Breaking News: Accoring to Isola, Knicks to introduce Walsh as President....
| Author | Thread |
| AUTOADVERT |
|
BRIGGS
Posts: 53275 Alba Posts: 7 Joined: 7/30/2002 Member: #303 |
4/2/2008 12:48 AM
Doesnt mean sht. Isiah is still the boss here.
RIP Crushalot😞
|
|
Bonn1997
Posts: 58654 Alba Posts: 2 Joined: 2/2/2004 Member: #581 USA |
4/2/2008 3:07 AM
Maybe Isiah is still going to be GM too (just not President).
|
|
Ira
Posts: 24692 Alba Posts: 0 Joined: 8/14/2001 Member: #91 |
4/2/2008 6:02 AM
My guess is that they keep Isaiah as coach until the off-season and make the change then.
|
|
Silverfuel
Posts: 31750 Alba Posts: 3 Joined: 6/27/2002 Member: #268 USA |
4/2/2008 6:06 AM
Good effing news at last!
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
|
|
Marv
Posts: 35540 Alba Posts: 69 Joined: 9/2/2002 Member: #315 |
4/2/2008 6:14 AM
Walsh Will Take Control of Knicks
By HOWARD BECK Published: April 2, 2008 Donnie Walsh, who has been quietly negotiating with Madison Square Garden officials for at least two weeks, will be introduced Wednesday as the Knicks’ president of basketball operations. The team has scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks did not specify what Walsh’s title would be, but according to a person with knowledge of the deal, he will become their president of basketball operations and will receive what is believed to be a four-year deal. It is not clear what Walsh’s arrival means for Isiah Thomas, the Knicks’ coach and president, who has been running the team since December 2003. As president of the Indiana Pacers, Walsh gave Thomas his first coaching job and is known to still be friendly with him. The Knicks play at Memphis on Wednesday night. Walsh will report directly to James L. Dolan, the Garden chairman, rather than Steve Mills, the Garden president. (Thomas reported to Mills, who recommended him for the job in 2003.) The person who gave the details was not authorized to speak about the deal since it had not yet been announced. In a major concession, Dolan also granted Walsh the authority to rewrite the Garden’s highly restrictive policies on speaking with the news media. Walsh who long styled himself as an accessible, media-friendly executive, insisted on retaining that freedom before accepting the job, the person said. The Garden has generally disallowed any employee — from team executives to coaches, players and staff members — from speaking to reporters without permission or, often, without a public-relations person present. A number of people with ties to Walsh have said they can see him retaining Thomas in some capacity, however the person with knowledge of the deal said that Thomas’s fate had yet to be decided. Dolan has been fiercely loyal to Thomas and, having granted him a contract extension only a year ago, may want him to remain. The 67-year-old Walsh is widely regarded as one of the top executives in the N.B.A., having guided the Pacers to six Eastern Conference finals appearances and four Central Division titles since 1986. The Pacers made their only trip to the N.B.A. finals in 2000, losing to the Los Angeles Lakers. After more than two decades as the Pacers’ top basketball executive, Walsh announced on March 24 that he would leave the team at the end of the season and turn over operations to Larry Bird, the team president. The Knicks are a natural fit for Walsh, a native of the Bronx who has long felt a personal connection to the team. An accomplished architect of elite teams, Walsh will have a major task ahead of him. The Knicks have been over the salary cap for more than a decade, and the roster is packed with overpaid, underachieving players. They are on pace for 60 losses, which would be a team record, and will soon complete their seventh straight losing season. Thomas shoulders much, if not all, of the responsibility for their current ill state of affairs. He has acquired every player on the roster. Knicks officials made the Walsh announcement at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, less than an hour after the Knicks lost to the Bucks, 119-115, in overtime. The word came after the Knicks had left the arena and long after Thomas had spoken to the news media. In his postgame news conference, Thomas was, as usual, oddly optimistic. “I look back and I look at what we started with and where we’re going, and I think we have a very bright future,” he said. With the accomplished Walsh about to take the reins, that oft-repeated sentiment may actually become reality. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/sports/basketball/02walsh.html?hp [Edited by - marv on 04-02-2008 06:15 AM] |
Breaking News: Accoring to Isola, Knicks to introduce Walsh as President....