How does Isiah Thomas still have a job with the Knicks?
New York Knicks coach and former Toronto Raptors' GM Isiah Thomas speaks
to the media outside Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2007.
(AP / John Marshall Mantel)
His team can't win and he cost the franchise $11m in a sexual harassment suit - but still Isiah Thomas remains the coach in New York, writes Mark Woods
Mark Woods - The Guardian
Wed 28 Nov 2007 - 19.58 CET
Jose Mourinho - sacked for not being special enough (winning the Premier League, twice, obviously doesn't count for much).
Billy Davies - ditched for complaining about a lack of transfer action despite taking Derby County into the Premier League on a dodgier budget than the Labour Party.
Steve McClaren - axed for, well, being rubbish (who else could have Middlesbrough fans still remaining grateful for Gareth Southgate?).
As for Isiah Thomas, head coach and president of the New York Knicks? Well, to start, just a few snippets from his current resumé: a mere 37 wins in 95 games on the sideline in NYC; a sexual harassment suit which cost the team's parent company $11m; plus nightly "Fire Isiah" chants from the long-suffering faithful.
Yet somehow, inexplicably, Thomas remains in his job while other coaches stash their P45s away in the top drawer and wait hopefully for that call from Swindon Town.
His survival is a mystery for the ages, but then so much of the soap opera which centres on the comings and goings at Madison Square Garden defies reality in a manner which baffles the Big Apple and causes no little embarrassment to the image-conscious chiefs of the NBA.
During his playing career Thomas specialised in beating the odds. As the point guard for the rough 'n' tumble Detroit Pistons, he was living proof that size ain't everything, a rare sub-six footer who could dominate on the court. Two championships in Motown secured his status in the Hall of Fame, his nickname - The Smiling Assassin - reflecting an utterly enigmatic persona.
Since making the switch into management the trappings of success - well, everything except the wealth - have deserted him. Upon retirement he was appointed the vice president of the newly-formed Toronto Raptors, but later left amid allegations of inappropriate conduct. Despite a shrewd eye for talent his first stint as a head coach, with Indiana, ended abruptly, while in between he purchased the Continental Basketball Association, a long-standing minor league. Under his stewardship it sank into bankruptcy and ultimately folded.
When the Knicks, the NBA's marquee franchise, were looking for a figure to resurrect their fortunes, there could hardly have been a less likely candidate. Owned by television giant Cablevision, and controlled by its chairman, Jim Dolan, the team has spent as only wealthy franchises can, with average players signed to gigantic contracts without any sizeable improvement in the win column.
Not even the hiring of Larry Brown, considered America's best coaching mind, could help. He lasted just 12 months before Thomas dropped the guillotine, his severance package a snip at $18.5m. And when the president stepped into his shoes, there was to be no instant revival.
If Thomas seems culpable, Dolan's incessant willingness to accommodate him has earned an equal share of the guilt. Only last March he handed out a long contract extension during a campaign which would, once more, see the team fail to qualify for the play-offs. Then he tolerated a tirade by his coach against the club's season-ticket holders in which he stated: "I don't give a f**k about these white people."
And if racism was not crime enough, Thomas would manage to throw in sexism for good measure when he, and the Knicks, were sued by a female team executive who made claims of repeated harassment. In September a New York court awarded one of its highest ever settlements for the offence, shredding both his protestations of innocence and what remains of his reputation.
So, you might wonder, just how does Isiah still have a job? An invisible man, Dolan remains in denial over the multitude of follies, while Thomas is still convinced he will remain the Knicks coach at the season's end. Only this week he stated: "I just don't think this is the time to panic."
If not now, then when? Logic in the Garden has been notable by its absence, and the Smiling Assassin may truly believe he can avoid the bullet. Yet if even the Special One is dispensable, the trigger will surely be pulled, sooner or later.
Commenti
Posta un commento