Defending Thomas
Isiah's successes, Utah's Dump, Big Ben woes & more

Scoping the NBA ... three bullet points at a time.


At this point, the only person in America easier to criticize than Isiah Thomas is Michael Richards. In his four years with the Knicks, Thomas has gone through four coaches (not including himself), traded for a slew of bad contracts (Anfernee Hardaway, Tim Thomas, Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor, among others) and, for reasons we're still unsure of, gave Vin Baker a two-year deal. More important, since he took over as general manager on Dec. 22, 2003, the Knicks are a combined 90-148 while maintaining the highest payroll in the league.

While Isiah supporters (there are approximately six of them left) point to his pre-Knicks days to find some good that Thomas has done -- namely three playoff trips as Pacers coach and drafting Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby and high schooler Tracy McGrady as Raptors GM -- there are also a few silver linings in his dark cloud of a tenure with the Knicks:

• The draft: If there's one thing Isiah can do, it's draft. In 2004, he took Trevor Ariza with the 44th pick. With the exception of Anderson Varejao (31st overall) and Chris Duhon (39th), Ariza is the best player taken from that second round. In 2005, Thomas struck gold with Channing Frye (No. 9), Nate Robinson (No. 21 via Phoenix) and David Lee (No. 30). Even last year, when he was booed out of the building on draft night, Thomas chose Renaldo Balkman (No. 20), who has developed into a solid bench player.

• One good trade: Isiah dealt forward Kurt Thomas and the draft rights to Dijon Thompson to Phoenix for Quentin Richardson and the draft rights to Robinson. Though the team took a big risk in acquiring the oft-injured Richardson, he has been the Knicks' best player this season. Robinson is not only a spark plug off the bench but also one of the few Knicks fans would actually pay to see. Kurt Thomas, meanwhile, has battled injuries since arriving in Phoenix and played in only one playoff game last season. Thompson played just 10 games for Phoenix and is now out of the league.

• The Marbury factor: When Isiah Thomas took over as coach, many expected that meant the return of Starbury. But a funny thing happened on the way: Starbury stunk. He shot too much, he didn't shoot enough, he pouted and the Knicks lost. So what did Thomas do? He benched him and called him out in front of the team. So much for Marbury being the teacher's pet.

While Isiah supporters (there are approximately six of them left)

holfresh, nixluva, oohah, rvhoss.. who am I missing?

I am certainly not a hater of Isiah or Marbury so put me in.

Posted by Solace:

Posted by JesseDark:

I am certainly not a hater of Isiah or Marbury so put me in.

Why not come hang with the cool kids? Supporting Isiah and Marbury is so.... 2003.

This kind of like supporting the war until I was against it.

Posted by fishmike:

While Isiah supporters (there are approximately six of them left)

holfresh, nixluva, oohah, rvhoss.. who am I missing?

I'm an Isiah supporter. I might join the darkside in Jan if nothing has changed.

four years would translate into Isiah taking over from Layden in November of 2002

that ain't right by a bunch

• The Marbury factor: there is no more Marbury factor. Although they are neighbors, Isiah has made it abundanlty clear to Stephon that if he doesn't play within the context of the team, his butt will have a seta on the pine faster than you can say Neal Walk.


just like everyone else


I have no problem with that