My Isiah Thomas Story

In 1985, I was nine years old at my first Detroit Pistons game. It was at the Pontiac Silverdome. My dad had somehow managed to get us courtside seats. I still remember how enormous the players looked from that close. My dad leaned toward me and said that Kelly Tripucka was the best player on the team. I told him that I liked number 11, Isiah Thomas. My dad replied with something about Isiah being great in college, although he thought he might be too short for the NBA and had not yet proven himself. Time would show that Isiah knew exactly how to answer critics.

When the Pistons moved to the new Palace of Auburn Hills, my family bought a partial season ticket package. That became a treasured part of my childhood. I started going to about a dozen games each year and Isiah quickly became my favorite player. I watched him carry the team through the playoff runs in 1987 and 1988. Then came the unforgettable back to back championships in 1989 and 1990. Seeing him hoist the trophy with Chuck Daly and the entire team is still one of my clearest memories from those years at the Palace.

After Isiah retired following the 1993-1994 season, after suffering a career-ending torn Achilles tendon in his final home game with the Detroit Pistons, I saw a different side of him. My father’s tech company (which I took over in August 2010) was hired by Isiah to help with a new business idea he was developing. My dad built a database for a project Isiah was working on with a group of investors. They wanted to sell gift certificates at Somerset Mall in Troy that could be used at any store throughout the mall. At the time I wondered why one of the greatest point guards in NBA history was not coaching, running a front office, or doing television commentary. What I did not yet understand was that Isiah was a true entrepreneur. Looking back, he was not the only one from that iconic team. Bill Laimbeer went on to help grow his father’s company, Laimbeer Packaging. Vinnie Johnson launched Piston Automotive, which eventually became a billion dollar supplier in the auto industry.

Isiah’s entrepreneurial work has been impressive. One example is his champagne company, Cheurlin Champagne, formed through a partnership with one of the oldest champagne houses in France. He became the first African American to own an international champagne brand and brought a focus on healthier wine production with lower sugar and no chemical additives. It is a remarkable shift from basketball legend to beverage industry innovator.

Today, Isiah leads a growing business portfolio under the name Isiah Enterprises. The company, based in Troy, has gone public and represents the evolution of what began years ago as One World. They now operate in sectors that include consumer goods, sports and entertainment ventures, and strategic global partnerships. The public offering reflects both the stability and the ambition of the company. Recent press releases highlight their plans for continued expansion along with a renewed confidence in the leadership Isiah brings to the business world.

Several years ago, I had the chance to interview Isiah in Las Vegas. It was a memorable conversation, not only because of his accomplishments but because of his warmth and humility. Here is that interview:

Congratulations to Isiah. He remains one of the greatest point guards in the history of the NBA, a gracious person, and a hardworking entrepreneur. Detroit should be proud of everything he continues to build.

Are the Cleveland Cavaliers a Jewish Team?

I've always been of the opinion that one should, first and foremost, cheer for one's own hometown sports teams. For example, I've never understood how someone from Detroit could randomly choose another NFL team as "their team" instead of the local Detroit Lions (despite their lack of a single Super Bowl championship). However, when it comes to the playoffs, if one's own team isn't playing then it is acceptable to adopt a team and cheer for that team.

Here in Detroit, it's become the accepted practice to cheer for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA postseason when the Detroit Pistons are not playing. While the Cavaliers might be one of the Pistons' closest rivals, Detroiters feel a connection with the team and can't resist liking them. Such has certainly been the case with me.

With Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and former player Zydrunas Ilgauskas at a Friends of the IDF Event in Cleveland

Owned by Jewish philanthropist Dan Gilbert, the Cavs have become something of a first cousin to the Detroit Pistons. One might find it odd to enter the Downtown Detroit headquarters of Quicken Loans, the company Gilbert owns, and see a basketball court bedecked in Cleveland Cavaliers colors and logos. For Detroiters, however, this seems natural. In both Detroit and Cleveland, we've found a mutual appreciation for Gilbert, who has used his philanthropy and business savvy to bring a dual renaissance to Detroit and Cleveland, two major U.S. cities that have struggled financially in the past several decades. (Gilbert owns a casino in both cities, the Quicken Loans Arena ("The Q") in Cleveland, the Lake Erie Monsters hockey team, the Cleveland Gladiators arena football team, a large Downtown Cleveland office for Quicken Loans employees there, dozens of Detroit-based companies, and has bought over 75 buildings in Downtown Detroit).

With my son and Cleveland Cavaliers Coach David Blatt

Not only have the Cavs become the adopted team during the NBA playoffs for Detroit Pistons fans, but recent articles have called the Cavs "Israel's Team." Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even phoned Head Coach David Blatt, who has Israeli citizenship, to wish him luck and tell him that the entire State of Israel was behind him. Almost a decade before the Cavs hired an Israeli coach, my first experience with Dan Gilbert's Cavs had a connection to Israel. I was invited to Quicken Loans Arena in 2006 to watch the Cavaliers take on Maccabi Tel Aviv in a pre-season game. The night before I attended a dinner at a synagogue in the Cleveland suburbs where Dan Gilbert was honored by Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The two teams competed again before this season, but this time around it was more personal because Blatt used to coach Maccabi Tel Aviv.

My son and his friends with Cleveland Cavaliers Coach David Blatt

I would argue that the Cavs are a Jewish team too. If they win the NBA championship this year (the series begins tonight), they wouldn't be the first team with a Jewish owner and Jewish coach -- the Detroit Pistons won in 2004 with Larry Brown as coach and Bill Davidson as the majority owner. But there's a very Jewish feel to this team in which Gilbert and star player LeBron James had to perform teshuva before the season to repair their fractured relationship. When LeBron returned to Cleveland after his sojourn in Miami he had to apologize to Cleveland fans for his undignified exit a few years back and Gilbert had to make amends to LeBron for his unprofessional public letter. There's certainly a Yom Kippur sermon in there about healing relationships.