Isiah Thomas has got to go.
Haven’t I written this column before?
Last year’s Knicks team – despite winning only 33 games – was a lot more resilient and entertaining than their record would indicate. After the Larry Brown debacle in 2005-2006, Thomas was able to get the Knicks to play hard on a consistent basis, a feat that seems pedestrian unless you watched the lethargy of the Brown-led Knicks. Injuries at the end of last year derailed a playoff bid, but with the acquisition of Zach Randolph, optimism was high for the 2007-2008 Knicks club. On paper, the Knicks looked to be a very deep, young and athletic team and while nobody expected miracles, a 40-45-win season did not seem out of the realm of possibility.
Ah, that seems like a long time ago already, doesn’t it?
Actually, there was hope a little more than three weeks ago. The Knicks had just come off of a rousing victory against the Denver Nuggets in a game they trailed by 15 points. It was the kind of game that allowed Knicks’ fans to believe this year might be different, that they’d finally have something worth rooting for.
But Isiah always manages to mess things up.
The man who single-handedly destroyed the CBA is aiming to do the same now with one of the league’s most storied franchises. I have despised Thomas for the better part of his tenure with the Knicks. He is a slick businessman with a hidden agenda, a snake oil salesman peddling a mediocre product and somehow making it worse. Make no mistake: Isiah knows his basketball and is a terrific talent evaluator. Renaldo Balkman and David Lee were positively inspired late first-round picks and as one of the “50 Greatest Players in NBA History,” he understands the game a lot better than most of his players do.
But Isiah – who tries to portray himself as a fighter from the mean streets of Chicago – has long been a jerk, stepping way over the line of tough little guy and into the realm of classless bully. Just take a look at the history:
• In the 1985 NBA All-Star game, Thomas was the ringleader in an attempt to “freeze-out” Michael Jordan, who attempted only nine shots in the game, because of his jealousy over the attention MJ was receiving.
• Thomas’ Pistons, known for their brutal style of defensive ball (Jeez, you think he could have at least brought that to the Knicks?), were swept in the 1991 conference finals against the Bulls. He and eight teammates walked off the court with 7.9 seconds remaining in the final game without shaking hands with their rivals.
• He resigned from his post as part-owner and executive vice president of the Toronto Raptors amid allegations that he gave NCAA basketball players tickets and other merchandise.
• CBA managers maintain Thomas ran the league into the ground, citing his mismanagement and out-of-control spending. Since then he has not distributed the final paycheck to many CBA teams, including the Quad City Thunder.
• And of course, there was most recent incident in which a jury found that he sexually harassed former Garden employee Anucha Browne Sanders. MSG was ordered to pay Browne Sanders $11.6 million, one of the largest sexual harassment judgments in history.
How does this guy keep getting jobs? And high-profile ones at that?
James Dolan refuses to fire Thomas, even as Zeke decided to make his former favorite son, Stephon Marbury, a scapegoat for the Knicks’ early-season woes. The benching of Marbury was probably overdue – despite improved defensive play last season, Marbury is another cancer, a loser who makes the wrong play in nearly every crucial situation – but it reeked of desperation five games into the season. It was just business-as-usual for Isiah, though. When in doubt, blame someone else.
The thing is, if Isiah were winning, the media and fans might excuse Dolan’s shocking support for this cretin. Success cures a lot of ills, even criminal ones. But Isiah’s record – the Knicks are 88-142 since he became team president in December 2003, 36-58 with him as head coach and 7-24 since his ludicrous contract extension in March – provides the perfect justification for giving him the ax. Maybe Dolan is just a bad businessman. He apparently doesn’t care about the product or the team image. Then again, the Garden still sells out on most nights, so maybe Jimmy is getting the last laugh after all.
I feel the worst for players like Lee, Balkman, Quentin Richardson and Jamal Crawford, good guys who deserve to be key role players on winning teams. Their reputations should not be sullied because Knicks’ management has a death wish. And Lee, a cult hero who’d be even more revered on a winning team, can’t seem to get off the bench this year, despite the team’s putrid start. Lee is averaging 25.6 minutes per game, down from 30 a year ago. And in the recent victory against the Bulls, a game in which the Knicks were struggling in the second half, Lee played a total of 11 minutes. Eleven minutes for a guy who averaged more than 10 rebounds per game last season in a relatively low number of minutes.
There is so much evidence to condemn Isiah, it’s comical that he’s still running the franchise (remember, he’s also the team president). For the first time as a fan, I wonder if it would be better if the team kept losing. God forbid the Knicks rack up a modest winning streak. Dolan’s likely to give him a lifetime contract.
There is enough talent to salvage this season and this team. But the Knicks need to get somebody in here that is not only respected by the players (Thomas went against a team vote to bench Marbury after Stephon went A.W.O.L on the recent west coast trip and missed the team’s game in Phoenix), but by the rest of the league. You think it’s not distracting for the Knicks to play under the specter of Thomas’ idiotic (and illegal) behavior? Let’s get a no-nonsense guy in here to focus on defense and obeying the law. Is that too much to ask?
Think Jeff Van Gundy is interested in a reclamation project?