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The word on the street is that the New York Knicks are looking for a new general manager and somehow Donnie Walsh is considering Isiah Thomas; the man who bankrupted the CBA and is fully responsible for the Knicks sucking for the past five plus years.
The news came about from Donnie Walsh enlisting Isiah Thomas to try to connivence LeBron James to New York, like that would work. The Knicks are in the market for considering hiring a new general manager and here is what Walsh said about Thomas:
"I wouldn't rule it out, but I wouldn't rule anybody out," Walsh said Saturday. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves because I'm not even thinking about hiring a general manager."
Let me repeat the first line: "I wouldn't rule it out .." no why would you rule out a person who by himself took down a proud franchise with mind boggling moves and inappropriate behavior.
Here are just some of Thomas' doings while he was at New York:
Walsh told Chris Broussard of ESPN Saturday that he'd consider Isiah Thomas for the general manager position of the Knicks if he elects to hire one. Thomas was the President of the Knicks from 2003 until 2008. During that time, he managed the following positive moves:
• Drafted David Lee
• Did not burn down Madison Square Garden.Yeah, that's about it.
Thomas managed to acquire nearly every terrible contract in the league, from nearly every player considered to have significant off-court problems or be incompatible with others on-court. Who could forget these hits?
• Traded for Eddy Curry
• Traded for Steve Francis
• Traded for Stephon Marbury
• Signed Jerome James
• Drafted Renaldo Balkman. And, oh, yeah, a sexual harassment civil suit that cost the Knicks over $11 million and somehow managed to tarnish the Knicks more so than his basketball-related moves.
Isiah Thomas must have pictures of Donnie Walsh to be even considered to be rehired by the Knicks. Now, everybody deserves a second chance, but an exception needs to be applied in this case.
7 comments
Comments
A few issues...
1. You misspelled Isiah Thomas’ name throughout the story.
2. It is impossible to blame Thomas for the five years of misery — you MUST consider the abysmal reign of Scott Layden before him that put the Knicks in financial and athlete purgatory.
(None of this is to say Thomas did a good job — he was awful — but this is in the interest of full disclosure).
Also, you can add signing Jared Jeffries (and having a huge press conference to celebrate it) to the list of awful moves.
by Dan Bohm on Jul 12, 2010 9:31 PM EDT reply actions
Maybe so...
but Thomas did nothing to try to fix the team, he kept getting over priced players who were not very good, old, and made the team even worse.
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by Jeremy Mauss on Jul 12, 2010 9:41 PM EDT up reply actions
As much as I hate Thomas...
I can’t say I agree with all of that. Two weeks after getting the job he traded for Marbury, which, as a Knicks season ticket holder (still) I can say that there has been no move made in recent memory that brought about that level of excitement. Sure it crashed and burned, but that move was intended to fix the team and people truly believed it was a great start.
I definitely agree about the old part, though that is a tradition that his predecessor began. Let’s go through the list of moves made by Scott Layden:
1. Traded Patrick Ewing and a 1st round pick for a sack of coal (an old, injured Glen Rice and Luc Longley were the main parts). The Knicks proceeded to pay Longley for at least five more years even though he played 25 games as a Knick).
2.Traded another 1st round pick (and a 2nd rounder) for Othella Harrington.
3. Traded yet another 1st rounder and Chris Childs for 137 year old Mark Jackson and Muggsey Bogoues (who never played a game for the team, yet was still paid about $4 million by the team).
4. Signed Allan Houston to a $100 million contract. I should write this one four times. That contract might be the most crippling of all moves. He had never averaged 20 points in a game, didn’t play defense, rebound or pass. Oh, and he was always hurt.
5. Acquired Howard Eisley (and his 6 year $42 million contract)
6. Acquired Shandon Anderson (and 6 years and about $34 million worth of contracts.. But he did average eight points as a Knick).
7.Traded Nene Marcus Camby and Jackson for Antonio McDyess. He played 25 games in a Knick uniform (but was paid plenty).
8.Traded for Keith Van Horn (beginning the aforementioned habit of getting old over-the-hill players).
The sad part about it as a Knicks fan is that you can make just as long a list for Thomas.
The Layden left the Knicks was comprised of: a very old Dikembe Mutombo, Kurt Thomas, Allan Houston, Shandon Anderson, Antonio Mcdyess (injured), Bruno Sundov, Clarence Weatherspoon, Cezary Trebanski, Othella Harrington, Mike Sweetney, DerMarr Johnson, and Frank Williams.
Oh, and the team was well over the salary cap. Not exactly built to contend.
Again, no defense of Thomas, but the best GM in the world probably couldn’t have dug out of that hole. Now I wish Thomas hadn’t made it deeper, but he wasn’t exactly given a clean slate.
by Dan Bohm on Jul 12, 2010 10:19 PM EDT up reply actions
I see
I am not a Knick fan so I am not into the them as much. I guess because Thomas was a former player it heightened his mistakes.
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by Jeremy Mauss on Jul 12, 2010 10:56 PM EDT reply actions
To be fair to Walsh
I don’t think he’s actually considering Isiah Thomas for GM but is just being polite. He said he wasn’t ruling anyone out but that doesn’t mean he’s considering me for the job. Plus, he finished by saying this, “I’m not even thinking bout hiring a general manager.” If Isiah actaully gets interviewed for the job then their might be a story.
Don't trust this guy. He lies.
by urnext on Jul 13, 2010 10:37 AM EDT reply actions
But
actual context would ruin the headline!
by calling all toasters on Jul 14, 2010 5:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Why even mention Thomas
It is a cruel joke even if he was being polite.
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by Jeremy Mauss on Jul 14, 2010 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions
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