Help wanted in Isiah's office
BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

The decision to replace Larry Brown on the bench with Isiah Thomas could lead to more changes in the Knicks' front office.

With Thomas taking on a dual role as president/head coach and his top lieutenant, Brendan Suhr, joining him on the sidelines, Thomas is considering hiring a basketball executive to help run the day-to-day operation.

According to sources, former Toronto Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald has emerged as the leading candidate to move into the team's offices at 2Penn Plaza. Grunwald makes the most sense for Thomas because he has experience and he is someone Thomas can trust. Long-time scout Jeff Nix also is being considered.

Thomas' relationship with Grunwald began 25 years ago when they were college teammates at Indiana. When Thomas was put in charge of the expansion Raptors, Grunwald was one of his first hires. Even after Thomas was ousted, Grunwald remained with the club and was the Raptors' GM from March 1998 until April 2004. Grunwald was so committed to the job, and so enjoyed living in Toronto, that he obtained Canadian citizenship in 1999.

Although Thomas will have final say on personnel decisions, he will need a point man to do most of the legwork. Miami's Pat Riley and San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, two coaches who also have front office responsibilities, have a similar arrangement with their respective teams.

Suhr would have been the obvious choice to run the front office but Suhr also will have two roles as assistant coach and director of player personnel. Herb Williams, Mark Aguirre, George Glymph, Dave Hanners and Phil Ford make up the rest of the coaching staff.

Hanners and Ford were both Brown hires, and although Thomas has a good working relationship with those coaches, the main reason Hanners and Ford survived is because they have three years remaining on their contracts. That gives the Knicks six assistant coaches, not including Greg Brittenham, the strength and conditioning coach.

That number does not bode well for Patrick Ewing, who has been rumored to be rejoining the team for the past two years. Ewing recently resigned from the Houston Rockets in order to spend more time with his family on the East Coast.

Throughout last season, Brown said he was interested in hiring Ewing. A source close to Thomas said that Thomas would consider Ewing for a coaching position if and when a job becomes available.

Thomas and Ewing are not close friends but the two legendary players always have been cordial to one another. Both Thomas and Ewing are regarded as the greatest players in the history of the Pistons and Knicks, respectively, and yet they have had no ties to their old organizations since retirement. Thomas has worked for the Pacers, Raptors and Knicks while Ewing was an assistant coach with Washington and Houston. He turned down an offer to join the Nets before last season.

Oh God. Now Isiah will hire someone to run the day to day operations. The fact that Isiah gets to hire anyone is scary and whats even scarier is that when Isiah is fired that Dolan will promote whoever Isiah hires to GM. I swear to God this team is so ass backwards, it's ridiculous.

he got us a young Sprewell for an old Starks and a young Camby for an old Oakley btw... B4 u bash him!

Posted by Elite:

he got us a young Sprewell for an old Starks and a young Camby for an old Oakley btw... B4 u bash him!

Glen Grunwald of the fabulous Raptors not Ernie Grunfeld

GrunLayden!

Posted by TheGame:

This is a good idea. IT needs to focus most of his attention on coaching. Let someone else handle the day-to-day issues and field the trade offers. I doubt whoever IT hires will be a lock to stay if IT is fired after the season. Thus, I don't see much downside to this and trust that IT will hire someone competent.

Exactly! But the kneejerk reaction from the Isiah haters around here can't seem to admit that he's at least thinking logically about what needs to be done.

ultimateKnicks.com posters:


It's how it's gonna be until the season starts and the knicks are over .500, however, I honestly believe that the hating will never let up.

It's not about the knicks, currently, they can hate cause the knicks only have 23 wins.

Once the knicks start winning, they won't stop hating, they will stop posting.

Think about the winning streak and how many islefat posts there were.

Hating? We poking fun at Isiah!

he hired a good dude. Who are we to say its a good Idea and what the job description is?

Who cares.

The team management is a lying circus comedy of errors!

either we laugh it off, or beat it to death!

GrunLayden, yeah, Im laughing!

Hiring a GM makes sense. Hiring someone thats got Isiahs back it smart by him. Question is when it comes to knick loyaty or Isiah loyalty GrunLayden gonna seek the Zeke.

Spin or Win!