(Long Island, N.Y.) Avoidable nonsense. That is the easiest way to sum up the latest public relations disaster coming out of Madison Square Garden. It was bad enough that the name Isiah Thomas was brought into the forefront and that the organization at least tried to bring him back into the fold but was rebuffed by a savior of an NBA rule.
Perhaps what makes this even more embarrassing is that this could have easily been avoided in two separate ways. First of all, the Knicks have finally begun to cleanse themselves of the mess that Thomas created when he was running the show. Why they felt the need to bring him back in any capacity borders on insanity, but that’s exactly what they had in mind this offseason and when they recently named him an official team consultant.
They let Thomas tag along during their free agent courting and actually gave him some of the credit for convincing Amar’e Stoudemire to take $99 million of owner James Dolan’s money. Then Donnie Walsh and company brought Thomas to Ohio when they visited LeBron James, but let’s not pile on him for that not working out.
“I’m excited to once again be a part of the New York Knicks organization,” Thomas said when the cursed announcement was made. “I was honored to have been asked to help during the recent free agent recruiting process and believe that this new role takes full advantage of my skill set as an evaluator of basketball talent.”
Thomas was also going to continue in his role as head coach at Florida International and the Knicks supposedly had done their homework with the league to ensure that this move was not breaking any rules. But just as most things at 2 Penn Plaza do not work out as planned, this one followed suit.
“After speaking with Commissioner David Stern and Knicks executives, it has become apparent that my new agreement violates certain NBA bylaws,” Thomas said in a statement five days later. “Because of this, I have decided to rescind my contract with the team.”
Being a college coach prohibits someone from working for an NBA team for obvious reasons, but ones that the Knicks front office failed to see. “Although I am disappointed that Isiah will not be working with the Knicks as a consultant. I continue to believe in his basketball knowledge, including his ability to judge talent,” said Dolan in a statement. “He’s a good friend of mine and of the organization and I will continue to solicit his views. He will always have strong ties to me and the team. We wish him continued success at FIU.”
As difficult as that statement is hard to digest, it is apparent that Dolan is putting some weird sense of loyalty to Thomas – who also cost him millions in losing a sexual harassment lawsuit to former employee Anucha Brown Sanders – over winning and public perception.
The Isiah era in New York was filled with forgettable years of losing, booing and KGB-like behavior. Why Dolan would do anything to bring back even a hint of that is puzzling. There is no role for Thomas for any NBA team, especially the Knicks.
The one saving grace in this horrendous temporary move was that Thomas was not around long enough to do any more damage.
