick. I’m all for the Bill Parcells line of thinking that you have to forget when a player was drafted and simply analyze what he can do for your team. But nobody had Balkman in the first round. In fact this is actually more about the Knicks drafting Mardy Collins nine picks later. Let’s say the Knicks held off on Balkman until the 29th pick and then selected Rajon Rando (21), Marcus Williams (22) or even Jordan Farmer (26) with the 20th pick. Wouldn't the Knicks be better off?

Also how many former players (pictured right) can Thomas detest? It’s not healthy.

Finally, how about that Scared Straight! reference? I’m still flying high from that. Did you know that Peter Falk narrated it and according to IMDB.com it was broadcast uncensored in the late 1970s? That meant commercial broadcasters sat back and watched the F bomb get dropped willingly for the first time. Fuck.