MSG and Thomas settle
Word that MSG and Isiah Thomas had settled the sexual harassment lawsuit brought by former team vice president Anucha Browne Sanders began to circulate just before we sat down with the Knicks coach.
Terms were not disclosed, but she had won $11.6 million in punitive damages.
Now we know why Knicks owner James Dolan and Thomas were giggling when they left the coach’s office following Philadelphia’s home-and-home sweep on Saturday.
Here are the statements:
“As I’ve said before, I am completely innocent,” Thomas said before the game. “This decision doesn’t change that. However, it’s in the best interests of Madison Square Garden to move forward and I fully support it.â€?
He did not answer questions about the lawsuit.
“We don’t feel any less strongly than we did throughout the entire episode,” an MSG statement read. “The outcome was a travesty of justice and we vehemently disagree with the jury’s decision. However, at the strong request of commissioner (David) Stern and in the interest of focusing on basketball, we can all agree that it is time for us to move on and put this issue behind us.”
So can the commissioner do anything about the 6-13 record?
I’m not sure how this affects the future. Maybe it allows the Knicks to make a clean break should Dolan suddenly reverse direction and move on without Thomas. Or maybe it was a show of support pouring millions into a situation that needed to go away.
You be the judge. What do you think?
December 10th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Did the Knicks really have the gall to be annoyed at their fan-base after tonight’s game????
What a joke.
I’m not a Knicks fan, but I watched 5 minutes of their game against Philly the other night, no one moves without the ball, no one is giving effort.
The only reason I boo a team is if they aren’t giving effort, and the KNicks certainly fit that.
What a disgrace of a frachise.
December 11th, 2007 at 12:00 am
First of all, shut up Seth.
And second, are you kidding me, Mike Dougherty? How is it possible that you are not calling for the head of Isaiah Thomas? He has been driving the Knicks into the ground ever since he drove Larry Brown out…of town. He can’t do it. Whatever it is, he can not do it. The franchise was humiliated twice today. It is now humiliated regularly. And they aren’t even that bad. They probably have seven or eight guys who are contenders for the 6th Man of the Year Award. What management should really do he says with his waving hand is give control of the team to a basketball expert. Oh wait, Isaiah Thomas is a basketball expert. But it turns out that he’s also an idiot. And his attempt at the 1980s Detroit Pistons through the lens of the 2007 New York Knicks is a failure. The Knicks don’t have Bill Lambeer. They have David Lee.