.... Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 Age is not the issue. Really. That's not my resistance to Lenny Wilkens, because the sixtysomething set represents the best of NBA coaching. My problem: The coach with the most wins in league history already has proven that he can win no more. Sorry. There's no way the New York Knicks can present Wilkens, at 66, as their answer to Memphis bringing back Hubie Brown, or the Florida Marlins turning to Jack McKeon, or the Washington Redskins resurrecting Joe Gibbs. Article here: Desperate Thomas Wherever Isaiah Thomas goes after his playing days, a wake of failure has followed him. He thought he was good enough to save the CBA....it failed miserably, and the entire league folded. His coaching jobs have been failures, and now as a front-office guy fo the Knicks, his choices are weak at best. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyLarry Veteran Posted January 15, 2004 Veteran Share Posted January 15, 2004 okay well i am first off glad as a knick fan my entire life to finally see the knicks get some press here on neowin, so i want to reply to some of these comments and i guess be the devil's advocate if you will but hopefully with some interesting points.. first the whole CBA comment and thomas. i was under the same impression myself, until i heard thomas on the fan sports radio (the sports radio of the tri state area), on mike and the mad dog the day thomas made the trade for marbury. and if you know mike and the mad dog they pull no punches and they barely talked about the knicks per say and were really interested in thomas and his questionable actions and history in the past. it was really good. anyway what he explained about the CBA made sense to me. when he took the head coaching job for the pacers, the NBA saw it is a conflict of interest that thomas was the president of the CBA. so thomas always wanted to be a coach so he left the CBA. up until that point the CBA was actually making a comeback, and had its first decent year, i believe he even said it was the first year they actually made money. that year when thomas left, yes the CBA did fold, so to blame him directly for the folding of the CBA seems to be incorrect and unfair according to thomas, which i am not doing justice to the situation as he did, but if everything he said is indeed true then it only seems fair to me that perhaps he was not behind the crumbling of the CBA and it was indeed his departure and not presence that left the CBA in ruins... secondly. the comment his choices are weak at best. while i agree to a certain extent (ill get to wilkens in a second) i also disagree. being a knicks fan for so long now i still watch easily over 50 games a year to this day. now anyone who has seen just 1 knicks game in the past couple of years, besides the obvious of them not having a legit big man until mutombo came in, was the fact that their point guards were all great off the bench players, but no one was really true starters and fully legit points. and i love charlie ward as a playe,r and eisley even grew on me too, but the fact the knicks now have a "legit" point guard, one of the best in the league in my opinion, can only make matters better. the knicks have been so boring to watch the past couple of years it hurt! so getting marbury makes for a more exciting basketball team, and thats what the fans want in NY, almost as much as winning. when you go to the garden there is a mystique like no other sporting venue in the world, and the fans were so tired of the non exciting play of the knicks, that i do think for all practical purposes the team is better off with marbury for sure. now on to wilkens. i have no real set opinion because i am not willing to judge a man on his most recent performance with what was an injury plagued team at the time (the raptors, and if you remember vince was injured alot during wilken's last year there), and for all practicality at that time vince was the raptors, with alot of decent role players around him but no other stars like himself. so saying wilkens has proved he cant win anymore i also think is unfair of this writer. he has a shot here again to prove he can win, but i do also say good luck with this current team the knicks have as well. yes i believe they are better with marbury, but i also think they have a long way to go. luckil the east is so weak they might just sneak into the playoffs under the radar. maybe but i highly doubt it. and as far as thomas overall, i just don't like how he has come in and believes he has all the answers for a team thats problems go back to before patrick ewing left, never-mind this year. although many could say including myself thank scott layden for that (good riddance to him). so for thomas to come off that way, with yes not the greatest of record of personal accomplishments since his basketball playing days, is what really bothers me. and i have also read and heard from various sources that since this all went down that thomas did go with wilkens and not fratello because the czar wanted a 3 year deal, and thomas refused. why? because he eventually wants to coach the team as well. if this does wound up being the case and thomas does indeed become the head coach as well, i can say without a doubt i will hate this man, as if this was his plan the entire time to coach, why not just let don chaney finish out the year with some pride and dignity???? so although i disagree with certain comments made by this writer, i also have to say i dont see a very bright future, right now, for the knicks. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/#findComment-1603316 Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 15, 2004 Author Share Posted January 15, 2004 Great post, Larry! Good stuff! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/#findComment-1603319 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyLarry Veteran Posted January 15, 2004 Veteran Share Posted January 15, 2004 Great post, Larry! Good stuff! thanks (Y) i almost felt like a sports writer there for a second :D and there are not to many things i get very passionate about in life, unfortunately the knicks are one of them... :wacko: Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/#findComment-1603337 Share on other sites More sharing options...
whipper25 Posted January 15, 2004 Share Posted January 15, 2004 ya know what? i'm think isaiah deserves more credit, he's been criticized up and down from almost every single direction..and i think because he's an easy target..the press always wants new, intriguing stuff to write about, so they go after the owner that's making the most moves..thomas..now i'm no knicks fan (although, i'm starting to be, since my man penny is rockin the knicks jersey)..but with the way the knicks have been playing ball the past few years, i think its about time someone came in and did some shifting around...if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work and the knicks will just be right where they started..if the 'new' knicks click and win some games and make the playoffs and even advance past the first round, then isaiah deserves credit for changing things...so i'm glad he's doin what he's doin..i mean, the knicks have got nothing to lose..so the fans need to get behind him and support the knicks (granted, chaney was doin a horrible job at the helm..but c'mon...having your fans chanting 'fire chaney!' every game..where's the support..then again, it is NY city) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/#findComment-1603427 Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted January 15, 2004 Author Share Posted January 15, 2004 ya know what? i'm think isaiah deserves more credit, he's been criticized up and down from almost every single direction..and i think because he's an easy target True, but everywhere in management that Isaiah has been, he's left in chaos and ruin in some cases. The CBA downfall was directly his responsibility. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/#findComment-1604277 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 True, but everywhere in management that Isaiah has been, he's left in chaos and ruin in some cases.The CBA downfall was directly his responsibility. The only other place that he's been in management position was the CBA, which was doomed to fail anyway. Like was said already, the CBA was making some sort of comeback with Thomas at the helm. It only ended when he left. In Toronto, he was merely president...not the GM. My problem: The coach with the most wins in league history already has proven that he can win no more. When did this happen? Since when does a couple seasons doom you for the rest of your coaching career? It doesn't. As coach of the Pacers, he took a good team...not great...to the playoffs for three years in a row. Considering the offseason between Bird and Thomas, several of the Pacers left for free agency or retired. It was hardly the same team as was the year before. In Thomas' second year, he had to deal with a massive player turnover in the Jalen Rose trade. To top it off, they still made the playoffs, and took a much better NJ Net team to double overtime in the 5th game of that series. For what Thomas had, he did a great job coaching. Within no time, he's gotten players that the Knicks needed to win. Their starting lineup is one of the best in the East, and should make the playoffs this year pretty easily. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/#findComment-1615020 Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Greeno~ Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 Agreed. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/132156-basketball-isaiah-thomas-doesnt-have-a-clue/#findComment-1637364 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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