Isiah Thomas Fired
Isiah’s nightmare is over
Dig how Howard Beck and Mike Nizza reported this.
NYT
The Isiah Thomas era officially ended Friday, and a major Knicks rebuilding project is now underway.
Donnie Walsh, who two weeks ago replaced Thomas as the team president, removed Thomas as head coach, but said he will remain with the team, but will have no title and no direct reports.
“I value Isiah’s knowledge of the game and his opinion,” said Walsh in a conference call Friday afternoon. “I will use him as a resource. He will be reporting to me.”
Walsh said that James L. Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman who stripped Thomas of the team presidency on April 2 in favor of Walsh, had no input in the decision.
Since being hired, Walsh, the Pacers president who hired Thomas to coach Indiana in 2000, had promised not to make a hasty decision on Thomas, but the outcome seemed inevitable in light of Thomas’s poor record.
Thomas posted a 56-108 record in two seasons as head coach. His.341 winning percentage ranks him among the bottom five coaches in franchise history. They went just 23-59 this season.
The Knicks opened the season with playoff aspirations after acquiring forward Zach Randolph last June, but they were quickly doused when Thomas clashed with Stephon Marbury, the starting point guard. Thomas threatened to remove Marbury from the starting lineup in early November, and Marbury responded by leaving the team for a day, skipping a game in Phoenix. When Marbury returned, Thomas let him play right away, over the objections of other players.
The team’s morale sunk, and their record along with it. The Knicks lost eight straight games, then hit an all-time low when they were routed 104-59 by the Boston Celtics on Nov. 29.
Thomas, who became team president in December 2003, never wanted to coach the team. But Dolan ordered him to the bench in June 2006, after firing Coach Larry Brown, who went 23-59 in his one season on the bench.
Under Thomas’s leadership, the Knicks’ payroll ballooned without any clear progress on the court. In his first season as president, the Knicks won 39 games and made the playoffs but were swept by the Nets in the first round. Over the last four seasons, the Knicks have won 33, 23, 33 and 23 games.
Thomas and the Garden were also found liable for sexual harassment last fall.
Anucha Browne Sanders, a former Knicks executive, sued Thomas for sexual harassment and received $11.5 million in damages.
Thomas’s reign was characterized by a series of risky moves for expensive, often aging players, from Penny Hardaway to Maurice Taylor to Jalen Rose to Steve Francis. He also gambled on Marbury, a former All-Star with a spotty record.
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April 18th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
It was only a matter of time. If he had more executive discipline he probably could have done something with the team, plus if he hired a good coach instead of trying to coach himself.
I feel sorry for him, sort of, but he made his bed, now he has to lie in it.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:35 am
So long Isiah.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Cosellout in the book of Isaiah laid chronicled his journey from day one to this year. Based on that thorough analysis, I believe he doesn’t get proper due from correcting that mess left by Scot Leyden. Scot… fucking layden, who tried jack of all people Patrick Eweng.
How much of the on court performance this year is him and how much was the players? I’ve always had a problem with these modern players, who are too willing to through every body under the bus (Stephan Marbury) but refuse to put the time in to worthy of calling themselves a professional athlete. I think when Dolan ORDERED Isaiah to the bench; he was punishing him and using him as a convenient scapegoat if the experiment failed. The roster wasn’t flawed as much as the individuals where flawed, which caused chemistry problem.
I think Isaiah gave up coaching round about game 10-15, but what could he do. He couldn’t hire a coach, he couldn’t resign, his ego told him that he could do it, but this is a players league, so you are often as good as the effort your players put out.
Even members of the Miami Heat and the Grizzles where putting out some effort!
Lastly, I will refrain from talking about the sexual Harassment suite…No I won’t!
When the presiding Judge expressed doubts about the merits of the case and whether it will go too far, that should have been a red flag. Yet when her lawyers, aided by the racist press lied that Isaiah said it was all right to call African women bitches, when they lied about him being a racist, when his life reflected differently, makes me realize that Isaiah is the most hated African man in sports. When they lie about Isaiah messing up the Raptors organization, they don’t talk about a racist owner who wanted to sell but refused to sell the team to a N***er, yet decided sell the team to a teachers Union? WTF!
Like I said MODI detailed a lot of good shit around Isaiah, even his failings as a coach, but the White Supremist media will use the last three years to tarnish a 20 + year reputation in basketball stock filled with lies, lies and more lies… and hate!
April 19th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
sankofa says
“they don’t talk about a racist owner who wanted to sell but refused to sell the team to a N***er, yet decided sell the team to a teachers Union? WTF!”
Well said my brotha I talked about this before. I am glad some folks haven’t forgotten that.
Vick, OJ and zeke man these Good old boys in the media probably had an orgasm over the last year. AI and Kobe ya’ll brohas better watch your back.
Just a question for everyone. Since the bigots in the media swer he has destroyed a grat franchise.
Who over the last 20 had a greater winning tradition the bulls or the knicks.
Which team over the last 20 years do you think of as a winning organization the bulls or the knicks.
Now which which team hasn’t lived up to its winning tradition over the last 10 season.
Now think about how many losing seasons the bulls have had since 98????
Now what team won 6 rings in 8 years.
So zeke has brought down the knicks. What ever the knicks ain’t done sh*& in 30 + years.
Sh^% I say Krause, Paxson and Reinsdorf have destroyed a once great franchise. A organization that was the most successful in the 90s.
OH I forgot they don’t have black skin so we can’t call them out.