http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2007/11/18/change_of_pacers_upstairs/

Perfect , sign me up.

eh not really a big fan of his moves but anything is better than Isiah

Posted by Allanfan20:

CDB, lets raise the standards. That's like saying I'll eat that shyat, b/c it's better than eating the shyat over there which is being swarmed by flies and it was the exact standard we held when we first hired Isiah. EVERYONE, including myself, was saying "Well, at least he'll be better than Layden." Well guess what. He wasn't "Better" than Layden and we started sucking worse.

We need to hire qualified people. Not people who are supposedly better than shyat.

I was in that same boat, showing off the great Isiah and what he was going to do for us. And then I un-lost my mind in mid season last year.

Posted by Allanfan20:

CDB, lets raise the standards. That's like saying I'll eat that shyat, b/c it's better than eating the shyat over there which is being swarmed by flies and it was the exact standard we held when we first hired Isiah. EVERYONE, including myself, was saying "Well, at least he'll be better than Layden." Well guess what. He wasn't "Better" than Layden and we started sucking worse.

We need to hire qualified people. Not people who are supposedly better than shyat.

I agree. Hiring somebody else, who simply "Isn't Isiah" will only start another years-long cycle of the same stuff.

If Isiah has to go, it should be for someone with a proven track record. Not that that guarantees anything.

The fact is any GM brought in will be controlled to a large degree by Dolan. Steinbrenner and Dolan are very similar. The big difference between the Knicks and Yankees is that the Knicks have to deal with the salary cap. With no salary cap, the Knicks might not win a championship, but they would make huge free agent signings to make sure they are always decent to pretty good.

oohah

How much do we really know about Dolan as an interference?

Under Layden, yes - he wanted the fighting between Grunfeld and JVG to stop, he wanted Camby and Spree out, he liked don Chaney a lot (a good man, and former coach of the year) and he wanted "character" people in.

But under Isiah, what do we know?

He liked that Marbury Jerseys sold a lot.
He wanted no more word of internal struggles getting out to the press.
He wanted the best coach money could buy.
He fired a woman who made claims (internally) of sexual harassment.

How much of that affected Isiah's moves?

He did a complete turnabout on requiring character guys. We know of no players he demanded be brought in or expelled. Lenny quit after 12 months (our only 12 winning months BTW) so we can't blame Dolan for keeping him too long or short. Perhaps the worst charge that can be laid against him as that he chose Isiah over Brown, but Brown was as responsible for that as anyone for violating Dolan's press rules.

There may be more I'm forgetting or don't yet know, but from what I've seen under Isiah's reign Isiah has had a pretty free hand and open wallet to work with. Again, you can say he starphucked us by wanting Brown, but I think his heart was in the right place there, he just wanted quality. It could have equally been Phil, Flip, Fratello, etc, and possibly even Herb if one of the big ones wasn't to be had.

Dolan is impatient and wants the best that money can buy, but I don't think he's directly responsible for the failings of the Isiah Thomas administration. He's definitely not smart enough to oversee a bad situation gone wrong, but that's different than assuming nothing could go right under him.

How much do we really know about Dolan as an interference?

Straight from Dolan's lips we know that he told Isiah to get Brown.

According to most reports, the Marbury acquisition was already in the works under Layden. I don't know if the reports are true, but if they are, it makes one wonder how a possible deal like that is transferred from GM to GM.

Then, based on his history with Camby, Sprewell, Grunfeld, and Checketts, we know he is very active in the dealings of his GM.

While we don't know how much he has affected Thomas' dealings, outside of making him be coach/GM after LB, I think it is safe to assume he has not completely changed the manner in which he 'guides' the decision making.

oohah