Notice how this article by D'ALESSANDRO is about 1000 time more thoughtful than the one put out by Chad (Thread: Chad Ford; the LOSER) and the one by Bitch Lawrence ('Buzz won't cut it Zeke needs results').


Isiah has the audacity to make them better
www.nj.com/knicks/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1103610643205280.xml
By David D

He was the last player of his mold, so perhaps the events shaped by Isiah Thomas over the past year should not take anyone by surprise.

Yet, even now, everyone remains intrigued -- not so much by what he did but how he did it. Through ambition, pride, audacity, greed, idealism, ingenuity and folly, the Knicks in many ways are -- like Thomas himself -- the last of their kind, a basketball project that is like the NBA's moon shot: Audacious on an executive level, an economic level, a political level and a human level.

Surely, they are an improved and improving team -- the best that a billionaire's money can buy -- but they are also multidimensional exercise in hubris. Some will say that Thomas, the team president, and owner Jim Dolan have overreached. But that's the nature of the game when you're talking about audacity and hubris.

"Audacious is exactly the word," said Donnie Walsh, the Indiana CEO and Thomas mentor, who is the standard by which most basketball executives are judged. "And Isiah's not holding back, because there is no turning back. When you do it the way he is doing it, you know you have to win because of the money that's going out.

"Could it happen anywhere else but New York? That's a hard question. Let's just say that no other owner would let you get to that (payroll) level. Not the way business is now. There's no other team in the league that can do what they do. But that being said, you still have to make it work and I think he has done that."

The Knicks were 10-18 when Thomas was hired one year ago tomorrow. Attendance was falling, the playoffs seemed to be a pipe dream, and the future was more bleak than the present. Today, they are 13-11 and atop the Atlantic Division.

"Everything told me we had to start over and I thought it would be a long tedious climb, which I think it is," Thomas said in a phone interview recently. "But two things happened that made it all possible. First, we were fortunate we were able to find some trading partners, people who wanted to change their teams. And, second, I'm fortunate I had Jim, who wanted to be aggressive and change the roster.

"So, he gave me the green light."

A blinding, blazing, flashing neon light is more like it.

Thomas turned over half the roster within two months. The rest of it was nearly turned over by late August. As of today, only three players (Allan Houston, Kurt Thomas, Michael Sweetney) remain from the team GM Scott Layden had one year ago.

Inheriting a $92 million payroll that strangled the team's maneuverability, Thomas could have bided his time, made cosmetic changes and rebuilt the team using more conventional methods. When dealt a lousy hand, the typical general manager attempts to get younger, more athletic, and to establish salary-cap flexibility -- usually conceding that the team is likely to bottom out in the process.

"But I just don't think you can go back to scratch, anywhere really," Walsh said. "People stop coming to the games. Chicago might be the lone exception -- it's a miracle place, and a great sports town. But I don't know if Isiah could have risked starting over."

So, Thomas decided to skip the flexibility requirement. Just two weeks into the job, he made his seminal move, acquiring Stephon Marbury from Phoenix in an eight-player deal.

It would be the first of many steps toward changing the Knicks' roster and, along the way, he has helped rewrite the GM manual on how to rebuild on the fly -- with help from an unlimited budget. With each move, the team's cap figure took a jump -- particularly long term: The Knicks have $60 million committed to just five players two seasons from now.

"But if you took the approach that you were going to let contracts expire, you'd be in mud," Thomas said. "The only thing you have as assets are expiring contracts, and we had to turn that into younger players."

The Marbury deal would have represented a good year's work, but Thomas didn't stop there. He changed coaches, hiring Lenny Wilkens. He gave Vin Baker a job. He shipped out Keith Van Horn for Nazr Mohammed and Tim Thomas. This past summer, he obtained Jamal Crawford for four players he neither wanted nor needed. He even gave Shandon Anderson $19 million to take a hike.

"The most heat I took was for the Keith deal," Thomas said. "But, thank God, Nazr has turned into what he's turned into. That was a big gamble. Everyone said it was a one-for-one trade, and I kept saying that Nazr was the key. But if Nazr didn't turn out the way he turned out, that would have been a mistake."

These moves increased the payroll to an NBA record $104 million, which will call for an additional $49 million in luxury tax payments.

Next year, the payroll will go up to $108 million.

Behold, the new management paradigm:

"When fans pay their money and watch their team play, they don't come to watch the salary cap," Thomas said. "I don't think they care."

And he doesn't care what others think of his method, which, in comparison with others, can be considered a shortcut. Yes, Thomas has improved his team, but Bryan Colangelo (Phoenix), Wally Walker (Seattle), John Weisbrod (Orlando), Ernie Grunfeld (Washington) and John Paxson (Cleveland) -- five GMs whose teams were behind the Knicks in the standings last season -- upgraded rosters while maintaining cap integrity.

"I don't think anyone can begrudge Isiah for that," Walsh said. "They obviously can afford to do what they do, along with the tax that goes with it. That's what makes New York a great place to be a great GM."

Thomas makes no apologies, even though he knows his management style has made some enemies. Antonio McDyess doesn't like him. Don Chaney felt betrayed by him. Even one of his best friends in the business, Brendan Malone, was ruthlessly steamrolled by him for the crime of being loyal to Chaney.

"If I have one regret, it was that I had to fire Brendan Malone," Thomas said of the coach he hired twice (in Toronto and Indiana) and fired twice (Toronto and New York). "That really hurt me it had to be done. And I miss him. But it had to happen -- for the benefit of the team. With Lenny coming in, and where we were at that time, it had to happen."

Why all the hype, he had a pocket book with no bottom and these guys didn't.

Yes, Thomas has improved his team, but Bryan Colangelo (Phoenix), Wally Walker (Seattle), John Weisbrod (Orlando), Ernie Grunfeld (Washington) and John Paxson (Cleveland) -- five GMs whose teams were behind the Knicks in the standings last season -- upgraded rosters while maintaining cap integrity.

And he doesn't care what others think of his method, which, in comparison with others, can be considered a shortcut. Yes, Thomas has improved his team, but Bryan Colangelo (Phoenix), Wally Walker (Seattle), John Weisbrod (Orlando), Ernie Grunfeld (Washington) and John Paxson (Cleveland) -- five GMs whose teams were behind the Knicks in the standings last season -- upgraded rosters while maintaining cap integrity

Dumb point playa.. no offense. Layden did leave Isiah with Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, Dwight Howard and Tmac, Lebron James and Big Z, Areanas and Hughs and the #4 pick in the draft for Jamison.

No playa.. we had Houston, KVH, McDyess and about $50mm of players you couldnt pay other teams to take. Those teams NEVER had an $85mm payroll (Layden's) to go with a losing record. They are around the cap with expiring deals and already had some good young players because they didnt trade all their #1s for Harrington and Mark JAckson.

Duh