Unhappy Dolan knocks Brown, not Isiah

By FRANK ISOLA

Garden chairman James Dolan refuses to be pinned down on what he means by evident progress. But we know one thing: It isn't an 8-15 record and the way the Knicks have played the first six weeks of the season.

"If we end up the season where we are right now in terms of development, I think we would all be disappointed," Dolan told reporters today. "I don't mean in terms of record, I mean in terms of the execution of the team and performance of the team."

Asked directly is Isiah Thomas' job performance is good enough, Dolan replied: "Not yet, no."

Dolan reiterated that he will give Thomas until the end of the season before making a determination of the future of his president and head coach. Dolan, however, said he is confident that Thomas will succeed.

"I think we (are getting better) but we're not there," Dolan said. "I think what we're seeing is exactly what we expected to see. If I had asked all of you back in July how do you think the first quarter is going to go, it would surprise me if you all predicted where we all are at now. You got a young team with a lot of very young players. I consider our the players in their second year … I feel like they are really in there first year because I really don't feel like they develop much last year."

Dolan's comments are a knock against former Knicks head coach Larry Brown, who was fired after one season. Throughout his 30 minute interview today, Dolan continued to blame Brown and Brown alone for the Knicks 23-59 record last season. "I'm sorry about last season and about what happened with our coach," Dolan said. "I'm sorry about how it negatively impacted the team. I'm sorry we made a mistake hiring that coach. In the end I had lots of help from lots of people who thought that was the right move. But in the end it was my move, my decision as the owner of the team and it clearly was the wrong decision.

"Nothing can make me feel good about the fact we lost last season. We have good young players. They could have been developed better. We could be farther along today than we are now. And that's my fault. I feel bad about that, but I can't go back and change it. All I can do is keep moving forward."

Dolan: Patient with Isiah
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BY ALAN HAHN
Newsday Staff Writer

December 12, 2006, 4:12 PM EST

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- James Dolan on Tuesday re-iterated his intention to give Isiah Thomas the entire season to show progress with the Knicks before the Madison Square Garden CEO decides on Thomas' future with the franchise.

"I said that at the end of last season, that Isiah had the season to show progress in this team, and he does," Dolan said after the 8-15 Knicks practiced here at the MSG Training Center. "You wouldn't expect me to go back on my word on that."

Considering the team's sub-.500 record and how poorly the team has played at the Garden, where they are 3-9 and often the target of boos, Dolan stopped just short of giving Thomas a full endorsement.

"I think it's early in that process in terms of assessing how he's doing," Dolan said of Thomas, the Knicks president whom Dolan made coach after Larry Brown was fired following last season. "I believe that Isiah will be successful. I believe that he is going to take this team and he's going to develop it significantly over this season. And I believe that we will be sitting here at the end of this season saying, 'Obviously, we need to keep Isiah.' I believe that, but I'm not committed to that. What I'm committed to is evaluating it at the end of the season."

Dolan in June said Thomas would be fired if the Knicks did not show "significant progress" after this season. But on Tuesday, Dolan would not say how "significant progress" would be measured.

"I'm not going to give you, today, a number, a win-loss record, into the playoffs, etc on Isiah, in terms of what is progress," he said. "I don't have to make that decision until the end of the decision. As much as you'd like to know what the decision is going to be – in some ways I'd like to know what the decision's going to be – I'm not going to make it today because you guys want it. We're all just going to have to wait."

The Knicks end a six-game homestand Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks at the Garden. They are currently 2-3 in the homestand. However, Eddy Curry, one of Thomas' key acquisitions, has put together a streak of 10 consecutive games with 20 or more points per game. He has hit for 30 or more in his past two games: a career-high 36 points in a 115-107 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday and 30 points in a 97-90 loss to the Celtics on Monday.

In Monday's game, in a performance Thomas called "baffling," the Knicks fell behind by 30 points before a late rally made it a close finish.

What might be more baffling is, despite the poor start, the Knicks are only 1.5 games behind the Nets for first place in the woeful Atlantic Division.

DOLAN: I'M NOT FIRING ISIAH ... YET

By MARC BERMAN

December 12, 2006 -- A downcast Knicks owner James Dolan gave Isiah Thomas his vote of confidence today, but for this season only.

Hold the “Fire Isiah’’ chants. Though Dolan expressed disappointment in how the season has gone, he’s sticking to his guns and will not fire Thomas until the earliest late April.

Despite the Knicks inconsistent play this season at the Garden and their 7-14 overall record, Dolan said he owes it to Thomas to give him a full season to prove the Knicks are on the right track because of the young players.

“We were left at the end of the season thinking we have a good team,’’ Dolan said in a meeting with the team’s beat writers. “These are the components put together by Isiah Thomas. You put them together, you went shopping for groceries. You show me how good they are. You got to give him at least a full year to do that.’’

But Dolan said the progress he’s seen so far is not good enough, making Thomas as lame duck a coach as when he started the season. Dolan, who gave Thomas a one-year mandate in late June after firing Larry Brown, said he sees positive signs that include the major emergence of Eddy Curry, but not enough to “commit’’ to Thomas for 2007-2008.

“We’re early on in the process,’’ Dolan said. “I think you see good signs. I also think you don’t see enough signs to say today is the day we decided he’s made enough progress. We’re a long ways away from that.’’

“You’re asking, what I’m seeing so far, if we end up the season where we are now, in terms of development, we’d all be disappointed,’’ Dolan said. “I don’t mean the record. I mean the execution and performance of the team.’’

Dolan, in his first public comments since late June, apologized to the fans for the Larry Brown hiring.

“I’m sorry about last season,’’ Dolan said. “and about what happened with our coach. I’m sorry how it negatively impacted the team. I’m sorry we make a mistake hiring that coach. In the end, I had lots of help with lots of people thought it was right move. In the end, it was my move, my decision as owner of the team.’’

One thing in Thomas' favor is Dolan revealing that the "alternative'' of firing the entire basketball staff would be like "starting over.''

Posted by oohah:

The way I see it, Dolan is giving Thomas the same chances he gave LB. I think that is fair.

There is nothing to be gained from a midseason firing of IT. If anything, let him draft one more time!

oohah

i would assume $40 mil owed on the deal was also a reason dolan didn't can lb midseason.

i think firing isiah AND waiving steph would help this team this season. i think the fanbase would be more tolerant with just kids out there. and i just think the team plays better without him.

Posted by tomverve:

Posted by djsunyc:

dolan says this:

"If we end up the season where we are right now in terms of development, I think we would all be disappointed," Dolan told reporters today. "I don't mean in terms of record, I mean in terms of the execution of the team and performance of the team."

then says this:

"I think we (are getting better) but we're not there," Dolan said. "I think what we're seeing is exactly what we expected to see. If I had asked all of you back in July how do you think the first quarter is going to go, it would surprise me if you all predicted where we all are at now. You got a young team with a lot of very young players. I consider our the players in their second year … I feel like they are really in there first year because I really don't feel like they develop much last year."

ok, if we're EXACTLY what we expected to see, then how can you be dissapointed with their performance?

He didn't say he's disappointed with where the team is at now. He said the team is where he expected it to be right now and that he'd be disappointed if the team didn't improve between now and the end of the year. So apparently his expectations are for things to start off rocky but get better over time. You can certainly question if that's the best way to look at things, but it's not a logically inconsistent pair of statements.

Posted by efw:

Posted by djsunyc:

tom, you know by now there's no "dj" in logic.

Posted by Elite:

You also, I think, have to take into account what the alternative is,” Dolan said. “Because if what you’re saying is we haven’t made enough progress, and that’s really true, then what you’re saying is that we have to restart again. That would essentially mean blowing up this organization in terms of who’s working here, etcetera, bringing in a new philosophy of play with a new coach, etcetera. I mean, that’s pretty drastic. So that will be one of the benchmarks, what are the implications of making a change?”