Isiah found guilty in harassment case - Page 2 - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

mary · 12-19-2007, 01:34 PM

Fired by the fans?

Knicks fans plan to give Isiah a giant pink slip

Posted: Wednesday December 19, 2007 8:35AM; Updated: Wednesday December 19, 2007 8:35AM

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas could get a giant pink slip -- from fans.

Fans who want Thomas gone from the basketball team plan to march through the streets surrounding Madison Square Garden on Wednesday carrying a huge pink slip.

Thomas has been hounded by bad publicity and calls from fans to quit since October when a former team executive won a sexual harassment lawsuit against the coach and Madison Square Garden.

A three-week trial leading up to the verdict left a crude image of a storied franchise brought low by bullying officials and a player, Stephon Marbury, with an tawdry pick-up line used to seduce an intern into his sport utility vehicle.

The 7-and-17 Knicks play Clevelend Wednesday.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

alby · 12-19-2007, 02:01 PM

haha what a debacle up there

Jack.Kerr · 12-19-2007, 03:49 PM

alby · 12-19-2007, 03:56 PM

LOL THAT IS GREATNESS

ty · 12-19-2007, 04:46 PM

Trade for Isiah anyone?

Flacolaco · 12-19-2007, 05:51 PM

Wow.....that is when you KNOW, it's time to get the hell out of town.

alby · 12-19-2007, 06:00 PM

haha damn.

alby · 12-20-2007, 12:26 AM

pinkslip night = 18 point win against Cleveland

quiet riot act · 12-20-2007, 07:21 AM

language

http://thebiglead.com/?p=3925

horse900703 · 12-20-2007, 10:24 AM

Boo him~~

Jack.Kerr · 12-27-2007, 01:25 PM

This is so beautiful. Now even when Thomas makes what should be a reasonable lineup change, it backfires on him in every possible way. He moves Zach Randolph to 6th-man to try to get better production out of both him and Curry, and Randolph gets pissed off that he's not starting.

That's what you get when you assemble a roster of one-dimensional, idiot, thug, losers who don't understand the difference between starting and winning; or the difference between stat-making and production. Marbury, Curry, Robinson, Randolph.

Burn, baby, burn.

New-look Knicks tumble to Magic

BY IAN BEGLEY
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Thursday, December 27th 2007, 4:00 AM
ORLANDO - Apparently, Isiah Thomas benched the wrong big man.

As promised, the Knicks coach injected fresh faces into the Knicks' starting five last night in Orlando. David Lee started for Zach Randolph and Jared Jeffries took Fred Jones' spot.

But the obvious target for a demotion, Eddy Curry, remained in Thomas' lineup despite a season-long slump.

Curry didn't play much, looking sluggish in picking up two quick fouls. He was pulled and sat until Thomas put him on the floor to start the fourth quarter.

That's when things fell apart.

In Curry's 2:34 cameo in the final period, the Knicks' three-point deficit swelled to 10 and the Magic rolled to a 110-96 victory on Wednesday night.

"We played 36 good minutes, but we couldn't finish it off," Thomas said after the Knicks fell to 8-20.

Curry finished with two points in a season-low 4:41. Thomas did not commit to a lineup for the Knicks' next game, Sunday against the Bulls at the Garden, but he may want to reconsider.

Randolph, the Knicks' second leading scorer at 18.0 ppg and top rebounder at 10.3, sounded miffed at the demotion.

"I haven't come off the bench in six or seven years, so I was shocked," he said. "I don't plan on coming off no bench for the rest of the season."

The seventh-year power forward scoffed when asked if he thought he had to play his way back to the starting lineup.

"I didn't play my way out of it, I don't think," said Randolph.

Randolph, who entered when Curry picked up his second foul with 9:54 left in the first quarter, finished with 22 points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes to help the Knicks stick with the Magic for three quarters.

But starting the fourth quarter, Thomas sent Curry back onto the court. The Magic, which led 79-76 at the time, grabbed two offensive rebounds and scored twice in the paint with Curry doing nothing to stop them, to open an 88-78 lead.

"I know going forward we're going to need him to win basketball games," Thomas said. "So I tried to get him in. . . .I wanted to work him back in the game and get him a little rhythm."

Hedo Turkoglu (26 points) scored 10 points in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter as the Magic, which broke a four-game home losing streak, went on a 20-6 run.

With Lee and Jeffries starting, the Knicks, who lost for the ninth time in 11 games, reversed their recent trend of falling into early double-digit holes. It just took a few quarters for them to fall hopelessly behind as they fell behind by 17 points in the fourth.

The insertion of Jeffries moved Quentin Richardson to shooting guard, Jamal Crawford (29 points) to point guard and Jones to the bench. For a while, the change seemed to spark the Knicks, who got 16 points from Nate Robinson off the bench.

The Knicks held a lead for most of the third quarter, but Richardson shot his third air ball from behind the arc and Turkoglu turned that into a runner in the paint on the other end to give the Magic a 72-71 lead with 2:34 to go in the third quarter.

The Knicks entered last night allowing opponents to shoot a league-high 48%. They let the Magic shoot 53%, even on an off night from Dwight Howard. Howard was held to 16 points. He scored 22 points and grabbed 20 boards in Orlando's win at the Garden last month.

"The last 12 (minutes) just got away from us," Crawford said.

Jack.Kerr · 01-12-2008, 10:47 AM

Source: James Dolan leaning toward firing Isiah Thomas before season's end

BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, January 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
James Dolan appears to be bored at Friday night's Knick loss to the Raptors ... Goldfield for News

James Dolan appears to be bored at Friday night's Knick loss to the Raptors ...
... and according to a source is growing tired of Isiah Thomas. Goldfield for News

... and according to a source is growing tired of Isiah Thomas.

After all the losing Isiah Thomas has done - both on and off the court - the Knicks' president and head coach appears to be finally losing the support of his strongest ally as well.

Garden chairman James Dolan recently told confidants that he knows a coaching change must be made and that he is preparing to do just that, according to a source close to Dolan. No timetable was given, but the source indicated that Dolan is leaning toward making a change before the end of the season.

Dolan's change of heart comes 10 months after he rewarded Thomas with a contract extension believed to be worth $24 million. Also, two months ago a Garden official leaked a story to three newspapers that Thomas still had the support of ownership.

However, that public show of support came days before the Garden reached an out-of-court settlement with former executive Anucha Browne Sanders, who had filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Thomas, Dolan and the Garden.

Also, the Knicks have performed miserably on the court, which is a reflection of Thomas, who as the team president is responsible for acquiring every player on the roster. With Dolan looking on from his baseline seat at the Garden Friday night, the last-place Knicks lost to the Toronto Raptors, 99-90, to drop their record to 9-26.

It is not clear whether Dolan would allow Thomas to continue in his role as the team's highest-ranking decision-maker once he is removed from the bench. Such a scenario would seem unlikely, but Thomas' survival skills should never be underestimated. He has outlasted three coaches since coming to New York, including a pair of Hall of Famers, Lenny Wilkens and Larry Brown. Neither Wilkens nor Brown coached more than 82 games, the equivalent of a full NBA regular season. Meanwhile, Thomas is 42-75 as Knicks coach.

It also is not known who will be hired to replace Thomas. In all likelihood, assistant coach Herb Williams will be hired on an interim basis and the team will begin a coaching search.

There is no shortage of candidates either for Thomas' front office job or his coaching job. Jerry West and Jerry Colangelo would be considered the top two candidates to become team president. Coincidentally, Colangelo's son, Bryan, who is the GM of the Toronto Raptors, spoke briefly to Garden president Steve Mills before Friday night's game.

The same source claims that "people are coming out of the woodwork to try and get Dolan's attention." The source said that group includes everyone from former Knicks - both recent and from decades ago - as well as current GMs.

"The same is true of guys who are trying to get the coaching job," the source said.

Dolan has been uncharacteristically mum on Thomas' future since announcing the extension last March. Thomas, however, has been outspoken in his belief that he is the right man for the job.

In many of his interviews with reporters, Thomas seems to be talking directly to Dolan. For example, Thomas said last week that the Knicks will win a championship with him running the team. He also has said repeatedly that he has no intention of resigning.

But last night, Thomas sounded like a coach who knows that his time is running short. Thomas compared himself to the construction worker who lays the foundation to a house for someone else to live in.

"When you move into your house, the guy who poured the concrete never really gets a chance to live in that beautiful house that he built," Thomas said. "Our job right now is to make sure that we lay the concrete and that we lay it correctly."

Thespiralgoeson · 01-13-2008, 02:05 AM

Wacthing the Knicks is like watching a train wreck that just never ends. What's almost as crazy as Isiah keeping his job for as long as he has is the fact that Dolan hired him in the first place. This is the guy who has botched every venture has been involved in since he retired as a player.

Jack.Kerr · 01-13-2008, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thespiralgoeson

Wacthing the Knicks is like watching a train wreck that just never ends. What's almost as crazy as Isiah keeping his job for as long as he has is the fact that Dolan hired him in the first place. This is the guy who has botched every venture has been involved in since he retired as a player.

Yeah, it drove me crazy for awhile, but now it's fun to see how much punishment Isiah can take. In some ways, I wouldn't mind seeing him stay the whole season, just to see each one of those losses stuck up his a$$.

dude1394 · 01-13-2008, 10:59 AM

Not one of those players trusts isiah to not throw them right under the bus to save his rear end, not one.

Nothing good to say about this man and Dolan is a complete idiot if he doesn't completely exorcise him from the organization. Firing him as coach and leaving him as GM is just asking for more stupidity.

I'm also of the mind that coaches in the nba should not be gm's either. It's not like the nfl that has more folks and you get used to giving out pink slips. When you sign these guys you keep 'em.

I think it rare that a coach can also gm in bball worth a durn. I've only really seen nellie do it but then he loves that side of it as much as coaching.

Jack.Kerr · 01-13-2008, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dude1394

Not one of those players trusts isiah to not throw them right under the bus to save his rear end, not one.

Nothing good to say about this man and Dolan is a complete idiot if he doesn't completely exorcise him from the organization. Firing him as coach and leaving him as GM is just asking for more stupidity.

I'm also of the mind that coaches in the nba should not be gm's either. It's not like the nfl that has more folks and you get used to giving out pink slips. When you sign these guys you keep 'em.

I think it rare that a coach can also gm in bball worth a durn. I've only really seen nellie do it but then he loves that side of it as much as coaching.

Re the dual roles issue-- I think it works best where a franchise is in a tear-down situation, and wants to try to rebuild relatively quickly. You get everybody on the same page by having fewer bodies and fewer pages. Players feel an accute accountability to the coach, who is also responsible for them even being on the team.

It worked particularly well with Nellie (in the short-term) because he had so much experience and so many contacts in the league, because he was dealing with uninterested and/or total neophyte (and deep-pocketed) ownership, and because the Mavericks had been so low for so long that they had no where to go but up. Almost anything he was going to do was going to be an improvement.

That said, that type of set up probably has a shelf-life of about 3 years. May have something to do with absolute power corrupting absolutely. But once a franchise gets out of crisis mode and starts needing to grow longer term, then the GM job is probably too much for a coach to do simultaneously. Wasn't Popovich the GM in San Antonio before he fired Bob Hill? He didn't retain both titles for very long though. They hired someone else to assume the front office duties. It's worked out well enough for them, I'd say.

In Isiah's case, he was a disaster from the get-go. He simply didn't have the knowledge or understanding or ability to make franchise-level decisions, and his first move--trading for Marbury--was lethal. Marbury was like taking a hit of meth for Zeke and the Knicks--big rush in the short-term, bumped up fan interest, made it look like he was doing things, but the longer coach and franchise had to depend on him for sustenance, the worse things got. They are close to bottoming out now.

Add to Isiah's overall unqualifiedness for the job and this initial bad move, the fact that he pathologically mistreated people in the organization (Don Chaney, Dikembe Mutombo, Lenny Wilkens, Kurt Thomas, Anucha Browne-Sanders, Larry Brown) and you get still only begin to get a sense of the damage that fool has inflicted on the organization, the team, and its fans.

dude1394 · 01-13-2008, 11:59 AM

Good stuff Jack...and I think you are right about the short-term build-up. I was taking some cues from Pat Riley talking about how hard it is to seperate the "personalities" from the GM duties. Some folk took that as bad actors but I didn't.

I think you could replace that with "friendships" instead and understand what he's trying to say. In his case right now imo it would make the most sense to just dump shaq if possible for whatever you could get and cap relief.

So why wouldn't he do it.
- Talent...maybe, he is a big guy.
- Contract...no way.
- Championship..no way, they are done until shaq is gone and they have an opporutnity to get really bad (and they are) and rebuild in ~2 years which if fabulous.
- Friendship...I think that's his biggest problem here. I think that Riley actually does have some great loyalty with his players because they bust it for him.

Jack.Kerr · 02-28-2008, 12:13 PM

This could be interesting.....not necessarily successful, but interesting.

I think Dolan is trying to keep Thomas around long enough for him to commit some kind of contract violation, so that he can refuse to pay him when he fires him, as he did with Larry Brown.

Not really sure why Vandeweghe would want to get wrapped up in that mess, but....I guess everyone wants a paycheck.

Quote:

James Dolan wants Kiki and Isiah

BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Thursday, February 28th 2008, 4:00 AM

Isiah Thomas confers with Jamal Crawford during Wednesday's victory over the Bobcats.

The Knicks have had preliminary discussions with Kiki Vandeweghe about replacing Isiah Thomas in the front office, but possibly allowing Thomas to continue as head coach, a person with knowledge of the talks told the Daily News.

James Dolan is prepared to strip Thomas of his title as Knicks president, but as implausible as it may seem, the Garden chairman appears committed to keeping Thomas on the bench, where he has complied a 51-89 record since taking over for Larry Brown. The Knicks have not had a winning season and have not won a playoff game since Thomas took over the franchise on Dec. 22, 2003.

Dolan, who last March signed Thomas to a contract extension believed to be worth $24 million over four years, has remained incredibly loyal to Thomas despite his losing record and Thomas losing a sexual harassment lawsuit last October.

The source claims that Vandeweghe would be willing to accept the job of rebuilding the Knicks even if it meant having to retain Thomas. It is unlikely that Jerry Colangelo or Jerry West, two other high-profile candidates mentioned to take over the Knicks' front office, would allow Dolan to decide whether or not Thomas remains as head coach.

Indiana GM Donnie Walsh, who is also regarded as a prime candidate for the Knick job, did give Thomas his first head-coaching job with the Pacers. Whether Walsh would endorse the idea of keeping Thomas in place in New York is debatable. Thomas led Indiana to three straight playoff appearances but never advanced past the first round.

Even though it would not be popular with fans, many of whom began chanting "Fire Isiah" as far back as November, a decision to retain Thomas would fall in line with Dolan's contrarian nature. Also, Thomas' in-game coaching, the team's preparation and his managing of the roster have all come into question this season. The Knicks never recovered from Thomas' decision to bench Stephon Marbury before the sixth game of the season. Marbury went AWOL for 24 hours, and Thomas then undermined his own authority by asking the players to vote whether Marbury should be allowed to play the following night against the Clippers. They voted unanimously that Marbury should sit out, only to see him play 34 minutes.

It is not uncommon for a GM to be hired with a coach already in place. Raptors president Bryan Colangelo inherited Sam Mitchell, and Suns GM Steve Kerr inherited Mike D'Antoni. In both cases, those coaches had enjoyed some success. Thomas, however, owns a losing record and has lost control of the locker room.

"Anybody who knows Isiah knows that he's not going to quit," said one Knicks official. "But he never should have been given both jobs. One job he can handle, but not both."

During his pregame interview session with reporters last night, Thomas said he didn't want to talk about Marbury's future until the summer, adding a cryptic "I'll be around" during the offseason.

According to the source, the Knicks have not made a formal offer to Vandeweghe, who has strong support inside league headquarters to take over the franchise he once played for. But the talks between the two sides have included Vandeweghe evaluating the 15-man roster that Thomas built.

When reached late yesterday, Vandeweghe denied having had any contact with the Knicks. "I have a job right here," said Vandeweghe, a special assistant to Nets president Rod Thorn. "That's my only focus."

Vandeweghe also denied a story in Wednesday's Daily News that he was a guest of Garden president Steve Mills at a private screening for the film "Black Magic" on Monday. Several eyewitnesses claim that Mills and Vandeweghe sat next to each other at the screening and left together. Vandeweghe also denies those accounts.

"I've known Steve for a long time," Vandeweghe said. "We didn't leave together and we didn't sit together."

EricaLubarsky · 02-29-2008, 10:39 AM

ZEKE BARS STEPH FROM GARDEN
By MARC BERMAN
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February 29, 2008 -- Stephon Marbury Stephon Marbury has been instructed by Isiah Thomas not to attend Knicks New York Knicks home games - another indication of the continuing feud between the former pals, The Post has learned.

According to a Marbury confidant, the embattled point guard is under a gag order by Knicks management, forbidding him from speaking to the media. Marbury has not commented since his Jan. 22 ankle surgery. "They've got a muzzle on him," the confidant said.

DirkFTW · 02-29-2008, 11:00 AM

Exhibit A to the "It could always be worse" defense for Avery.

Jack.Kerr · 02-29-2008, 11:17 AM

HURT BUT HAPPY
Page SixPhoto
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February 27, 2008 -- STEPHON Marbury is on the Knicks' injured list this season, but that won't stop him from getting to a hot date. Marbury celebrated his 31st birthday the other night at Geisha on East 61st Street with a "hot blonde" who waited alone at the bar for him for nearly an hour, said a spy. It didn't seem to faze her though, because when he finally showed up near midnight, the duo had the kitchen reopen so they could eat. "They had plates of sushi and ribs and they were downing red wine," said our witness. "They were deep in conversation and left a huge tip."