Results tagged “larrybrown”

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.

Now it all makes sense, they can’t win on the court, so MSG officials are going to try and control the story off the court. And by control we really mean control. We already knew they wanted complete control over the fans and over the media, but even the coaches are not immune to the Garden’s nefarious ways.

If you believe that headline, you're clearly delusional. But that seems to be exactly what Isiah Thomas believes. In mid-December, Isiah said it would be fair to ask about his coaching status after two weeks to see if he improved. Well, those two weeks are up and he still believes he's fit to coach the Knicks.

That’s right Knicks fans, it was four years ago today that Isiah Thomas came to town and boldly stated, "My only goal is to win the N.B.A. championship. In my mind, everything else is failure."

Apparently, Jim Dolan is pretty happy with the way things are going with the Knicks. That’s the only conclusion you can reach after reading the piece on him in this week’s Sports Illustrated.

In keeping with our lists of events from 2006, here are some of the sports stories that Gothamist found compelling in the past year. It ranges from the playoff disappointment from the Mets and the Yankees to the welcome performances of last season's Rangers, this season's Jets and Rutgers.

It is getting impossible to root for the Knicks anymore. The franchise is completely lost, stuck over the salary cap for the rest of the decade and playing uninspired basketball. Now we learn that the head coach is running the team like a mob boss, ordering his players to take out opponents.

When Larry Brown was fired after the Knicks' dreadful 2005-06 season, a battle began over how much of the remaining four-year, $41 million contract he would get. NBA Commissioner David Stern decided on a settlement in late October, and he hoped it would remain secret. But he didn't count on Cablevision's third-quarter filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the end, the Knicks will pay Brown $18.5 million in addition to the $10 million he was paid for the season of work.

-Knicks 109 Denver 107: Maybe Isiah needs to threaten his team more. The Knicks didn’t quit Wednesday, rallying from a 10-point defecit with less than 10 minutes remaining to squeak out an impressive win in Denver. Jamal Crawford had a huge game, scoring 35 and hitting the winning basket.

In his infinite wisdom, James Dolan has declared that Isiah Thomas must show “measurable” progress to keep his job after this season. What exactly that means hasn’t been defined, but the question is; how can this team not improve on last season? The Knicks managed only 23 wins last year and seemed to use a different lineup every night. Larry Brown ruined his reputation as a great coach by sniping at his players in the media and failing to set a rotation. In short, there is no possible scenario where this team plays worse than it did last year.

-Brooklyn 3 Staten Island 0: Jacob Ruckle was dominant going eight innings while allowing only four hits and striking out ten as Brooklyn increased their division lead to two games.

The Larry Brown era may be over, but that doesn't mean we can't relive it through the magic of Youtube. The advertisement features Spike "I Wear Size 9's" Lee and a cutout of the masterful former Knicks coach, Larry Brown. Spike carries the Brown cutout and preaches the need for defense. Gothamist would love to see an updated version of this commercial now with Isiah Thomas. "Wins, we need some wiiiiiiiins, you hear that?" Of course, Thomas will be unresponsive.

Tomorrow night is the NBA Draft and Gothamist thought it would be a good time to check in with “Mr. Orange”, operator of selltheknicks.com, a site attempting to force Jim Dolan to sell the team to competent ownership. When Dolan isn’t being defended by his daddy, or finally setting a deadline for Isiah to stop destroying the Knicks (after the upcoming season) he has dispatched his legal team against Mr. Orange. Despite that, the site is alive and well and planning for a big night tomorrow.

“This is a great day for the New York Knicks and our fans. Larry Brown is not just one of the best coaches in the NBA today, but in its history. He has made every team he has ever coached a winner, with a legendary approach to teaching and motivating his players. His value to us as a franchise at this time is immeasurable.”

Scuttlebutt from Knicks sources is that Knicks owner James Dolan (owner of Cablevision) and MSG president Steve Mills are willing to buy out pricey remaining four years on coach Larry Brown's contract. And not only that, the new coach could be general manager Isaiah Thomas. Management has been upset with Brown's criticism of players to the media, but let's face it - who hasn't been criticizing the most expensive NBA roster with the second worst record in the league for the 2005-2006 season? Brown's remaining contract is worth $44 million, and that would be some easy money for Brown (though it's unclear how the Knicks would structure a buy-out - paying in full and Brown can't coach for four years or paying a percentage, but Brown gets back into the game), who had some medical problems towards the end of the season. The Daily News says that Knicks players "staged a palace coup in front of Thomas during their exit interviews," with eight of the fifteen players blaming Brown for the poor season. Well, there's no one to blame like someone else! Gothamist thinks ownership is buying out the wrong guy, but maybe it's fitting that Thomas would have to clean up his own mess. The key for the team to succeed is to get Stephon "Call Me Starbury" Marbury out and younger players who want to be coached in. Of course, the Knicks, even with crap records, can't count on any high draft picks since they failed to lottery-protect their first round picks for this year and next after the Eddy Curry trade.

The 2005-06 Knicks’ season will go down as the worst in team history. For approximately $125 million New York finished with the second-worst record in the league and embarrassed themselves and the franchise almost nightly. The coach fought with the players, the players quit on the coach and the GM got accused of sexual harassment.

You need to really think about that Herb, because if Larry Brown pulls the disappearing act many expect (and some hope for) you will probably get the chance to be the head coach again. You deserve much better than this mess, but how could you turn down the chance to be in charge again?

It’s too bad Larry Brown was too sick to make the trip to Detroit. Then again, maybe the trip to Detroit was the reason he is sick. If he had made the trip, Brown would have witnessed his current team beaten by his former team 103-97. With the win, the Pistons set a franchise record for most wins in a season.

Gothamist is thinking of telling his Sports Editor that he has acid reflux. If that can keep Larry Brown from having to watch the last three games of the Knicks’ season maybe it can work for me. If it doesn’t, maybe it’s time to get rid of the television because as bad as the Knicks were with Brown coaching they are worse without him.

If Cablevision is smart, they will start production on the 2005-06 Knicks movie immediately. This season has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster. Anger, betrayal, jealousy, sabotage, do you think Jerry Bruckheimer is interested?

Why couldn’t we just enjoy the last week of the Knicks’ season? It wasn’t that we expected them to win all the time; we had just hoped to get through the week without more sniping between the players and the coach. Sadly, that isn’t possible and the comments after the game were much more interesting than anything that happened during the Knicks’ 101-82 loss at Indiana.

The long awaited youth movement has finally arrived, but it is surprisingly missing one player. Using the “kids” the Knicks beat the Celtics 101-86 last night in Boston. The win means that New York will not tie the franchise record for fewest wins in a season and brings them out of the NBA cellar.

Maybe there is a silver lining in this disastrous season for the Knicks. Jamal Crawford is quickly emerging as a player the Knicks will be able to rely on in the future. Crawford hit the game-winning jumper for the second consecutive game giving New York a 98-86 victory over Indiana.

Those are the words of Quentin Richardson and they are truly the best way to sum up the current state of the Knicks. After last night’s 105-90 loss, the team held a 20-minute meeting behind closed doors.

Are you a fantasy baseball nut who finds your loyalties divided between your fantasy team and your real team? Are you a Mets fan who “owns” Chipper Jones, a Yankee fan with Curt Schilling on the roster? Maybe you are one of the millions who hate Duke Basketball.

Larry Brown has vowed to use the remaining games of the season to audition players for next year. With Jalen Rose and Stephon Marbury injured, Brown put Qyntel Woods and Jamal Crawford into the starting lineup and brought Steve Francis off the bench. While the Knicks managed to shoot over 50% the defense wasn’t there again and they lost 114-95.

Instead of watching the actual game, Gothamist advises Knicks’ fans to just watch Larry Brown’s press conference after it. Once again Brown ripped into to his team for a poor defensive effort, allowing Boston to shoot 57% from the field on route to a 123-98 loss that wasn’t even that close.

The Knicks have enough problems without having the referees turn against them, but that’s apparently what happened during the final minute of their 98-94 loss to the Timberwolves. Larry Brown screamed for a foul when Jackie Butler lost the ball, but was told, “it doesn’t matter” by one of the refs.

Instead of dwelling on another pathetic loss by the Knicks Gothamist is going layout what he would like to see happen the rest of the season which thankfully lasts only 14 more games.

The Knicks finally have a team that can win on the court; unfortunately it is their dance team. The Knicks City Dancers bested the Nets Dance Team in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference of the NBA Dance Team Bracket. The victory means the Knicks have found something that they are better at than the Nets for the first time in years. The Knicks City Dancers (KCD) will now compete against the Heat Dancers in a vote to be held on March 27th and 28th.