A grumpy Isiah

Something's bugging Isiah Thomas. It's obvious to any of us who talk to him on almost a daily basis.

It isn't surprising, considering what hangs over him and his responsibility for it, according to a jury.

Still, a guy who during his New York tenure has been more than willing to address any subject, at length, albeit on his own terms and, before he became coach, infrequently, is now the master of the one-word, indefinite answer.

He sounds like a product of the Garden's media-training program that helped get Larry Brown fired.

Which could be one of the issues here, although there are one or two potential explanations for his sudden terseness:

1. He's decided the New York/New Jersey media has beaten him up beyond his breaking point and he's not going to take it any more. Clearly, after the Anucha Browne Sanders trail verdict, he hoped some writers and broadcasters might come to his defense. Instead, he's gotten hammered even more and he's decided to take it out on the people he believes are wielding the hammers.

2. He now finds himself under someone's thumb, either Commissioner David Stern, or more likely, owner James L. Dolan, who could get hit with an $11.6 million pop as a result of the trial, in part because of a "culture" Thomas has instilled, even though the Knicks' president-coach wasn't assessed a dime in the original verdict.

This is the more plausible theory, that Thomas now finds a guillotine blade hanging over his head, his potential firing now used a threat, much as "significant progress" was last season.

Dolan hasn't talked all preseason and, like the sporting version of the Soviet Union that it is, the organization is zipped up tight.

And you can bet, if Thomas happens to get whacked, despite his new three-year contract extension that starts this season, Dolan and Co. would give him the Brown treatment and try to retain at least a portion of what they owe him.

Whether any of these theories are true or not, Thomas has zipped it up. Ask him a yes-no question (which Interviewing 101 says should be avoided, particularly an old Barbara Walters book that is the definitive guide to the craft, no mattter what you think of her) and you get a yes-no answer, no more.

Even press him, as reporters did during Monday's pre-game morning shootaround, and he'll rarely give an inch.

For instance, asked to discuss, besides his stated goal of "staying healthy," what he hopes to accomplish with his team the final week of preseason, Thomas paused, then answered, "I want to see us stay healthy and keep our conditioning up."

Four times he answered a yes-no question, which sometimes is necessary, with either a yes, no or "Yes I do."

Far less than what people used to get from a guy who'd launch into how he survived growing up on the west side of Chicago at a moment's notice.

This, of course, gives writers the license to, as Dallas Green used to say after a particularly difficult loss during his days as Mets manager, "Write what you see, Stevie."

(He, Bob Murphy and a dear, departed grandmother were/are the only people allowed to use, "Stevie," for the record).

So, instead of what Thomas says (which he believes is often misinterpreted or taken out of context), people will now write what they see.

Which he may find out to be no better than what he's reading now.

Far less than what people used to get from a guy who'd launch into how he survived growing up on the west side of Chicago at a moment's notice.