Isiah Thomas regularly takes to social media to shed light on how the NBA was different during his time. However, his latest one actually praises a player who would’ve been perfect in today’s NBA, as he highlighted a sharpshooter from the 80s. The Detroit Pistons legend shared a clip on his Instagram from an old interview, where he praised Craig Hodges for his remarkable three-point shooting.
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“Craig Hodges – bad boy. In a 3-point shooting contest, Craig holds the record for making 19 threes in a row. His three was just different… He was one of the first to come into the NBA and totally change the way defenses had to defend,” Thomas says in the interview.
Isiah Thomas also explained how playing for the Chicago Bulls made Hodges even harder to guard. Sharing the court with Michael Jordan often left Hodges open, as defenders prioritized double-teaming MJ. This defensive focus on Jordan frequently resulted in Hodges getting uncontested opportunities from beyond the arc.
Jordan’s dominance in the mid-range coupled with Hodges’ accuracy from three led to the Bulls being blessed with one of the most formidable backcourt duos.
“You had to double team Michael Jordan, who was the greatest mid-range player ever, but then when you double team Jordan, you look out there and Craig Hodges is standing there with a nuclear bomb saying ‘Oh, you gonna leave me here?’ So do you wanna give up the three or do you wanna give up the 2 to Jordan?” Thomas concluded.
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The former Bulls player is one of the rare individuals to have shared the backcourt with Michael Jordan. Even more impressively, he belongs to an even smaller group to be associated with two of the greatest shooting guards in history – Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
Hodges helped Bryant with his obsession with replicating Jordan
Craig Hodges became a key resource for Kobe Bryant when the latter was eager to learn about the Bulls legend. Bryant wanted to gain insights from Hodges to study Jordan’s approach to the game.
“Oh man, the very first flight over to Hawaii. That is when we first started together. And we get on the plane and I’m sitting there…He taps me on the shoulder, ‘Hey man, we get in, we need to have lunch’… So, as soon as it was, ‘Man, what was MJ like? Did he make players better? Do you think my game is any…’. I was just,” Hodges recollected.
In addition to answering Bryant’s many questions, Hodges directly contributed to his development during his time as the Los Angeles Lakers shooting coach. He played a significant role in helping Bryant achieve his goal of replicating Jordan’s style of play.
