Isiah Thomas wanted Kevin Garnett to be the first Raptors player

Isiah Thomas was the first general manager of the Raptors and was apart of the teams initial ownership. Thomas recently appeared on Scoop B Radio with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson and spoke about his initial blueprint for the Raptors franchise and how he wanted Kevin Garnett to be the first ever Toronto Raptor.

Isiah Thomas was the first general manager of the Toronto Raptors and was apart of the teams initial ownership group.

Thomas immediately transitioned into management following his Hall of Fame career with the Detroit Pistons and was put in charge of building a team for the expansion franchise in Toronto.

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Thomas recently appeared on Scoop B Radio with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson who is the editor for Respect Magazine.

During the interview, he spent time reflecting on his tenure with the Raptors and explained his thought process behind the teams early draft selections and trades that helped shape the franchise for years to come.

Thomas talked about having conversations with Tex Schramm who was the Dallas Cowboys original president as well as legendary San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh who explained to him that expansion rules are set up for him to fail and that the only way for him to succeed in Toronto was by beating the bushes and to use unconventional methods to find talent.

Thomas spoke about his initial blueprint for the Raptors franchise.

He said:

"The first guy I scouted was Kevin Garnett. I wanted to make him the first pick for the Toronto Raptors franchise."

He thought Garnett would still be available with the seventh pick in the 1995 NBA draft because he felt that other teams would be hesitant to draft a skinny kid straight out of high school.

Shortly before the draft, his old friend Kevin McHale (who was then VP of the Minnesota Timberwolves) called to ask what he thought about the young Garnett.

Thomas told McHale:

"If you don’t draft him, I will."

Way to hold those cards close to your chest Isiah!

The Raptors of course ended up selecting Damon Stoudamire out of the University of Arizona with the seventh pick in the draft and the rest is history.

Thomas spoke about the external pressure to select Ed O’Bannon out of UCLA who had just led the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA championship but instead selected Stoudamire to the dismay of the fans in Toronto.

He spoke about Stoudamire and said:

"He had skill on top of speed which made me feel that he would be a stand out in the NBA. As a basketball player, he just seemed complete."

That assessment proved correct and Stoudamire ended up becoming one of the more storied players in franchise history and still holds several team records to this day.

Thomas ended up leaving Toronto shortly after the start of the 1997 season when his attempts to gain a higher stake in the teams ownership fell short.

Regardless of how his tenure in Toronto ended, Thomas did a much better job of drafting players than any other GM in franchise history and made some decent trades to help make the Raptors competitive in the early days.

He said:

"One of the first trades that I made was for Doug Christie. The game was getting smaller, we had eliminated the power forward position and made it a very skilled position. The thing that I left Toronto with was Stoudamire, (Marcus) Camby, Christie, (Tracy) McGrady and they drafted (Vince) Carter. That was the blueprint."

Next: Interview with Sean Menard director of The Carter Effect.

To hear the full interview with Thomas on Scoop B Radio click here.

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