Extension in spite of himself
Isiah–s coaching won deal, not his executive skills
Shaun Powell

March 13, 2007

The coach of the Knicks has a contract extension, and deservedly so. Not because he has their foot in the playoff door. Not because he awakened Stephon Marbury, the NBA's best player since the All-Star break. Not because Eddy Curry is now getting double-teamed. And not because the stench of last season - the worst by any team in any sport, all things considered - is no longer making us dizzy.

No, the coach of the Knicks did something far more remarkable to get that new deal.

Isiah Thomas the coach overcame Isiah Thomas the club president.

Coach Thomas has taken club president Thomas' players and done all right. The Knicks are competitive most nights, and when they make free throws, they even win some nights. Mostly, they've solved the toughest riddle in town, one that has perplexed everyone since the owner uttered it months ago: What exactly constitutes "significant and evident progress"?

James Dolan's definition might be milder than yours or mine, but it's the only definition that counts, and it allowed Isiah to easily save his own job. Or jobs. Dolan believes the Knicks are better in Isiah's hands than anyone else's, even though there's enough evidence that those hands have fumbled a few passes since Isiah stopped playing the game.

It helped Isiah that the coaching bar was set about as high off the ground as Curry gets for rebounds. People rave about the Knicks being six games better and counting from last season, but how could they not be? They won 23 games a year ago. Two-three. There was only one direction to go.

Morale was a mess, too, but it could only brighten. Also, we should mention the Eastern Conference in general and the Atlantic Division in particular, uh, smells. Bad. If you can't win at least 30 in the East with reasonable talent, you should get a swifter boot than Larry Brown received last season, without the golden parachute.

That said, Isiah is the best Knicks coach since Jeff Van Gundy (again, not much competition there). Nobody knows more about basketball. His rotation and substitutions make sense. The players enjoy playing for him. They respect him highly. One day, Isiah might even get them to play defense and shoot free throws, two of many things he did brilliantly as a player.

"He's a great communicator," Marbury said. "And he's a player's coach. There are no hidden agendas. Everyone understands what they're supposed to do."

Mostly, Isiah has done what Brown couldn't: Get the best from his two most important players, Marbury and Curry. Thomas challenged Marbury without disrespecting him or taking away what Marbury does best. Thomas didn't demand that Marbury play differently; he demanded that Marbury play better. As a result, Marbury is giving the kind of performance the Knicks thought they'd see three years ago when he arrived.

As for Curry, he has turned into a low-post force offensively, and not many opposing centers can stop him without help. "He finds a way to help you dig deep," Curry said. "He gets the best out of you."

No question, Isiah more than stated his case as coach. But president? Not yet. Maybe not ever.

With all the buyouts given to ex-players and Brown, whom Isiah hired, the amount of wasted millions could feed a roomful of supermodels. Big deal; it's Dolan's money and he won't miss it. But by keeping Isiah the executive, Dolan is taking a big risk here. The Knicks are capped out almost through the next presidential term because Isiah made too many amazingly bad decisions involving Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jalen Rose and Jared Jeffries, among others.

The Curry deal has worked out well for the Knicks, if only because they have a center, the toughest position to fill. But they gave up draft picks, so we don't know the final verdict yet. The single saving grace for Isiah the exec is stealing David Lee late in the first round.

"I wasn't worried about job security," he said. "I was worried about respect for myself and what I stood for and my basketball legacy. I didn't want to have a failure. That was my concern."

Most of that sterling legacy remains tied to Isiah the Hall of Fame point guard, however. As for Isiah the president, let's just say he's lucky to have Isiah the coach.

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

Posted by nixluva:

SOOOOOO let me get this straight? Is it the chicken or the egg? Which comes 1st? Is Isiah the coach showing that the players Isiah the GM brought in aren't as bad as LB said they were? LB wanted most of these guys gone. Isiah the GM brought in Curry who leads the league in points in the paint. STeph who has been the best players since the All Star break. Lee who is one of the best young rebounders in the league. Oh and the rest of the team isn't a bunch of scrubs either. So i'm a bit confused by all of this talk about how bad a GM Isiah is. Sure he has done a bad job hiring coaches, but the PLAYERS he's added aren't as bad as so many would have us think.

How about giving him some credit period. In comparison has Ainge done a good job? How about Billy Knight or all those other GM's who've been at this about as long or longer than Isiah? In all honesty, does anyone really think that aside from Detroit, all the other teams in the East are that much better than the Knicks? I think it's all too easy to bash Isiah, but if you think about it, this team is right in the mix and had they had a better start, we'd be a SOLID playoff team somewhere around .500 or more.

Posted by nixluva:


LB wanted most of these guys gone.

Posted by MS:

KAM what has he done to get fired. Costing the team perhaps close to a couple of hundred million, reduced the win total, dropped us off national tv completely, dropped season tickets 15%, negative pr, sexual harrasment lawsuit. Make two awful trade, Q and Francis, the worst two signing in the past two years Jefferies and James, and have 6 untradable people on the roster, while giving up to picks with no lottery protection. Marbury is still making 20 million by the way, and he is still paying two coaching

Al Jefferson is better than Eddy Curry right now.

AJ 15.2pts 11.5rbs 1.2ass 1.5blks 2.0tos 50% on 12shots
EC 19.3pts 7.1rbs 0.9ass 0.6blks 3.4tos 59% on 12shots

I would take him over eddy rebounding and shotblocking, and reduce to's and he is in great shape and actually has some room to grow....

Posted by MS:

KAM what has he done to get fired. Costing the team perhaps close to a couple of hundred million, reduced the win total, dropped us off national tv completely, dropped season tickets 15%, negative pr, sexual harrasment lawsuit. Make two awful trade, Q and Francis, the worst two signing in the past two years Jefferies and James, and have 6 untradable people on the roster, while giving up to picks with no lottery protection. Marbury is still making 20 million by the way, and he is still paying two coaching

Al Jefferson is better than Eddy Curry right now.

AJ 15.2pts 11.5rbs 1.2ass 1.5blks 2.0tos 50% on 12shots
EC 19.3pts 7.1rbs 0.9ass 0.6blks 3.4tos 59% on 12shots

I would take him over eddy rebounding and shotblocking, and reduce to's and he is in great shape and actually has some room to grow....

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by tkf:

Posted by MS:

KAM what has he done to get fired. Costing the team perhaps close to a couple of hundred million, reduced the win total, dropped us off national tv completely, dropped season tickets 15%, negative pr, sexual harrasment lawsuit. Make two awful trade, Q and Francis, the worst two signing in the past two years Jefferies and James, and have 6 untradable people on the roster, while giving up to picks with no lottery protection. Marbury is still making 20 million by the way, and he is still paying two coaching

Al Jefferson is better than Eddy Curry right now.

AJ 15.2pts 11.5rbs 1.2ass 1.5blks 2.0tos 50% on 12shots
EC 19.3pts 7.1rbs 0.9ass 0.6blks 3.4tos 59% on 12shots

I would take him over eddy rebounding and shotblocking, and reduce to's and he is in great shape and actually has some room to grow....

what is this, a comedy show audition?

come on....

STATS DON'T LIE

NEITHER DO THEY TELL THE COMPLETE STORY...


Steve nash 18/11/3

Arenas 28/5/6


Arenas is younger than nash by 8 years almost, and still has room to grow, therefore Arenas is much better..

Numbers don't lie... right?

Posted by BlueSeats:

Arenas is a better SG, but not a better PG, as reflected in the stats.

If one's team needed the better scorer one probably would take Arenas.

Similarly, if ones team needed a better rebounder and protector in the paint, with lower TOs they probably would want Jefferson. Why not? And on top of everything else he's fitter and without a heart condition.

Posted by eViL:

Posted by TMS:

Lenny was a lame duck... he had to go cuz Marbury wasn't going anywhere, that much was clear.

The point about Lenny is that if he can go 40-41 over 81 games and get fired -- how can Isiah go 114-173 and still have a job?