March 29, 2006

IS IT POSSIBLE?  CAN ISIAH BANKRUPT THE KNICKS?

      Of course there is no way that Isiah can possibly spend all of Cablevision’s money—though he is certainly trying—but the way things are going in New York, and the way the team is playing, I doubt whether Isiah will continue to have access to the bank vault after this season.  Sooner or later ownership is going to take away his key to the executive washroom. 

       It was hard to believe that he was even hired in the first place.  Didn’t the Knicks look at his resume?  Here was a man that fought with the owners in Detroit when they wouldn’t give him a piece of the pie after he retired.  He then moved on to Toronto where he tried to take the whole pie for himself but was quickly whisked out of town when the then Raptor ownership, headed by radio mogul Allan Slaight, uncovered the detestable bits and pieces of Isiah’s portfolio the hall of famer had tried to keep hidden away.  The Continental Basketball Association made their final mistake by thinking Isiah could save their league.  Isiah bought the entire league, and then folded it.  A couple of years of coaching Indiana to a modicum of success followed until Larry Bird took over and turfed Isiah at the first opportunity.  All of these failures were on Isiah’s resume but he somehow convinced the Knick ownership that he was the one capable of returning the club to its former glory.  Whoever swallowed that line of baloney should be forced to sit and listen to the long ego-driven version of Isiah recounting his life in basketball.

      The standard response to all his free spending is that the New York fan won’t tolerate a rebuilding program.  However, it would seem, the New York fan will tolerate complete and utter chaos.   How many different plans—if there were any at all—has Isiah sold to Knick ownership?  When he was first hired he decided that the Knicks needed a superstar to build around so he dealt a bunch of cap space to the Suns and took the monstrous contract of Stephon Marbury off their hands.  The result of that deal is on display every night in Phoenix as the Suns used that cap space to sign Steve Nash, retool their franchise, and create a title contender almost overnight.  The Knicks just got worse.

       Then Isiah decided that he needed an experienced coach so he signed Lenny Wilkens. It didn’t matter to Isiah that the Raptors had fired Lenny following the previous year amid widespread speculation from basketball pundits across the continent that the game had grown too fast and too complicated for Wilkens and his simple coaching style.  Less than a year later Lenny was gone.  The revolving door of coaches and players was well underway. 

       Keith Van Horne was brought in by previous management and was quickly dealt away by Isiah for Tim Thomas.  Thomas, whom Isiah had pronounced as an all-world talent, would later be included in a deal with Chicago.  Jamal Crawford was signed by Isiah ostensibly to be the shooting guard alongside Marbury.  That didn’t work so Isiah traded for Quentin Richardson.  That didn’t work so Isiah traded for Steve Francis.  In between Isiah gave Jerome James a monster contract.  He suddenly woke up one morning and realized the depth of that mistake so he engineered a deal with Chicago for Eddy Curry.  The issue with all of these trades, however, is that he failed to move any of the high priced players who were previously in any of these positions.  The bench was suddenly filled with multi-millionaires.  Isiah had constructed a complete roster of overpaid underachievers.  His largesse with other people’s money did not stop with the players—he signed the controlling Larry Brown to a huge contract to try and coach this rag tag collection.   Only in New York could Isiah’s mistakes be embraced and encouraged.

       Isiah believes, and he certainly sells this idea to ownership, that all the talent he has collected will benefit him this off-season when he makes a play for a franchise player.  That player he covets is Kevin Garnett.  Like a fan Isiah likes certain players, and like a fantasy team owner he will go to extreme lengths to acquire them.  He liked Marbury and gave Phoenix the opportunity to rebuild their franchise.  He liked Eddy Curry and gave Chicago draft picks and an expiring contract (Tim Thomas) in which to rebuild their club this off-season.  He liked Jalen Rose and gave Toronto an opportunity to rebuild this off-season.  He liked Francis and gave Orlando an expiring contract (Penny Hardaway) to allow the Magic to rebuild this off-season.  The other 29 NBA owners should pay Isiah’s contract--he is doing a tremendous job of making every other club better. 

      After three years of erosion on the court, issues off the court, and millions of dollars wasted money spent I can’t see James Dolan et al ignoring all the negativity that abounds and leave Isiah in charge.  Even miracle worker Larry Brown couldn’t fix this mess, and he will likely follow Isiah out the door as soon as the season ends.  Maybe then the Knicks can find a capable basketball executive to run their organization. 

       There is little doubt, however, than when Isiah is finally handed his walking papers the flags for each remaining club will fly at half-mast.  Nobody has done a better job of enabling the association’s weaker clubs and keeping parity afloat.