Its a great article. For once some objective journalism. There is clearly good and bad with Isiah and the Knicks but its hard to argue with what was and what is...

Isiah's moves have staff
flying by seat of pants

You know the Knicks' season does not exactly start the way Isiah Thomas had hoped if we suddenly need a seating chart for Lenny Wilkens' assistant coaches.

George Steinbrenner used to fire pitching coaches all the time as a way of getting at whatever manager he was getting ready to fire. Even Steinbrenner never pulled the plug on an assistant two games into a season.


Thomas now gets rid of Dick Helm, Wilkens' long-time assistant, and replaces him with Brendan Suhr, who grabbed the seat next to Wilkens before Mark Aguirre could get it before the Knicks played the 76ers Tuesday night. Now Aguirre tells the media that while he would like to be a head coach in the NBA someday, he isn't looking to grab the seat all the way at the end of the bench, the one that still belongs to Wilkens.


And Isiah Thomas says that he doesn't want it, either. But then Thomas points out - at a press conference he has to call before the third game of the season to sort out this Garden game of musical chairs - that while he also would like to coach again someday, it won't be with the Knicks. At least he's honest enough to admit that he's just passing through.


He's not the coach-in-waiting with the Knicks, even if the early part of the season turns out to be a calamity. Suhr is. He was Thomas' choice as director of player personnel. He is Thomas' guy if this year's record after 20 games or so looks a lot like last year's record under Don Chaney.


Whatever Thomas says, he wants to see if Wilkens, after everything he has done in basketball, is the man to get the most out of this young team Thomas has assembled on the fly. If Thomas makes the determination that he isn't, he will celebrate his first anniversary in town by firing another coach, this time his own. And will be right to do it.


Chaney wasn't safe after Thomas got here. Keith Van Horn wasn't safe, even if the Knicks could sure use him now. If Thomas has a chance to get Vince Carter out of Toronto for Stephon Marbury, Marbury won't be safe, either. If Dick Helm gets it after a blowout in the first home game, nobody is safe.


The only one who's safe, for the time being, is Isiah Thomas himself. James Dolan has given him the run of the place because he is all Dolan has in sports. You set the bar low with Dolan. Anyone who isn't a complete loser is a winner. When there is an NHL season, the Rangers are among the worst losers anywhere. The Yankees are long gone from the Madison Square Garden Network and the Mets are on their way out the door and Dolan is so desperate for programming, he is about to pay a ridiculous amount of money for the television rights to Devils' games.


For now, Thomas gets to hire and fire and trade and sign and spend at will. Even if you don't like his style, he has done so much more good than bad. All of a sudden, you look out on the court and see young, promising kids at every position except center. Marbury is 27, Jamal Crawford is 24. Trevor Ariza, who may turn out to be the steal of the whole NBA draft, is a teenager. Mike Sweetney, who looks like a young Paul Silas and could be a star if the Knicks ever find a real center, is 22.


You can imagine how hard the Knicks will be to defend at the end of games if Allan Houston ever comes back healthy. And if Houston ever does comes back, maybe we will find out if the Knicks, as constituted, can contend for first place in a weak Atlantic Division, as they should. Or if they will fall into a bad hole because of a brutal early-season schedule, and Thomas will make more changes.


He was asked the other day, before the Knicks' opener, what he would add to the players he has right now, if could add anything.


"Anger," he said.


He has had some anger directed at him already, because hardly anybody liked the trade that sent Van Horn away last February. The Knicks were going good then.


Everybody loved Lenny. Everybody loved Steph. Then they staggered around after the trade and were lucky to make the playoffs and got swept by the Nets.


Now Ariza is here and exciting. So is Crawford. I like a lot of what Thomas has done. The Knicks were a lump when Thomas got here, one of the most unappealing teams in the history of the Garden. Charlie Ward and Howard Eisley and Clarence Weatherspoon. Guys like that. Now they show you speed, youth, possibilities.


People weren't supposed to turn on a young team this fast. They do. There wasn't supposed to be controversy this early. There is. The Knicks need to find a way to beat the Clippers tonight, not start 1-7, which is the start they always seemed to have under Chaney.


Lenny Wilkens still has something Chaney never had here, which is a winning record as Knicks' coach. He'll still have the last seat on the left when the Knicks play the Clippers tonight. We should know in a few weeks if it's the last seat he ever has in the NBA. It's clear by now: Nobody's safe at the Garden under Isiah, until the day when he's not safe.