Isiah's Report Card: Part Two
[To See Part One of Isiah's Report Card, CLICK HERE]
Today marks the two-year anniversary of Isiah Thomas agreeing to come to New York to try and build a championship caliber team. At this point, we'll settle for respectable. In fact, let's start with not embarrassing.
In part one of Isiah's report card, he earned high marks for making the roster younger and more athletic. He received a D for failing to make the team any better in terms of wins and losses.
If he's succeeded in making the roster younger and more athletic by jettisoning every single player from the roster he inherited, why isn't that translating into more wins? That's the big question and - sorry Knicks fans - it's where Isiah gets a failing grade. There is no master plan. Isiah loves to make moves. If a player's available - regardless of whether or not that player can help the team - Isiah's interested. The Stephon Marbury deal was done to make a splash and the Eddy Curry deal was a calculated risk. Beyond those two, however, it is difficult to defend Isiah's pursuit of Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, Maurice Taylor, Malik Rose, Jerome James, Vin Baker, Nazr Mohammed and Tim Thomas. Isiah wanted all these players because their previous teams were only to happy to let them go (what does that tell you?) ... not because they fit into an actual plan to make the New York Knicks better. And that's not even taking account the players Isiah has reportedly coveted (again because they were unwanted elsewhere), such as Antoine Walker, Ruben Patterson, Darius Miles, Eddie Griffin, Eddie Robinson and numerous others. Ironically, Ron Artest - a high-risk, high-maintenance player who could actually help the Knicks - couldn't be more available and Isiah has reportedly shown little to no interest in obtaining him. Go figure ...
So are the Knicks hopeless under Isiah? Not quite. The two things for which Thomas clearly deserves credit are solid draft picks and luring Larry Brown (albeit with the largest pile of cash ever thrown at an NBA coach) to take on a massive rebuilding project with little light at the end of the tunnel. Hard to argue with the selections of Trevor Ariza (#43) in 2004 and Channing Frye (#8), Nate Robinson (#21 from Phoenix) and David Lee (#30) in 2005.
Also hard to argue with hiring Larry Brown. After bungling his handling of Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens and Herb Williams, Isiah made the biggest and best acquisition of his two-year reign when he convinced the Hall-of-Fame coach to weasel his way out of his contract in Detroit. While the results so far are disappointing - did someone say disastrous? - there's no question that having Brown at the helm - for however long he chooses to stick around - is a positive for the Knicks.
CONCLUSION: Isiah Thomas gets credit for overhauling the roster, making the team younger and more athletic, drafting well and hiring Larry Brown as coach. On the flip side, Thomas is to blame for the Lenny Wilkens experiment; trying to build around Stephon Marbury; making a bad salary cap situation worse (which didn't seem possible); and churning the roster with no master plan. Finally (and most importantly), after two years on the job, the New York Knicks are no closer to being a respectable NBA franchise - let alone a championship contender - than they were on the day Isiah Thomas took over.
OVERALL GRADE: D
Today marks the two-year anniversary of Isiah Thomas agreeing to come to New York to try and build a championship caliber team. At this point, we'll settle for respectable. In fact, let's start with not embarrassing.
In part one of Isiah's report card, he earned high marks for making the roster younger and more athletic. He received a D for failing to make the team any better in terms of wins and losses.
If he's succeeded in making the roster younger and more athletic by jettisoning every single player from the roster he inherited, why isn't that translating into more wins? That's the big question and - sorry Knicks fans - it's where Isiah gets a failing grade. There is no master plan. Isiah loves to make moves. If a player's available - regardless of whether or not that player can help the team - Isiah's interested. The Stephon Marbury deal was done to make a splash and the Eddy Curry deal was a calculated risk. Beyond those two, however, it is difficult to defend Isiah's pursuit of Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, Maurice Taylor, Malik Rose, Jerome James, Vin Baker, Nazr Mohammed and Tim Thomas. Isiah wanted all these players because their previous teams were only to happy to let them go (what does that tell you?) ... not because they fit into an actual plan to make the New York Knicks better. And that's not even taking account the players Isiah has reportedly coveted (again because they were unwanted elsewhere), such as Antoine Walker, Ruben Patterson, Darius Miles, Eddie Griffin, Eddie Robinson and numerous others. Ironically, Ron Artest - a high-risk, high-maintenance player who could actually help the Knicks - couldn't be more available and Isiah has reportedly shown little to no interest in obtaining him. Go figure ...
So are the Knicks hopeless under Isiah? Not quite. The two things for which Thomas clearly deserves credit are solid draft picks and luring Larry Brown (albeit with the largest pile of cash ever thrown at an NBA coach) to take on a massive rebuilding project with little light at the end of the tunnel. Hard to argue with the selections of Trevor Ariza (#43) in 2004 and Channing Frye (#8), Nate Robinson (#21 from Phoenix) and David Lee (#30) in 2005.
Also hard to argue with hiring Larry Brown. After bungling his handling of Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens and Herb Williams, Isiah made the biggest and best acquisition of his two-year reign when he convinced the Hall-of-Fame coach to weasel his way out of his contract in Detroit. While the results so far are disappointing - did someone say disastrous? - there's no question that having Brown at the helm - for however long he chooses to stick around - is a positive for the Knicks.
CONCLUSION: Isiah Thomas gets credit for overhauling the roster, making the team younger and more athletic, drafting well and hiring Larry Brown as coach. On the flip side, Thomas is to blame for the Lenny Wilkens experiment; trying to build around Stephon Marbury; making a bad salary cap situation worse (which didn't seem possible); and churning the roster with no master plan. Finally (and most importantly), after two years on the job, the New York Knicks are no closer to being a respectable NBA franchise - let alone a championship contender - than they were on the day Isiah Thomas took over.
OVERALL GRADE: D
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