OK...sorry..I underestimated the fact that everyone has to be able to actually read-and have the motivstion to click on a link to see the whole article-to post on a forum...Here is the article in it's entirety with my comments...
LAS VEGAS - Isiah Thomas isn't ready to guarantee anything, especially playoff games at Madison Square Garden next spring. But Larry Brown's replacement believes his 23-win team can make enough of an improvement to reach the postseason for the first time in three years.
Great opening, I believe this team is a playoff team also if it runs and plays absolute minimal D and everyone actually is held accountable.
"My goal is to get to the playoffs," Thomas says. "As a coach, I want to coach a playoff team. That will be our thought from day one. That's what we'll push them towards. Come April, we want to still be lacing them up."
It better be. Anything less gets your ass fired.
A playoff berth would assure Thomas of keeping his title as Knicks president/coach for at least one more year. Last month, Garden chairman James Dolan announced that Thomas had to show significant improvement or find another job.
Although Dolan refused to define what he means by significant improvement, finishing in the top eight in the Eastern Conference is a good place to start. Even if the Knicks improve by 15 wins, a 38-44 record would likely result in the team missing the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. Considering the Knicks' league-high payroll, another dark April could cost Thomas his job.
Knowing this, what's Zeke gonna say? "Well, I know we ain't gonna make the playoffs with the roster I built, but at least the Isiah watch will be interesting."
"I'll say this: I'm very comfortable operating under pressure and the type of pressure that's on me," Thomas said following yesterday's two-hour practice at UNLV. "I've got to make sure our players feel that type of comfort operating in pressure situations, because the NBA is about pressure.
A pressure situation he put himself in. Once again I hope he's comfortable too, for the Knicks sake and for the sake of Isiah's professional career.
"At the end of the day, Jim will decide what he likes and what he doesn't like."
In other words, "Even I can't fool Lil' Jimmy forever....maybe."
Thomas is running practices again for the first time since being fired as coach of the Indiana Pacers before the 2003-04 season. Wearing a whistle and barking instructions, Thomas looks comfortable being front and center again with the players. He said his style will be different from Brown's, saying he takes his cue from his college coach and his mother.
"I'm very old school," he said. "I'm Bob Knight and Mary Thomas. That's what I try to teach them."
I'd honestly prefer more Bob Knight and less Mary Thomas, unless Mary Thomas coached some basketball team to any type of championship.
Brown is an old-school Hall of Famer, and yet he couldn't squeeze 25 wins out of the team he inherited. Thomas the president is not expected to make any significant changes, which means he'll make things difficult for Thomas the coach.
This would be where Isiah being "comfortable under pressure" would be useful.
Brown was criticized for never committing to a set rotation. He used an NBA-record 42 different starting lineups. As the team stands now, Thomas will somehow have to find playing time for five guards - Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Quentin Richardson, Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson. The Knicks also have an abundance of power forwards with veterans Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor, plus second-year players Channing Frye and David Lee.
We finally get to see what Isiah had in mind collecting PF's and undersized shoot first PG's.
If Thomas commits to an eight- or nine-player rotation, someone figures to be unhappy. Frye, Lee and Robinson have already taken pot shots at Brown for his methods, but if the Knicks are going to blame Brown for everything, then they could be in big trouble.
Players developed bad habits last season - not lacing up their sneakers for practice, showing up for training camp out of shape, showing up to work with a hangover, freelancing on the court - and bad habits aren't easy to break. Even with a new coach.
Bolded is my quote, in context. Seeing this, does it have ANY different meaning from me posting it by itself?
Thomas says he wants his players to fall in love again with basketball. He also needs them to be held accountable, act professionally, play hard and win. His future depends on it.
This line here tells all I think about this fluff piece and the fluff act Zeke is putting on. He has to think positive because it is gonna cost him his job if this team sucks. He is not gonna go to Dolan and say "Um...Jim...we gotta talk about this roster...I may need something else...."
"I've always been the guy who has to crawl out of the hole to make it to the top," Thomas said. "I was born to my mom and the family situation we had and the neighborhood we lived in, I definitely wasn't supposed to be where I'm standing today.
Why is it every time he is interviewed he brings up where he grew up and how tough it was and how he was a survivor? I understand that it was tough, the westside of Chicago is tough. It's a great story. But survuving that is alot different than coaching a basketball team. Don't minimize the people living in poverty, drugs and whatever by saying it is just as hard to coach a freaking basketball team. This is easy compared to growing up in the slums, and it is also TOTALLY different. Don't try to convince me your tough show me. I was always taught that the real tough guys don't need to say how tough they are. They just show it.
"So, again, I'm probably a little freakish about (Dolan's edict), but I'm glad to be on the hot plate. I like being in this situation."
Good, I hope he's "a little freakish" about his job. But don't tell me you like being in this situation. Noone "likes" working with their job on the line. No one.
[Edited by - joec32033 on 07-07-2006 09:42 AM]
7/7/2006 8:04 AM
