When Zeke came here, all my friends said he's a snake in the grass, he's only out for himself yadda yadda yadda all this crap. at least i thought it was crap. it now becomes clear he's clearing house on a major level. he moved out layden's picks. he moved out layden's coach. while moving chaney was a necessary change for change sake, he replaced him with an equally barely competent coach, while bringing in "his boy" mark aguire, grooming him to take over when the team becomes competitive in a few years. it became clear we'd never ever have a high profile riley, jackson, nelson type coach while zeke was here, becuase he has to be the star. that's fine. plenty of good workhorse coaches who don't demand the spotlight. But now within a week now the knicks getting rid of marv and willis reed...you gotta read between the lines. You gotta see Zeke's hand in here somwhere. He doesn't want anyone from the old regime in here whether they're competent or not. While I still trust his vision and talent, his ego is beginning to concern me. I'm still behind him, but I'm starting to get nervous. Its just like George Bush and Condie Rice moving Richard Clark out of the loop all the while he was screaming about Al Queda and they were all concerned about Cuba and China. And before you all jump on me by saying that its all dolan, you have to understand that there's absolutely no correlation between whats reported in the papers and what really happens behind the scenes. You must use your own deduction and analysis to read between the lines and get to the truth... (yeah right, George Tenet really resigned to spend more time with his family, yeah right, when Cheney steps down in August in favor of Giuliani they will say its health and not polls. One can go on and on, but realize the news is just a jumping off point for the real truth...and the truth is Isiah's ego has more to do with the knicks changes than anyone wants to admit...now if those changes result in us winning a championship, great, but if they're just changes for change sake...well its been 31 years, get ready to wait another 31...

Zeke probably does have a big ego but I can't agree with some of your reasoning.

he moved out layden's picks.

Yeah...2 of his 2nd round picks, but he also kept 2 of his picks.

it became clear we'd never ever have a high profile riley, jackson, nelson type coach while zeke was here, becuase he has to be the star.

Lenny is a high profile Hall of Fame coach from NYC.

Getting rid of marv and willis reed...

Willis wants to leave, and do yo really think before the draft Zeke is making decisions on who is announcing Knick games? How come he added Kareem?

I absolutely think Zeke has a hand in who's announcing games. He even said he goes home and watches every game on MSG rewind. Why? because he knows perception is important and he wants to know how we're being presented and perceived on a nightly basis. Come on, first thing he did was institute uniforms for coaches during practice. I'm not saying that's bad, but if you think this guy isn't a micro managing steinbrenner type (again not necessarily an all bad thing), you're totally wrong.

I never said Lenny was a good coach....just a high profile one.

We'll see if he can fix the roster and get Phil Jackson here, that should be the goal - and it is very possible. If he takes the team in a different direction then it is about Zeke. Jackson would be key in terms of success...however I dont see him showing up unless the Knicks have a much improved roster.

Phil Jackon is a horrible coach. He is a joak. The one time he had the chance to caoch, he got schooled by Larry Brown. The only way Jackson comes here if we somehow have the best player in the game, or maybe the best 2 players in the game. Then this clown will comm knocking on the door.

As for all of the Iseah crap, you gusy are just nuts. Dolan is behind this 100% just like Dolan had Spree shipped out. Dolan is the reason for all evil that happens to the Knicks. The best thign to happen to the Knicks would not be to get Shaq, it woudl be to be sold to a human bing rather then a son of cable vision, no talent, no brain, looser, pathetic moron, Dolan.

I agree with both of you. clearly, dolan is a major villain of epic proportions, no doubt (and i can't believe i'm saying this) way worse for the knicks than scott layden. the zeke thing was more something that has been discussed alot between me and other basketball fans, some of whom are knicks fans and some aren't. the zeke ego thing, being in it for zeke not the knicks has been a major theme since he got here. i have always been in a position defending zeke, but i wanted to throw it on the boards to see what people thought. i've never agreed with other criticisms i've seen of zeke on the board, so i thought this topic was ripe for discussion among knicks fans.

as for jackson, he's certainly not a "joak", however his shocking lack of adjustments and just plain not showing up in the finals was pretty outrageous. most of the games weren't even competitive and the only reason the lakes weren't swept was because of kobe's hail mary. he was outcoached in the finals similarly to the way i would be outplayed by marbury in a one on one.

it takes a great salesman to sell a broken down heap of junk like the Knicks were when Isiah came in...so far, he's done a great job of it...last year was the first time in years that the Knicks were being talked about on national broadcasts on a regular basis.

come on, this season is the first time in years that the Knicks weren't being made fun of in the national media...they actually had some positive things to say about this team...you can't say that wasn't part of Isiah's influence here.

I'm more w/ Chico on this than most of this thread's posters. Do think Isiah is awfully full of himself and seems to be driven by self interest and ego more than commitment to team/teammates. He seems like he has to be "the man" more than most GM's, and that could cause him to pass on/clash with some good coaches down the line.

All that said, the only place this is likely to have an impact is with coaches. I like all his player personnel choices so far, and, as the cliche goes, it's a players' league. Plus, his salesmanship has already and will continue to help us, IMO.

Much as I root for Lenny, agree the game's passed him by. But there are plenty of good coaches who are happy to do the X's and O's and won't try to take credit for turning around the team. Look at Lawrence Frank, for example.

End of the day, best thing about Isiah is competitiveness and drive. He won't look good unless the Knicks look good and I trust hill bust his ass making it happen.

the cynical view is Dolan needed a boost and isiah was a nice high profile name.

Its about product recognition. The fact he is being argued proves the point.

Laydog gets too much blame, and Isiah too much praise.

Isiah just finished what Laydog started and gets the glory for bringing in Marbury. Isiah can lay good influence on the guards. Him being at practice and mentoring is the coach in him coming out.

Isiah did this week what most new CEO's do at times: Blame the guy before you for the current troubles. Its a fair technique and useful to move forward. Fans want it all, and this week a big trade or a cool draft pick.

PS: I hope they chant "fire Layden" tonite, it would be funny!

What is lost on alot of blame on Layden is that Checketts sold us down the river many times. Houstans max deal was orchestrated long before Laydog got the job, and its dolans call on that one!

Dolan is the bad egg.