This is a well-known public contrarian who has no bones about saying and doing things that go against the grain and d*** as he may be, doesn't seem to try to court favor in the public arena.

What's the spin in this?

But with Dolan that is not spin, that is pure fact.

He was as unconvincing as ever. What a poor public speaker.

Childs2Dudley wrote:The spin would be that he is fabricating the story.

Why?

Dolan very famously loves to thumb his nose at critics and make no apologies for who is is and what he does. He enjoys going the opposite of what other people think he should do.

Courting public favor is out of character for him.

Knickoftime wrote:
What's the spin in this?

Keeping Stern happy, for one thing. Trying to maximize goodwill with the fanbase for another.

Anyway, what degree of involvement are we discussing? Walsh admitted Dolan was chatting with his close friend Isiah, and Dolan admits the same. This friend is also one he wished to hire and the league denied him. So to what degree are you certain Isiah isn't influencing Dolan's eagerness, willingness, motivations, instructions, etc, in these chats? Just what is it you are asserting or denying?

OasisBU wrote:Personally I think the entire Isiah thing was created by the beat writers and ESPN and half this board is falling for it.

I cede the possibility of that.

One thing we can be certain of, there are two themes the beat writers will be plying over and over again for many years to come.

1. Isiah's dark Svengali ways over Dolan.

2. The war between Dolan and his arch arch nemesis, the Russian.

They are the the kinds of foils of fear that propagandists have used since time immemorial.

However, it's no secret that Isiah needs Dolan and knows how to play him like a fiddle.

BlueSeats wrote:

Knickoftime wrote:

BlueSeats wrote:Anyway, what degree of involvement are we discussing?

The version that Thomas is pulling the strings, has greater influence over Dolan (and the trade) than Walsh (to the point that Walsh didn't even want to do the trade, and that the stars are aligning for Thomas to come back and run the Knicks.

Ah, okay. That far I do not go either.

However, I don't doubt in the least that Walsh has had to compete mightily with Isiah for Dolan's ear and that Isiah's input and influence has made Walsh's job tougher, possibly causing us to give up more than we otherwise might have.

That is the boat I am in.

Paladin55 wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:It shows that he is sensitive to public opinion, that he knows that no one wants to see Isiah return except for him and a few front office brown nosers. I take this as a good sign that he knows there are limits to what the fans will put up with. He may be also worried that he is looking like Isiah's biatch.

Yup. Donnie didn't make any negative comments, and Dolan knows enough to stay quiet on this one.

Any Isiah quotes on this stuff?

He was asked about the trade and advising and all he kept saying was "I have no comment".

Childs2Dudley wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:It shows that he is sensitive to public opinion, that he knows that no one wants to see Isiah return except for him and a few front office brown nosers. I take this as a good sign that he knows there are limits to what the fans will put up with. He may be also worried that he is looking like Isiah's biatch.

Yup. Donnie didn't make any negative comments, and Dolan knows enough to stay quiet on this one.

Any Isiah quotes on this stuff?

He was asked about the trade and advising and all he kept saying was "I have no comment".

If Isiah says "no comment" I'm guessing he was probably muzzled by Dolan, good news. Hopefully there will be enough good things happening on the court to make the beat writers forget about Isiah.