“You gotta kill me because I’m never stopping”
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- April
- 18
Isiah Thomas ain’t dead yet.
Donnie Walsh essentially reassigned the embattled head coach this afternoon. Thomas will remain with the organization in an untitled role, which has to bruise the ego. He will be reporting directly to Walsh, a noted voice of reason who admitted it was time for a new direction.
“I can’t tell you where he failed with the club,†Walsh said. “The bottom line is we haven’t won and the team didn’t look like it was motivated to try to win and be competitive. So I think those are the reasons. They aren’t necessarily the fault of the head coach, but it has to lie there.â€
Wow. Accountability.
“I value Isiah’s knowledge of the game and I value his opinion so I would use him as a resource,†Walsh said. “There will be nobody reporting to Isiah.â€
We don’t know exactly how it’s going to work.
Thomas might do a little scouting, but it looks as though he will be nothing more than a sounding board while he collects the $18 million left on a ridiculous contract extension.
Walsh seems to believe some good will come of this and is hopeful the fans won’t be too upset by this decision.
“I feel like some of the bigger events that happened on the way with Isiah have overshadowed some of the good things done by Isiah,” he said. “I know from my standpoint, I’m glad to have a guy who I respect his opinion to bounce things off to help me bring this team back up to the level it should be.”
Knicks owner James Dolan apparently did not weigh in on this decision, either.
“He absolutely had no input on it, Walsh said. “It was totally my decision.”
As for replacements, the list hasn’t changed.
Walsh spoke of Mark Jackson and stated he would interview the former Knicks playmaker. He was also questioned about Herb Williams and Jeff Van Gundy, who might not be a favorite of Dolan after leaving a declining Knicks team several seasons ago. Nobody is certain that will have any bearing on this search.
“I never really talked to anybody about that,” Walsh said. “I don’t know what the past was here and nobody’s brought it to my attention.”
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on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 5:31 pm by Mike Dougherty.
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Pathetic. Isiah isn’t gone. He will be here when Walsh retires and return as GM after having “learned” from Walsh. This franchise is a disgrace to humanity, not only sports. It’s over.
The only job Isiah should have at MSG is cleaning up after the Ringling Bros. elephants when the circus is in town. If nothing else he proved he knows all about the circus.
It’s not enough. It’s not enough.
I fear that George may be right that Isiah will remain in the wings until Walsh retires.
I don’t like Billy King either – the 76ers weren’t exactly been tearing it up under his watch, this year’s playoff berth aside.
“Knicks owner James Dolan apparently did not weigh in on this decision, either.
“He absolutely had no input on it, Walsh said. “It was totally my decision.â€
BS.
Donnie Walsh, you cannot fool me. You are nothing but another loser hired by James Dolan to kiss his ass. You are nothing but a incompetent senile old man collecting his final pay check. Frank McGuire and Buck Freeman are ashamed.
Cmon guys – I feel your animosity but MSG like any other corporation is a business.
Look, in the past 2 years – they have GIVEN away free money
$20mil to LB
$12 mil to Sanders
And if they were to fire Isiah – that’s another $18mil of wasted money.
If you listened carefully to what Donnie said in his transcript in knicks.com – he said that Isiah has NO OFFICIAL TITLE – meaning that he has not power, no recognition within the organization. He also said that no one reports to Isiah – meaning that he manages or has rank over anyone.
Isiah is nothing but a 2 bit hustler – why fire the guy and give him millions???? – I would make his @$$ work for it – somehow anyhow.