Zeke the Teflon Con

[cpawfan]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/k...0,1092564.story

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Isiah Thomas says Knicks fans "haven't been proud since 1973." Donnie Walsh wants to find out why Knicks fans have been so disgusted since 2004.

And this is why, Walsh said, that Thomas was still the coach for Wednesday night's 109-107 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats and why he'll finish out the final three games of the season. This isn't an audition, it's an investigation.

An investigation that will conclude with Walsh having a coach in place by the June NBA draft.

"It's to find out what's been going on," said Walsh, who witnessed his first game as Knicks team president. He was among the near sellout crowd at the Garden and sat with Garden president Steve Mills. "I think that Isiah is one guy that can [answer these questions] because he basically got the players and he's coached the players," Walsh said. "So he should have an insight as to why this hasn't worked."

Insight is one thing, but Thomas knows that when he speaks with Walsh over the next few days, whatever candid opinions he offers about the team he built and coached to one of the worst seasons in franchise history will incriminate him. Walsh said he will try to keep an open mind, but you can only do that to a point.

"Yeah, you could say I'll have an open mind as far as any conversation I'm gonna have; I still don't think that we've played well," Walsh said. "There are a lot of things I want to talk about, so it's not totally open.

"It's not like I'm going to go in there and say, 'Well this has all been great, what do you want to talk about?'," Walsh added. "I think there's a lot to talk about with everybody."

It isn't expected to be a long process for Thomas, who, according to those with knowledge of the situation, is not expected to be retained as coach, but will be offered a position within the organization. Walsh said he has not made any decisions yet.

"I'm going to use this period to try to take a look at the situation so that I'm in the position to make any decisions to be made, if there are any," he said.

Questions Walsh wants to answer include, "What would it take here? Who would be the right guy to come in here? Is Isiah the right guy to be here?"

Sensing skepticism from the roomful of reporters, Walsh quickly added, "I hope you're not taking this and going to write it the wrong way. I'm saying I'm analyzing a lot of things."

In the meantime, he'll be analyzing how some other candidates -- Scott Skiles, Mark Jackson, Herb Williams and others -- might fit the job.

Thomas spoke as if he is comfortable with accepting any role Walsh asks of him.

"I'm on the job and I look forward to making it better, and keep working it," Thomas said. "Our job and our goal is to one day win a championship here, and I have every intention of being a part of that process."

The self-proclaimed "Piston for life" also seems unable to acknowledge the Knicks teams of the 1990s. Just days after Patrick Ewing was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, Thomas took a shot at the Ewing era when he said New York fans "haven't been proud here since 1973," when the Knicks won their last championship.

"That's a fact," he said. "You haven't won here since 1973."

But in the 90s, they never lost here like they do now.</div>

 

[cpawfan]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketba...n_fool_jam.html

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>We shouldn’t be shocked by anything that Isiah Thomas says anymore. In his defense, he is receiving media advice from people within his own organization who have been plotting his demise since day one. (And you know who you are.)

I still remember Thomas telling me a few years ago that he didn’t trust most of the people around him. He should have trusted his instincts.

Besides never receiving sound advice, Thomas is also the victim of his own arrogance. He figured he could smooth talk every New Yorker just because he conned James Dolan into hiring him, keeping him and then extending him.

But the Teflon Con never got New York. He’s always felt and acted like an outsider and the more he talks the more he proves it.

I still love the story that was written about Thomas 10 months after he was hired, the one where he spoke of riding the subway to work. It was a nice try but no one with an ounce of common sense believed him. This is the same guy who when the Knicks would train in Charleston, S.C., he wouldn’t even stay in the same hotel as the players. And when camp ended, instead of taking a bus with the players to the airport, Isiah would have his own car service.

So even though we know he’s never taken the New York City subway, let’s assume for argument sake, that he has. It gets better. While riding the subway, Thomas maintains that it was not uncommon for complete strangers to confront him and want to fight him about trades or signings that he had just made. (Now remember, this is before he mortgaged the future on Eddy Curry and signed Jerome James and Jared Jeffries. This was before most people figured out that Isiah had no idea what he was doing.)

Just to recap, not only are we to believe that Isiah is riding the subway but there are enraged Knick fans who want to knock him out.

Meanwhile, the rest of us who ride the subway - or at least 99.9 percent of the people on the subway - follow the same rule: they avoid eye contact.

But let’s say that back in 2004 Isiah is on the subway and is spotted by someone, preferably a Knick fan. Would that Knick fan a) Avoid speaking to Thomas, b ) Say hello to him, c) Ask him for his autograph or d) Challenge him to a fight because he traded Charlie Ward and Howard Eisley to Phoenix for Stephon Marbury?

Really now?

But that’s Isiah, he just talks and talks as a way of distracting people - especially Dolan - from judging him on his record. The only time Isiah talks about his record is when he is referring to his playing days. And make no mistake about it, he was a brilliant point guard. We all know that.

But as a coach and a president, he is an abject failure. He could never accomplish what Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy, Dave Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld achieved here. They got New York. Isiah Thomas is just a clueless tourist whose trip is about to end.

I’d like to see him get on a subway now.</div>

 

[cpawfan]

Frank Isola column (the second post) really gets at Zeke's (lack of) character.

I hope for the good of the NBA, that both the current and previous Knicks' Head Coaches never coach in the NBA again.

 

[Chutney]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>We shouldn’t be shocked by anything that Isiah Thomas says anymore. In his defense, he is receiving media advice from people within his own organization who have been plotting his demise since day one. (And you know who you are.)</div>
This part had me curious. I wonder what he means.