Walsh now calling the shots
(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Knicks fans dying to show Isiah Thomas the door at Madison Square Garden shouldn’t get too excited just yet. The Knicks’ hiring of Donnie Walsh on Wednesday means the embattled Isiah Thomas is out as team president, but his fate as head coach remains unclear.
Walsh, a Bronx native, said he plans to speak with Thomas in the coming days before making a decision.
“I’ve known Isiah for a long time and have great respect for his knowledge of the game,” Walsh said at a news conference at Madison Square Garden. “I think he is a great basketball mind, and I’m not going to judge anything from afar.”
Walsh, who said several times he believed the Knicks had good players, hinted that there could be a spot for Thomas within the organization next season, if not as coach.
“I think he has the skills to help this franchise,” said Walsh, who resigned as Indiana Pacers president last month.
Walsh, who has worked in the Pacers’ front office since 1987 and enjoyed 16 playoff runs from 1989 to 2006, hired Thomas as Indiana’s coach in 2000. In his three seasons there, Thomas took his teams to the postseason every year.
But since taking over as the Knicks’ president of basketball operations in December 2003, the team has finished five straight seasons with losing records. Thomas had a 51-103 record in his two seasons as Knicks coach entering Wednesday night’s game at Memphis.
Walsh, 67, will have complete control over the team’s basketball operations. In reaching a four-year contract, team owner James Dolan gave into Walsh’s terms regarding authority and autonomy, ESPN.com reported yesterday.
He stopped short of making any ambitious promises to fans. While Walsh said he hoped to quickly make the team competitive, he added that he was looking ahead to three years from now, when the team will be in good salary-cap position and can go on a free-agent shopping spree. That could mean the team might avoid awarding any long-term contracts over the next couple of seasons, Walsh added.
“My commitment is to try to get us to be good,” Walsh said. “If you can get it to be an elite team [immediately], great. But you just build it to the point where at a certain point in time you can go out into the free-agent market and try to make this an elite team.
“I don’t want anyone to be fooled. There’s no magic wand here. It’s going to take a lot of hard work.”
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