5 Reasons why Isiah Thomas should be able to keep his job
If you are a Knick fan I don’t think a day has gone by in the past few years when you haven’t considered slitting your wrists. If you KNOW a knick fan then you’ve probably had some fun saying things like:
“What’s does another 90 million mean anyhow, it’s just a salary cap.”
“Look, eventually everyone involved with the mess will die and then the nightmare has to be over….right?”
“On the bright side Jerome James is really fat AND out of shape.”
“Hey at least you got ONE good month out of Antonio McDyess.”
“On the bright side Vin Baker is really fat AND out of shape.”
“Allan Houston’s contract doesn’t look that bad….next to Ken Lays.”
“On the bright side Clarence Weatherspoon is REALLY fat and REALLY out of shape.”
Some say the Knicks were put on earth as a test to humanity. Exactly how bad can bad get and if there’s a maximum of bad, where is it… and what’s after that? From not being able to surround Patrick Ewing with enough players to win a title, to blowing apart the financial state of the team with the Allan Houston contract, to finally sinking the team with horrid contracts for overrated players in a salary cap era this team has pretty much looked like one Uncle Joe Stalin’s 5 year plans.
This trade deadline brought another high priced, and high profile, move when GM Isiah Thomas worked out a deal that sent Trevor Ariza, 2 Garbage Pail kids, and the corpse of Penny Hardaway (remember when he was good?) for Orlando Magic guard Steve Francis.
(As a side note if you’re keeping score that’s Doug Christie, Trevor Ariza, and cap space for Tracy McGrady, Magic fans.)
When the deal finally got pulled off there was a media frenzy in which just about every talking head came out against the deal. In a league where diversity of skill is important why, people were wondering, did the Knicks just acquire a pg in Francis that is almost exactly like the pg they have NOW in Stephon Marbury? A guy who, if you believe Larry Brown, is almost totally un-coachable because he knowingly messes up set plays and shoots too much. Well, I’m going to explain why he made this deal, but before I do that I wanted to take Thomas’ side. Ya see after the deal came down, and with his team one of the worst in the league, Thomas was summoned by owner James Dolan to meet with he and Larry Brown to go over what is going wrong with the team and how this mess can be fixed.
Knowing Larry Brown as we all do many folks theorized that Thomas’ days were numbered as Brown has a way of throwing people and organizations under the bus when it suits him. The fact that this team is helping to destroy his legacy certainly would give him motive to want more control over the team and that means high-profile GM’s must get out of the way. However, as it turned out, everyone got chummy. Dolan decided that the brain trust that had helped a decently talented Knicks team sink to last place would remain in tact. Still the media railed on this latest trade and many Knick fans simply believe it’s time for the team to move on without Thomas.
Oh did I mention there is also a potential lawsuit stemming from Thomas allegedly sexually harassing a woman?
Anyhow, when possible I like to tweak the mainstream media for being the sycophantic jerk-offs that they are. A few people knock a trade and suddenly writers, too lazy to do research, decide they’ve found the topic of their next story or opinion. Likewise, those same people see a team in utter disarray and go after the most recent GM instead of looking at the totality of the picture.
Should Thomas get fired? I’m not going to say for sure. What I do know is that it’s time that someone stood up for him that wasn’t a 12 yr old Knick fan who just thinks he’s a good GM because he used to be a very good player. I’ll be that guy.
1- The man knows how to draft:
Tracy McGrady, Marcus Camby, Damon Stoudemire (when he won ROY) have all proven to be very good picks….especially at the pick they were chosen at. If there is one thing Thomas can do it’s spot young kids.
Taking a look at the Knicks the past 2 years there was a 2nd round STEAL in Trevor Ariza who was on his way to breakthrough before Larry Brown got a hold of him and tried to destroy his career. Thankfully he got sent to Orlando because they love getting a hold of young players who look like busts, but who might not be because their team so mismanaged them. (Say hello Darko Milicic.)
This year came Channing Frye, David Lee, and Nate Robinson. Last things first: Robinson was another steal late in the first round. No, he’ll never be a great starter, but he has the “Earl Boykins-what-in-the-hell-do-we-do-with-him game to him. Some team is gonna play him spot duty as a short short SG and he’s going to light it up.
Lee has played really well in a starting role, when he hasn’t been jerked around by Brown. Unfortunately, for him, Larry Brown only decided to play him because the team happened to be playing a game near where he lived…or grew up…or whatever and since that’s obviously the right reason to decide on a starting lineup, his time starting was short lived. He was, however, a fantastic rebounder and the kind of utility player that Shane Battier is for the Grizzlies. Another great steal late in the draft.
Finally, Channing Frye was the first of the three selections but in some ways he was the least thought of at the time. Lots of people didn’t like his upside and even more thought that Thomas would be better off trying to hit a home run like Gerald Green. As it turns out Thomas said he would have taken Frye first in the draft had he had the pick. Now while one may look at that as stupid considering Chris Paul went after the first pick, I think his point was that he liked Frye just as much as #1 Andrew Bogut, and Frye has justified the pick by becoming a leading candidate for becoming the second best player in this years daft. There is no doubt in my mind that Thomas can draft, and in a league where you can go over the cap to keep your own players, this skill should be key in any turn around for the franchise.
2-Did you SEE the Knicks roster before Thomas?
Look, nobody is going to argue that Thomas hasn’t made mistakes (double negative), but at the same time one can’t rationally argue Thomas’ incompetence until one looks at what the man had to work with in the first place….and let me tell you he had llama doodoo to work with. Charlie Ward, Othella Harrington, Shandon Anderson. Even the stars had issues. Antonio McDyess was worthless for the Knicks. Allan Houston was relied upon to be the teams best player. Mike Doleac…Frank Williams. A nightmare.
What we see now with the Knicks might be some parts that don’t fit perfectly, but part of that blame goes to Larry Brown for running a carnival of curiosity with his sub patterns. However, while some of the parts don’t fit the team has much more talent. Jamal Crawford, Steve Francis, Marbury, Q Richardson. All a GM can do when given the garbage Thomas was given was try to upgrade the assets and hope that over time you can mold a team you actually LIKE. He HAS upgraded the assets, that’s undeniable, no matter how one views how all the pieces fit. The Knicks might not be great, but they have much more talent than they had when Thomas got there.
In my view this is what separates him from all the other GM’s whom he gets lumped in with. Unlike the Babcocks’ of the world, unlike the Mitch Kupchaks’ of the world, Thomas HAS improved the talent of the team since he has taken over.
3- Thomas gets along with players.
This has helped in landing some free agents and making the Knicks a place that team maneuver to go to. It was widely reported that one of the reasons why Steve Francis didn’t end up going to the Nuggets was because he said he wouldn’t show up if he was trade there. With all the moves Thomas has made one thing the team has never had to worry about was playing pulling stunts like that.
Granted I don’t understand why. If a player was against playing for a Mickey Mouse organization then the Knicks would top the list. Whether it’s the possible endorsement dollars, or the media hype, what is clear is that players like Thomas and he has a way of getting the players he wants even if they are wanted by lots of other teams in the NBA. One can argue about the quality of some of the players Thomas WANTS, but the ability for a GM to actually get guys he has his mind set on is an underrated ability in my opinion and Isiah can do it.
4- He’s willing to take alternative routes to get around his problems.
What drives me crazy about many organizations is how often they run back to the well of old ideas when it comes to trying to get out of their problems. If they have a problem at PG they run out and grab Rick Brunson…again. If they need some bench help they find whatever schlub will take their money.
Thomas DOES all that, but what he also does is try alternative ways to get cheap talent. A good example of this was DerMarr Johnson. He came in out of nowhere because Thomas needed some help at the wing positions and he needed it cheap. Johnson took some time getting comfy, but once he got in there he played some solid ball and has stayed in the league ever since. He got caught up in a numbers game in NY and was let go, but the point here is that Thomas went outside the box and found a guy to play some quality minutes for almost no money. Johnson had been in a car accident just the year before and it looked like he might not play again. The Knicks were the first team to give him a real shot and the fact that he was even able to start a game for the club speaks to how much was left in the tank. Credit Thomas for seeing it.
Another example was this latest Francis trade. He knew it was going to be unpopular and he also knew that there was a very decent chance that this trade would blow up in his face. A million other GM’s wouldn’t touch this thing with a 10 ft pole. However, Thomas realized he was getting all-star talent for almost nothing (Brown was so sick of Ariza…and vice versa that he was having no impact on the team) and the upside of having a player like Francis far far outweighs the possible flux the team got put into. If Thomas sees talent he’s going to go get it…..be it a kid in the CBA (before the NBDL) or in a trade for “washed up” talent.
In the long run those alternative methods are going to give him a slight edge. He just has to avoid some his larger mistakes to give him a shot to stick around long enough to actually get that edge.
5- Things could be worse…..
Team owner James Dolan could do any number of insane things if Thomas were to get the boot. He might decide to go with a more “experienced” GM and hire a guy like Rob Babcock….the human NBA nightmare. This is the exact kind of moves that owners do all the time. They fire the flashy high-profile guy and they replace him with a meat-and-potatoes type who has bounced around the league from job to job and “understands the ropes”. Typically, this guy proves to be a hack who is simply the stop-gap until a real contender is found. Knicks fans would stay awake nights wondering what kind of trauma the Babber, and those like him, would inflict on the team.
“With the first pick the draft Knicks select….Rafael Araujo.”
“No, Rob you already drafted him. Remember? 2004 for the Raptors?”
“As I said: With the first pick in draft the Knicks select Rafael Araujo. What’s the problem here?”
“No, Rob he sucked remember? I’m not even sure he’s in the league. I think he sells chicken wings now or something.”
“I don’t understand your point?”
That’s what draft day could look like if Thomas got fired. Worst all could be that Thomas might parlay a Gm job INTO a coaching job. The last thing the Knicks want is Thomas at the reigns of a team he put together with some spackle and a jigsaw.
If you really evaluate any NBA general manager you’ll see some good moves and some bad ones. Obviously, with Thomas (assuming the sexual harassment case doesn’t hold up) there has been more good than bad. What I don’t understand is how every move is painted with the same brush simply because the overall team record is spotty. YES, he picked the wrong coach for his talent and he will be held accountable for that. But, the biggest moves he has made are moves that unquestionably have helped the franchise acquire talent.
The only argument I see for getting rid Thomas now would be the esteem in which many view the franchise. On the outside it’s seen as a place where players go to get insane contracts, a place where the boss handles the help, a place where agents guide their clients when they want to leverage against their “home” team. How prevalent that view is I don’t know, but I know it exists on some level and that certainly is NOT a good thing for the Knicks.
However, that isn’t the main reason most media types and fans want him gone. But to me their arguments ring fairly hollow and don’t take into account what a horrific mess he inherited. The Knicks have more talent now than before Zeke, they have more YOUNG talent now than before Zeke, it’s a place players actually want to go, and I’d be very afraid of who the organization picked if it let Thomas go. You put that all together and I don’t see a huge rush to get this guy out the door.
