How does Isiah still have a job?
Posted: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 8:11 PM
Is there any reason why Isiah Thomas still has a job? Is there any excuse for Knicks’ owner James Dolan to continue to support a man who in four years has not won a single playoff series, has failed to reduce a bloated payroll, and has brought shame – not to mention another $11.6 million in expenses – to the franchise in the scandalous sexual-harassment lawsuit he just lost?
On Tuesday, Thomas walked out of a Manhattan courthouse where a jury had just awarded Anucha Browne Sanders that big hunk of money because of his inexcusable behavior. He stood behind a bank of microphones and declared, “I am innocent. I am very innocent.” I don’t know about you, but when I watched the tape, I thought I was looking at Michael Vick saying the same thing about the dog-fighting charges.
And then Thomas went down to Charleston, S.C., to the Knicks training camp, where he needs to get on with the job of destroying the franchise, declaring that during his three-week civil trial, all he thought about was the basketball team.
His boss, the Dolan the Cable Guy, never said a single harsh word about his good buddy and coach, not when Browne Sanders went to Dolan to complain about being called a bleeping B-word and a bleeping ho, and then asked her to climb in the sack with him, not when Browne Sanders filed suit, not when the tabloids had great fun dragging the proud franchise through Thomas’ filth, not when the jury demanded that $3 million of the judgment come out of Dolan’s own pockets.
None of the players had anything bad to say about their tawdry coach, either, just as none of Vick’s teammates has anything bad to say about him before he admitted that he really wasn’t innocent at all.
You have to read Thomas’ bio on the Knicks’ NBA.com Web site to understand the hold he has on the Cable Guy, although I wouldn’t advise doing it on a full stomach. You could lose your lunch. Here’s a sample:
“Thomas’ prolific career has been defined by success at every level as both player and executive, as well as in the business and philanthropic worlds.”
Here’s another that has caused some readers to suffer hernias from violent laughter:
“He turned the foundering CBA into a successful business venture over two years, before he was forced to sell the league when he was named head coach of the Indiana Pacers on Jul. 20, 2000.”
The guy was successful on the basketball court, both at the University of Indiana, where he helped win an NCAA title, and with the Pistons, where he won two NBA titles. That’s it.
His coaching record is not good. He turned the Continental Basketball Association into a bankrupt and dead league, leaving players and franchises holding the bills. He got to the playoffs every season he coached the Pacers, but he never won a series. In four years with the Knicks, his team has made the playoffs once, and didn’t win a series. Last year, he led – if that’s the word – the team to a 33-49 record.
If that’s “success at every level,” I‘d hate to see what failure is.
For a more jaundiced view of his reign of error, go to sadknicks.com and read the “Fire Isiah!” page. If you think signing online petitions does any good, you can do that here.
Personally, I doubt that it will do anything. Not until Knicks fans refuse to buy tickets, refuse to go to the World’s Most Disgraced Arena, refuse to buy the jerseys and watch the TV broadcasts will Dolan the Cable Guy start to understand that he can’t keep on with business as usual. He and the players have no problem with a coach who treats dignified and capable women like Browne Sanders the way he did, but fans should have big problems with it.
And if they don’t, they’re no better than Dolan and Thomas.
