“When it’s over …”
-
- January
- 12
I’m pretty sure Isiah Thomas wanted to go back to bed after he was greeted this morning with a swirl of reports indicating his future with the Knicks is no longer guaranteed.
And then he probably realized how far $24 million goes.
The questions after practice were all difficult. And there were a number of awkward moments. I think a new season-high was established on that front.
It’s not going to get any easier.
Thomas jumped on the opportunity to shoot down the speculation that he’s stepping away from the sideline and returning to the front office to concentrate solely on personnel moves.
“That was a lie,� Thomas said. “That was just a flat out lie. I would never, ever, ever quit. Ever.�
Thomas also still believes he will survive at least until the end of the season.
“When it’s over, we’ll all know it,� he said.
There are frequent conversations with Knicks owner James Dolan, who is displaying unusual patience. Back in December, there was a semi-public vote of confidence, but now the season is pretty much a total loss.
“I think I’ve been held accountable since Day One here,� Thomas said.
Unless the Knicks inexplicably reverse direction, the speculation is only going to increase.
And there is a correlation to what happens on the court.
Zach Randolph apparently refused to sit on the bench next to Thomas last night after he got yanked for a lack of foot speed. (Wink. Wink.) It was a sign of disrespect. Randolph knows he’s likely to be around here long after Thomas is gone.
“We had a talk at halftime,� Randolph said. “I was just trying to get to the end the bench. I was just trying to get to the end of the bench. It wasn’t nothing serious, nothing like that.�
Randolph did not play the final 31 minutes of the loss to the Raptors, but is expected to be in the lineup tomorrow against Detroit.
“The lineup won’t change,� Thomas said. “Depending on play, the minutes, if you’re not playing well, you’re not going to play.�
Memo to Quentin Richardson …
This entry was posted
on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 at 1:31 pm by Mike Dougherty.
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So Isiah said all of those things about laying the foundation for future teams. I don’t disagree with what he said and while I would respect him more if he acknowledged just how flagrantly he, personally, has failed at this task, we all know how small a man he is [figuratively, though I’m always down for a good short joke].
I want to know, if you were to build a playoff team from this group, which players you build around?
When you consider the top teams in the league [Detroit, San Antonio, Phoenix, etc], the only guy on the Knicks who is a championship caliber player is David Lee. He could be the workhorse on a great team, pulling rebounds, playing hard all game, and committing few errors. I know he isn’t the best player, but when people say things like ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,’ they are talking about teams that value guys like David Lee. He’s the kind of player who takes pride in the Knicks not because they are an NBA team, but because they’re the !@$%ing Knicks. That said, with only David Lee, A LOT of work must be done to fill the other 11 spots on a playoff team.
I want to say that Crawford and my man Nate are foundational players, but they both suffer from defensive lapses and offensive inconsistency, so I don’t see them ever starting on a championship team. They could both be phenomenal reserves, though, and I see Crawford winning 6th Man of the Year honors one day. Balkman, too, could surprise a lot of people by playing a vital defensive role in a playoff series [like when Leandro Barbosa burst onto the scene as a lockdown defender in the 2005 playoffs].
The rest of the guys are Clippers or Timberwolves or Sonics, but not Knicks. Not real Knicks. Curry shows glimpses of it, but the fact that they are only glimpses means he’s for the scrap heap. Randolph? Out. Richardson, I like you, but you’re out. Jeffries? SO out. Malike Rose? You’re in, but you can’t play. Marbury? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way OUT.
So I guess that makes a team with David Lee starting; Crawford, Nate, and Balkman coming off the bench; and Malik Rose serving as some kind of player/coach. They would just need Chris Paul, Ben Gordon, Melo, and a young Patrick Ewing and they’d be fine!
Starks
I think you make some great points. The problem with this team is none of them would be starters on a championship team. Lee is the closest, but he is probably a bench player for a great team and Crawford, Nate and Balkman are as well.
It scares me to think of Isiah returning to the front office to focus on personnel moves. That’s how this mess got started. If he goes back there, then he will make more bad trades and take on more bad contracts. As bad as it is seeing him coach, returning him to a full-time GM spot is insanity. Dolan has two choices, cut him completely loose or hire a real GM who can start the rebuild.
Get Randolph’s chucking butt out of here.
Hey Mike can I get your feedback on the following comments?
Also I think it’s good news to hear that Dolan may ax Isiah off the bench, and that this might be the chink in Isiah’s teflon suit.
Maestro has it dead on with regard to Isiah’s accumulation of non-complimentary talent being one of the principle reasons this team is where it is. Another reason, IMHO, would be his recruitment of what appears to be a “yes sir� coaching staff around him. Lastlly Isiah’s huge mistake of taking the coaching reigns to begin with which placed him at a huge conflict of interest between the moves made by Zeke the GM and Zeke the coach who tried to amke Zeke the GM’s moves look reasonable by overplaying incompatible line-ups to the teams detriment-and to the detriment of the youth on the team.
All that said I wonder whether a genuine replacement will be brought in at this stage in the season. If not who will become the interim- Herb WIlliam’s sole stint this year did not go so well and many of the Defenders poited out the mistakes made by Williams in that very winnable game against the Rockets.
A genuine replacement may not happen if Zeke’s ouster from the Bench is merely a precursor of his ouster from the organization in general.
Here is whay I hope happens and doesn’t happen- I’ll kepp it short.
Whoever steps to the plate as the interim coach- assuming no immediate replacement is hired- would be best served by:
a) Showcasing our overpaid babies untill the trading deadline- to see if we can shop them around- while our kids are sent down to the Dleague for a short stint of on the job training.
b) If no trades are managed by the trading deadline-assuming it as a possibility- call back up the kids who are in the D-league and then insert them into the game with either a combination of any of the following, greater minutes an increased role, insertion into the starting lineup.
c) Reduce the roles and perhaps take out of the starting lineup the players that will be on the trading block for next year– e.g., Rose, Marbury, etc.
d) If a coaching change is followed by a change in the GM, I hope the replacement doesn’t just clean house to put his “STAMP� on the team, Bronxboy, and Harmlemboy in MD have pointed out the foibles of that approach. Also note that there is some talent in our youth corp that just shouldn’t be part of an overall house cleaning by the incoming GM.
Also I think it’s good news to hear that Dolan may ax Isiah off the bench, and that this might be the chink in Isiah’s teflon suit.
Maestro has it dead on with regard to Isiah’s accumulation of non-complimentary talent being one of the principle reasons this team is where it is. Another reason, IMHO, would be his recruitment of what appears to be a “yes sir� coaching staff around him. Lastlly Isiah’s huge mistake of taking the coaching reigns to begin with which placed him at a huge conflict of interest between the moves made by Zeke the GM and Zeke the coach who tried to amke Zeke the GM’s moves look reasonable by overplaying incompatible line-ups to the teams detriment-and to the detriment of the youth on the team.
All that said I wonder whether a genuine replacement will be brought in at this stage in the season. If not who will become the interim- Herb WIlliam’s sole stint this year did not go so well and many of the Defenders poited out the mistakes made by Williams in that very winnable game against the Rockets.
A genuine replacement may not happen if Zeke’s ouster from the Bench is merely a precursor of his ouster from the organization in general.
Here is whay I hope happens and doesn’t happen- I’ll kepp it short.
Whoever steps to the plate as the interim coach- assuming no immediate replacement is hired- would be best served by:
a) Showcasing our overpaid babies untill the trading deadline- to see if we can shop them around- while our kids are sent down to the Dleague for a short stint of on the job training.
b) If no trades are managed by the trading deadline-assuming it as a possibility- call back up the kids who are in the D-league and then insert them into the game with either a combination of any of the following, greater minutes an increased role, insertion into the starting lineup.
c) Reduce the roles and perhaps take out of the starting lineup the players that will be on the trading block for next year– e.g., Rose, Marbury, etc.
d) If a coaching change is followed by a change in the GM, I hope the replacement doesn’t just clean house to put his “STAMP� on the team, Bronxboy, and Harmlemboy in MD have pointed out the foibles of that approach. Also note that there is some talent in our youth corp that just shouldn’t be part of an overall house cleaning by the incoming GM.