Walsh Will Run Knicks, But What About Thomas?

After eight days of negotiations, the Knicks and former Pacers president Donnie Walsh agreed to a deal that will make Walsh the team's president of basketball operations. That means the much-loathed Isiah Thomas, currently the Knicks' president and coach, will have a smaller role -- if any role -- with the organization, but the exact details of his situation remain to be seen.

Knicks fans who have had enough of Thomas -- all of them -- might have reason to worry that Walsh will keep Thomas on as head coach. While with the Pacers, Walsh gave Thomas his first coaching opportunity, and The Times says they are friendly. Walsh's resume, however, looks a little better than Thomas'. The Bronx native helped the Pacers to six Eastern Conference finals appearances and some memorable wins over the Knicks. Rebuilding the disaster waiting for him in Manhattan will be a stiff challenge.

The agreement came only after Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan agreed to let Walsh rewrite the organization's harsh policies on dealing with the news media. Those restrictions have been steep enough to cost Larry Brown some money and also get some members of the news media to compare covering the Knicks to the Gulag.

Update: Donnie Walsh was introduced as president of the Knicks by James Dolan this afternoon. Dolan said that Walsh has the "autonomy to decide how best to run this basketball team" and a clear mandate: "Do whatever is necessary to turn this team around." Walsh would not discuss what role Isiah Thomas would have with the team, but did say that the two will "sit down and talk and go from there. I think he has the skills to help this franchise."

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By Tom Boorstein in News on April 2, 2008 10:50 AM

Comments [rss]

babyhitler

Look, If Larry Brown could not turn around the Knicks, than how can Donnie Walsh? Larry Brown is notorious for taking shitty teams and making them good and he is much better than a GM. I'm sorry but as long as James Dolan is president of MSG than the Knicks are dead to me. 2 things need to happen for the Knicks to ever be viable again. 1. is they get kobe bryant 2. they get lebron. Since these 2 things are impossible then the Knicks are doomed. A smart GM would implode the team and take over but the Knicks aren't smart. they'd rather achieve mediocrity. They'll probably get a team good enough to make the playoff in 4 years but never a championship.

blablanyc

The NBA should force the Dolan's to sell the Knicks. This won't fix anything.

Goomba

Who cares about the mulignan loving mick who gotta screw the city out of a train station. Fuck them all.

EricGewiz

don't count on anything - they're so incredibly poorly run from the top down.

Don't forget, it took the Rangers a few years ro turn around a team that accomplished something.

Ronnie Dobbs

It will be interesting to see what Walsh does with Thomas. The one big mistake Walsh made with the Pacers was hiring Thomas as coach after Bird retired. As an Indianapolis native and New York City resident, I'm sad to see Walsh leave the Pacers. I know he is from the Bronx, but I can't understand why he would want to work anywhere near Dolan and the mess he has created.

tien

i say they announce that isiah will be gone at the end of the season. i'm curious if this move will mark the turnaround of the knicks like there was a turnaround of the rangers.