By MARC BERMAN

April 18, 2008 --
The Knicks will finally make it official with Isiah Thomas during a 5 p.m. conference call tonight with Donnie Walsh.

Thomas will be out as head coach and will be reassigned to another position, according to a team source.

Mark Jackson has emerged as the top candidate to replace Thomas, who was 33-49 and 23-59 in two seasons as coach. Thomas lost his team presidency 2-½ weeks ago when Walsh was hired, but was adamant about remaining in the organization.

Jackson quit his job with the YES Network on Wednesday night, but told The Post it was unrelated to the Knicks' job.
Walsh indicated his interest in Jackson before Wednesday's season finale in Indianapolis, saying he knew he would always make a good coach. Walsh tried to interview Jackson for the Pacers last year, but Larry Bird was opposed.

Knicks players all seemed resigned that Thomas would not return to the bench next season.

"I feel bad, I take things personally, like maybe I could've done more," Jamal Crawford said. "I don't think he should get all the criticism because you can only do so much as coach. I feel bad. I take it personally."
The Thomas coaching era ended Wednesday night in Indiana, a fitting, high-scoring affair, a 132-123 loss to the Pacers.
That gave the Knicks the same stinking record - 23-59 - Larry Brown finished with two seasons ago. Thomas fell to 56-108 overall as coach.
Walsh also is zeroing in on a potential GM.

A source said Billy King, who lost out on the Bucks job, interviewed with Walsh earlier this week.
Another possibility is former Bucks GM Larry Harris, according to a team source.

Who knows what Walsh has in store for Thomas, who repeated he's up for anything. He could work with players or serve as a scout.
"I've always been in team sports," Thomas said. "I've never been a person that had to be the star or had to score all the points. I look at this as Donnie is a great acquisition coming to our team. Whatever role he assigns for us, if he needs me to rebound, pass, whatever we need to do to get things turned around and over in the right direction, his vision is one for us to execute."

Posted by crzymdups:

pathetic.

Posted by crzymdups:

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by crzymdups:

pathetic.

1050espn has reported this also.

the pathetic part? i hope so.

Posted by PresIke:

Is there room for discussion on this here? I know some are VERY upset (not even saying I'm not), and I'm not invalidating that feeling, but it also isn't necessarily fair to suggest that anyone who doesn't agree with that is is either Isiah 100% out or nothing is crazy or wrong.

Personally, this is what I expected from the get go, and think that it doesn't necessarily have to be as bad for the future of the team as folks are making it out to be. I'm quite sure there are those that will disagree, but some are making some grand leaps in assumptions here that we have ZERO insight into the goings on behind the scenes.

The reality is that Dolan is paying Isiah a lot of money. Is their relationship part of the deal? Sure could be, and wouldn't surprise me at all.

Simply because Walsh retains Isiah does not mean nothing will change. Did the term "cap flexibility" mean anything? What about all of the praise for other things we felt about Walsh before? Isiah is no longer the Coach, and Walsh is the President of Operations. Isiah may have a say in something for the team but he isn't the final decider.

To me, that's been the BIGGER problem and that he was coach.

I'm sure I'll be labeled and yelled at by folks, but sorry, I am not as stark raving mad as others.

Isiah is not in charge, and that's the bottom line for me.

ISIAH'S ON WAY OUT, BUT STEPH MAY STAY
By MARC BERMAN

New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, (left) talks with player Stephon Marbury.

April 18, 2008 -- In his first meeting with new Knicks president Donnie Walsh, Stephon Marbury got no indication he's being shown the same exit door as Isiah Thomas, who will be removed officially as head coach in an announcement that could come today.

Yesterday, Walsh and Thomas were busy meeting with players separately in exit interviews at the team's Westchester facility. Thomas is expected to be retained in some capacity, of which specifics are still being discussed. Hence, the delay.

Walsh is looking for a new coach, a GM-type - he already has talked to former Sixers GM Billy King - and a director of college scouting. Thomas conceivably could be put in charge of college scouting, one of his strengths. Walsh said Thomas' good attributes have been "overshadowed," referring to the organized scouting department he assembled.

"It's been a whirlwind, kind of like running around like a chicken with your head cut off," Walsh said.

Walsh's biggest roster decision is what to do with Marbury, the starting point guard who played 24 games this season. Walsh was under the impression Marbury's November feud with Thomas and walkout in Phoenix undermined the season. Walsh wanted to get more information on the incident. The Post has reported Thomas told Marbury to go home.

According to a source familiar with the meeting between Walsh and Marbury, Walsh told the rehabbing Marbury, 31, he wants him to work extra hard this summer to come back next season as the starting point guard.

"He told Stephon he wants him back at the same high level he knows he's capable of," the source said. "It was positive."

Walsh is not in position to talk buyout yet, until he finds Marbury's successor. There is no other true point guard on the roster. Marbury, who had ankle surgery in January, plans on playing in pro-am tournaments this summer for the first time in years.

If the Knicks' next coach is Mark Jackson, he also will have a say in Marbury's future. The former all-time assists leader might take an extra challenge in molding Marbury into his type of point guard. Plus, they are both born-again Christians.

Jackson quit his job with the YES Network on Wednesday night, but told The Post it was unrelated to the Knicks' job.

Walsh indicated his interest in Jackson before Wednesday's season finale in Indianapolis, saying he knew he would always make a good coach. Walsh tried to interview Jackson for the Pacers last year, but Larry Bird was opposed.

The players all seemed resigned that Thomas would not return to the bench next season.

"I feel bad, I take things personally, like maybe I could've done more," Jamal Crawford said. "I don't think he should get all the criticism because you can only do so much as coach. I feel bad. I take it personally."

Walsh's other chief aim in the offseason is strengthening the team's interior defense, which means trading either Eddy Curry or Zach Randolph, both poor defenders and shot-blockers.

Indiana's oft-injured Jermaine O'Neal could be a short-term solution for Walsh, who wants to be playoff-caliber even during the two seasons he looks to clear cap space for the free-agent crop of 2010. O'Neal's contract expires in 2010 and the cost-cutting Pacers could be willing to take Marbury's expiring contract plus a young player, such as Wilson Chandler, to save money.

Walsh did not use injuries as an excuse for the club's 23-59 record, which tied the high for most franchise losses. In Thomas' four full seasons running the Knicks, they went 33-49, 23-59, 33-49 and 23-59.
The Knicks probably won't re-sign free agents Fred Jones or center Randolph Morris. Walsh's chances of signing a mid-level free agent point guard will be tempered because he doesn't want to shell out more than a two-year deal.

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by PresIke:

Is there room for discussion on this here? I know some are VERY upset (not even saying I'm not), and I'm not invalidating that feeling, but it also isn't necessarily fair to suggest that anyone who doesn't agree with that is is either Isiah 100% out or nothing is crazy or wrong.

Personally, this is what I expected from the get go, and think that it doesn't necessarily have to be as bad for the future of the team as folks are making it out to be. I'm quite sure there are those that will disagree, but some are making some grand leaps in assumptions here that we have ZERO insight into the goings on behind the scenes.

The reality is that Dolan is paying Isiah a lot of money. Is their relationship part of the deal? Sure could be, and wouldn't surprise me at all.

Simply because Walsh retains Isiah does not mean nothing will change. Did the term "cap flexibility" mean anything? What about all of the praise for other things we felt about Walsh before? Isiah is no longer the Coach, and Walsh is the President of Operations. Isiah may have a say in something for the team but he isn't the final decider.

To me, that's been the BIGGER problem and that he was coach.

I'm sure I'll be labeled and yelled at by folks, but sorry, I am not as stark raving mad as others.

Isiah is not in charge, and that's the bottom line for me.

It's like defending the doctor who left a little bit of the malignant tumor behind in the cancer operation.

And the scalpel.

Posted by TrueBlue:

Is this too farfetched in that DW gets us back to respectability then I SAY UGH takes over again... down the road?