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djsunyc
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November 22, 2006
Difficult Decisions Are on the Horizon for Thomas
By HOWARD BECK
There were at least 2,200 empty seats at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, but no shortage of voices to participate in a loud and informal Knicks straw poll.
At various points, fans booed Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry and Coach Isiah Thomas. They cheered David Lee, Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford and Renaldo Balkman. And they cheered loudest for Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Charlie Ward and Jeff Van Gundy.
To wit: Knicks fans love the past and are enthused about the future. It is the present that disturbs them.
The most important voice in the building was, no doubt, similarly conflicted. James L. Dolan, the Garden chairman, slouched in his baseline seat, arms crossed and expressionless, while the Knicks absorbed a 97-90 loss to the Van Gundy-coached Houston Rockets. Dolan has not spoken publicly in months, so his posture provided the only hint of his mood.
Van Gundy left the Knicks five years ago, and no one has coached them to a winning season since. Ward, who was Van Gundy’s point guard, is now his assistant coach. Houston and Ewing were courtside spectators who — although booed at times during their careers in New York — were cheered wildly when their faces appeared on the video scoreboard.
It was an awkward contrast, and it underscored the tension of the current Knicks season. Dolan has given Thomas, the team president and coach, one season to show progress or be fired. Thomas has almost cheerily embraced his fate, dismissing the pressure and any effect it might have on him.
As a discussion point, the ultimatum has faded to the background. But its effects, it seems, are becoming evident. The Knicks have lost 8 of their first 12 games, and Thomas is showing various signs of desperation, impatience and personal strain.
Sixty-five seconds into the second half Monday, Thomas benched his starting backcourt of Marbury and Steve Francis. He hardly played them the rest of the way, instead handing the game to Robinson and Crawford, who have led countless rallies this season.
The gambit did not pay off. But it was revealing. No one in the building booed the backcourt change or started a “Bring back Marbury” chant. The fans seem to prefer the unbridled (and sometimes clumsy) energy of the Knicks’ reserves.
Thomas has resolutely stayed with the same starting lineup despite the early slump by Channing Frye, the occasional lethargy of Curry, the lack of cohesion between Marbury and Francis and countless double-digit deficits.
Even after benching Marbury, Francis and Curry for most of the second half, Thomas tried to shield them from criticism. When asked if the Knicks were too reliant on their bench, Thomas said: “Well, they’re part of the team. You’d rather I not play them?”
But in his actions, Thomas is making concessions he would not have made just a few weeks ago. While opposing coaches and scouts derided the Francis-Marbury backcourt as unworkable, Thomas insistently stressed its potential. Now, even he seems unsure of its viability.
Although Francis and Marbury start the first and third quarters together, they rarely play together otherwise, particularly in fourth quarters. Each seems more effective when the other is on the bench.
After Monday’s loss, Thomas was asked if Francis and Marbury would still be his starting backcourt. Rather than respond quickly and authoritatively, Thomas said, “Um, yeah” — with a 3-second pause between the “um” and the “yeah.”
The definitive answer to that question will not be known until the Knicks play in Minneapolis tonight. Thomas gave his team the day off yesterday, allowing them to evade reporters and the predictable onslaught of questions about the backcourt.
There is obvious pressure to play Marbury and Francis together. They are the Knicks’ two most expensive players, making a combined $32 million this season. They are both former All-Stars who expect to start every game. They are both renowned for streaks of moodiness.
So Thomas has chosen the path of least resistance so far. But the ultimatum looms, and there are now 70 games left for Thomas to show the “evident progress” that Dolan vaguely spoke of in June. Hastening that progress could require a lineup change that is certain to bruise egos.
That decision may be unavoidable. Small forward Jared Jeffries, Thomas’s marquee acquisition last summer, is nearly recovered from a broken wrist. He could be cleared to play in two weeks, and the Knicks badly need his defense in the starting lineup.
But starting Jeffries will require benching either Francis or Quentin Richardson. So far, Richardson has been the Knicks’ best player on both ends of the court. He is also a natural shooting guard who could play seamlessly between Marbury and Jeffries.
The ripple effect of Jeffries’s return will pose other problems. It has been tough to juggle four talented guards (Marbury, Francis, Crawford and Robinson), and will be tougher still if Richardson slides to the backcourt. There could be a fan rebellion if Thomas stops playing Robinson (the Knicks’ best pace-changer) or Crawford (their best clutch shooter).
It seems inevitable that the Knicks will have to find a way, via trade or contract buyout, to thin the guard ranks.
But Thomas has time to tinker. When Dolan issued the ultimatum to Thomas in June, he said: “There’s nobody better than him to make this thing go forward. But he has to do that. And he has one year, one season, to do that.”
Within the Garden corridors, it is believed Dolan meant that last statement literally — that Thomas has the full season to make his mark. He will not be fired, if he is fired, until late April.
Thomas has 70 games left to decide which players can save him.
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11/22/2006 8:55 AM