One of the most remarkable feats in recent sports is that Isiah Thomas keeps getting hired to lead NBA basketball teams. This when the fact is that Thomas has screwed up three NBA franchises and an entire basketball league.

I understand why he got his first chance with the Toronto Raptors in 1994. The NBA more than any league believes former great players can either create or coach great teams. Call it the Jerry West factor, whose namesake became the greatest general manager in NBA history building after an illustrious playing career.

So Thomas became part owner and vice president of the expansion franchise, and did an OK job. He drafts Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady, and makes a draft-day trade for Vince Carter. But he also drafted Jonathan Bender with the fifth pick out of high school over Rip Hamilton, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion, and Wally Szczerbiak. He also drafted first-rounder Alex Radojevic, who would only play three games for the Raptors. He traded Stoudamire and Camby for spare parts. He then bailed ship to be a commentator on NBC.

Next, he bought the struggling CBA, the nation's top minor basketball league, and told every owner to spend a lot of money in promotions. He promised them national sponsors, a national TV contract and international expansion.

So what happened? Within two years the league was bankrupt and had to close operations for a year. Thomas only was able to get 14 games on TV for and only got two major sponsors. And he abandoned loyal local sponsors in small cities like Yakima, Wash., and Rockford, Ill. He sold the league to coach the Indiana Pacers and screwed owners out a lot of money.

As coach of the Pacers, he took very talented teams in a depleted Eastern Conference and underachieved all three years he coached. Anyone who knew anything about basketball saw how badly Thomas coached. He never took out struggling players while he kept his best options on the bench.

A team that was in the NBA finals the year before never advanced past the first round during his tenure. When he was fired by Larry Bird, Rick Carlisle took over and promptly led the team to 60 wins and the Eastern Conference finals.

So by now everyone knows Thomas is a screw up in both managerial and coaching spheres. No one else would give him a chance, right?

Wrong, of course. The New York Knicks just hired him to be president.

The Knicks first hired Scott Layden, who screwed up the Knicks, and then Thomas, who will keep screwing them up. That's like finding out you had testicular cancer and now its gone, but now you found out you have prostate cancer.

Thomas started making idiotic moves like acquiring point guard Jamal Crawford (when he already has Stephon Marbury) and Eddy Curry (and his height and weight problems). And when he had a chance to get rid of Alan Houston and his huge contract, Thomas kept him.

Thomas once wrote a book called "The Fundamentals: 8 Plays for Winning the Games of Business and Life." But you wouldn't buy a book by Napoleon on how to invade Russia or Ben Affleck on how to do comedy. So why oh why would you buy his?

Despite that Thomas made a smart move this summer by hiring Larry Brown, the Knicks have no chance of even being a contender until Thomas is gone. He is a joke as a coach and as a leader of a franchise.

Posted by Nalod:

What I like about Isiah:

Its not his trades or draft picks, but how he carries himself.

If you don't like Bobby Knight and claim to love Isiah, your in conflict. Isiah is a disciple of Bobby and is old school in your face be a man type of guy. He demands you respect your team, team mates and the opportunity presented before you!

I don't know if he can translate that to the Gazy's of the world, but Steph for all his past I do believe wants to have the type of career and cred that Isiah has both as a player and as a man! I don't like Steph's history, I believe he is trying going foward. I don't give out my props like some do until he is worthy of fulfilling more than stat padding.

Isiah's arogance and ego is strong and he bumbled the Chaney situation badly. As an executive with that kind of profile and some history you don't do that. Chaney was a "good guy" and liked by the press. The Fratello thing was leaked and he was in negotiations with him. Isiah was foolish to get backed into a corner by him and his agent, and the Wilkens hiring was a feeble attempt to save face. He hired him before and the two of them are similar in many ways. Lenny was over his head as last years squad was awful and had a bad personality.

Isiah is better off with younger players and the rookies he has will respond well to his intervention and larry's coaching. I worry about how responsive guys with big contracts like Eddie and Craw will do. They need to dig down but for what? More money? These guys have not acomplished much after high school. But this is the new world and they have talent.

If anything Isiahs downfall might be that money has corupted many of these guys and can't be reached. Bobby Knight in a way never really became different. HE was a tough young coach who never softend with the times. College kids coming in want to know what the school and coach is gonna do for them? Back in the day you there were just a few progams that you wanted to play for. Now, the best kids go for the money! Retired great players when interviewed from programs like N. Carolina, UCLA, Indiana, Duke, talk about their success on the court, in business, and in life because the "Coach" made them into men! Now we got a whole new breed who are wooed from age 13! Money has lowered the bar and we have fewer great men coming out of the sporting world. Not all mind you are idiots.

This is about Isiah, and I admire him cuz he was not just a punk from the projects who could ball, he wanted to be a complete man on top of that! Thats cool as hell!

And I after everything I have read I am pleased with what Isiah stands for and root for him, as I did his predicessors to make this team into somthing we can all be proud of! Just cuz I like him does not mean I have to like everything he has done!

Posted by newyorknewyork:


Its like the only way people are happy is if we get perfection. We begged for an upgrade at PG after Ward & Eisley. We get Marbury, We begged for size we get Curry, Frye, James, Butler. We begged for youth we get Curry, Butler, Frye, Lee, Ariza, Crawford, Nate. Marbury and Q are pretty young also. We begged for a stud coach, we get Larry Brown. But because the one thing Isiah didn't fix was the salary cap situation we cry about it.

Its all comes down to producing better results for people to back off. And eventually its gonna happen because there have been a lot of problems in the roster fixed over these last 2 seasons. There are still problems but with the problems that was fixed and Larry Brown at the helm I think we have a good formula for a winning season this yr.

EXCELLENT post New York New York. Best post I've read on here in a few days.