The story for now...more to come
Donnie Walsh announced the dismissal of Isiah Thomas as the Knicks head coach, but, as expected, did not completely dismiss him from the organization.
“Following a lot of discussion and thought, I made the decision that Isiah will no longer coach the team,” Walsh said in an opening statement. “I value Isiah and his knowledge of the game and he will remain with the organization, reporting directly to me. He will not have an official title, but he will provide meaningful input to me.”
“I believe a new coach will help the direction of the franchise,” Walsh added, “and also think Isiah remaining a part of the franchise is good for the organization.”
Walsh acknowledged at least two potential candidates for the job will be former Knick Mark Jackson and, interestingly, former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy.
“He’s always been a guy that I think could make a really fine head coach and I certainly will interview him,” Walsh said of Jackson. “He’ll be one of the guys on my list, along with others.”
When asked if he had any concerns about hiring someone who has never coached before, Walsh replied, “Larry Bird got us [the Pacers] to the Finals and he was a coach with no experience.”
Van Gundy would seem a longshot because of how his first stint as coach ended, when he abruptly resigned in Dec. 2001. Garden chairman James Dolan is still bitter, but the caveat is he gave Walsh full autonomy when he hired him as the team president three weeks ago. Walsh said he had no knowledge of any issue between Dolan and Van Gundy.
“I don’t know what the past was here,” he said. “And nobody’s brought it to my attention.”
Walsh says he expects to get a lot of calls now that the position is available.
“I will get calls,” Walsh said. “This is a coveted job. People will want to coach here.”
Stay tuned for more. I don't have the time right now to put together a blog with opinion and conjecture, so I'll leave that to the room. Tossing the keys on the table. Have at it, Fixers!
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Comments (26)
Alan, this is a disgrace. You better tell Walsh the fanbase is angry by keeping Isiah.
Walsh has no power with the team. What an old fool. He just came here to get his money and run. New Yorker? A real New Yorker would have fired Isiah Thomas. Instead this fool keeps him around to appease good'ol Jimmy D. I guarantee you we have not see the last of Isiah Thomas with the Knicks. He will be back when Walsh retires and it wont be pretty.
By George your are correct! Please pass go and collect $200
along with your " get out of Jail free card".......
Alan knows the deal..but his postion requires he plays the
roll of ?????????????????
Yall sound hilarious, Donnie hired Thomas in Indy what would make u think he was forced by Dolan to keep him.... Maybe he really likes the guy, like he said and values his opinion... And maybe this was a nice way of letting Thomas go... Either way I really dont care....Walsh had chances to go elsewhere I dont think he would take this job to be a puppet... Stop thinking about 4 years from now and concern yourself with the present... Anything can happen in 4 years... Lets get a New coach and gm... Start focusing on the draft, and get this team better... Thomas is done, lost both of his jobs...
Dont let these media jerks, make u question Walsh... Give the man a chance... These are the same people that want NY fans to go begging JVG to come back... After he straight quit on the team and the city...
Donnie Walsh is either a puppet who is here for one last payday or he's a complete moron who thinks that the person responsible for this mess is a valuable consultant.
Knicks fans are being scammed again. Donnie Walsh is just another well paid front man.
Donnie Walsh is either a puppet who is here for one last payday or he's a complete moron who thinks that the person responsible for this mess is a valuable consultant.
Knicks fans are being scammed again. Donnie Walsh is just another well paid front man.
All we had to hear for the last 5 years was how great a draft guy Isiah is. Why can't he help this team in that regard? It's not like he has the last say. At 3 more years and $15 mill or so left, might as well get something out of him.
@ The KID,
I respect you bruh....but come on?
If you can't see the MONTY..meet me @ 34Th&7TH anytime!
I'll be glad to take your money!
WALSH...talking 2010?????? will he make it to New Years 2009?
REPOST! REPOST!
KNICKS FIRE ISIAH.
Illusions for sale!
Let's break this whole Illusion down! Basically the logic a friend of mine stated!
Isiah is not coach because Isiah never wanted to be the coach. He wanted to help shape the team. Dolan is keeping him on and paying him $18 million to work with the old man who said "I will talk to Isiah a lot." All marketing moves. He's being stripped of titles to appease the fans, but he is still an integral part of the organization because he has the ear and respect of the boss.
" I should have done this years ago " ( Taken a hands on postion years ago)
stated Simon, the Pacers CEO and now Hands on Owner!
The quote from Simon refers to him believing he should have taken the reins from Walsh a long time ago. Walsh has had three straight failing seasons. He had his authoirty whittled away to an incompetent Bird. It's a ruse. Isiah knows he won. Isiah is not gone because he did what Dolan asked him to do all season long. He sat Marbury. He lost games. He was a good soldier. Bravo to Dolan. Like it or hate it..this is your New york knicks!
c'mon fixers, give it a break, this is a time for satisfaction and optimism. we have received what we have been asking for for months (if not years). so we didn't get the whole cake, we got 95% of it. do you REALLY think that the snake will have any significant role in this organization going forward? trust me, he won't, this is just the organizations way of letting isiah out with a few crumbs of decency. he is gone, gone, gone. in point of fact, whether he was fired or not, his contract was guaranteed, so what would be the real advantage to firing him? not to mention that if nothing else, he has whistled the corporate line for months now, and thus, in the world of business, he is due his due (it's also known as hush money).
anyway, i think it is time to turn the page, the past is set in cement, our bitterness won't change anything. isiah is gone, there is completely new management, and a team to build and dream about. the situation is dire, probably hopeless for the foreseeable future, but such circumstances has never daunted the true fans (us) before.
speaking for myself, i fell pretty good about the changes this past month.
@david, thanks for the lottery clarification, i didn't know about the order being fixed at a certain point. it is incredible how labyrinthian the nba lottery process is.
Sec11rowH,
Mom and Dad still puting money under your pillow when you lose a tooth?
Does your Mother still pack your lunch?
Let me cut to the Chase....are you an Idiot or just kidding?
Those who believe in the tooth fairy....The Knicks will pick 1 or 2
because of Stern's request for the public humiliation of ZEKE!
Check out the FIX of 1985....the freaken envelope is bent to hell!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TgJE7C5wiU
As a result...theKnicks WILL BE 1 or 2....take that to the Bank!
If we know anything about Dolan, he does NOTHING to appease fans. Pure fantasy. In a few weeks, Isiah has gone from President and coach, to someone stripped of all power. Dolan is keeping him twisting on the string only – only – because he owes him so much money and refuses to get nothing for it. I’m sure Walsh will send Isiah out to scout some college teams, which is the only NBA job Isiah was ever suited for anyway. Isiah has had 4 years of on-the-job audition. If Dolan wants to bring Isiah back after Walsh leaves, we know what we’ll get. A roster with no coherence. A few decent draft picks. 20-30 wins. And a lot of isolation plays for Crawford at the top of the key. That’s “coaching” according to Isiah. Running a franchise: even worse. Curry. Stephon. Frances. James. Jeffries. Wasting maxed-out expiring contacts on players that get bought out. Etc. Etc. Etc. And a team that gets arguably worse - not better - every year.
There's only one thing about Isiah job performance that we need to know. Two years after firing Brown, Isiah won the same number of games. Brown was trying to lose. Isiah was trying to win. And he still couldn't get more than 23 wins. THIS is our hope for the future of the franchise? PLEASE . . .
If Dolan had any heart, he’d let Isiah slink home in disgrace, rather than keep him twisting in the wind, powerless, discredited, but still having to show up for work in his slick suits for his $18 million.
My guess is that Dolan told Walshj to play it this way and is praying Isiah has too much pride to live like that. And will quit, instead. It’ll be interesting which Isiah wants more. Whatever shred of self-respect he – and he alone – still affords himself. Or $18 million. Considering he has the rhetorical skills to talk himself into believing anything (especially about himself), I bet he goes for the money. And tells friends he master-minded this. Because it’s really a PROMOTION. That’s life in Isiahland – through the looking-glass.
Sec 11 is right. Isiah is old business. NEXT . . .
@ peaceman. the witch is dead. you can wallow in the misery of the snake if you want to, i'm moving on.
your moniker is misleading, sort of like republicans describing themselves as the party of "values".
you all need to chill. isiah is no longer president, gm, or coach
Yeah, Isiah isn't smart enough to understand the whole "pulling strings from behind" thing. When he has power, he needs to wield it loudly. Conspiracy theorists can trumpet away, but Isiah's hold over the Knicks is broken. Most of the folks at MSG hated him anyway, and Walsh's hiring of new coaches will cement it.
Kind of too bad, though, because he's earned a public humiliation--more than he's already received, that is.
Next up, the lottery.
Come on, Fixers...We can't fire Isiah...Someone has to pick up Donnie's dry cleaning and mop the sweat off the Garden floor.
Dolan just does not want to pay full remainder of Thomas salary.
I think it is just maneuvering to make Thomas life miserable to let some money in the Dolan´s vault
I got this link from a knicks bashing buddy of mine...
I've previously resisted the knick ridicule as best i could, but this season was the straw that broke the camel's back...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RSByXfL4dU
u people gotta understand zeke has 18 mill left y eat that
have him do something an earn it
i don't like the idea of him in the franchise but let him earn the money....
stay tuned for more KnowLedge
zeke should be our point guard
My thoughts are pretty much in line with Knowledge on this... I cant be that much of a skeptic at this point... Peaceman all I'm saying is this, you cant look at this mans track record in Indy and use this as your reason to doubt him already... If by next year u see Isiah holding press conferences with Walsh, then we can start tripping... This man left Indy where he was a God... We all know he could have stayed and they would have fired Bird... I dont seeing him coming here to be Dolans and Zekes puppet...
Thats insane...
I'm moving on, I think alot of fans should too...
This is just a marketing ploy aimed at saving face in regards to the money still owed to Mr. Thomas. Letting him go at that price tag with nothing to show for it would bring into focus more of the incompetence that has reigned at The Garden for the last four years. It is a smart move and in my opinion more humiliating for Mr. Thomas than being released outright. Think of it, he is now a lapdog.
I hear the hush, hush on Isiah's new role is that he will become Dolan's new personal trainer. So if you start to see Dolan physically buffed up, you will see Isiah at work, then again if Dolan's physique doesn't change its probably Isiah at work.
Jefff Van Gundy must be coach, Oh yes
I still hope Isiah remains as coach and GM. He was building a Spurs-like dynasty. Knicks fans just didn't see it. At least our owner knows the goods and Isiaz iz da goodz!
I also heard when Old Man Walsh is gone, Isiah will return to this throne! Yay!
I understand all the anti-Isiah emotion, but keeping Isiah was a sensible business decision. Dolan was going to have to pay him one way or the other. So if there's anything that Isiah can do well, you might as well keep him and allow him to do that instead of hiring someone else to do it and spending even more money.
The botton line is that Isiah was a lousy coach and didn't know how to handle contracts, money, power, players etc.... He has been stripped of all his power in those areas.
He does have a decent record drafting. So perhaps he will be a scout or consultant on young talent. No big deal.