Fair opinion that's a joke..Have you ever heard of the UK mafia???

as a GM: D (he gets credit for his drafting D Lee, Balkman & making the Curry & Q Rich trades... most of his other moves have not worked out however)

as a coach: C - (for the most part, i've seen guys giving an effort on the floor & they seem to keep fighting no matter what the score... i've seen some good things out of Curry & D Lee this season also... his rotations make me scratch my head sometimes though... the team had some good chemistry going on during that stretch where they were short handed, but he went right back to his old rotation where guys were competing for short minutes & not being as effective as they were when the rotations were shorter... team defense is still as bad if not worse as last season though)


overall i'll say he's a slightly better coach than he is a GM & probably better suited for that position... his credibility among the other GM's & upper execs can't be that high after all that went on around here the past couple seasons, but he still holds credibility w/the players because of those rings on his finger & the legacy he has as a basketball player himself... i think his players respect him, so there's hope that he could get them to play better

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

I would give Isiah a c minus as a GM (Good moves far out number bad moves but the Marbury and francis contracts are cap killers for 3 years)

I would give Isiah a c minus as Coach (good motivator but rotations are aweful and he needs to try a Jcraw/Qrich guard lineup as well as start Lee and bench JJ)

Watchout Ray, you nearly gave the same grades I did(C-,D) and Holfresh is going to be pissed and label you UK Mafia.

Same goes for you TMS.

[Edited by - nyk4ever on 01-03-2007 2:05 PM]

As a talent scout I give Isiah a B. As a GM I give him a D-. As a coach, I give him a C.

these are the questions that should be asked:

1. should isiah remain?
2. if he were fired, would he get hired by any other team in a high level?

the answers to those 2 questions tell you what kind of coach/gm isiah is.

Remember who was here when IT took over. The roster was a joke. Overpriced and horrible talent that was old too. IT took that roster and made some gambles.

#1 gamble - Marbury Payoff - Not even close! But what did they really lose in the deal? Cap room.

#2 gamble - Curry Payoff - Jury is still out but Curry is looking pretty good. The only problem I have with the deal was not protecting the picks. Talent wise, the trade was fine.

The KT trade was a good one, if KT was here, DLEE would be just another white guy on the bench. Nate and Q are the keys to this team, IT said it himself this week.

The drafts have been good at least.


So grading: GM - B I am not concerned with the cap situation, I think the talent level and youth of the team exceeds that.

Coaching: D - not impressed. I thought he would light a fire under these guys and make them play hard every night. They haven't. Curry has improved, so I give some credit there.

Overall: C - the Jury is still out for me. I want to see what this team can do when they are together. I think realistically, they will win about 35 games right now. That is 22-26 the rest of the way. I really hope it is better, but the team underachieves. I blame that more on the players. I think they have poor mental toughness, especially Marbury, the so-called best player on the team. He needs to lead and he cannot. To me, that is biggest problem NY has. NY needs a #1 guy still. A guy who can take over. IT's gamble that Marbury could be the guy has failed.

Posted by mintyfreshness33:

i think isiah is not having so much sucess as a coach because of his failure as a GM, he does not have the necessary core to really win, but the knicks have been showing a lot of resilience and heart, and thats something we didnt see last year. So F as a GM, although he is a great drafter like yall have mentioned, and C+ as a coach.

Fair. I'd give him a C as a GM. Some bad moves sprinkled with some good (mostly bad considering the salary cap situation he dug us deeper into.) The draft-picks give him boost. Most of Isiah's trades are two sided and come with baggage. Getting Curry was good, but not protecting the pick was bad. Trading Kurt for Q was a good trade but Q's back is damaged. etc.

The jury is still out as far as coaching goes. I like that he can adjust to his roster at hand.

Isiah gets a shade above an F

Big moves

1. Stephon Marbury, has not worked out or delievered a playoff win, has not been a good soldier and not proven to be a leader, we also got an isiah special and injured player with a bad attitude Penny Hardaway, for the price of 37 million during his Knick tenure. Not to mention the 68 million left on the deal, we gave up future draft picks as well. Trade Grade D

2. Crawford Trade: Bidding against himself no other team made a play for the career 39% shooter, Isiah decided he was worth a 7 year contract at 55 million, while taking on 21 million dollars for JYD often overlooked by UK poster are the throw ins. Gaving up a competant Deke who provided the only semblance of shot blocking. Mean while Crawford has become a favorite for his meaningless game winners in the Knicks losing season and has digressed as a player Trade Grade: C-

3. Nazy: We sent an expiring contract and brought in Malik Rose and three years at 7 million dollars, poster have been quick to point out that we drafted Lee with the 30th so this trade can't be entirely killed. However finicially speaking 21 million for picks 29th and 20th can. Trade grade C+

4. Curry: Shown serious improvemnt as a player this year, and becoming a dominant offensive force, but still has no idea what defense means to a team, and too often doesn't give the necessary effort if he is not getting the ball, doesn't rebound enough or pick up the garbage points needed to be a complete player. Isiah fails to protect two lottery picks. Ignorant fans will point out Ty Thomas numbers, 19 year olds with limited minutes don't put up great numbers, however player like Foye and Roye look like they have prime time player potential and scouts have suggest 7 players in this years draft would have been the number one pick in last years draft....Trade Grade: C+

5. Q and Nate: If Q stays healthy this trade is a big win for the Knicks, however with his recent back trouble, the NBA caps best friend Isiah Thomas may have made a huge mistake on this one. Nate is an energy guy off the bench nothing more and hasn't shown a defensive presence we had hoped for. Meanwhile we have a four more years remaining on q's contract to worry about. Hopefully he stays healthy...Trade Grade C+/B-

6. Steve Francis: This trade has proven one thing, if your team needs to get better quickly call Isiah Thomas, he will take any player that used to be an Allstar. Eating 45 million dollars on a player that may never be effective again, while the player you trading is coming into his own at 21 only reinforces what everyone already knew, Isiah is ****ing clueless. Trade Grade: F

Drafting
Trevor Ariza....Grade A

Channing Frye (Bynum, Granger, Greene,) Fyre has proven to be one dimensional, and hasn't shown the toughness needed to be a big in the league, although has shown flashes of being a big time scorer when his jumper is failing Grade:B-

Nate: Has shown flashes of being a prime time scorer nice outside shot, however plays out of control and has already been involved in three fights with teammates and opposing players. Needs to grow up.... Grade B-

David Lee: A

Balkman: We like what he brings and could develop into a nice stopper, but you don't pass on a pass first pg with big time play making ability Grade C

Collins: We didn't select Williams because we had two many pgs already? No one seems to bring that one up

1. Isiah should have protected the damn picks he surrendered. I hate to say it, but if meant having our 2007 pick rather than swapping, I would have given the Bulls David Lee, who they originally wanted. We would not value Lee as much as we do today, because at that time, we would have given up the #30 pick. I would have protected 2006, at least top #2 and offered a swap in 2008 or top 3 protection. Imagine the SF spot with Kevin Durant in it? Or better, Oden as Curry's PF. Frye would become the easist to trade, possibly with Stephon.

2. I would not have traded Antonio for Jalen. Though it netted us the #20 pick, last yr's draft was weak. And it is true that we could have bought a pick or packaged #30 with Nate or Mo Taylor and moved up or gotten a player...Portland was heavily shopping this draft and so was a number of other teams. I would have taken an extra contract year for a high pick.

3. Similarly, Penny's expiring deal was used most frivilously on Steve Francis. Add in Ariza too. At this point, we would have had over $30M coming off the books with Davis. Though not under the cap, the trade for Francis epitomized what is wrong with the operational aspects of this team. Despite what anyone says, Larry Brown was NOT the GM of this team and ISIAH signs the trade papers.

4. If we had Ariza and Butler, it would have been much wiser to sign them for the MLE at a shorter clip of 3 yr deals...actually, we had Trevor's Birds Rights and he would not have commanded the salary that would have broken us. The Jeffries signing is looking as bad as the Jerome signing. In spite of that, a combo of Q, Ariza and Lee at the SF would be a better option than adding salary with contractual perpetuity a la Jeffries.

5. Jerome for 5 yrs MLE is GROSS. Ditto for Jared. Neither have upside or put this team over the edge. We could have had a back-up center a la Cato at a vet's min. for the production we get out of Jerome James. Se above for Jeffries.

6. Stephon Marbury should have been traded after 2004-05 for Wally Sczerbiak and another deal such as Cassell who was expiring. McHale would have been so desparate, we prob could've gotten a #1 in 2006 for him or some type of future considerations. They did it with Jaric and the Clips and Marbury is a much better player. Wally wasnt traded until last December so it was a plausible deal.

7. Q's bad back just to get #21 in Nate Rob was not a good deal. Nate is a clone of Marbury and he is not a PG nor is he intelligent enough to learn the position. He is the prize at the bottom of a cracker jack box. For those who like Q, as I do, I recognize that the dude has an uninsurable back and undesirable contract. And though he looked good early, this problem will be recurring, rendering Q unreliable as any part of this team. You can not just hope his back would be OK for a year or for a period during the season. He can be perenially hurt as last yr or for lengthy streches, like now. He also is not a great shooter- he shot well for ONE MONTH. Kurt Thomas was not only a good defensive player that would have helped young players like Curry and Frye, his deal was shorter. Also, he was a desirable piece that could have netted us something as well- like something from a Dallas-like team.

8. Larry Brown, Larry Brown, Larry Brown- though I disliked his 42 different line-ups and he greatly underestimated the collective power of the media, Isiah and Dolan- he would have been the best thing for this team. LB's dismissal not only showed that the inmates/Marbury run the asylum and that Isiah's ego could not handle the fact that people believed in LB and not him. Duplicity throughout the season following by an unceremonious firing made this franchise look awful...but Isiah got what he wanted OR DID HE???? No longer its Marbury, the face of this team nor Larry Brown but its ISIAH.

9. Isiah Lord Thomas, III...your GM'g is screwing you over as a coach. Your overestimation of your roster and underestimation of coaches will lead to your demise. There is no one left to blame but yourself. Not the players, not management, not the fans...but YOU. The fans boo you and your former franchise-face MARBURY. Not Eddy (except when he misses FT's and dunks), not Jamal, not Lee, not Frye, not Nate. They boo you. The only player that will fight for Isiah's job on the hardwood is Marbs. Stephon is FINISHED once Isiah is out and every apologist this side of the Mississippi knows this. In fact, Steph, unfortunately, is a very viable option for Isiah's next scapegoat. Dolan himself said that if Marbury is doing anything to jeopardize the growth of this team, he entrusts that Isiah will take care of it. Isiah has told many lies to all of YOU...and you should resent what he has done to the Knicks on some level- whether it be benching David Lee in favor of the putrid Jeffries, lying about the Suns taking Balkman (may I digress to the original pt. of this topic) or compounding mistakes with worse ones. These lies he has come to believe.

10. REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD...but who serves it??? The players will start losing faith sooner than later. Dolan has put himself in a position to be very heroic by firing Isiah. Even if Dolan says Isiah will stay the season, he can reneg...afterall he owns the show, maybe not runs it, but P-W-N-S it. He fires Isiah as losses mounts, deals dont work out (see Francis, Jerome James), etc...he says C'YA Zeke and he will be heralded for making one right decision. He fires Isiah at season's end, so-be-it. A new regime comes in and hopefully, the right decisions will be made.

The odds are against Zeke right now, as they have been his whole life while dodging bullets in Chitown...but this is New F-in Yawk mo-fo...this is the jungle and aint nobody gonna save you. Isiah has 48 games or less to save himself- dodging bullets may be a better option for him.