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SHOULD THE KNICKS KEEP ISIAH?

By C.J. SULLIVAN & DAVE HOLLANDER

SULLIVAN: If Jim Dolan’s word is worth anything, the easy answer here has to be yes. After Larry Brown was fired in 2006, Dolan put his full faith in his GM—Isiah Thomas —to also pull bench duties as the coach with the caveat that the team had to improve.

Well, the Knicks have improved and have been, at times, fun to watch. They are about to pass their win total of last years’ 23, and actually have a shot at the playoffs. Isiah even got Starbury, who has been playing some fine ball lately, to toe the line. The Knicks’ resurrection has seen Eddie Curry morph into one of the better centers in the NBA and David Lee continues to get double-doubles every game he plays.

Now I don’t treasure Isiah as the Knick coach, but I am stuck with him. He is less dangerous as a coach than he is as a GM. Thomas drafts well—Frye, Lee and Balkman—but the deals he pulls off as a GM are very suspect. Dolan should keep Isiah on the bench and let him draft players but get a new GM in to make the Knicks viable again.

Given the last six years of Knick failure the franchise is still the most valuable in the NBA. Now we need to get an owner and GM who knows how to work with that and bring a championship to New York. We are at 34 years and counting that the Knicks have not won an NBA title. Generations have come and gone without seeing a Knick wear a ring. Let us end that in this decade.

HOLLANDER: You are a starving man in the desert, willing to drink the sand. James Dolan gave Isiah Thomas one year to make “significant progress.” Those were the words. Playing 431 ball is progress from last year, but it’s not “significant.” All it signifies is that the Knicks are still a losing team, dwelling among the lower third tier of NBA teams.

Plus, I don’t think Dolan meant “significant progress” measured against Larry Brown’s  record-tying worst season ever in Knicks history. Nor do I think Dolan imagined that “significant progress” would mean a losing team in contention for a playoff spot in the most anemic Eastern Conference in NBA history. Dolan essentially told Isiah: you built it, and it cost a lot of money. Now you make it work. And he meant now.

The Knicks are not exciting. They are inconsistent. Even Larry Brown’s pathetic crew went on five-game winning streak last season. These Knicks win some then lose more. There are flashes of heart and spurts of solid play mixed with entire nights of uninspired and unprofessional basketball. It’s a poorly conceived team with a less than average coach at the helm. 

You may not want to fire him now, but that’s just postponing the inevitable. By the end of the season, you will still have a losing team with some bad players, some players you wish were good and David Lee. Incremental progress is not significant progress.

SULLIVAN: Dave, in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king. Think on that. What good would firing Isiah do? This team has a decent nucleus with Curry at Center, Richardson-Lee-Frye-Balkman as Forwards, and Marbury, Crawford and Robinson at Guards. That is not a world beating line up, but it is what we have.

I am afraid Isiah is here to stay. Dolan will cave in to him. If the Knicks win 40 plus games that would be significant progress. A plus 17 win turn around is not terrible. If this were any other coach, we would give him a pass, but because of Isiah’s history everyone wants to see him suffer. He is suffering enough coaching this team he put together. Let us watch this one-eyed man get out of this mess. I am rooting for him.

HOLLANDER: Think on this: You have become anesthetized to losing. When did you turn into such a docile consumer of sports drek? If this was some pansy-ass, tree hugging city like Seattle, I’d say “yeah, whatever.” But this is muthafucking New York City.

It’s not about Isiah Thomas anymore. 

The Knicks are no longer a compelling train wreck. They are simply a tired story.

No other New York sports franchise—not the Giants, Jets, Yankees, Mets or Rangers—would put up with this.
Someone’s head has got to roll. Immediate, radical change is required. Curry-Richardson-Lee-Frye-Balkman, Marbury-Crawford-Robinson: these guys don’t cut it. They don’t even come close. 

You’re all hung up on 40 wins. That’s where the Knicks were at when Isiah took over the team four years ago. You want to commend him for digging his way back to the uninspiring point where Frank Layden—a consensus failure at GM—had left them? You find that acceptable?

As a fan and as a sportswriter I cannot abide one more minute of the status quo. The Knicks have gone everywhere but up with Isiah. There has been no progress—significant or otherwise—during Isiah’s tenure. Break the whole thing apart. That’s what must be done.

That, and you need a serious check up from the neck up. When it comes to Knicks, I’m here to tell you the emperor has no clothes. In fact, he has an unsightly rash. But I guess after a lifetime of unsuccessful Tinactin treatment that kind of stuff doesn’t really bother you so much.
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