**Official '11 NYK LOCKOUT thread*** lockout over

[pysch]

Originally Posted by debs 168

If isiah comes back I'm done.

x2

 

[mronegative]

 

[duba169]

they failed to come to an agreement that he would denounce isiah

 

[blackmagnus514]

On everything, if they rehire Isaiah Thomas, I'm done wit them.

I almost had an aneurysm reading that earlier

 

[mronegative]

If they rehire IT, gonna be a whole lotta New Yorker fans.

 

[ballinsam23]

u guys gotta calm down. isiah is not gonna get rehired. just promote Houston and call it a day...

 

[|A-Man|]

Really though if we're semi restarting in management, might as well get a fresh new start for a head coach as well. No guarantee whoever we bring wants Pringles as his guy so might as well fire him too. He hasn't shown any signs of a new approach or any focus or emphasis on defense so dump him now.

We know Dolan isn't in love with the guy and it's not like there's any real signs he's a championship caliber coach. Plus I expect some negative comments from Melo about dude to further push him out the door. Hopefully before the start of the next season lockout or no lockout he's gone.

 

[duba169]

prokorav would be happy as @%%!

mad people would become brooklyn fans.

 

[upptempo8387]

The day that the James Dolan sells the Knicks will be the happiest day of my goddamn life

 

[blackmagnus514]

Now my idiot friend is trying to convince me that Isaiah is a good coach/GM and he'd have him run the Lakers because "he knows ball".

This is the biggest blow to franchise credibility that we've gotten in a while. Donnie came in with a vision and the creds to right this franchise. Dolan should've done him right and not went over his head with Melo and then to drag out the contract issue knowing the state of his health was very disrespectful to Donnie.

I don't think the expectations for this team were too crazy this season especially after getting Melo, but the new guy better be a damn good hire. I have a feeling it'll be Houston. He's a fan favorite, and I don't get that he has the backbone to request autonomy like Dolan did. he'll just end up being a puppet

 

[chino905]

i'm donee with this team!

 

[duba169]

pour out liquor for King Riece who was banned for going at airfresh

but he says that donnie wanted one year and dolan wanted multiple years so they cam eto a mutual decision.

 

[sonoftony]

Originally Posted by Ballinsam23

u guys gotta calm down. isiah is not gonna get rehired. just promote Houston and call it a day...

  

 

[|A-Man|]

Well if I'm Dolan and I want my team to be better with somebody running it doing a good job I'd be trying to extend your stay here since I have the welfare of the team's future in mind.

There's nothing assured with a one year extension. That's some see if it works out kind of contract. So I can't be mad at Dolan for thinking that way if he was.

 

[mronegative]

Heard something bout Dolan wanted Walsh to take a 40% paycut?

 

[blackmagnus514]

Slap in the face.

 

[mronegative]

 Come the @+!# on...take with a grain...it's %++-hola...but still.

[h1]Knicks owner James Dolan's alliance with Isiah Thomas doomed Donnie Walsh's presidency from day one[/h1]
BY FRANK ISOLA 
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Friday, June 3rd 2011, 1:50 PM

We all know that Donnie Walsh was really doomed from Day One when his eccentric, semi-reclusive and meddling new boss, James Dolan, informed him that he would be retaining Isiah Thomas as a glorified scout.

It was at that moment four years ago that Walsh, a classy and well-respected basketball lifer, should have realized he was being played for a fool.

Dolan, the Chairman of Madison Square Garden and Isiah's greatest supporter, followed David Stern's orders of stripping Thomas of his dual titles and hiring Walsh to rebuild the floundering Knicks. Dolan went along with the farce but he never had any intentions of removing Thomas from power.

As one of Isiah's friends once famously told me, "Isiah doesn't need a title. He's got Jim in his corner."

And now, the charade is finally over. The Knicks announced on Friday that Walsh's promising run as team president is over. The Garden said the decision was mutual, which is a nice way of saying that Walsh no longer wanted to work for Dolan:

As with Jeff Van Gundy 10 years earlier, Walsh fired Dolan before Dolan fired Walsh.

The Garden announced that Walsh will serve as a consultant through the 2011-12 season, which is comical since that is the position Walsh has unofficially held since replacing Thomas as club president in April 2008.

You have to be blind, clueless or a media shill not to understand that Walsh was hired to serve as a consultant to Dolan and Thomas, the de facto general manager, all along.

Dolan's promise of granting Walsh full autonomy from the start was a flat out lie. He said it to placate the commissioner and the media. Give Dolan credit for this -- he came clean last July that Walsh was a figurehead when he dispatched Thomas to Ohio in a last ditch effort to recruit LeBron James.

It was the Knicks' inability to sign LeBron that accelerated Walsh's departure. Privately, Dolan blamed Walsh, confined to a wheelchair following spine surgery, for losing LeBron.

Within a month, Walsh threatened to quit when Dolan broached the idea of naming Thomas general manager. For weeks, Dolan had refused to approve Walsh's top choice, Chris Mullin, the same position and instead was promoting his Thomas for the job.

Walsh begrudgingly settled on naming Thomas a consultant, a hiring that was eventually voided by Stern because Thomas was moonlighting as the head coach of Florida International University in Miami.

The damage, however, had been done. Walsh's relationship with Dolan would never be the same and it only deteriorated in January when, according to a source, they had a heated exchange over the telephone.

Dolan was upset that Walsh had granted an interview to Dolan's arch nemesis in the media, Daily News columnist Mike Lupica. Although Lupica's column was favorable toward Walsh and the Knicks, Dolan saw it as a sign of betrayal.

In Dolan's twisted world, losing games and throwing away millions on garbage players is okay. But violate his media policy and it's "off with your head."

Walsh, according to a source, ended the profanity laced conversation by doing something fellow Garden employees dream about doing but would never have the guts to do; he told Dolan to piss off and then hung up on him.

Soon after, Dolan publicly usurped Walsh's power by taking over the Carmelo Anthony trade negotiations. Both Walsh and head coach Mike D'Antoni felt the Knicks were giving up too much in the deal but Dolan, who was being advised by Thomas, went ahead and made the deal with Denver.

Dolan's trusted lieutenants, sensing a public relations nightmare, had Dolan stoop to reprimanding the media during Carmelo's press conference by addressing Isiah's involvement. Dolan mocked the media for reporting that Thomas was advising him and in doing so gave Carmelo a preview of life at Dolan's Garden, where trying to bully the press takes precedent over introducing the team's newest star.

It was sad and pathetic and classic Dolan, who has been running away from reporter questions for years.

Although Dolan had rendered Walsh powerless, his advisors felt that retaining Walsh would play well with the fan base and the media. Dolan, according to reports, offered a two-year contract but wouldn't agree to grant Walsh full autonomy, which would include the authority to hire a general manager.

When Dolan refused Walsh knew it was time to move. Walsh was like a lot of high-profile Garden employees over the past decade; he made a fortune from Dolan but took plenty of grief. Now 70, Walsh decided that enough was enough.

Walsh, a decent man who made some blunders but also restored dignity to the franchise, finally realized that Dolan never wanted him because Dolan never wanted to get rid of Thomas.

After all this time it finally dawned on Donnie Walsh, Bronx born and raised, that the spoiled son of a Cablevision billionaire always gets his way.

This is professional sports? 

 

[proshares]

I'm surprised Isola had time to write that while he was celebrating like Dallas won the whole thing last night.

BTW, this is the guy that swore to everyone last week that the people reporting that the deal isn't done are frauds and don't know anyone in the business and have no credibility.

 

[al3xis]

this really sucks.

Donnie was 1 year away from his job basically being 'complete'. as in, a team constructed and finally set to compete.

now.. ? god only knows.

 

[proshares]

Walsh told Chris Sheridan that he didn't have the energy to do this for two more years FWIW. Said one of the big factors was the uncertainty over the upcoming season.

Important note:

Jim (Utica, NY)


Do you think that Donnie Walsh's experience dealing with James Dolan and the continuous Isiah Thomas rumors surrounding the franchise will potentially hinder big name guys from wanting a front office position with the team in the future?

Chris Sheridan (3:05 PM)


I think the question of autonomy will loom larger, and if they go outside of the organization and seek a big name (someone like Jerry Colangelo), you can bet a guy like that would want to have complete control -- and would pick Donnie's brain on whether it is possible to do that when working for Dolan.

 

[blackmagnus514]

Dolan is a selfish prick. Shoulda just let donnie get that one year. His health is a major factor.

 

[airmaxpenny1]

I'd love to see Kevin Pritchard get a call

 

[ravagebx]

 

[proshares]

I'd trust Pritch to be GM. President as well? I don't know about that. Both spots are opened up now. I'd like Colangelo but as Sheridan says, a guy like that is going to want to have a good amount/complete control. He talks to Donnie, he's not gonna like what he'll hear in that department.

 

[|A-Man|]

[h6][/h6]

[h6]Billy (NYC)[/h6]


Can you explain why, exactly, Dolan likes Thomas? What is it that makes him ignore Thomas' performance with the organization and the whole sexual harassment thing?
[h6]Chris Sheridan
  (3:55 PM)
[/h6]


He likes him on a human level. The two spent a lot of years working together, and they developed a bond. That's between them, quite frankly. I think Dolan recognizes that Thomas didn't do a good job team-building during his reign, but Dolan will go to his grave believing that the Anucha Browne Sanders case was a monumental miscarriage of justice.

How can we ever succeed with an owner like this?