Isiah won't go quietly after ruining Knicks
Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008 4:54 PM
The ripples from Isiah Thomas’ firing are spreading already. Within minutes of his dismissal, the FireIsiah.com website had replaced its petition with a page that was blank save for a single line: “No Need For This Site Anymore - He's Toast...”
There’s only one tiny problem with that line – Thomas may not be coach anymore, but he’s still a Knicks executive. He had said he wanted to stay with the team on which he’s brought so much disgrace, and so he remains.
Apparently, the man doesn’t have enough pride to get out of town and cash the checks he’ll get for the remaining years on the contract extension team owner James Dolan so foolishly gave him last year. It is also apparent that Dolan, who’s made great mountains of money in the cable television business, is the worst team owner in the nation, worse even than the Bidwills, the family that has inflicted lousy football on two different cities – St. Louis and Arizona.
Donnie Walsh, the recycled team president who replaced Thomas in that job earlier this month, dutifully said he’d find a job for Thomas. We may presume it won’t be selling hotdogs. We may also assume that Walsh was under orders to keep Thomas around. No new team president in his right mind would hang onto the guy he replaced unless he was told to by the person signing his paychecks.
Thomas is not going to be the good soldier. It’s not in his nature. He will find ways to make Walsh miserable. If the job involves judging talent, he will also find a way to continue to drag the Knicks down.
For some reason, Dolan adores Thomas. Even after the ex-coach and team president cost Dolan $11 million in a sexual harassment judgment, Dolan never flinched in his admiration for the man who has dragged his franchise to the lowest point in its history.
Thomas came to New York promising to turn the Knicks into title contenders. He leaves his coaching job with a share of a franchise record – for most losses in a season.
And even as the losses were piling up and the team was showing less enthusiasm for playing a game than cat does for a bubble bath, he kept saying he was going to bring a championship to New York. Normally, you’d admire that sort of optimism, but in Thomas’ case it had passed the point of being hopeful and entered the realm of the delusional.
Thomas was hired as team president 4½ years ago. As it was obvious from the start that no good would come of his hiring, his dismissal comes 4½ years too late.
And still, the franchise is not rid of him. Still, he remains employed by the most gullible owner ever. Still, he will come to Madison Square Garden and continue to pollute the franchise.
Will he never leave?
