ISIAH MASTER OF MUMBO JUMBO

BY PETER VECSEY

November 12, 2006 -- ISIAH Thomas has some explaining to do.

As usual!

I know it's asking a lot of Thomas to actually make some sense out of what he has done to the Knicks (anthrax has a less toxic mixture). Particularly since he's unable (more likely averse) to utter a simple, declarative, coherent sentence, or provide a rational response to a question pertaining to a loss, a botched play, how to attack a zone, or an unfathomable personnel move. Mumbo Jumbo has become Thomas' first language.

Still, we can only hope one of these furtive days Thomas will slip up and emit more than static and barren brain waves. Enlightening certain members of the media through leaks, by far, is his most productive form of communication.

In the meantime, us corner boys, shiftless and isolated in a remote class room, can only hope Thomas feels an uncontrollable urge to break down one of his many indecipherable decisions so we might glean a spare beam of his genius.

After all, a week has passed and we still don't have the foggiest notion why Thomas bought out Jalen Rose. How often did he tell us an expiring contract, especially one worth $16.901,500, is a consequential asset? Yet Thomas benevolently surrendered it as if it were a stale six pack, same as he steered Maurice Taylor, in the last year ($9.750M) of his deal, onto the waiver wire.

Is that what the Knicks, the NBA's supreme salaried franchise, are reduced to, saving a couple million here, a couple million there, and cutting an additional $3.5M-to-$4M off their ultimate luxury tax bill?

Or did their premature exodus have more to do with Thomas' concern the unwanted pair would contaminate the team's "refreshed" ambiance? If that's the case, why not instead buy time to maneuver by simply sending them home? The Bulls did that last season with Tim Thomas (ultimately released before trade deadline, gaining only 500G in the buyout; he made up half upon signing with the Suns) and the Nets presently are doing it with Jeff McInnis.

Or maybe their situation had more to do with James Dolan no longer trusting Thomas with the combination to his father's vault. Maybe he feared his boy toy would further stretch the Knicks' luxury tax predicament by converting those "assets" into another Steve Francis - $49.4M, three-year, added obligation; compliments of Penny Hardaway's expiring pact and Trevor Ariza.

On the other hand, Thomas might've been able to swing a similar deal to the one that reaped Rose - his aforementioned extra season debt aside - and a first-round pick from the Raptors for Antonio Davis. If reckless spending isn't supposed to matter to Camp Cablevision, then securing Rose had some merit.

So, why squander the opportunity to transform the positive feature of Rose's arrangement (or Taylor's) into something halfway significant? You're right, there's only so much room on the roster, and you gotta do what you gotta do when there's an occasion to sign a find like Kelvin Cato.

I must admit, it's somewhat amusing Thomas wasted little time in dumping two of the five players Brown wanted bought out. I'm guessing Stephon Marbury, Jerome James and Nate Robinson outlast Thomas, but not by that much.

Moving right along, Knicks beat writers regularly transcribe Thomas' fountain of misinformation without so much as a ripple of dissent. They continually subscribe to pap such as Larry Brown - already on the outs with his boss and, for all intents, on the way out - pressuring the easily intimidated VP into obtaining Francis, and ought to be embarrassed.

Like we're supposed to believe basketball's most radical fundamentalist teacher was desperate to bond with Wrong Way Francis!

Like we're really supposed to accept the debauched idea Brown couldn't wait to coach a guy who forced the Grizzlies to trade him after being drafted No. 2 overall. A guy who only responds well when demands aren't made on him. That was Rudy Tomjanovich's technique for coaching Francis, a guy Jeff Van Gundy and Brian Hill found moderately uncoachable, (as you recall, among other endearing deeds, Francis jumped a Rockets' charter to attend the Super Bowl and refused to re-enter a Magic game). Van Gundy and Hill were reluctant to work with a guy whose notable career stats (19.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists) are rendered rather meaningless when you see how inefficient his outside shooting is and how ineffective he is as an over-dribbling playmaker.

Why would Brown crave Francis when he was getting along famously with Jamal Crawford? Any day now, expect Thomas to blame Brown for drafting Renaldo Balkman at No. 21 vs. Marcus Williams, a spin, I suspect not even the Knicks beat writers are gullible enough to embrace.

After eyeballing the Heat win in Jersey, column collaborator Dino Di Pietro thought Williams (10 points, four assists, three turnovers, 21 minutes) played pretty well despite going 0-5 from three.

"I'm convinced Isiah must've been trying to reach Anucha on his cell phone when it was the Knicks' turn to draft last June. He definitely wasn't paying attention."

Always ready to defend Thomas, I advised Di Pietro, had the Knicks taken Williams it would've exposed Marbury as the league's most pointless guard every day in practice. Then, what? I also pointed out how the Knicks were one of 21 to pass on Williams before the Nets snatched him. Makes me wonder if there might be more baggage on his carousel than just stealing computers of UConn classmates?

Di Pietro says he understands why Thomas saw the need to bring in some hustling dirty-work, high energy types ("You take those guys in the second round," counters Mark Jackson. "You jump at the chance to take a guy with Marcus' skills in the first round"), especially to offset Stephon and Steve.

"A good GM should know when to stockpile talent when given the chance. If it didn't work out, a potential trade package containing Marcus would return a lot more phone calls than a package containing Balkman," Di Pietro reasons. As an ex-Knick, Jackson's definitive analysis of Williams is going to put him on Thomas' dartboard alongside Greg Anthony. "Marcus is ready right now to run an NBA team."

peter.vecsey@nypost.com

i gotta say as f'd up as it is to bring in high-priced guys and then cut them, i'm glad he's doing it. fewer chances for him to bring in yet more!

he's a hypocrite--according to petey the knicks were gold for the playoffs and 43+ wins---these newspaper reporters show every day that they
a. are monday morning QBs armed with a pen and somewhere to use it
b. really don't have a f clue what they are talking about.

but its all about the jack anyway!~

Vecsey always has an agenda. He hates Isiah and will rip him anytime he can. Not that some points aren't accurate but he will ignore anything against his agenda. Vecsey SUCKS.

Posted by bobs3304:

^ b/c he's an actual fan, and was hopin for the best this time.

Vescey is a fan? Of what?

oohah