perfect segue......here's a survey from the backpage of the post on dolan's 10 dumbest moves. i posted the results below as well to give an indication of what people think.....funny to see that the rehiring of isaiah ranks #1....
VOTE: Dolan's dumbest moves
12:41 PM, August 9, 2010 ι By JUSTIN TERRANOVA
Knicks fans were dumbfounded when word of Isiah Thomas’ hiring reached them.
At first I was shocked, too. But after thinking it over, it really shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise.
In the past month, the Knicks dispatched Thomas to talk to LeBron James in a hail-mary attempt to land the superstar, which shockingly failed. Thomas also was thanked at the press conference introducing Amar’e Stoudemire.
But above all else, when you have an owner as clueless and arrogant as James Dolan, nothing can come as a surprise. Not for Knicks fans nor Rangers fans, who have watched their teams run into the ground over the last decade.
Dolan’s level of involvement varies with different items, but his fingerprints are on each one:
10. Banishing Marv Albert – Albert was allowed back to the Knicks after the sexual biting incident that marred an otherwise sterling career. But when he bashed the awful Knicks on-air in 2004, he was let go. Albert was a voice of better times with the Knicks and deserved to be recognized as such. Instead, the franchise ignores him and allows him to work for the Nets in the same town.
9. Hiring Bryan Trottier to be Rangers coach — Why stop at insulting your own fan base when you can take down two at the same time? Dolan and GM Glen Sather hired the former Islanders great to coach the Rangers before the start of the 2002 season. Islanders fans considered Trottier a traitor, Rangers fans simply called him a failure. After 54 games, Trottier was canned with a 21-26-7 record.
8. Hiring Isiah Thomas — This is the first, but not the last, Thomas mention in this list. The Knicks needed to rid themselves of Scott Layden and they hired Thomas despite his failings as an executive following a Hall of Fame career as a player. Thomas had a non-descript run in the Raptors front office, then helped run the CBA into the ground and started the downfall of the early 2000s Pacers. Still, after being hired in December 2003, Thomas aggressively acquired Stephon Marbury and the Knicks made the playoffs -- not a bad start.
7. Larry Brown debacle — Brown is not blameless, but he's enjoyed success at almost every coaching stop he’s made. Well, almost every one. Brown signed a five-year contract reportedly in the $50-$60 million range with the Knicks before the 2005 season. But the Knicks went 23-59 and Brown publicly clashed with Marbury. The Knicks apparently chose the me-first point guard over the Hall of Fame coach and bought out Brown’s contract. Of course, this came only after weeks of uncertainty over Brown’s future. Brown’s "dream job"
turned out to be another Knicks’ nightmare. The Knicks would then add to Thomas’ job by making him head coach.
6. Rangers’ awful spending — Though Sather certainly deserves his fair share of the blame on these, Dolan had a say in the signings of Wade Redden, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Eric Lindros and Pavel Bure. All were big-money busts on Broadway.
5. Not immediately settling the Anucha Browne Sanders case — I imagine the conversation went something like this:
Dolan: Hey, Isiah maybe we should just settle this case, so it doesn’t become a public relations debacle.
Thomas: No, I'll handle it Jimbo.
Dolan: You’ve earned my trust. Let’s go for it.
So the sexual harassment lawsuit Browne Sanders filed against Thomas and the Knicks went to trial, included several embarrassing revelations (Marbury's relationship with an intern, for example). And the Knicks lost this one, too, with the jury ruling that Browne Sanders should receive $11.6 million in punitive damages — $2 million more than she had asked for.
4. Giving Isiah Thomas an extension — On March 10, 2007 the Knicks beat the Wizards 90-89 to improve to 29-34 and move into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference standings. Well, guess what? Time to give Thomas more money. "I believe we have clearly seen significant and evident progress,"
Dolan said at the time. The Knicks finished 4-15 and seven games out of a playoff spot.
3. Keeping Glen Sather — There’s no other way to say it: Glen Sather had a brilliant career with the Edmonton Oilers, winning five Stanley Cups in seven years. He served as GM and president and stepped in as coach on several occasions. But he left his ability to make solid decisions north of the border and has presided over a mediocre period of Rangers hockey. The signings listed above serve as proof, along with the fact the Rangers have yet to make it out of the second round of the playoffs since Sather took over in 2000. The "Fire Sather!" chants will continue at MSG.
2. Scott Layden era — Maybe your brain just turns to mush when you are running a Garden team. Layden was given credit for the Jazz drafting John Stockton and Karl Malone. He never did anything close to that good with the Knicks in his three-year run as GM. The list of moves Layden made is long and undistinguished. It includes overpaying Allan Houston; acquiring Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson, who were both at the start of awful long-term contracts; trading Nene and Marcus Camby for Antonio McDyess; and drafting Maciej Lampe.
1. Bringing back Isiah Thomas — You would think that no matter what, the Knicks would have made an improvement by firing Layden and replacing him with Thomas. Instead, Thomas continued the wasteful spending and foolish moves, making him more hated than even Layden was. Eddy Curry and Jerome James top the list of Thomas’ errors, and finally, after five years, Dolan "reassigned" Thomas and replaced him with Donnie Walsh. It is one of the few moves that can be considered positive, and Dolan wiped that away in one swoop when he last week officially brought back Thomas as a consultant, a decision that has been universally panned for its stupidity. But surprising?
No, it isn't.
What do you think Dolan's biggest mistake is?
Banishing Marv Albert 3.5% (74 votes)
Hiring Trottier 0.6% (12 votes)
Hiring Isiah the first time 9.8% (208 votes)
Larry Brown debacle 2.3% (49 votes)
Rangers' awful spending 1.9% (40 votes)
Anucha Browne Sanders case 3% (63 votes)
Isiah extension 6.8% (144 votes)
Not firing Glen Sather 11.4% (241 votes)
The Layden era 3.5% (74 votes)
Bringing back Isiah as consultant 57.3% (1,216 votes)
Total Votes: 2,121
8/10/2010 9:52 AM
