http://knicks.realgm.com/articles/18/20080110/can_isiah_thomas_be_out_isiah_thomas-ed/

Can Isiah Thomas Be Out Isiah Thomas-ed?
Authored by Matt McCready - January 10, 2008 - 1:58 pm



No general manager in the NBA is more inept than Isiah Thomas.

That's the popular perception, but there is competition. After Kevin Garnett was traded to the Boston Celtics, many were questioning whether the Minnesota Timberwolves General Manager Kevin McHale (one of the greatest Celtics of all time) was still bleeding green, eschewed better offers from the Chicago Bulls and chose to trade Garnett to help out the once proud franchise. To show favoritism to any franchise other than your own would be grounds to be named the worst general manager in the league.

While I think that Boston General Manager Danny Ainge's relationship with McHale helped in terms of there being easier lines of communication, I think McHale did what he thought was best for his team regardless when he traded Garnett. McHale has a terrible record as a general manager (Marko Jaric, Michael Olowokandi), no doubt about it, but he's got nothing on Thomas. Where McHale actually showed some humility in realizing that the group of players he had in Minnesota could not win and that the time had to come to rebuild, Isiah just keeps digging himself deeper with each passing season. Whenever one of his plethora of terrible contracts would finally expire, he would deal that player for whatever other cap headache was desperately being shopped.

Some examples:

December 22, 2003

Isiah Thomas hired as General Manager of the New York Knicks.

January 2004

New York Knicks traded Antonio McDyess, Maciej Lampe, Howard Eisley, Charlie Ward, the rights to Milos Vujanic, a first-round pick in 2004 and a conditional first-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for the maximum contracts of Stephon Marbury and Anfernee Hardaway. The next summer Phoenix Suns’ GM Bryan Colangelo used the cap space cleared by Marbury and Penny's contract to sign Steve Nash. Oh that Bryan Colangelo... whenever you rip off a good friend in any transaction or bet, say they got Colan-jelloed. It's a lot of fun to say and extremely annoying to hear.

October 2005

Chicago Bulls traded Eddy Curry and the maximum contracts of Antonio Davis to the New York Knicks for Tim Thomas, Mike Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, a 2007 and 2009 second-round draft pick, a conditional 2006 first-round draft pick and a conditional right to swap 2007 first-round picks with Chicago (both were swapped, leading to lottery draft picks for the playoff bound Bulls).

February 2006

That was a really busy month for Isiah as he acquired the max contracts of both Jalen Rose and Steve Francis in two separate trades for the expiring contracts of Penny Hardaway and Antonio Davis. Neither Rose nor Francis would have any positive impact in New York.

Most recently, he acquired Zach Randolph's maximum deal for Steve Francis' contract which expires two seasons earlier. Alongside Eddy Curry, Randolph is one half of the fattest and possibly worst frontcourt duo in the league (they COMBINE for a blocked shot every two games). Zach Randolph will still be on the books for more than $17 million in 2011. $38 million on the books for him, Eddy Curry and Jamal Crawford in that year. By the way Knick fans, that's the year LeBron James enters free agency...

So that's the case against Isiah. But is it really that bad? I mean, would it be possible to put together a worse team than the Knicks at the same salary? Let's find out.

Here are the ground rules:

1. No members of the New York Knicks are to be selected

2. The player must have played one game this season i.e. no injured players

3. The player couldn't have already been bought out of their contract.

One of the main problems with the personnel that Isiah acquires is that they're all accustomed to handling the ball and their skills are dependent on being able to do so. While every successful team needs a player to be the go-to-scorer when the game is winding down, the Knicks are a team consisting of nothing but that type of player. Most of them have been accustomed to their teammates doing the dirty work, now they're the ones expected to do so. Needless to say, this is a very unbalanced roster.

In attempting to select a team that would be worse than the Knicks I decided to go in the complete opposite direction; a team comprised of nothing but overpaid role players who can contribute little offensively. Also, any sort of lingering injury or lack of athleticism is encouraged. It wasn't an easy task to cut down this list of overpaid bums and here are some that missed the list.

Peja Stojakovich $12 Million

Remember when there was some serious Stojakovich for MVP talk back in 2004? He's still too good a shooter to put on an all-bust team but he's a shadow of his former playing self.

Wally Szczerbiak $12 Million

The son of ABA player and streetball legend Walter Szczerbiak is probably among the worst All-Star selections in the last ten years. He was, however, a very good offensive player who was an ideal fit alongside Kevin Garnett in Minnesota due to his three-point accuracy and willingness to put up shots. He was never an average defensive player and should now be considered terrible. My attempts to keep any real perimeter threats keep Wally off the roster.

Speedy Claxton $6 Million

It's unfortunate that Speedy hasn't played this season - making him ineligible for the team - because he is the stereotypical player that one would find on this list; a player whose defining characteristic was sapped by injuries. 'Speedy' got the name for a reason, but he has suffered so many knee injuries since joining the Hawks he might as well be named Ostertag Claxton.

Ben Wallace $15.5 Million

Ben Wallace actually fits into the anti-system I'm trying to create to a T as an aging defensive player with no offensive game whatsoever. However, he was one of the league's best defensive players for the past ten years and hasn't quite slipped enough to warrant a place on a team of the league's most overpaid players.

Kenyon Martin $13 Million

K-Mart is a player who fits into the system I’m trying to create and he’s yet another player in the league who should send at least 30 percent of his salary to Jason Kidd (Mikki Moore, Brian Scalabrine). Even putting beside the years spent in New Jersey with J-Kidd, Martin has actually had productive seasons in Denver before the injuries caught up with him. The reason he isn't on the team however is that he's actually played relatively well this season. Besides, how can one hate on a player who has come back from micro fracture surgery on BOTH knees?

Mike James $5.5 Million

Mike James... is there a better example of a player who could only put up good stats on a terrible team? If James made the team he would probably average close to thirty points per game. If Gilbert Arenas is Agent Zero then Mike James is Agent Negative 6.

Vlad Radmanovic $5.5 Million

It hurts me to put Radman on this list, it really does. Charles Barkley picked Vladdy to win the NBA Three-Point competition a couple years ago based only on his shooting mechanics and there's merit to that. Radmanovic puts the most arc on his shot of any player in the league and it's truly an amazing thing to watch. Great for game theatrics as it gives the fans a good couple seconds of anticipation as the ball flies through the air, letting it sink in that yes, a three point shot is on its way. Who could forget the Suns/Clippers playoff match-up from a few years ago when Radmanovic shot the Clip back into the game in dramatic fashion?

And with THAT out of the way, let me now explain why he is on this list.

Vlad has been nothing short of a major disappointment during his tenure with the Lakers since day one. During his first season with the team his scoring average not only dipped by 40 percent, but he also suffered a separated shoulder while snowboarding. Radmanovic originally lied about the incident, telling team officials he had suffered the injury when he slipped on the ice while going out for coffee. Rad-Man's outside shooting ability, somewhat reasonable contract and decent athleticism keeps him off of the team.

Troy Murphy $9 Million

After years of terrible choices with top draft picks (Adonal Foyle, Todd Fuller) the Golden State Warriors once celebrated their haul of quality players they picked from the 2001 draft. In that draft - considered by many to be one of the weakest in history - they selected Jason Richardson 5th, Gilbert Arenas 31st and Troy Murphy 14th. Since then, the organization lost the best player of the three go (Arenas via free agency to Washington) and signed the other two to huge contracts that have since been dumped, due to their enormity, to desperate franchises. Troy Murphy was sent to the Indiana Pacers to rid them of the distracting Stephen Jackson and J-Rich was dealt to the Bobcats so they could, y'know, potentially stop being the Charlotte Bobcats some day.

Of the three, Murphy has been the most disappointing. As mentioned earlier, his career started off strong enough but injuries have sapped him of much of his productivity. It's been three years since his back-to-back 10 rebound seasons and he hasn't averaged seven since. He does have a decent outside shot, which prevents him from making this team, but his inability to do anything that a big man is supposed to do (rebound and block shots - under half a block per game this year) makes him grossly overpaid.

Dan Gadzuric $6 Million

Best Dutch player in the league since Rik Smits. Still terrible.

Rashard Lewis $15.5 Million

The only contract on here that was signed this past offseason; Lewis is seemingly turning into a three-point specialist in Orlando. With a player as magnificent as Dwight Howard to build around and no one really bidding against them, why did the Magic front office overpay anyone? Let alone the maximum for a player who has never been the best player on his own team.


And now for the starting lineup...


Starting Center: Theo Ratliff
$12 Million


It's sad to see a player who had as much promise as Theo Ratliff on this team, but that's what injuries can do for you.

Once a high flying shot blocking machine in Philadelphia, Ratliff was the main piece in a deal when the 76ers acquired Dikembe Mutombo from the Atlanta Hawks - and this was back in the day when Dikembe was still winning defensive player of the year awards. Injuries have always been a problem for Ratliff and not surprisingly, those problems have worsened as he ages. His lack of jumpshot and offensive skills make him a perfect fit for the system we're trying to create here and his athleticism he still possesses puts him ahead of Raef LaFrentz on the depth chart.







Starting Power Forward: Kwame Brown
$9 Million


It seems like every negative article I write about basketball has Kwame Brown in there somewhere. He's really overpaid and the worst first overall pick this side of Michael Olowokandi. His terrible shooting from everywhere on the court (in particular the free throw line where he's shot a Kwappy 44 percent the last two seasons). Even with all his bustiness, he's still relatively young and COULD get over whatever mental barriers are stopping him from achieving his potential, but it's a real long shot.






Starting Small Forward: Antoine Walker
$8.5 Million


I have to admit a bit of bias here as Antoine Walker has always been one of my least favorite players. It mainly stems from his perpetual chucking of three point shots in every game I've ever seen him play and his general inaccuracy with those shots. He's averaged nearly five three point attempts per game in his career including a ridiculous 8 per game in 2002. What's worse is that even with all those attempts his career accuracy mark from three is under 33 percent. He's never been a good defensive player and he's regressed a lot as he's aged.

Today his game is reminiscent of Jalen Rose's when he was finishing up his career as a Toronto Raptor and a *cough* New York Knick. A miracle occurred this offseason when Pat Riley was able to deal Walker and his contract that still runs until the end of the 2009 season.






Starting Shooting Guard: Larry Hughes
$12 Million


Everything seemed to be looking up for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2005 offseason. LeBron James had more than lived up to the hype upon entering the league and the team had tons of cap room to spend. Best of all, it was a strong free agent class that included three of that year's top shooting guards - Ray Allen, Michael Redd and Larry Hughes- a position that the Cavaliers were sorely lacking in. Ray Allen was not a perfect fit because of his age in relation to LeBron and he chose to resign with the Seattle SuperSonics. Michael Redd would seem to be the best fit due to his youth and ability to hit the open shot off of LeBron double-teams but the Milwaukee Bucks convinced him that he would be the man and he stayed loyal to the team that once selected him in the second round.

Hughes was coming off a career year with the Washington Wizards but the organization chose to play hardball with him, convinced that no team would sign him to the deal he was seeking. No team ever did give him that, the Cavaliers gave him more.

Hughes was supposed to be the Scottie Pippen to LeBron's Michael Jordan. The one-two swingman punch that would carry the team to NBA Championships. It didn't turn out that way. Larry had exactly one elite season (2005) in his seven years in the league before signing with Cleveland. He couldn't shoot a lick and his only real standout statistic (steals) dropped in half since he came to Cleveland. His shooting form is terrible with less arc than your typical football pass. Today, Cleveland fans are so enamored with him they started a website with perhaps the longest name on the web:

http://heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com





Starting point guard: Eric Snow
$6.5 Million


Eric Snow, yet another member of the Cleveland Cavalier's backcourt. With personnel moves like these, LeBron should think very hard before he decides to stick around with this franchise. In his prime, Eric Snow was a key member of the Philadelphia 76ers that made the Eastern Conference Finals. Larry Brown coached those teams and played Allen Iverson nearly exclusively as an undersized 2, which is what made Snow such a great fit alongside him. In those days, Snow was a point guard with good size and great defensive instincts. That was years ago however and his play has really trailed off. He's never been much of a scoring threat and his playmaking is below average.





In the eyes of Bill Walton, and really, who else's eyes even matter, Eric Snow is not a pure point guard.


6th Man: Marcus Banks
$4 Million

The signing of Marcus Banks was the first major signing of the Phoenix Suns, post Bryan Colangelo, and was a pretty good indication of his contribution to the team's success. The philosophy that Colangelo used to make the Suns a contender, and the same one that completely turned around the Toronto Raptors, is to place emphasis on players who can really shoot the basketball. The Suns traded a first round draft pick to the Celtics - used to select Rajon Rondo - in order to have the cap room to sign Banks. It was apparent from day one that this Banks is no Uncle Phil. He shot only 42 percent from the field in his first season with the Suns and a ridiculously bad 17 percent from three. His shooting numbers are actually pretty decent this year, but it seems doubtful they'll stay this high above his career numbers.

He was signed to the contract with the mindset that he'd be Steve Nash's backup. He's currently averaging one assist per game.

Back up Center: Raef LaFrentz
$12 Million

Raef LaFrentz was selected ahead of Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce. Surprisingly enough, no one can really blame Denver for foregoing those guys and picking the sharp shooting big man.

LaFrentz was a beast in his early years. He was mobile, a big body, could block shots and had shooting range out to the three point line. In 2002 he finished with averages of 14 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots per game. Knee injuries have sapped him of his mobility and ability to be anything more than a scrub at the end of the Portland Trailblazer bench.

He's the Andrea Bargnani 'worse case' scenario.





A nice Raef LaFrentz play from early on in his career


Back-up Power Forward: Brian 'Fletch' Cardinal
$6 Million

It's offishall. Brian Cardinal is terrible. Drafted 44th overall by the Detroit Pistons in the 2000 NBA Draft, he rarely got any playing time and was traded to the Washington Wizards where he was cut. After a short stint in the Spanish league, he turned into one of the league's feel good stories when he latched on with the Golden State Warriors and earned both significant minutes and a nickname 'The Janitor', because of his willingness to do the dirty work on the court.

From a basketball standpoint, it all went downhill from there for Cardinal. From a financial standpoint however, it's a different story. The Memphis Grizzlies’ General Manager at the time, the legendary Jerry West, continued his streak of questionable Memphis related personnel moves - another would be the drafting of Troy Bell and Dahtney Jones in the first round - and signed Cardinal to the full mid-level exception. So for $6 million a year the team gets an injury prone 'character guy' who can barely get up and down the court. Sounds about right.





Brian Cardinal: Heart on and off the court


Back-up Small Forward: Bobby Simmons
$9 Million

Bobby Simmons career reflects that of Brian Cardinal on many points. They both had unsuccessful stints in Washington and then bounced back to have productive seasons for a California team (the Clippers in Simmons' case) before signing a big money long term contract with a team that would come to regret it. Simmons was a quality player but it's doubtful he'll ever live up to his price tag. This year he's averaging 6 points per game on 40 percent shooting and is averaging more turnovers than assists.





A different, criminally underpaid, Bobby Simmons


Backup Shooting Guard: Keyon Dooling
$3.5 Million

Dooling is probably the most deserving of his salary of anyone on this list at an acceptable $3.5 million. He doesn't have much of an outside shot though so he's a perfect fit to this anarchic system.





Dooling gets... salami and cheesed?


Reserve Guard: Greg Buckner
$4 Million

Greg Buckner is a defensive guard with a streaky shot and little else. He was the last addition I made to the team for salary reasons more than anything.

The Final Roster of the Anti Isiah Team

C - Theo Ratliff, Raef LaFrentz
PF - Kwame Brown, Brian Cardinal
SF - Antoine Walker, Bobby Simmons
SG - Larry Hughes, Keyon Dooling, Greg Buckner
PG - Eric Snow, Marcus Banks

Total New York Knick Team Salary: $88 Million

Total McCready Malarkey Team Salary: $86.5 Million

Overall, it was much easier to find acceptable big men for this team than it was to find guards. Not too surprising as height and size are not easily obtained, forcing teams that are not lucky enough to have it to overpay in the hopes that the big man in question would over-achieve.

This team would hustle. It would rebound the ball. It would set good screens. However, it couldn't score off of those screens and wouldn't score off of put backs because the big men have such poor hands. It would defend well enough in the half court set, but it doesn't have the end-to-end speed to defend the fast break. As bad as the Knicks are, this team is definitely worse.

In conclusion, while Isiah Thomas might be an abysmal executive, if one were to specifically set out and construct a worse team, they would probably be able to do so.





"Score another one up for the i i Guy!"