Results tagged “isiahthomas”

For basketball fans in New York, the upcoming NBA season is really all about next year. July 1, 2010, to be precise; the exact moment when free agents like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh hit the market. It’s a strange year because you won’t have much to root for and apart from a few core players; the Knicks and Nets will be willing to trade away players in exchange for cap space next summer. And don’t forget Knicks’ fans, former GM Isiah Thomas traded away the 2010 number one pick for Stephon Marbury, so the draft lottery isn’t a possibility.

Isiah Thomas isn't just leaving the Knicks to coach basketball at Florida International University—he's coaching at FIU for free. The AP reports, "Thomas said his salary the first year from the Golden Panthers will be donated back to the school's athletic department... FIU athletic director Pete Garcia said that when Thomas learned about layoffs and budget cuts, he told the university president that the school should keep his salary." Of course, the Knicks still owe him $12 million for the rest of his contract. Thomas told reporters, "I like rolling up my sleeves. I like taking some from the bottom and building it to the top. There's a lot of risk in that and there is also a lot of reward in that. But that's how I grew up." Remember when Isiah said he would bring a championship to the Knicks? Good luck, FIU.

The Isiah Thomas era at the Knicks is over: Florida International University confirmed that the player-turned-coach/management executive accepted a position coaching there. Thomas's reign at the Knicks has been disappointing and troubled, but last month he told reporters he was looking forward to helping Knicks president Donnie Walsh with the draft. Newsday reports, "From the day Thomas was stripped of his titles and responsibilities with the Knicks - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday - Walsh gave him permission to seek other opportunities." Thomas issued a statement, "Coming back to the college game has always been a dream of mine, and I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to go somewhere where we can build a basketball legacy together."

Thankfully, the Knicks are losing again which means they will miss the playoffs and qualify for the draft lottery. That’s very important for a team trying to rebuild because it is the last first round pick the Knicks will have before the vital summer of 2010. Think of it as the final blow of the Stephon Marbury trade. As part of that deal, Isiah Thomas sent the Knicks first round pick in 2006 to Phoenix, but he protected it, allowing the Knicks to keep the pick if it was a top-25 selection in that draft. The protection went down to top-24 in 2007 and is now top-22, but there is no protection in 2010 and the Utah Jazz, who acquired the pick from Phoenix, will have it, no matter how high the pick is.

Isiah Thomas checked in with reporters over the weekend and told them that he is still lending a helping hand to the Knicks in his advisory role—the team is just asking him to do it on the other side of the country. He was in Las Vegas for a TV taping and said that the Knicks had sent him to scout the Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles, coincidentally the same city where the centerpiece of the Isiah Knicks, Stephon Marbury, tended to turn up while he was estranged from the team. The former coach told reporters, "I've still been very active, seeing a lot of games and doing a lot of scouting and looking forward to helping (Knicks president Donnie Walsh) with the draft." (Isiah of course can't speak directly to Knicks players.) He also said that he was doing all right since the last time he was in the papers for what appeared to be an accidental overdose on sleeping pills.

It was just over five years ago that Marbury arrived in New York as the centerpiece of Isiah Thomas’ plan to turn New York into a contender. It worked for about half a season as Marbury got the Knicks to the playoffs, where the Nets promptly swept them. Amazingly, that was the best part of his career in New York. Sexual harassment allegations, sulking, suspensions and massive amounts of trouble soon followed.

Maybe it was Isiah Thomas and his constant trades that did it. Maybe it was the lousy basketball that did it. Maybe you are just waiting (and waiting) for the Nets to move to Brooklyn. Whatever the reason, at some point you stopped caring about the Knicks and no one can blame you. Being a Knicks’ fan has been almost impossible for the last few years and having doubts about their 6-3 start is only natural.

The Post got an earful about Isiah Thomas's accidental overdose on Lunesta sleeping pills from former Knicks senior VP of marketing, Anucha Browne Sanders: "If he tried to commit suicide, I don't want to pounce on him...[but] I don't feel sorry for him. You make your bed, you lie in it."

We will probably never know exactly what happened in Isiah Thomas’ house the other night. We know police took a 47-year old man out of there because he had taken too many sleeping pills, but we don’t know that man’s name. We know that Isiah Thomas, who happens to be 47, said that it was his daughter who was rushed to the hospital. We know that Isiah’s 20-year old son concurred with his Dad. We also know that police said he is lying and went even further yesterday when Harrison police Chief David Hall chided Isiah for involving his daughter.

Despite the police chief involved with the case calling it a "coverup," Isiah Thomas and his family are still sticking to the story that he did not accidentally overdose on sleeping pills Friday, but that an ambulance was only called to treat his daughter's fainting after a dizzy spell. Harrison Police Chief David Hall again made the situation clear to reporters saying, "It wasn't his daughter - and why they're throwing her under the bus is beyond my ability to understand." While the former Knicks coach had nothing to say yesterday, his 20-year-old son Joshua was backing up his father's story and calling the police chief's comments "disrespectful." Meanwhile the Post says that Isiah has had a harsh fall since his demotion by the Knicks, describing him as "steeped in sadness and loneliness...dreaming that one day all those who chanted "Fire Isiah!" would be forced to eat their words."

Somehow you knew that we hadn’t heard the last of Isiah Thomas, but this certainly wasn’t the way we expected to hear about him again. As details continue to emerge about Isiah’s overdose, the story has taken a bizarre and sad twist. Reached by the New York Post, Isiah told the Post that it was his 17-year old daughter, Lauren, who was rushed to the hospital. “My daughter is very down right now,” he told them, but also added it “wasn’t an overdose.”

Former Knicks President, coach, and NBA legend Isiah Thomas reportedly overdosed on sleeping pills early this morning at his home in Harrison, NY. The condition of the 47-year-old Thomas is not yet known, but the AP is reporting that Knicks officials say he is fine. Thomas, who is still a Knicks employee, was relieved of his President/coach title in April also caused the Knicks embarrassment with his involvement in a sexual harassment lawsuit. Thomas was first hired by the Knicks in December, 2003 and became the coach after Larry Brown was fired in 2006. Update: The Daily News says that victim at the scene ingested 10 Lunesta pills and that he was "unconscious, but breathing on his own." The News also talked to Thomas' son Joshua, who said the reports of his father's overdose were inaccurate -- the police responded for his sister who is hypoglycemic and Isiah became faint during the incident.

Renaldo Balkman, a much-ridiculed Isiah Thomas 2006 draft pick who turned into something of a fan favorite, won't be wearing the blue and orange of the Knicks next season. He got sent to Denver for Taurean Green, Bobby Jones (who?) and a 2010 second-round draft pick. This move is purely a salary dump for the Knicks, who stand to gain $2 million if the luxury tax is included. The team may not even include Green and Jones on its roster, which is currently bloated. The best part of this deal: Thomas apologists defended the pick of Balkman in the first round by saying Phoenix, then coached by current Knicks head man Mike D'Antoni, would have nabbed the South Carolina product with its pick if New York had tried to wait until the second round. Guess not.

The best chance for the Knicks to make a quick return to respectability bounced away with the drop of a ping pong ball in the NBA Draft Lottery Tuesday night. In reality, they fared exactly as they should have, but for fans desperately hoping to see Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley in a Knicks’ uniform next year, it was a disappointing night. The Knicks wound up with the sixth pick and the Nets, who had a minimal chance of moving up, will pick tenth.

Isiah Thomas may still be a part of the Knicks organization, but he's been barred from contacting any of the players. The Daily News says the no-contact policy was "part of his reassignment agreement with Knicks president Donnie Walsh."

It may have come a year too late, but Isiah Thomas is no longer President or coach of the New York Knicks. Donnie Walsh announced Friday afternoon that he had relieved Thomas of his coaching duties saying, "The bottom line is we haven't won and the team didn't look like it was motivated to try to win and compete. Those were the reasons. A new coach is necessary to change direction of the team."

His team tied the franchise record for most losses in a season. He assembled a mass of costly players that were long on extra pounds and short on ability to win games. He was found liable on six counts of sexual harassment. The day after Isiah Thomas' Knicks played the final game of the 2007-08 season -- a loss of course -- the coach and the rest of the world are still waiting to learn officially of his fate. The Daily News, however, says he's gone.

Of all the local fan bases, the Knicks' -- and not the pessimistic Mets' -- supporters have earned a reward. They got just that with free concessions during Monday's loss to Boston (what else is new?) on fan appreciation appreciation night in the season's final home game. Knicks marketing SVP Howie Jacobs explained, "We think it’s appropriate to thank our fans for a lot of loyalty they’ve shown us this year.”

According to WNBC's Jonathan Dienst, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly wrote a letter to the MTA, MSG, Amtrak, and Vornado Realty expressing his dismay over the lack of Penn Station security. Three years after funding had been secured for the construction of a legitimately effective security barrier to protect Penn Station from a truck bomb attack, Kelly says little has been done to implement any plans.

Are the Knicks under Isiah Thomas the worst team in the history of sports? According to New York Magazine, they just might be. Jeff Coplan’s piece offers the most complete and depressing summary of the Knicks during the Dolan era. From designating Knicks as “the Church of Lowered Expectations” under Dolan to describing the “rolls of flab” peeking through the Eddy Curry’s jersey, everyone--with the exception of Malik Rose and David Lee--is subject to withering criticism.

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.

It’s clear from things like the 18-minute shoot-around the other day that Isiah simply doesn’t care anymore. And while that isn’t necessarily a surprise and may not even cost him a job in the organization, it is disappointing to see from someone who competed the way Isiah did on the court.

Could it really be true? Is our long nightmare really over? It certainly seems that way as multiple reports state that Donnie Walsh has decided to become the Knicks' President, agreeing to a three-year deal worth around $15 million.

Gay NY Rangers fans are unhappy about the "toxic atmosphere" at Madison Square Garden during Rangers games. One of their examples is the reaction to Larry Goodman's dancing (pay attention at about 19 seconds in):