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Caseloads
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With Little Noise, Knicks Send Loud Message in Dropping Wilkens's Top Aide
By HOWARD BECK
Published: November 9, 2004
REENBURGH, N.Y., Nov. 8 - Without a victory after two games, and humiliated in their home opener, the Knicks dumped the top assistant on Coach Lenny Wilkens's staff on Monday and replaced him with one of Isiah Thomas's closest confidants.
Dick Helm, Wilkens's longtime friend and unofficial assistant head coach, stepped down at the team's request. He has been replaced by Brendan Suhr, who is also the Knicks' director of player personnel and a close friend of Thomas, the team president.
The team disclosed the moves quietly Monday morning but did not issue an official announcement. Players were unaware of the change until they walked into practice and saw Suhr in the gym. Wilkens informed them that Helm had resigned.
Team officials characterized Helm's departure as voluntary, but they offered no specific explanation.
"He has some personal things, some things he wants to do right now," Wilkens said. "He just doesn't feel that he can focus on it."
Asked if Helm's departure was related to the Knicks' 0-2 record, Wilkens interrupted, saying: "Not at all. It had nothing to do with it."
Asked if it was Thomas's decision, Wilkens said: "Nothing to do with it. I can't tell you more than that."
The decision to let Helm, 71, go had been considered for some time, according to a person familiar with those discussions. As Wilkens's top aide, Helm sat closest to Wilkens on the bench and advised him on game-management issues, from foul situations to substitution patterns.
Thomas was dissatisfied with those areas even before the team lost its first two games, including a 34-point rout by Boston in the home opener.
Team officials recently asked Wilkens to move Helm behind the bench, but Wilkens refused.
A coaching veteran with 40 years of experience, Helm had been a member of Wilkens's staff with Seattle, Cleveland, Atlanta and Toronto.
Sunday's practice was Helm's last. Wilkens said Helm would occasionally work with the team as a consultant, but the details of that arrangement have yet to be worked out.
Reached by telephone Monday afternoon, Helm declined to comment, saying questions should be directed to Thomas.
"I will let Lenny and Isiah be the spokesmen for me," Helm said.
A team spokesman said Thomas would not be available.
It is expected that Suhr will assume responsibility for game management and become the lead assistant. Wilkens said a specific role had not been discussed.
"Hopefully, Brendan will fill that for me," Wilkens said. "But Dick and I have been together for a long time."
An assistant on the Detroit Pistons' championship teams in 1989 and 1990, Suhr is by far the most seasoned member of Wilkens's staff. Each of the others, Herb Williams, Mark Aguirre and Michael Malone, has less than three years of experience on an N.B.A. staff.
Helm's departure also leaves Wilkens with a staff constructed by others. Suhr and Aguirre, a former Piston, were brought in by Thomas, as was George Glymph, a part-time assistant. Williams and Malone are holdovers from previous Knicks staffs - Williams was hired by Don Chaney, Malone by Jeff Van Gundy.
"I've known Brendan a long time," Wilkens said. "He's like Dick. He's knowledgeable, he's been in this game, he understands talent, he teaches, he does all the same things."
Suhr had been based in Orlando, Fla., and had not been around the team since early October, when he attended training camp in Charleston, S.C.
When he showed up Monday morning, and Helm did not, it caught players by surprise. Players were not offered an explanation.
"He was like his right-hand assistant coach," said Jerome Williams, who also played under Wilkens and Helm in Toronto.
"He always did a good job coming to work every day, really kept the players upbeat. I'm sorry to see him go, definitely."
Two players who were asked to speculate about the change declined. They offered shrugs and stares and, in one case, a knowing smile and a raised eyebrow. The move looked like a warning shot, and was treated as such.
The Knicks are already on precarious ground. They have two more home games this week - against Philadelphia Tuesday night and against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday - before they embark on a four-game trip beginning Saturday that features games at Indiana, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston.
It would be awkward, to say the least, for a team with a $100 million payroll to come home with an 0-8 record. But no one is thinking that way just yet.
"It's a marathon, I'm not worried about it," said Jamal Crawford, who added that the Knicks had two "really competitive" days of practice after Saturday's debacle. "The good thing about it is, there's always another game."
REBOUNDS
Penny Hardaway sat out practice again to rest a sore hamstring. He plans to test it Tuesday at the morning shoot-around before deciding whether to play against Philadelphia.
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11/9/2004 12:02 AM
