Is it me or is the media beginning to soften on Isiah...simrud no, but his guy from the sporting news, yes?

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13708205/

COMMENTARY
By Dave D'Alessandro

Updated: 1:46 a.m. ET July 5, 2006
Now that the hysterical mass displays of angst over the Larry Brown Era have turned into a muted slobber, a harsh reality remains: The Knicks are contractually obligated to play another season.

He's not the best executive, but coaching is his passion

That will be the summer focus in New York, which is to basketball what Islamic fundamentalism is to Iran. And though I still maintain that the fans are daft to care about a team owned and operated by creepy people, I submit the following: This team is not really as bad the 23-59 mudslide would suggest, and at least now it has a coach who must care about achievement as much as he does spit-polishing his legacy.

As an executive, Isiah Thomas is a human pratfall. But coaching always has been his passion, and when you take an objective look at his track record in Indiana, he is good at it. Of course, talking about something good on the Knicks is like talking about a good song on a Michael Bolton album. Everything is relative. Compared with a day at the endodontist, it's not terrible.

Granted, considering the task Zeke faces, perhaps his track record is irrelevant. "It's his ship to steer," owner Jim Dolan, the co-author of this farce, says.

And as Dolan dropped the punch line — the one about how Thomas has exactly one season to show "significant . . . evident progress" — Zeke somehow avoided wearing the haunted look of a fugitive who just heard bloodhounds in the distance.

That's because he can do this. He always has prided himself on his leadership skills, not realizing that you can't lead from a corner office on the 14th floor at 2 Penn Plaza or a vomitory at the Garden. You lead from the practice floor, the bus and the locker room.

Before he changes into sweats, of course, he has to move out at least two extraneous pieces -- Jalen Rose and Steve Francis, for starters -- and that won't be easy. But it's not all about personnel. It's about imparting a vision (think Phoenix East), infusing some affinity, settling on a rotation and restoring the confidence Brown methodically shattered.

Then he must get Eddy Curry to defend and turn him into the fulcrum of the offense. Beyond that, he has to hope there will be some coruscating moments from his resident jewel, Stephon Marbury. (OK, that part was sarcasm.)

But, yes, Thomas can do this. He proved it in Indy. He took a team of children to the playoffs three straight years. On his watch, Jermaine O'Neal became a star. On his watch, Ron Artest became a beast.

He has let the Knicks deteriorate for 30 months. Over the next six, he may establish one of two things: that he was the right coach for this group all along or that his team had a meatball for a general manager. I'm guessing it will be both.


[Edited by - rvhoss on 07-05-2006 12:08 PM]

For the record: I was a supporter or Larry Brown until he quit on us.

Posted by rvhoss:

But it's not all about personnel. It's about imparting a vision (think Phoenix East), infusing some affinity, settling on a rotation and restoring the confidence Brown methodically shattered.

This is what bothers me the most about Brown's 1 year NY disaster. He not only gave us the crappiest record when the team isnt as bad as that record, he ruined the players confidence and abandoned us. Larry Brown left town without helping the team he destroyed. I think Isiah will kick ass as the coach. I can see a .500 record and a playoff series next season. That will give the players their confidence and also give us some trade leverage. We need to be a bit more patient with Isiah if he seems to be doing the right things. If he is starting the right lineups and beating all the bad teams, he should get another year on top of this one to help the Knicks.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/ny-spsunspec024804700jul02,0,6153655.story?coll=ny-knicks-print

The ball's in Isiah's court
Pressure's on, but Thomas earned praise as coach of Pacers
BY BARBARA BARKER
Newsday Staff Writer

July 2, 2006

It wasn't that long ago that Isiah Thomas was being hailed as one of the brightest young coaching minds in basketball.

The man who now has one year to fix the Knicks was the Eastern Conference All-Star coach in 2003 after his Pacers started 34-15.

Columnists in the Midwest were plugging him for Coach of the Year honors. He was widely praised for finding a way to blend old players such as Reggie Miller with new ones such as Jermaine O'Neal and Ron Artest.

And then it all unraveled.

Miller's ankle went gimpy, O'Neal's stepfather shot himself in the head, Jamaal Tinsley's mother died of cancer and Artest started going for the league's flagrant-foul record. The Pacers went 14-19 down the stretch, lost in the first round of the playoffs and hired Thomas' nemesis, Larry Bird, as team president. Six months after the All-Star Game, Thomas was out of a job.

The story of Thomas' only other stint as a head coach merits close examination now that he is taking over a fractured and mutinous Knicks squad from Larry Brown. What can Knicks fans expect from Thomas? What kind of basketball will he try to get the Knicks to play? Can he fix the horrible team chemistry? Will he succeed where Hall of Famer Brown failed?

The answers to these questions depend on who is doing the talking.

"I liked playing for Isiah, [but] we had some personality clashes," Artest said in a phone interview last week. "I wanted to be the man, Reggie wanted to be the man, Jermaine wanted to be the man and Isiah wanted to be the man. We clashed."

Miller, by contrast, has had nothing but good things to say about Thomas. And O'Neal still considers him almost a father figure.

One area most observers do agree on is that Thomas is very good at working with young players, something that wasn't exactly Brown's forte. Knicks rookies Nate Robinson, David Lee and Channing Frye at times seemed to lose their confidence playing under Brown last season, and it will be interesting to see where Thomas can take them.

"Isiah is further along as a coach than some people in New York think he is," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said. "He's very creative offensively. I think he can develop the kids. We were a young team, and he was a good coach for us. He obviously gets a lot of respect from players because of who he is; he's kind of a heroic figure to them and he knows how to use that."

Though not as troubled as the current Knicks, the Pacers were going through a major shakeup when Thomas took over in 2000-01. The franchise decided to dismantle the group that went to the Eastern Conference finals. Miller, one of the few pieces who stuck around, thought Thomas did a decent job in what could have been a difficult situation.

"He is very prepared and hands on when it comes to practice preparations as well as game-time decisions," Miller, now a TNT analyst, said via e-mail last week. "He is very thorough and paid very close attention to detail. [He had] well- conditioned players."

Suffice it to say the Knicks have a few players in need of some conditioning, with big men Eddy Curry and Jerome James leading the list. Thomas said last week that he expects James to get back to the level he was at two seasons ago when he helped take Seattle to the playoffs.

Conditioning also is important because Thomas might try to get this team to play a more up-tempo, Phoenix Suns style. The Knicks played well against running teams last season, and Thomas' teams ran the last two years in Indiana. Thomas, however, said he isn't so much concerned about pushing the pace as he is about finding a style that takes best advantage of the talent on his team.

"I think his ideas are innovative and very creative," said Brendan Suhr, who coached Thomas as an assistant with the Pistons in Detroit and will go back to the bench to be his assistant next season.

"He was one of the most strategic players I've ever been around, and he was like that as a coach. He puts players in a position to be successful."

There are some who have said Thomas can be a little bit too creative. Indiana fans weren't too crazy about the no- point guard offense he ran on occasion there. Thomas, however, doesn't always believe in using players in traditional roles.

"I believe you put your best players out on the floor and you create an offense or a scheme that they can play in," Thomas said. "In Indiana, it didn't make much sense to me to have Reggie Miller and Ron Mercer sitting on the bench and me playing a guy we picked out of the CBA because he was labeled as a point guard."

Artest said Thomas' ability to think outside the box is what made it fun to play for him. He also believes it will help the Knicks.

"When you play with NBA players, you have to let them be creative," said Artest, who grew up a Knicks fan and keeps close tabs on the team. "Not all players respond the same way. If players have a certain skill and they want to use it, they don't want to be tied down. Isiah can adjust to that at times.

"Larry Brown is a great coach, but when he got to the Knicks, he didn't let the team be free. At times, it wasn't a fun style of basketball."

Thomas' style in dealing with his players also might be better suited for Knicks owner James Dolan, who cringed at Brown's public criticism of his roster. Thomas, who acquired the entire roster as the team's president, is less likely to use the media to try to send a message to his players.

That, however, doesn't mean he treats everyone equally. Just ask a number of former Knicks who believe they had to leave because they weren't one of Thomas' guys. Or even Artest, who says it can be hard to change Thomas' mind.

"He sometimes keeps players in the doghouse a little too long. It can be hard on team chemistry," Artest said. "If he treats everybody equally and gives them an equal chance - from the 15th player to the first player - they'll do fine."

Thomas might have to do better than fine. Dolan says the 23-win team has to show significant improvement, whatever that means, in order for him to stay with the Knicks.

Most who know him think he will accomplish that, and that it won't be a complete shocker if the Knicks find themselves battling for the last playoff spot next season.

Thomas' life, after all, has been a series of extremes. Raised in poverty as the youngest of nine children, he now is a millionaire. One of the top 50 players of all time, he couldn't make the Dream Team. Once the coach with the best record in the Eastern Conference, he was out of work before the next season began.

Knicks fans can only hope that these highs and lows are cyclical, that now that Thomas has been lined up to be the team's next scapegoat, he will emerge as their savior after all.

RATING ISIAH

Interviews with players, front-office people, scouts and reporters paint this picture of Isiah Thomas as a coach:

STRENGTHS

1. Creative on offense

2. Good communicator, can relate to players

3. Runs a looser ship than Larry Brown

4. Good X's and O's

WEAKNESSES

1. Can be too creative on offense

2. Doesn'