Isiah and the Knicks

[mvblair]

Were Thomas and Marbury fist-fighting on the plane!? This is getting better than "Desperate Housewives!"

Marbury Fined $180,000 for Missing Game -- November 14, 2007, by Brian Mahoney, AP

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Knicks fined Stephon Marbury more than $180,000 for skipping Tuesday night's game at Phoenix, the latest clash between the team's star point guard and coach Isiah Thomas.

The Knicks sent Marbury a letter informing him of the fine....

...Marbury played poorly down the stretch in New York's 75-72 loss to Miami on Sunday, and the Daily News reported Tuesday the Knicks were trying to reduce Marbury's role or get rid of him entirely.

That created tensions between Marbury and Thomas -- neighbors in Westchester County who share the same agent. The two reportedly even fought on the plane to Phoenix, which the Knicks denied.

"There is no truth to that whatsoever," said Knicks spokesman Jonathan Supranowitz, who was on the flight.

[rikhardur]

I was not there, but Marbury must have started it all

[LuDux]

Marbury Fined $180,000 for Missing Game -- November 14, 2007,

That's nothing. That's like sexually harassing 1/65th of Anucha Browne Sanders

[mvblair]

I was not there, but Marbury must have started it all

Let's be fair and let Isiah and Marbury share the blame!

For some bizarre, inexplicable reason, Marbury came back to the team in Los Angeles and scored 13 points (on 33% shooting) in 33 minutes! Wow! Isiah Thomas is kissing him more than Magic Johnson!

Not Everyone on Knicks Is Happy with Marbury's Rerturn -- November 15, 2007, by John Ludden, Yahoo! Sports

......less than 24 hours earlier, when Isiah Thomas dispatched Jamal Crawford to find out how the players would react if and when Marbury rejoined the team, all of them voted against allowing him to play. Thomas, according to one person who spoke with Crawford, had pledged to hold out Marbury if even a single Knick didn’t want him on the court.

So how did Thomas react to the team’s unanimous vote?

He sat Marbury until late in the first quarter then played him nearly 34 of the game’s remaining 39 minutes.

The Knicks lost, of course......

......

“I’ve played with people I don’t like. I’ve won with people I don’t like,” Thomas said. “We’re a professional basketball team. My job is to try and win the basketball game.

“However I feel about a person, that doesn’t matter. We’re tying to win. Whatever happened in the past is in the past.”

That’s doubtful. Marbury said after the game that he’s “cool” and can “walk with my head up” and that “going forward, I’m fine.” problem is that many of his teammates aren’t fine. They’re fed up with him.

......


The Knicks let out a collective sigh of relief when told Marbury had left. For one night, at least, they didn’t have to stomach his selfishness.

......

Thomas said Marbury needs to provide leadership and defense to win back his starting job, and that should be good for a few more laughs. Leadership? From the guy who deserted his team? Even if Marbury left with Thomas’ permission, as Marbury claims, he still left.

......

....even Marbury’s harshest critics in the locker room don’t think he deserves full blame for the team’s 2-5 start. Too many players have played too poorly for it to be the fault of one.

.....the circus has stayed too long in New York, even if the rest of the NBA continues to find it entertaining.

.......

So, for now, the Knicks’ runaway train continues to careen off the tracks with Marbury and Thomas sharing the engineer’s chair. Everybody seems to be enjoying the ride except those actually on board.

[mvblair]

Kenny Smith is a lousy writer that I can only provide snippets of what he wrote. Click the link for the whole article.

Marbury, Thomas Share the Blame -- November 19, 2007, by Kenny Smith, Yahoo! Sports

....There really isn't a circumstance where you can leave your team because of personal discontent. If you do, you lose the one thing that your teammates hold sacred – trust.

If your point is to prove that you deserve more playing time – or to prove you don't deserve to be demoted – you can do that only by playing hard and keeping your mouth shut....

So where does this leave the Knicks? In a very precarious position....

Why would you [Isiah Thomas take Marbury out the lineup after five games when it's apparent to most that Mardy Collins and Nate Robinson are nowhere close to his talent level? Why would you take him out the lineup when Zach Randolph has missed games because of family matters? ....

[mvblair]

Am I obsessing?

Marbury Back in Starting Line-Up -- November 20, 2007, Brian Mahoney, AP

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) -- Stephon Marbury was set to rejoin the New York Knicks' starting lineup Tuesday night, a week after he responded to a demotion by leaving the team for one game.

Marbury said he was told by coach Isiah Thomas at the beginning of the morning shootaround that he would start against the Golden State Warriors. Marbury was a reserve for three games, and the Knicks lost all of them to extend their losing streak to six....

Thomas said he expects Marbury to remain the starter, though Marbury said he wasn't told his return was permanent. But the Knicks desperately need some form of stability, having fallen to 2-7 and last in the Atlantic Division....

"In order to have progress and to move forward, sometimes you have to have some uncomfortableness between player and coach," Thomas said. "To get the most out of the player sometimes it's got to be a little bit uncomfortable, but that's the way it goes in sports. You've got to move on and you've got to get better.

"It's not going to always be a smooth, nice path of friendly relationships. Sometimes you're going to have some situations where it's testy, but for the most part you've got to get the player and you've got to get the team to improve and that's our goal."

....

Isiah is such a great motivator.

[mvblair]

Isiah Thomas Fired as Coach -- April 18, 2008, By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer

Isiah Thomas couldn’t win as coach with the players he assembled as president.

Now, he’s lost both jobs.

Thomas was fired as the New York Knicks coach Friday after a season of listless and dreadful basketball, a tawdry lawsuit and unending chants from fans demanding his dismissal.

Thomas lost a franchise record-tying 59 games this season, and along the way seemed to lose the support of his players, who didn’t always play hard for him the way they did last season...

Click on the above article for a full recap of the Knickerbocker's dreadful season.

My favorite NBA writer wrote this yesterday (it's worth reading the whole article):

Thomas Will Leave as More than a Joke -- Adrian Worjankowski, Yahoo! Sports, April 17, 2008

Isiah Thomas never did stop the relentless mythology of himself as the street fighter out of Chicago’s Westside. Through every indignity, he insisted that he was fighting for his job, his legacy, for a ticker-tape parade he still promised until the bitter end. Somewhere between delusion and delirium, the architect of a crumbled regime had never sounded so detached of reality.

...his way of saying that he made it out of New York alive, false bravado until he’s out the door. The final con job of Thomas’ disastrous run as Knicks president and coach has been that he wants to keep his job. Thomas is still getting the remainder of his $24 million contract extension. He’s done nothing to earn his pay but everything to protect future payments. The Knicks are 23-58 on the season now. Larry Brown will be rooting hard Wednesday night that Isiah doesn’t end up with one more victory than he did as Knicks coach two years ago.

Until Sunday, when Walsh happened to be in the gym, the Knicks hadn’t had a legitimate practice in a month. Shootarounds seldom lasted more than 15 or 20 minutes on gameday mornings. So much opportunity to develop the Knicks young players went to waste.

To the bitter end, Thomas was still selling. For a time, Dolan was the last man in New York buying it. Finally, Thomas lost him, too. These days, Thomas sounds like an old politician on the house floor, talking to an empty chamber just so his words will be recorded for the history books.

...Had they seen Isiah fighting, backing his empty words with deeds, maybe it would’ve been a little different. Yet it wasn’t 10 games into the season when his players privately told people that they could see his heart wasn’t in it, that he was barely trying to coach them. Everyone could see it. Most nights, he never climbed to his feet. He never coached. Lately, opposing scouts came to the Garden and declared the Knicks the hardest team in the league with which to file reports back to their teams.

“They haven’t run any plays in over a month,” one NBA scout said.

Said another scout, “In all of my years, I’ve never seen anything like it. If (Thomas) is trying to get fired, he’s doing a good job of it.”

....

I guess this is no surprise. Honestly, nobody is surprised that Isiah was fired. But look back at this stuff. He's bad. He's terrible. Scouts say he hasn't had plays. Players say he hasn't had practices. Everybody says he hasn't coached. Awful. Pitiful.

THE NBA where hope never dies

[Test]

Most expencive basketball club in history, also the most fuck*ed up club at the same time. Removing Isiah is only one first big step to revolution. Now another surgery need to be done - Remove cancer Marbury and please sent him to the PBA or whatever.. He ruined every team - this is the greatest example for kids - never be like marbury. This is proove that not only great basketball skills will make you valuable player.

But I have a sense that nothing will change until managers and GM's will die or retire. i bet no one even trains anymore before Knicks games. Other NBA players call it a day-off when a game vs Knicks must happen, because there is nothing to try.

[rikhardur]

Time for rebuilding now, I think the Knicks were just waiting for the regular season to end and sack him. They should've done it way before imo.

[Neozyrus]

At least they have tok the first step now. New management, new coach, and hopefully a brand new package of players signed with a plan.

Personally i would just keep 4/5 players of the actual roster, and then look for some good trades or, if the want a huge rebuilding, they could even buy the contracts of some players and just try to sign some of the great players that are gonna be in the market of free agents this summer.

[mvblair]

i bet no one even trains anymore before Knicks games. Other NBA players call it a day-off when a game vs Knicks must happen, because there is nothing to try.

Check out the article I posted above. They haven't practiced in a month. Pitiful.