Larry Brown to Coach Bobcats

It warms my heart to see Larry Brown back in coaching again. After being thrown out of town by Isiah ("revenge is a dish best served cold") and Dummy Dolan it's great that LB will get a chance to reclaim his coaching legacy.

Brown, who was inducted into the BBHOF in 2002 is only 1 of 5 coaches with more than 1,000 wins (LB has 1,010). Four of the Five (Lenny Wilkins - 1,332 wins; Don Nelson - 1,280, Pat Riley - 1,210 and Brown) have coached the Knicks since 1991. And Isiah fired 2 of them (Wilkins and Brown) in his tumultuous tenure. Only Jerry Sloan (1,089 wins) has not coached the Knicks,

Rays of Hope at the Garden

I am probably the 1,376,498th person to write about Donnie Walsh taking over Basketball Operations for the Knicks. Surprisingly, it looks like Walsh was able to negotiate all the things that I thought were critical for success, but that I never thought Crazy Jimmy would ever agree to. So perhaps there is some light at the end of the tunnel for Knick fans. Yet the team is still fatally flawed with a mix of expensive, non-complimentary players. But the truth is that unless Isiah becomes the GM of another team, I have no idea how Walsh will be able to trade some of the terrible contracts to completely restructure the team.

But the most surprising thing of all was my reaction. Virtually nobody wished that Isiah would be fired more than me. For god sakes, the whole Isiah-Dolan regime created such a poisonous, life-sucking (not to mention team sucking) atmosphere, that I not only dropped my lifelong allegiance to the team out of protest, but I actively rooted for them to fail. Oh how I relished the Isiah death watch that started in November, enjoying each day that Isiah twisted in the wind and "Fire Isiah" chants fell from the rafters at the Garden. Good times.

But now that it seems Isiah's fate is sealed, watching his interview on ESPN after the hiring of Walsh was made official, I actually felt bad for the guy. To the very end he's toeing the company line and staying positive in his public statements (see video below). The trademark Isiah smile is still there, but you can see the resignation in his eyes.



Perhaps now he knows what it felt like to be Larry Brown for those 40 days and 40 nights.

Don't get me wrong. He can't be fired fast enough, but I'm not dancing on his grave like I thought I'd be.

Isiah's Anniversary

There are plenty of articles out there talking about the recent passing of the one year anniversary of Isiah Thomas' 4 year contract extension with the Knicks. In one of the articles by Alan Hahn in Newsday, it noted that the Knicks are 23-61 since the extension. That's actually 2 games worse than the Knicks' record under Larry Brown for which he was fired. Evident progress? Methinks not.

The "Fire Isiah" watch continues, but nothing will change as long as "Crazy Jimmy" Dolan is still running the circus...including Isiah's tenure.

Knicks Lose Again

I think I'm going to have to start getting creative with these headlines. This is going to happen a lot. Tonight the Knicks were clobbered by at home by 26 points by the visiting Golden State Warriors. Marbury started and was torched by Baron Davis. But this is one case where you can't blame Stephon. When Davis is on, he's unstoppable. Just ask the Mavericks.

But the best part is this report on the game from the AP:

Marbury scored 18 points, but the Knicks were never in the game in the second half and were booed often over the final three quarters. So was coach Isiah Thomas, who saw no results from his decision to demote Marbury last week and heard "Fire Isiah!" cries on a few occasions during the game.

I'm positively giddy. Isiah will never get fired, but you can dream :)

On a related note, I listed to "The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons" podcast today which featured a great interview with Gus Johnson, announcer for the Knicks. It was funny and bizarre at the same time. I'm going to have to listen to this one again, because I can swear that Gus supported both Isiah and Steph. The Kool-Aid must really be flowing in the Garden. I can understand that Isiah was one of the greatest point guards of all time, but why people try to give his absolutely horrific post-playing career a pass because of it is beyond me. The guy just isn't cut out to do much else than sign autographs at card shows. The only thing that made me realize that there is still hope for Gus is that he was extremely honest saying that the Knicks have no chemistry and that Marbury is cannot the leader for this team.

Marbury Starting Again for Knicks

The truth is truly stranger than fiction. Stephon Marbury, the player that the ENTIRE TEAM voted to suspend after abandoning it in Phoenix, is back in the starting lineup after 3 games. Boy, the dirt he must have on Isiah. Does anyone think this will turn around a 2-7 team? The whole thing is almost comical -- check that -- it's fall down laughing funny, especially if you're rooting for the team's demise as I am. I trust the only person laughing louder than me is Larry Brown.

Marbury Keeps it Interesting

Well maybe Marbury will be playing in Italy sooner than we all thought. After yesterday's startling news (how can we really be started by anything this knucklehead does anymore), that Stephon Marbury...Isiah's Boy...left the Knicks during their roadtrip, the clock on both his and Isiah's career starting ticking ever louder.

There were news reports beginning with the New York Daily News that Marbury was done as a Knick. That was followed by a great article by Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojarnowski that if Marbury goes, Isiah would be soon to follow. Unfortunately for Knick fans, somehow Dummy Dolan gets to stay no matter how this plays out. I even read an article today that said that Steph and Isiah came to blows on the flight out to Phoenix (a YouTube moment for sure if someone has the video).

But today it seems as if Marbury returned to the team, albeit $180K lighter, and is playing tonight versus the Clips. But wouldn't you know it, the Knicks, even with Z-Bo and Steph back on the court lost to the Elton Brand-less Clips and dropped to 2-5. What a shame.

They sure do keep it interesting at the Garden.

Isiah and MSG Found Liable for Sexual Harrassment

"Yes, and it counts!". That was my initial reaction to hearing the news that Isiah, Dolan and the rest of the Keystone Kops that inhabit the "World's Most Repugnant Arena". And yes, I danced a little jig in the hotel room as the news went across the scroll on ESPN.

There have been probably millions of words written about the trial and the result. Some of my favorite articles have been written by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, columnists Shaun Powell, Johnette Howard and Jim Baumbach of Newsday, Mike Vacarro of the New York Post, ESPN's Bill Simmons and countless others.

But of course I have to get my 2 cents in. I guess I see a few different angles outside the ordinary:
* Tawny Thomas' -- Isiah and Clarence: The irony is almost inconceivable. Could it have been timed any better than this? In the same week that Isiah, Dolan and just about everybody at MSG tries to sully the reputation of an up-and-coming black female in a sexual harassment suit, that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas releases his book 'My Grandfather’s Son' in which he recounts his clashes with, Anita Hill, the clerk that accused Clarence of sexual harrassment. Both in during the confirmation hearings, and again in the book, Clarence tries to disparage and defame the reputation of the woman making the charges against him. The same tactic that Isiah and the MSG execs used. The only difference in the two stories is that Isiah was found liable. Clarence Thomas is only a liability for the nation.

* Isiah and Imus: Where's the Outrage Now? So now what. In the aftermath, it appears that Isiah, Dolan or the Knicks will walk away nary a scratch (excepting the $11.6M that MSG and Dolan must cough up -- but who's kidding who, that doesn't affect the Knicks one bit). No suspensions, no lost draft picks, nothing that impacts the franchise. Personally I think that David Stern, the Commissioner of the NBA, missed an opportunity. He has hit players far worse for far less. But what's worse in my opinion is that the people who have the real power, the advertisers, have not weighed in at all. When Don Imus called the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team "a bunch of nappy headed ho's", Imus was widely derided, abandoned and in short order lost his job. Why did that happen, because the advertisers who supported his show for decades withdrew their support immediately. I am in no way advocating or defending Imus' conduct (although for full disclosure I was a long time listener and found Imus funny), what he did was nothing compared to what Isiah did. Imus called them names. Isiah SEXUALLY HARASSED Ms. Browne-Sanders and MSG enabled the environment and further fired Ms. Browne-Sanders in retribution. Where is the outrage from the advertisers now? Jimmy Dolan is an idiot, but even he, or perhaps his father Charles who owns Cablevision, might do something if all of their advertisers withdrew their support. So again I say, where's the outrage now?

On a related note, another show I listen to diligently is ESPN's Pardon the Interruption (PTI), hosted by renowned Washington Post columnists Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. I love these guys, but in their October 2 episode they talked about the Isiah trial result. Both found Isiah's actions repugnant, but felt that he should still be allowed to coach the Knicks (which perhaps they felt was punishment enough). But moments after that segment, during the "Big Finish", Mr. Kornheiser mentioned that Don Imus was reportedly being given a new radio show and asked Mr. Wilbon whether he thought that was OK. Mr. Wilbon answered "no, not really". That was stunning to me. Wilbon had not even initially thought that Imus should have lost his job when the Rutgers incident occurred. But now he thought it was OK for Isiah to keep coaching while Imus shouldn't be given another chance after being out of work for 6 months? I was stunned and disappointed. I mean not only did Isiah SEXUALLY HARASS the person in this case, but he also used the term "black bitch" while referring Ms. Browne-Sanders and further stated in video testimony that it was OK for black males to use this phrase, but not for white males. How is Imus' actions worse than Isiah's, on any level? I don't know why Mr. Wilbon took this position. I don't think it was a "black solidarity thing". Perhaps it is simply a case of being too close to his sources, having known Isiah for many years as he covered the NBA. But certainly, Mr. Wilbon has fallen a few pegs in my book.

Finally, just yesterday I realized that the apocalypse is nearly upon us. Yes, it appears that Rev. Al Sharpton is the voice of reason. Clearly the end of times is upon us. But Rev. Sharpton is the only person calling on Isiah to recant his statements about the appropriateness of calling black females "Bitches". And suprisingly, has called for picketing MSG unless Isiah does so. Amazing.

Nate Robinson Maturing? Nah.

I'm convinced that no one at Newsday knows anything about the NBA. In today's article in Newsday Alan Hahn writes that Nate seems to be growing up. The evidence -- he passed the ball in a practice instead of going 1-on-5 against the defense. Wow. That's impressive. Let's just crown him the next John Stockton. But this may in fact be great progress for someone who is being pushed for the backup PG spot by the great [please read with all of the sarcasm that was intended] Mardy Collins. Just not someone who will ever be a starter in the league. At least however, Hahn says he remains skeptical about Robinson's ability to "shed his class-clown personality". But was this article worth writing at all? About a guy who is in double-digits, not in any statistical category, but on the depth chart?

I am starting to think that Cablevision secretly bought Newsday though. How else could articles like this, or the drivel written by Ken Berger, be published unless it was part of James Dolan's media empire? Next case in point is that in the same article Hahn suggests that Nate Robinson's progress was hurt by Steve Francis' presence on the team. Nice to throw a former player under the bus. Does no one think that the example set by Marbury undermining Coach Brown's authority or Isiah's directive to a bunch of scrubs to be thugs (against the Nuggets) or his unwanted smooching of an employee helps set the tone for Robinson's bad behavior? Not at Newsday at least.

But the final insult of my intelligence was Hahn's asking "Is he the point guard of the future? Or with the emergence of Mardy Collins, is he merely a trade asset to be used to acquire an established veteran such as Ron Artest?". Nate a "trade chip" to get Artest? Zach Randolph is a trade chip. David Lee is a trade chip. Next year's #1 is a trade chip. Nate is a "throw in".