Instead of standing in the tunnel he should have been on the phone trying to hire another coach.

Then you would have killed him for coming in and canning Chaney without giving him a chance.

chaney is a awful coach that helped destroy this team. this whinin' little beeyaaatch is gettin off easy. he should be tarred and feathered and run outta town.

Posted by jhferry:

Instead of standing in the tunnel he should have been on the phone trying to hire another coach.

Then you would have killed him for coming in and canning Chaney without giving him a chance.

Wait a minute, he made the quick trades, but he dragged his feet on Chaney why is that if his mandate to make the playoffs. What happen to his bird in the hand Brendan Malone.

good post ferry. everyone was all but throwing toilet paper & lighting matches for us to get rid of chaney, now some people are flipping thier script. just because one gets fired does'nt say anything about you as a person. i've always said, never feel sorry for a millionaire. he can always get a job w/the suns.(thier dumping thier season anyway.)

It could have been handled better, but the serial contract extensions should ease the pain. The problem is that Dolan allowed Layden to make such a mess of the franchise, that it requires some ugliness to get out from under it.

Posted by masterjedidarkcaster:

AH, the tide is turning fellas, the tide is turning...soon we will get the big man we need and then its ALL OVER.

Whassup Jedi! The force is definitely with us NOW!

We got one of the Knights of the Old Republic as our new head coach!

Posted by Silverfuel:

HCore: You are really confident about this guy man. I'm not that sure. I know he is an upgrade but I dont think he can bring us a ring. If he does, he will never have to pay @ restaurants ever again in the City.

Lenny Wilkens has been coaching for 30 years. He brings alot of "pros" to the table. He brings with him a wealth of basketball knowledge. He's like a human Basketball Encyclopedia. As for his "cons", Isiah will do all he can, behind the scenes, to make sure Lenny doesn't fall. Same goes for Herb Williams, Mike Malone and Mark Aguirre (who is going to be an assistant too). IMO that group will see to it that the Knicks improve in every aspect of the game.

After his run in (or run out of) Toronto, Lenny has something to prove. Isiah does too. They make a good combination. Lenny's broad knowledge as both a player and coach, and Zeke's refusal to accept anything less than 110% from players and coaches alike- and they BOTH know how it is to win it all.

When was the last time we've had this amount of Basketball knowledge anywhere near the Knicks?

Better yet, when was the last time we had a Prez/GM and Head Coach that both have rings?

That's why I am so confident in Lenny Wilkins. He and Zeke are like Yoda and Luke.

[Edited by - HARDCOREKNICKSFAN on 01/15/2004 08:17:19]

What's with all of this talk about respect? What a bunch of nitpickers the NY media has become.

Firing someone is lack of respect, plain and simple... the one thing Thomas could have done differently is simply said no comment during the Letterman interview. No comment would have been just as effective as saying "we're currently evaluating the team as a whole..."

Which in essence is the same as saying, "we're actively pursuing other candidates."

The Knicks didn't release the information on Fratello. In fact, they didn't even hire Fratello, so if you want someone to blame, find out the guy who leaked the story to the media in the first place.

Granted, it would have been nice if Thomas could have called up Chaney at home the night before, but the deal wasn't done yet.

It's a business. Deal with it. It's always unpleasant being let go. BUT ALAS... as I read in one article, don't feel too bad for Chaney--- he pockets $5 million for walking out the door.

And Chaney's gone.

http://www.nypost.com/sports/knicks/15858.htm

MIKE: STORY 'A TOTAL LIE'

Peter Vecsey

January 16, 2004 -- MIKE FRATELLO has had better days.
Even in defeat.

Losing to the Celtics in Game 7 of the '88 playoffs, or getting swept by the Knicks in the first round of '96, or being fired after the '99 season may not have been as depressing as the last two days.

In rapid sequence, Fratello got beaten out for the Knicks head coaching job by Lenny Wilkens then got beat up badly by the New York media, especially the Daily News.

Instead of being repentant for wrongfully proclaiming Fratello as Don Chaney's successor, the News excused its writers' misinformation by accusing Fratello of being accountable for negotiations breaking down with Isiah Thomas "because New York was not willing to give Fratello a 3-year contract."

Meanwhile, Wilkens, 66, 10 years older than Fratello, got three years guaranteed with a team option for a fourth.

The New York Times advanced that inaccuracy, stating that an Eastern Conference official said Fratello made exorbitant contract demands, both in control over player-personnel decisions and in salary. In addition, the Times speculated, "It is believed that he demanded more than the $5 million he was to have made in his last season in Cleveland."

Fratello's response: "What a great statement! How stupid! Yeah, right, before I even get the job I have a problem with my boss. Un-bleepin' real!"

According to a News source, "In the end, Mike didn't want to work for Isiah because he knows that Isiah is eventually going to take over as head coach."

Fratello's mood fluctuated between outrage and despair throughout a phone conversation yesterday.

"Why would they make up such stuff?" Fratello fumed from his Marriott hotel room in Salt Lake City, where he was broadcasting last night's Miami-Utah game. "Why would someone do such a thing?

"Everything they've written is a total lie. I told [News beat writer] Frank Isola not to go with the story when he called me in Sacramento. I told him I didn't have the job, as far as I knew. I told him I didn't want him to be wrong, but he went with it anyway.

"Then they come back the next day and say I killed it. What a crock of [bleep]!" Fratello said. "There never were any negotiations.

"We never talked about a penny, a day, or responsibility.

"I went to sleep that night thinking I was still in the race and woke up with 38 cell-phone messages [on two phones] of congratulations, or anger than I hadn't confided in my kids and parents."

Even after confronting Daily News NBA columnist Mitch Lawrence via phone yesterday, Fratello still couldn't figure out why the paper went with the story authored by Lawrence. Or why Fratello wasn't quoted saying what he told Isola instead of being quoted as saying, "No comment."

"Lawrence apologized," Fratello said. "He told me maybe he should have made the call himself. That something might have been lost in translation. I had told Isola not to write something wrong about me.

"It's been hard enough to fight perceptions about my alleged style of coaching. All people talk about is the Cavs' 60-point games, but no one even mentions the 108-point games in Atlanta. You play differently to fit your talent. The year we got swept by the Knicks we started out 0-7 trying to run and switched gears when it was obvious we couldn't compete that way. We wound up winning 47 games and finishing in fourth place in the East, a slot ahead of the Knicks.

"I've had to live with this for five years and now, for this to happen? It's brutally unfair. I'm getting killed on talk radio and in the papers because of the way I coach! Because I allegedly held out for more years and didn't want to work for Isiah! It's not right."

Fratello was asked if the Knicks' head coaching job was ever offered to him? "No. We talked about it. That's all. Isiah called me 10 minutes before the press conference and told me they were hiring Lenny. I started to ask him about his decision and he said, 'We'll talk when we can talk face to face.' Until we have that opportunity I'm going to leave it at that.

"Believe me, these are two days you wouldn't want to deal with. I can't tell you how disappointed I am."