Posted by martin:

ouch. Could someone remind the timeline for which Isiah fired Lenny's top assistant. I know it was towards the beginning of the season. Was it the start of the first full season for coach Wilkens?

Isiah says he won't coach Knicks
Club exec reacts to 0-2 start by playing role in departure of Wilkens’ top aide
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:18 p.m. ET Nov 10, 2004

NEW YORK - Seeking to quell the perception he’s the man-in-waiting to replace Lenny Wilkens as coach of the New York Knicks, team president Isiah Thomas took himself out of the running Tuesday.

“I’m not coaching the New York Knicks,” Thomas said while also acknowledging he played a part in the resignation of Wilkens’ top assistant, Dick Helm, following the team’s 0-2 start.

Thomas, who made wholesale changes to the roster and staff following his hiring 10½ months ago, wasted no time reacting to his team’s poor start to the new season.

In place of Helm, Wilkens’ longtime friend and right-hand man, Thomas moved director player personnel Brendan Suhr to the bench as Wilkens’ new assistant.

Wilkens said it was the first time in his coaching career, after 2,450 games, that he would lead a team without a hand-picked assistant next to him. Herb Williams and Michael Malone are holdovers from former coach Don Chaney’s staff, while Suhr, George Glymph and Mark Aguirre were brought in by Thomas.

Since arriving in New York, Thomas has said he still has an interest in returning to the sidelines. But his comments Tuesday night were his strongest to date regarding the possibility of coaching in New York.

“I think in other cities you may be able to pull off GM-coach, but I don’t think in this city you can do it,” Thomas said.

“Now, will I ever coach another team? That’s possible. But as long as I’m the president of basketball operations in New York, I don’t see myself coaching the New York Knicks. That’s not going to happen while I’m here,” Thomas said.

Wilkens continued to stick with the company line that Helm had resigned of his own volition, but Thomas acknowledged playing a role in the departure of the 71-year-old assistant and indicated it was a response to the Knicks’ 34-point loss in their home opener Saturday night.

“Anything that’s done basketball-wise with the New York Knicks, I do have a say and my hand is involved, and I either approve or disapprove,” Thomas said, adding: “What happened here the other night is totally unacceptable, and I hope to never see it again.”

Even in Houston, Van Gundy Has Ideas About the Knicks
By HOWARD BECK

HOUSTON, Nov. 17 - In one wing of the Toyota Center, the Knicks were reviewing their mistakes and trying to soothe their nerves. A short walk up a ramp and an elevator ride away, Jeff Van Gundy sat on a desk in the press room and verbally agonized over his team's shortcomings.

In another time and place, the two scenes would have been part of the same broader picture. It was only by virtue of the schedule that on this rain-soaked Wednesday in downtown Houston, the Knicks and Van Gundy shared their pain in the same building for a few hours.

The Knicks, dragging along at 2-4, play Van Gundy's underachieving Houston Rockets (4-5) on Thursday night.

Van Gundy is nearly three years removed from his time with the Knicks, but escaping the pressure of New York has not given him much relief. He is as emotionally wrought and emotionally honest as ever, whether the subject is his new team or his old one.

Van Gundy was dismayed at the dismissal of the longtime Knicks announcer Marv Albert, whom he counts as a friend. But he was even more troubled by the Knicks' decision to fire Dick Helm - Lenny Wilkens's top assistant - after the team lost its first two games.

"Dick Helm is one of the most wonderful guys you'd ever want to know, a very good basketball coach," Van Gundy said. "It's unfortunate that it was him to take the burden of one bad game."

Van Gundy added: "When you're the head coach and you're in charge of it, that's one thing. If we lose tomorrow, should our video coordinator be gone? Was it the tape that was wrong? Come on. I felt bad for Coach Helm."

When the Knicks replaced Helm with Brendan Suhr, a close associate of the team's president, Isiah Thomas, it left Wilkens with a staff chosen entirely by others, including one assistant, Mike Malone, who was originally hired by Van Gundy.

"As a coach, you should have total control of who's on your staff, if you're going to be judged on the result," Van Gundy said.

Van Gundy said he was not necessarily referring to the Knicks. "That happens a number of places," he said. "Lenny Wilkens has gotten good results since he's been there, with an ever-changing hand that's being dealt to him. I think he's done a fantastic job."

Later, Van Gundy sounded as if he were still coaching and critiquing the Knicks, mentioning a number of themes that his old team was also dealing with.

He said teams usually did not lose because of less talent, but because of inferior effort and intensity. He said the teams that won the most were the ones that did not beat themselves.

"But most teams play a huge part in their own demise," Van Gundy said.

An hour later, in another part of the Toyota Center, the Knicks echoed that sentiment.

On Tuesday, they let a close game become a 99-81 rout to the Spurs in San Antonio. Afterward, Stephon Marbury criticized his team for breaking out of offensive sets.

Wilkens replayed the film for his team on Wednesday and gave the same speech.

"We've got new people, but they've got to learn and understand that you just don't be impulsive, you don't break it off, you don't try and do it by yourself," Wilkens said. "You're not going to win if you do."

Although Wilkens preached that the Knicks must play smarter, and Marbury reiterated his feelings Wednesday, the issue was treated almost disdainfully in other corners of the room.

Tim Thomas, who forced several shots and committed five turnovers Tuesday, sounded as if he were the main target of the criticism. He at once accepted it and dismissed it.

"Hey, if y'all want to put it on my shoulders, I've got broad shoulders," Thomas said, pulling back his shirt sleeve to support his point. "If we're losing and it's because of me, then I've got to do something right."

But Thomas, who shot 5 of 15 against the Spurs, rejected the suggestion, floated by Wilkens, that he was pressing in order to snap a slump.

"I just need to be more aggressive," he said. "And if forcing it or pressing it or whatever you want to call it is the issue, then so be it. I just know with myself that I have to be more aggressive."

Jamal Crawford admitted that the Knicks needed to play with more discipline, but he said he was wary of the second-guessing about the team's struggles.

"It's amazing, because if we win and everything is not going as smoothly, it's kind of hidden in the win," Crawford said. "But you lose a couple games and everybody starts nitpicking. We've just got to play. Stop pointing fingers at everybody and just play.

"There are teams like Sacramento, who are really good teams, who have the same record or less. It takes time to jell; we'll do it."

Posted by nyk4ever:

The Knicks are trying to win at all costs and are STILL 7 games under .500 in February.

Move along Isiah, it's someone elses turn.