I said this early in the season after the first few losses in the season's first big losing streak. I know Dolan is very patient with Isiah, but we're 1/4 through the season and we're 10 under. Is it time where Isiah can actually worry about his job? I honestly didn't feel like we'd be at this point this early. Maybe Dolan will finally cut ties? Thoughts?

Dolan is too busy fighting at the battle of Endor. Once the death star is destroyed he'll probably look at the standings.

He throws one mean spear.

We'd have to go 35-25 (.583) to break even at 41-41.

Depending on how many wins you view as necessary to make the playoffs which would ultimately save Isiah for another year this is what the Knicks face:

41 wins = 35-25 (.583)
40 wins = 34-26 (.566)
39 wins = 33-27 (.550)
38 wins = 32-28 (.533)
37 wins = 31-29 (.516)
36 wins = 30-30 (.500) <-- boston made the playoffs going 36-46 not long ago.

I doubt it takes less than 38 wins to make the playoffs this year but I wanted to illustrate what it would take for Isiah to save his job. Given it will probably take 38+ wins (possibly 40) then it's pretty obvious the season is over and Isiah's job is done.

So why keep him?

Posted by Solace:

I said this early in the season after the first few losses in the season's first big losing streak. I know Dolan is very patient with Isiah, but we're 1/4 through the season and we're 10 under. Is it time where Isiah can actually worry about his job? I honestly didn't feel like we'd be at this point this early. Maybe Dolan will finally cut ties? Thoughts?

I went one further. This is exactly the scenario I predicted before the season started, but I was called negative. But now' I'm a hero.

Posted by TMS:

Cool.

Posted by Bippity10:

We will have a stretch of 20 games of .500 ball and that will be more than enough to warrant an extension rather than a firing

This will be cool...
Did we started this already with NJ win?

The reason we didn't beat Philly TWICE, and the Sonice is because we're NOT better than them.

There's no such thing as "beating teams we're supposed to", as we're expected to lose all games.

Posted by VDesai:

In 20 games there have been so many embarassments and fireable offenses that its impossible to understand how a guy could still have a job. Because he hasn't been fired yet I can't see how he's gonna be fired this season. My last hope was that the appeal would free up their ability to let him go, but as of yet, it hasn't.

The way it generally works is the coach gets the benefit of the doubt until the owner decides he's lost the team and they wont play for him. That certainly appeared to be the case after Isiah mishandled the Marbury situation. My guess is no Knick has ever liked the way Isiah has handled (indulged) Marbury, so it wasn't hard to offend them. Then you have Lee and Curry probably resentful of Zach, or at least their diminished roles. Then you had the deaths and bereavements.

So all told the team got off to a bad start chemistry wise and did quit for a while, but they also fell into a morbid depression. I have to figure that's the angle Isiah has sold Dolan on. Sprinkle in some injuries and trying to work on a new player and isiah earned himself a chance to regain the team, and I think there are signs he's doing so. Their body language and energy are improving.

So Dolan will roll with Isiah for a while more to see how things evolve. But if Isiah loses them again I think it will be a wake-up call that this team wont work for him, and if they wont work for him they wont work for anyone.

Now he's got to work Gloombury back in just when the mood was improving. And he's still got to find a way to keep Curry, Lee and the rest of the bench, many who only get spot minutes, motivated.

One problem for Isiah is he's always sold us and the team on internal competition being a great motivator, but it all falls out the window when the starters aren't made to earn their play time. Why should a bench guy keep trying if it seems he doesn't have a chance? The other side of the coin is that Isiah has too much invested in his starters to admit they stink and bench them.

So it's all a big facade. We still need the bench to lift this team through practice and games because our "franchise" players are slackers. That will do in any coach.