New York Knicks about to Implode

Well looks to me in about two weeks, the New York Knicks will blow their team up. Isiah may or may not have a job. James Dolan is feeling the heat from NY fans. Is there anyone on the NY Knicks roster that we could use on the Houston Rockets? Personally, I think we could use Mardy Collins. Forget Marbury. If anyone is a team cancer it's him. We could also use Nate Robinson. Or what about Eddy Curry teamed up with Yao...now that would be interesting.

Thomas Sticks With Knicks Team He Criticized
Barton Silverman/The New York Times
Isiah Thomas knows Isiah Thomas, and these Knicks — all acquired by and coached by Isiah Thomas — are no Isiah Thomas.

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By HOWARD BECK
Published: December 19, 2007
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Isiah Thomas the point guard was a fierce competitor who drove his teams to titles and glory. Isiah Thomas the team executive is a manic day trader who pounces on every chance to stockpile talent. Isiah Thomas the coach is a frustrated, tortured soul who cannot find players as intense as he was, and is now openly wondering why.

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Schedule/Results Roster | Statistics Isiah Thomas said he did not sleep Monday night, after his Knicks were routed, 119-92, by the Indiana Pacers. The insomnia might have been caused by the raging conflict in his own head.

The Knicks (7-17), who viewed themselves as a playoff team, were tied for the league’s third-worst record Tuesday. They have lost by 20 points or more five times, one fewer than they did all last season.

Any coach would be feeling edgy at this point, aiming public barbs at his team and begging for help from the front office. This is no simple matter for Thomas, given that he acquired all 15 players on the Knicks’ roster and still carries the dual title of coach and team president.

So when Thomas questioned his team’s heart, grit and pride Monday night, it was as if his internal conflict had spilled into the open. Thomas badly wants his team to emulate his best qualities as a Hall of Fame player. But the players that Thomas assembled do not, collectively, seem to possess them.

Thomas drew a distinction Tuesday between talent (which the Knicks have in ample supply) and desire (which they, apparently, do not). He could blame himself for chasing big names instead of big hearts, but Thomas was not ready to make that concession yet.

“We’ll see,” Thomas said, when asked if he had failed to acquire the right kind of players. “That’s a fair question. We’ll see how this process plays out. If we don’t turn it around, then the answer to that question is yes.”

The wait-and-see approach was a common theme Tuesday. Thomas said he was not ready to change the starting lineup, reshuffle the rotation or overhaul the roster through trades. He continued to emphasize the 58 games left, rather than the 24 games played, the point being that there was time to turn things around. But Thomas clearly is losing patience, and perhaps some of his once-stubborn faith.

“I’m not happy about where we are,” he said. “And if we don’t turn it around soon, then yeah, we’ll have to make some changes.”

It is possible that James L. Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman, is pondering a similar time frame as he listens to nightly chants of “Fire Isiah” and various boycott threats from angry fans.

Thomas was asked Tuesday to assess himself — and whether as general manager, he would keep himself as coach. He did not get defensive or dismiss the question outright.

“In a couple of weeks that will be a fair question,” Thomas said. “We’ll see if we can come out of this. If we can’t come out of this, then those are fair questions.”

So a day of reckoning would seem to be on the horizon, for Thomas, his staff, his roster and indeed the entire Thomas era. A quick turnaround seems unlikely. LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Garden on Wednesday, followed by Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. The Knicks close out the year with a tough road game against Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic and a home game against the Chicago Bulls.

The discussion over the Knicks’ heart, or lack thereof, will probably continue for some time. It was prompted Monday by a third-quarter collapse, in which the Knicks allowed a tie game to turn quickly into a rout. Thomas said his team had caved under pressure.

“There are a lot of things that can be said about me and teams that I’ve coached and the way I played,” Thomas said Monday night, “but I’ve never been accused of not having heart or competing. And tonight was very discouraging to me because we didn’t collectively play with heart and compete like I know I do.”

Thomas said he had delivered the same message directly to his players, in the locker room. His decision to take the message public surprised them, however. Thomas has long favored an accentuate-the-positive approach, often to the point of absurdity. At times, he has seemed fearful of crushing his players’ fragile psyche. Ten days ago, he said his team needed “love and support,” not criticism.

But Friday, Thomas gave a scathing review of Eddy Curry, saying he might never become a complete player. Three nights later, Thomas went after his entire team.

“He doesn’t normally call us out,” Curry said. “I think we definitely took heed to what he said. It’s almost like you want to go out there and just prove to him that we do got heart.”

Thomas flashed a fourth persona Tuesday — the hardscrabble kid from Chicago’s West Side whose toughness was born of necessity.

“Probably the most humiliating experience I’ve had in my life was standing in a soup line, and kids from school walking by laughing at you,” Thomas said. “This is kind of the equivalent of that, that type of humiliation. I don’t like it. I only know how to fight and work my tail off to get out of it. And we are working our tail off to get out of it.”

 

I don't know, if the Knicks completely implode and blow their team up and start over, anything is possible. I look for them to be trading out maybe 2-3 players perhaps more.

 

David Lee is a possibility since he doesn't get along with Isiah so much. Isiah says he's not good enough to start.

 

Agreed, the first move would be to fire Zeke. Bring in a new coaching staff and take in their new recommendations and analysis of what's wrong with the Knicks. After that, then they blow the team up. A process that could be as short as a month.

 

No but Mardy Collins could be. Isiah tried to make him the starting PG over Starbury until Marbury became a big baby about it and said he knew stuff about Isiah and basically blackmailed his way back onto the starting rotation.