http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/01/4381796/a-rising-star-sacramento-kings.html
"If all I'm remembered for is being a good basketball player, then I've done
a bad job with the rest of my life. The Marathon Continues."
– Isaiah Thomas' tweet, @Isaiah_Thomas2
Mayor Kevin Johnson surveyed his audience, most of them third-graders, less
than a third of them reading at grade level. He had a message for the
students at Peter Burnett Elementary School but needed fresh energy to make
his point.
For that, he turned to Isaiah Thomas.
On the court, the Kings rookie point guard has moved from the last pick in
the 2011 NBA draft to a key role in the team's starting lineup. In the
community he's creating a different buzz as he explores a broader role,
showing up at the City Council for a critical vote on a proposed new arena or
at a school as a role model for at-risk students.
This morning Thomas, sporting a black dress shirt covering a dozen tatoos,
strolled to the head of the class with a subtle, confident swagger. "I've
been studying all night. It's been a headache," he told the kids, explaining
he had to take a final so he could graduate from college. All success begins
with college, he said, but admitted, "I wasn't a good student when I was your
age, or in middle school or high school either."
Thomas smiled, the students smiled back and reached out for fist bumps,
high-fives and a few autographs.
Thomas, 23, enjoys these community visits. He jokes about becoming a rapper
or going into law enforcement when his career's over. He enjoys watching "Law
& Order" and "CSI." But he also admires what pros such as Jamal Crawford do
for their communities.
"He built a brand-new gym for his high school," Thomas said of Crawford. "I
want to give back to Tacoma, (Wash.), keep kids from dropping out, build
community centers. I want to be the talk of the city."
On the court
With the 60th pick of the 2011 draft, the Kings chose Thomas, a 5-foot-9
point guard from the University of Washington. Dead last, 50 spots behind
Jimmer Fredette, the college scoring machine who inspired Jimmermania.
Since February, Thomas has started for the Kings. Before Saturday night's
game against the New Jersey Nets, he was averaging 16.1 points and 5.9
assists in the previous 10 games, with 19 points in a win over Utah on Friday.
Thomas' relentless hustle and unselfish play have rebranded the suddenly
exciting Kings. With a boyish smile, natural leadership skills and a penchant
for doing the unexpected, he has become the one of the most compelling
stories of the Kings season.
"Don't ever give up, and don't let anybody tell you you can't do anything,"
he said. "Even today people tell me I'm not going to make it. I smile back,
and work even harder."
Power Balance Pavilion vibrates with cheers and applause when No. 22 is
introduced. His face appears on the overhead screen now before the fourth
quarter, beseeching the fans to give the Kings a loud assist.
It's not quite Linsanity, which gripped the world as point guard Jeremy Lin
led the woeful New York Knicks to stunning victories for a few weeks. But
Thomas is playing out a similar script in Sacramento's softer spotlight.
Thomas has outplayed and beaten some of the best point guards in the league,
including the Boston Celtics' Rajon Rondo and the Memphis Grizzlies' Mike
Conley. In Wednesday's loss to San Antonio, he hit his NBA career high,
outscoring Tony Parker, 28 to 10. In February, he was named Rookie of the
Month.
"He just happens to be one of the players who's mature enough, tough enough
and skilled enough to step in and have an impact," said Geoff Petrie, Kings
president of basketball operations.
Thomas has worked hard to get here, despite his success in college ball,
where he was Pac-10 tournament MVP. He studied tapes of Kings games two hours
a day. He spent the summer working out with friends Crawford, Jason Terry,
Spencer Hawes and Nate Robinson, all NBA pros from Washington state.
"I just wanted to be ahead of the other rookies," he said.
Before each road game, Thomas said, he and fellow rookies Fredette and Tyler
Honeycutt take taxis to get to the arena early. Then Thomas runs up and down
all the stairs in every aisle before taking shots until he makes 100 or 150.
He doesn't just lead by example.
"He's not afraid to tell his teammates, 'You're not working hard, you're not
hustling,' " said Kings broadcaster and former coach Jerry Reynolds. "The
guys respect him because of his talent. He competes, and he'll fight anybody.
Detroit tried to post him up with a 7-footer, and Isaiah shoved and pushed
him away from the basket."
Thomas gets his inspiration from both rappers and Scripture. "I'm a big Tupac
fan," he said. " 'Against All Odds.' "
Off the court
You can read plenty about Thomas by just looking at him. He's covered with
personal tattoos. In addition to his immediate family, they feature Mighty
Mouse, the face of his late grandfather, preacher Jim Thomas, and Psalm 23.4,
Isaiah 9.2: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil: for thou art with me."
He's also inked with Luke 12:48: "To whom much is given, much is required."
It took him a while to realize how much he had.
Thomas' parents, who never married, split up when he was 2. He first lived
with his mother, Tina Baldtrip, who was struggling to raise three kids.
"I could never buy the things they really wanted," Baldtrip said. "He was so
hurt I couldn't get a basketball hoop – everybody else had one. I finally
got one when he was 6."
Baldtrip also couldn't afford to buy Isaiah Air Jordans. "I remember Isaiah
cried all the way out the store, but times were hard and Jordans were about
$120," she said.
Thomas moved in with his dad, Keith Thomas, a Lakers fan who played park and
rec ball and was responsible for Thomas' name. He had bet a friend that if
the Lakers lost to the Pistons in the NBA finals, he would name his
first-born son after Isiah Thomas, the Pistons point guard at the time.
Baldtrip insisted on the Biblical spelling.
Once Thomas got a basketball, he never let go. When he was in fourth grade,
his dad, a Boeing wing inspector, had to leave work once to drag him off the
playground and into class "because he wouldn't go in."
He cried when he stopped growing, but never forgot his father's advice:
"You've got to believe you're 7 foot, play like a 7-footer."
School, though, was a struggle. After he flunked two high school classes, his
father sent him to South Kent, an all-boys prep school in Connecticut, for
two lonely years to improve his grades for college.
Thomas described those years as the hardest of his life, but he learned to
take care of himself. And he spent weekends in New York with his friends,
then-Knicks players Crawford and Robinson.
Thomas was the first in his family to go to college. At the University of
Washington, he had the highest GPA on the team. He played for coach Lorenzo
Romar, who had talked his father into sending Isaiah to South Kent and gave
him tapes of Kings games after the draft.
"He came home a man," said his girlfriend, Kayla Wallace, the mother of his
2-month-old son, Jaiden.
Thomas' first son, 18-month-old James Alexander Thomas, lives with his
ex-high school girlfriend in Washington. Thomas said he visits whenever he
can.
"I never thought I'd have kids this young, but it's a blessing, it makes you
grow up, it's not about you, it's about them."
Thomas rents a two-bedroom apartment in midtown Sacramento with Wallace and
Jaiden. He lives "like a college student." He drives his car from college, a
2006 black Dodge Charger with purple trim.
On a recent evening, clad in a gray Yankees cap and a matching gray T-shirt,
Thomas hunkered down on the sofa in the sparsely furnished apartment. He
flipped between three NBA games on his TV and talked trash with his cousin
Tavares Baldtrip, a music producer who is Isaiah's favorite video game foil.
"I beat him 90 percent of the time," Thomas said. "Try 50 percent," Baldtrip
answered.
Also there was Thomas' videographer, T.J. Regan, who's making "Mr.
Irrelevant," a documentary chronicling Thomas' mercurial rise from the
driveways of Tacoma to the NBA.
"He's a free-spirited guy, but everything's hard work," Regan said. "He's
always been the underdog – that's why it's called 'Mr. Irrelevant' – but he
proves people wrong 24-7."
"Irrelevant" also refers to Thomas being selected last in the draft. "The
number you're drafted becomes irrelevant once you step on the floor," said
Petrie.
Making a difference
Thomas, who earns about $500,000 a year, already gives back. He runs summer
basketball camps for kids in Tacoma. He gave away more than 100 backpacks.
After the Kings drafted him, Kevin Johnson reached out.
"I spoke up in Tacoma on education reform and he came out," the mayor said.
"I really respected the fact that he was finishing his degree. I could see he
was going to be more than a basketball player – he really wants to give back
to his community."
Thomas remembers telling Johnson, "I like what you did as a point guard, and
I like what you've done off the court. Can you mentor me?"
And Johnson has.
When Thomas struggled early, not getting in games, the mayor and former point
guard encouraged him. "Play hard, keep your head up, stay positive," he said.
"You'll get your opportunity."
Johnson provides support from the sidelines, frequently attending games;
Thomas shows up at events whenever the mayor needs him.
Thomas believes basketball will help him help as many others as he can. He
doesn't like being called an underdog, because he's always believed God's
plan was to guide him to NBA stardom and more.
Kings coach Keith Smart, who inserted Thomas into his starting lineup,
describes his point guard as "a dynamic leader already." He was surprised
that Thomas had attended the City Council meeting on a downtown arena. But he
wouldn't be surprised if Thomas followed in Johnson's footsteps.
"He might run and win," Smart said. "He's a little diplomat."
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