The Waiting Game
At least we're not standing in the rain by a roadside in Greenburgh, waiting for Larry Brown's car to cruise by.
But the Isiah Thomas situation has dragged into another day with him still the head coach, at least in title. As I wrote today, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Does Donnie Walsh want to spare Thomas one more day of public flogging which would come by announcing the demotion -- reassignment, whatever -- via conference call?
My guess is Walsh may instead wait until he's chosen a replacement and then have a gala press conference at which Isiah's fate is mentioned with the prefix, "By the way..."
There is some motivation to protect Thomas, who has been the only member of the embattled Garden to have to stand and face the music on a daily basis -- sometimes three times a day -- since the sexual harrassment trial. Thomas may have made some ill-advised, out-of-touch comments from time to time, but you have to at least give him credit for standing in the firing line on a daily basis. Front-and-center.
His reward will likely be continued employment within the organization, which offers the opportunity for him to possibly be around when things do finally turn for the better with the Knicks. He can be there to get the credit when David Lee becomes an all-star or Wilson Chandler is a regular starter. Or when Jerome James plays in a game.
The latter might be asking a bit too much.
Garden chairman James Dolan is known for his loyalty and there is a very evident empathy that Dolan feels for Isiah. As we reported in January, whatever the ending was to be for Isiah as the leader of this franchise, Dolan wanted it to be a gentle break. This one is Charmin-esque.
So assuming -- based on what we've heard, of course -- that there now is a coaching vacancy with the Knicks, we can begin to move on to debating the potential candidates.
But before I get into it, let me invite you to check out Newsday's The Final Score blog, hosted by Anthony Rieber and Jim Baumbach (in Fixer Nation, let's designate them handles such as 'Riebs' and 'JayBee'). The fellas debated the idea of Mark Jackson as the Knicks coach and would love to hear your thoughts on their thoughts.
In the meanwhile...I'm back to the phone and Blackberry, hoping to find out something more realistic and relevant. In other words, something more than that Stephon Marbury believes he's in the plans for next season.
Fixers, this is a time where you need to be very careful where you get your information. And I should let you know that none of the players were given any indication about anything involving the team going forward.
"Yeah," one player told me yesterday after he was finished. "I was thrilled with the lack of information."
I'm more disturbed by the wealth of misinformation.
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Comments (19)
Alan,
You might want to let Mr. Steve A. know about this one next time you guys have lunch.
Just goes to show you pathetic the team is. Isiah Thomas would have been fired by EVERYONE else by now except Dolan. Now Dolan wants to keep him around because he has loyalty for the smiling con artist loser. James Dolan needs to get lost and let Donnie run the show.
I read the debate on Jackson, like I said in the last thread no, absolutely not to a coach who played no D and will have no credibility teaching D which is our biggest weakness.
Draft Mayo or Bayless. Bring in Wilcox or the nut-grabber in Philidalphia. No to Lopez who can't rebound (see Curry) and Love who can't play D and needs the ball too much on O (see Randolph). Bring in Dorsey, you still have enough O with Crawford, Nate , or Randolph/Curry (whoever survives the purge). Get rid of J. James and Marburry we don't want our young players learning how to scowl at their teamates mistakes or how to get memberships at buffets.
Don't wait. Besides, Hahn, the Stanley Cup playoffs have kicked into high gear. Hockey's more your speed, especially after picking the Knicks to go 40-42 and gain the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs this season.
Who cares if we keep isiah as a draft scout? He's pretty good at drafting. it's not like Walsh is going to listen to his input for anything else. Let's atleast get some sort of value for the millions we owe him.
Knicks4Life - you got it right. Evan's salary runs through 2011 only drawback. Wilcox has the requisite short time and is about Malik's slot. You gotta figure Seattle could let Wilcox go t get rid of the salary and maybe even slide us a pick to get Dorsey.
Jackson talks about D alot and knows its importance, so if when he's interviewed he says he'll have a Defensive Tsar like Harter or Thibodeau on his bench, I don't hold it against him. He was too slow to play perimeter D, not dismissive of it.
One of the biggest issues with Isiah is his mild personality. When he was an commentator for the NBA on NBC he was way to mild and "zoned" out as Bill Walton had to help him out. He is like that as an executive & coach. We need a coach the was more like Holtzman. Firey and tough attitude. Isiah is way to soft. He is more of a thinker and planner behind the seens type of guy. Mark Jackson is the complete opposite. Good move if we go with Jackson. Then again anything would be better than 23-59. Ewing and some older Knicks should be in this selection process.
Bill Walton helped Isiah out as commentator? Am I to assume you like Walton's style?
"thinker and planner" and MJackson is the opposite of that...
hmm...so you want a coach who doesn't think and doesn't plan?
I must have read that wrong.
Dump Scowlbury for J. O'Neal and sign Artest.
Walsh, ONeal and Artest...then all we need is Stephen Jackson, Rick Carlisle and some unruly fan in Detroit to throw another beercup.
"so you want a coach who doesn't think and doesn't plan?
I must have read that wrong."
i must be reading that wrong.
What exactly was Isiah thinking?
What was Isiah's plan, again?
Alan -
I keep reading (here and elsewhere) about how Thomas "is expected to be back" in some capacity next season. Is there a source who's been saying this? Or are writers just speculating this because of how Thomas has answered questions, saying he's a "team player," and considering Dolan's tendancies.
Seems to me like Isiah is not a trustworthy source, himself. And if Dolan's really giving Walsh autonomy, then maybe his tendancies or soft side for Isiah don't count for anything.
Then again, maybe I'm just being hopefuly. I'd rather them just cut the tie completely. Start fresh.
KD,
You should try large amounts of Prune Juice!
It's unhealthy to keep that much feces inside,
and your verbal spews doesn't get enough out!
@Anonymous aka Mark, your ageing fast in your
parent's basement, but your improving on the guitar!
Thanks for letting me video this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXoMa3UgNC8
the truth hurts, huh? too bad.
WIllis I agree that we need to get under the cap. But we have to have some reasonably priced role players on the team who fit into a system or else why would LeBron or Wade come. We can't dump everyone.
Get a Mayo or Bayless, put them with some tough guys in the middle that do all the little things (Evans/Wilcox), and convince a FA that we have a scottie pippen like player to play alongside him. The next two years should be about trimming payroll (Curry, Randolph, Crawford, Marburry, Q-Rich), getting rid of waste (Jeffries, Collins, Morris, Rose, James) and keeping moderately priced players (Balkman, Lee, Robinson, Chandler). I woudn't be terribly upset if we kept Crawford . . .
Think Peaceman's good at Knicks' basketball, you ought to see him as the defendant in Family Court. No one, observers agree, matches Peaceman on the downside in Family Court. And, the records agree, no one's in Family Court more often than Peaceman.
@K4L - You really like Mayo? He seems like just the type of shoot-first, selfish player that have plagued the Knicks for the past 4 years.
@ jay - don't you think things would feel a lot cleaner if they just cut ties with isiah completely? he has not done anything to warrant keeping him on.
btw - This is a great blog because we rarely have to sift through people just throwing back stupid insults at each other. most posts are knicks-related and make decent points for discussion. im gonna play blog police here and ask anyone bickering here to just move it to berman's blog...
Yeah I do like Mayo. I have said in the past don't draft him b/c he is a shoot first combo guard like Marburry, but I forgot how young he is. With the right coaching Mayo can be really special because he has all the physcial gifts minus the Marburry character issues. I worry about him making his teamates better but we are drafting him to play alongside a James/Wade in 2010. The right coach can teach him to be a PG. It worked with AI.
A.I. never won a championship. Score first PGs never do. Knicks need someone who knows how to run an offense. They need a QB on the court.
"Combo guard" just scares me. It hasn't worked here.
Also, I wouldn't play the "the right coach could change his ways" card. That also hasn't worked here. I think players rarely change.
Zach, Eddy, and Marbury were all saying the right things at one time. But at the end of the day, they'll always be a ball hog, a terrible defender, and a shoot-first PG.
Yeah but for the most part AI's teams have been winners (i.e. the playoffs). He is no Zach, Eddy, and Marburry.
Look at what coaching has done for D. Howard, Deron Williams, Rondo and that entire Houston team. Don't understimate what a great coach can do.
I'll give you one concrete example in case you think I don't know what I'm talking about. Remember when Jason (white chocolate) Williams came out of Florida. He was a wild chucker that Sacremento traded for Bibby because they didn't think he could be disciplined. Hubie Brown and Jerry West helped make him a very good, pass first PG that eventually won a championship. It just takes a coach the players respect.
ESPN IS REPORTING ISIAH HAS BEEN FIRED AS COACH . . . but will remain with the organization in some capacity to be named later.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3353483
(Sorry, I don't know how to do a link. You'll have to cut and paste this.)