CUBAN SIDES WITH DOLAN
By DAN MARTIN

December 11, 2007 -- It's become a nightly ritual: The Garden crowd erupting periodically during Knick games and chanting, "Fire Isiah.'' Last night, it began in the third quarter.

And through it all, owner James Dolan does nothing. His counterpart in Dallas, Mark Cuban, doesn't blame Dolan for not listening.

"That would be the biggest mistake you ever possibly could make,'' Cuban said before the game. "If I let you guys general manage, I'd be a bigger idiot than people already think I am. If people care enough to chant, to come to the games and chant, that means they're passionate, and that's a good thing.''

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Well, it's better than having them not show up at all.

"All the chants out there probably make you stronger in your convictions as opposed to make you question yourself,'' Cuban said.

Still, it's hard to imagine the demanding Cuban, a fixture in the crowd in Dallas, standing for the amount of disarray that has become commonplace at the Garden. But he refused to take any shots at Isiah Thomas or his boss, even though the Knicks have the league's highest payroll. Cuban said that didn't guarantee wins.

"You would hope [it would], [but] you take chances in this league,'' Cuban said. "There are no absolutes. When you feel the pressure, you roll the dice and when you roll the dice, it's not easy to react and recover. That's the tough part of the salary cap: When you're stuck, you're stuck. It doesn't happen overnight.''

In the Knicks' case, it doesn't happen over a year. Or two. The Knicks have been stuck for a long time.

"[Losing] is always intolerable,'' Cuban said. "But you have short term and long term. It's kind of like the stock market. If you go nuts every day, you just go nuts. Everybody's different.''

Knick fans are finding that out the hard way, as nothing - not the losing, the bloated payroll or the off-the-court humiliations - seems to be enough to force Dolan to fix the situation.

The one thing that Cuban was clear on is that the fan base would never impact a decision.

"We know what we're trying to accomplish, we look to see if we're accomplishing that or not and then say if it's a good thing or bad thing,'' Cuban said. "It's not based on external pressures at all.''

That doesn't mean he won't ever listen to the people.

"The feedback I get from the fans, I don't use as consulting for general-managing activities,'' Cuban said.

"The feedback I pay attention to from the fans is, 'Are the hot dogs hot, is the beer cold, are sightlines good, are you being treated with professionalism and courtesy?' That's what I want to know from the fans.''

Posted by Bippity10:

I agree with that. FAns boo because they are fed up with 7 years of refusing to realize that Patrick is gone. Dolan should not base his decisions on the boo's. He should base his decision on results/or lack of.