2014 7:29 PM EDT

With Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford, David Lee and Trevor Ariza all playing important roles in the NBA Playoffs, Isiah Thomas is left to wonder what would had happen if his core with the New York Knicks had more time together.

“We had all those players while they were young,” Thomas said Thursday on Spike Lee’s SiriusXM NBA Radio show. “I can’t remember a time where the Knicks have had two All-Stars and a Sixth Man of the Year and they were all under the age of 29. I just wish we would have had the luxury of having a
little bit more time to more or less let the tree grow and let it bear a little bit more fruit.”

Thomas served as general manager of the Knicks from 2003 until 2008.

“It was a very young group. And we all want more time,” said Thomas. “And sometimes time is not the luxury that you have at your fingertips. But I wish that we could have kept that group together just a little bit longer as we’ve seen that they’ve grown into exceptional players and All-Stars in the league.

RGM”

Papabear wrote:Papabear Says

2014 7:29 PM EDT

With Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford, David Lee and Trevor Ariza all playing important roles in the NBA Playoffs, Isiah Thomas is left to wonder what would had happen if his core with the New York Knicks had more time together.

“We had all those players while they were young,” Thomas said Thursday on Spike Lee’s SiriusXM NBA Radio show. “I can’t remember a time where the Knicks have had two All-Stars and a Sixth Man of the Year and they were all under the age of 29. I just wish we would have had the luxury of having a
little bit more time to more or less let the tree grow and let it bear a little bit more fruit.”

Thomas served as general manager of the Knicks from 2003 until 2008.

“It was a very young group. And we all want more time,” said Thomas. “And sometimes time is not the luxury that you have at your fingertips. But I wish that we could have kept that group together just a little bit longer as we’ve seen that they’ve grown into exceptional players and All-Stars in the league.

RGM”

I'd have to agree with Isiah. I think a lot of people allow their personal feelings to interfere with what was his job performance. The fact of the matter is that he turned one of the worst situations in sports history into a circumstance that had a silver lining. Aside from the Eddy Curry debacle, he did a pretty good job here; definitely better than Donnie Walsh.

Zeke gets here Dec. 2003. Ariza picked up in 2004 draft. Jamal gets here in a trade from Chicago in Aug. 2004 for Mutumbo et al. Frye, Lee & Nate picked up in 2005 draft. Good start.

Eddy Curry and his heart defect gets here Oct. 2005 using picks that became Joakim Noah and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Anucha Browne Sanders is fired in January 2006.

Ariza was traded with Penny for Stevie Franchise in Feb. 2006.

Knicks finished 2005-06 second to last in the league with the league's highest payroll.

But then Stevie & Frye was traded for Zach in June 2007.

Isiah & MSG are found liable for sexual harassment in Oct. 2007.

Donnie Walsh is brought in April 2008 and Isiah looms in the shadows until… who knows when exactly.

Postscript: Zach and Jamal both traded Nov. 2008, with that date still a UK forum record.

So what I think is Isiah wants to be remembered as a savvy scout of talent, but wants us to forget about his massive failure Eddy Curry and his otherwise reprehensible behavior.

ramtour420 wrote:

DrAlphaeus wrote:Hmm:

Zeke gets here Dec. 2003. Jamal gets here in a trade from Chicago in Aug. 2004 for Mutumbo et al.

Eddy Curry and his heart defect gets here Oct. 2005 using picks that became Joakim Noah and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Anucha Browne Sanders is fired in January 2006.

Ariza was traded with Penny for Stevie Franchise in Feb. 2006.

Knicks finished 2005-06 second to last in the league with the league's highest payroll.

But then Stevie was traded for Zach in June 2007.

Isiah & MSG are found liable for sexual harassment in Oct. 2007.

Donnie Walsh is brought in April 2008 and Isiah looms in the shadows until… who knows when exactly.

Postscript: Zach and Jamal both traded Nov. 2008, with that date still a UK forum record.

So what I think is Isiah wants to be remembered as a savvy scout of talent, but wants us to forget about his massive failure Eddy Curry and his otherwise reprehensible behavior.

So those four were never even on the team at the same time? Slick, clever, witty, you Zeke, you tell them !!!

I edited my post to at least give him credit for a good start, but come on Zeke. It's exactly why those Eddy Curry picks were a waste, because I really do think Zeke could have drafted us a much, much better team. Look up the wasted salaries for those years, it will make you cry.

ramtour420 wrote:

DrAlphaeus wrote:Hmm:

Zeke gets here Dec. 2003. Jamal gets here in a trade from Chicago in Aug. 2004 for Mutumbo et al.

Eddy Curry and his heart defect gets here Oct. 2005 using picks that became Joakim Noah and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Anucha Browne Sanders is fired in January 2006.

Ariza was traded with Penny for Stevie Franchise in Feb. 2006.

Knicks finished 2005-06 second to last in the league with the league's highest payroll.

But then Stevie was traded for Zach in June 2007.

Isiah & MSG are found liable for sexual harassment in Oct. 2007.

Donnie Walsh is brought in April 2008 and Isiah looms in the shadows until… who knows when exactly.

Postscript: Zach and Jamal both traded Nov. 2008, with that date still a UK forum record.

So what I think is Isiah wants to be remembered as a savvy scout of talent, but wants us to forget about his massive failure Eddy Curry and his otherwise reprehensible behavior.

So those four were never even on the team at the same time? Slick, clever, witty, you Zeke, you tell them !!!

Uh, only Ariza wasn't around to play with the core group of guys mentioned in the title. And if it wasn't for Larry Brown, Ariza would've stuck around to be part of that core because Channing Frye was the primary bait in the Randolph deal and we had a slew of contracts to substitute for Francis (who would've never been on the team).

NardDogNation wrote:

DrAlphaeus wrote:Hmm:

Zeke gets here Dec. 2003. Ariza picked up in 2004 draft. Jamal gets here in a trade from Chicago in Aug. 2004 for Mutumbo et al. Frye, Lee & Nate picked up in 2005 draft. Good start.

Eddy Curry and his heart defect gets here Oct. 2005 using picks that became Joakim Noah and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Anucha Browne Sanders is fired in January 2006.

Ariza was traded with Penny for Stevie Franchise in Feb. 2006.

Knicks finished 2005-06 second to last in the league with the league's highest payroll.

But then Stevie & Frye was traded for Zach in June 2007.

Isiah & MSG are found liable for sexual harassment in Oct. 2007.

Donnie Walsh is brought in April 2008 and Isiah looms in the shadows until… who knows when exactly.

Postscript: Zach and Jamal both traded Nov. 2008, with that date still a UK forum record.

So what I think is Isiah wants to be remembered as a savvy scout of talent, but wants us to forget about his massive failure Eddy Curry and his otherwise reprehensible behavior.

Isiah may be a douche but that has nothing to do with the topic of conversation I.e. his basketball operations resume. Yes, he had the Eddy Curry debacle but outside of that, what move could you really consider a failure from a talent/value perspective?

I'll always say he was a good draft scout. But he shouldn't have done more than that.

But if you believe that the prez of ops is in charge of the culture, it seems his mismanagement on other levels had a direct impact on basketball.

I forgot to add he was there when they brought on Marbury Jan. '04. I thought good things were coming back then as well. Knicks make playoffs, but after slow start Wilkens resigns next season. Old fashioned coach loses the ears of the young guys. Sounds familiar. Herb, Larry, Allan Houston's contract… not saying he had it easy. But Steve Francis? Jerome James? Vin Baker? Trading Crazy Eyes for Ray-J's brother-in-law for a million more a year? (That may just be nostalgia talking but something to be said about crafty vets in the mix, and his other centers were busts). Coddling/enabling Marbury? Maybe the core got good simply because they were depended on so much and got so many minutes in losing efforts, it was some sort of crucible. I dunno. But the 06-07 & 07-08 teams he coached he got 33 & 23 wins, respectively. So he can say "I wish" all he wants but I wish he wasn't a failure as a manager.

Talent was never the issue, it was the empowered narcissist of Marbles that was toxic.

Reezy was talented but still very raw with clashed with Larry's "be professional" mantra. Larry wanted saavy players and Reezy was not there yet. Wrong coach for that team. Larry did bring out the best in Crawford and Eddy.

ZBo had the talent but was a bone head.

gunsnewing wrote:

Panos wrote:Nice cherry-picking.
How about the core of Marbles, Mo Taylor, Penny Hardaway, Steve Francis, Jerome James, Eddy Curry, and Larry Hughes?

Exactly. Crippling moves