Joe Dumars won’t be replaced by Isiah Thomas, according to the Detroit Pistons, but rumor has it that Joe D is on his way out of Motown. Per Bleacher Report:

While reports dismiss the possibility of the Detroit Pistons supplanting their current GM, Joe Dumars, with his former championship backcourt mate, Isiah Thomas, sources do not expect Dumars to stay in the position much longer—either he’ll step down or owner Tom Gores will go in a new direction. Dumars, one source said, is weary of the criticism he has received in trying to rebuild the Pistons after constructing a franchise that went to the Eastern Conference Finals six years in a row (2003-2008). The criticism, the source said, fails to account for a dismal Detroit economy and restraints placed on Dumars while the franchise was up for sale and ultimately changed ownership hands. Dumars could not be reached for comment.

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Twenty-two years after the fact, Isiah Thomas says he regrets having orchestrated the Detroit Pistons’ infamous walk-off the floor, after they were swept by the eventual NBA champion Chicago Bulls in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. Zeke provides NBATV with details as to why the Bad Boys were angry enough to leave without acknowledging Chicago.

The post Isiah Thomas Says Beaten Pistons Should Have Shaken Bulls’ Hands in 1991 Playoffs (VIDEO) appeared first on SLAM.

It’s always good to see current and former NBA players doing good for their communities. In his hometown Chicago, Isiah Thomas is involved in the expansion of Windy City Hoops, a basketball program for at risk youth. As reported by the Chicago Sun-Times: “Mayor Rahm Emanuel and basketball great Isiah Thomas will announce on Monday an expansion of the at-risk youth basketball program Windy City Hoops, to be funded by regular Chicagoans through a donation drive. The goal is to raise $480,000 in 60 days — enough to start new teen basketball leagues at 10 parks in high-crime, low-income neighborhoods from Rogers Park to Roseland, the mayor’s office said in a press release. The additional leagues would open up 3,200 new spots for at-risk teens ages 13 to 17, an expansion the mayor’s office says will double the total number of hours of year-round teen basketball programming the Chicago Park District provides. Donations will be accepted at cityofchicago.org/hoops, and the year-round league will start in March. The mayor’s office says the expansion of Windy City Hoops dovetails with other recent initiatives to keep teens off the streets and is aimed at engaging at-risk youth and reducing gang activity. […] ‘For me, as a child in Chicago, basketball was a way that I could enjoy myself, make friends, stay safe and obtain the education I needed to succeed in life,’ Thomas said in the release. ‘I am happy to be involved with a program that will allow many others the same valuable opportunities that I had.’ The Chicago native played 12 seasons with the Detroit Pistons, racking up 11 All-Star appearances and nine trips to the playoffs. He was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2000.

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The friendship formed between Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson during their playing days became wrecked, as both men sniped at each other through the media. Magic announced via Twitter that all of that is behind them now, and the NBA greats appear to be buddies again: “I had a great private convo with [Isiah Thomas]. Glad we can be friends again.”

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Since he was fired by the New York Knicks in 2008, Isiah Thomas hadn’t been directly involved with the NBA. That’s about to change, as NBATV hired Zeke for an analyst gig. Per the press release: “Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas will join NBA TV as a studio analyst, making his debut Friday, Dec. 21, during the network’s AutoTrader.com Pre-Game Show at 7 p.m. ET. He will make several appearances each month on the network and will also be a regular contributor to NBA.com. Thomas is a 12-time NBA All-Star and was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history in 1996. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.”

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You’ve more than likely seen Larry Bird’s classic steal of an errant Isiah Thomas pass in the 1987 ECF countless times. But never like this before, we’re willing to bet. For charity, these Kenyan orphans re-enacted the moment and it’s amazing. Find out more about the cause, and how to donate to it, here.

(H/T: TBJ)

The post Orphans in Kenya Re-Create 1987 Eastern Conference Finals (VIDEO) appeared first on SLAM.

Teaming up with filmmaker Robert Townsend, NBA legend Isiah Thomas is now making what sounds like a kids’ movie. Per the Detroit Free Press: “Isiah Thomas is going from playing basketball to coaching basketball to filming basketball. The former Pistons star and filmmaker Robert Townsend are collaborating on a new hoops film and were looking for young basketball players to star in it Sunday at American Airlines Arena in Miami. The film, called ‘Playin’ for Love,’ will center around a star player who transfers schools and ‘turns a coach’s life upside down,’ according to a report from NBC 6 in South Florida. More than 1,000 auditioned for a role in the film. ‘You’re trying to give them skills to develop and live with, you want this to be a life-changing moment, you want sport to be the catalyst to give them the thought to propel themselves to the next level in life,’ Thomas said.”

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This weekend, some of Chicago’s most well-known basketball stars—past and present—came together in an effort to help reduce the gang violence that has plagued the city. NBA.com has more on the Peace Basketball Tournament: “Isiah Thomas has worked the intersection of guns and senseless violence before. In fact, it’s something of a family tradition: His mother Mary once greeted gang members who crowded her doorstep, eager to recruit her sons, with a shotgun. Today, there literally is an intersection named ‘Mary Thomas Way’ on this city’s West Side close to where Thomas grew up, avoided the worst that the streets had to offer and became an NBA champion and a basketball Hall of Famer. Thomas was working those streets again Saturday. The basketball lifer with star turns (and less successful stints alike) as a point guard, coach and executive was in a church gym on the South Side, one of the meanest and most dangerous areas in America these days. He and several other NBA figures took part in the Peace Basketball Tournament, yet another attempt to combat a problem that literally is snuffing out hope for young people in the inner city. Last month, Thomas marched with Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina to raise awareness about gang violence and Chicago’s soaring murder rate. This time, Thomas – along with Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Quentin Richardson, Zach Randolph, the Chicago Bears’ J’Marcus Webb and others – was trying to bridge the gap between rivals with basketball, using the celebrity of the sports stars to deliver messages about, well, communicating. ‘It’s a historical event where the gangs are coming together and they’re going to play a game involving peace, to stop the killing,’ Thomas said. ‘Murder has run rampant in Chicago the last couple years, but gangs are calling a truce for this. By getting them to come together and play a sport, they might come to know each other. We believe it’s hard to kill someone if you get to know him.'”

The post Isiah Thomas, Derrick Rose and Others Against Chicago’s Gang Violence (VIDEO) appeared first on SLAM.

Knicks owner James Dolan had a business meeting with Isiah Thomas on Friday, and Marc Berman of the NY Post speculates that “it’s possible the meeting centered on Thomas returning in some sort of coaching consultant capacity during training camp.” Watch out Knick fans—Thomas could return to the Knicks in an official capacity this season: “Knicks owner James Dolan staged a business meeting with Isiah Thomas yesterday morning at the Mandarin Hotel in Midtown, according to a person familiar with the situation. A band of security men surrounded the two men who were both dressed in business suits in a quiet corner of the lobby. Thomas has lobbied to return to the organization since he was fired as the Florida International basketball coach last spring. The meeting took place two days after the resignation of MSG sports president Scott O’Neil, who, according to a source, helped convince Dolan rehiring Thomas wasn’t a good move for the Knicks brand. Thomas, who attended the Basketball Hall of Fame induction last night in Springfield, Mass., still lives at his home in Purchase, where he resided when he was Knicks president and coach during a disastrous reign from 2003-2008 that has made him a pariah with Knicks fans. The Garden stated it would conduct a search for a new Garden sports president, which is a marketing position. It is possible Dolan was seeking Thomas’ advice on filling the position because he has maintained his friendship with Dolan. Hiring the unpopular Thomas would come at an odd time considering the franchise is dealing with the fan fallout of losing Jeremy Lin and are bracing for the Nets’ debut in Brooklyn. Knicks coach Mike Woodson is down an assistant coach after Kenny Atkinson left for Atlanta, and it’s possible the meeting centered on Thomas returning in some sort of coaching consultant capacity during training camp, which begins Oct. 2. Woodson, Thomas and Knicks general manager Glen Grunwald played together on the University of Indiana’s 1981 national championship team. The Post reported in April that Woodson and Thomas had dinner on the night Grunwald was promoted to permanent general manager.”

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NBA Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas is taking classes at UC Berkeley’s graduate school in an attempt to complete a masters degree in education. The 51 year-old Thomas, who has previously coached the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, is reportedly 10 units shy of the degree. Via MercuryNews.com: “Yes, the NBA Hall of Famer is in Berkeley — just don’t expect the Thomas to be lacing up the high tops for Mike Montgomery and the Golden Bears this winter. ‘He’s been here for a while,’  said Mohamed Muqtar, who who works in the students services office for Cal athletics and had lunch Wednesday with Thomas and Counting Crows front man Adam Duritz, a long-time Cal booster. ‘He’s very sharp. I really like him a lot. He’s got a lot of good ideas.’ Thomas played for coach Bob Knight at Indiana, then was a 12-time NBA all-star. He averaged 19.2 points and 9.3 assists as a pro, most of it with the Detroit Pistons. Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, Thomas later coached the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, then served as president of the Knicks.”

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The highly-anticipated Dream Team doc aired last night on NBATV (you can watch it online if you missed it), and Isiah Thomas released a classy statement, as his exclusion from the legendary team continues to be a sore point 20 years later. From the Detroit Free Press: “Here’s Thomas’ statement that he posted on the Internet Wednesday night: ‘Today, like all Americans, I congratulate the Dream Team on their anniversary. I am proud of my career in the NBA and have fond memories of going head to head with all the members of the Team. I can’t speak to the selection process as I wasn’t involved. But 20 years later, their gold medal is still a momentous achievement.’ […] ‘I would have had Isiah on the team,’ NBA commissioner David Stern said. ‘He’s one of the great talents, a Hall of Famer, who had two championships and was on the cusp of a third. And he played that position (point guard) in some ways like no one ever played it, or has since. He’s one of our great players.'”

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Plenty of hype has been built around the Dream Team doc airing on NBATV tomorrow night (9pm EST), and rightfully so. One of the more under-played aspects of the program to this point, however, is the criticism of Isiah Thomas – who was famously left off the team – by some of the Dream Teamers. Per the NY Post: “In a sneak preview shown at The NBA Finals for media Monday night, Michael Jordan reveals one of the ‘stipulations’ for him joining the Dream Team was having his Pistons rival not included but claimed the sentiment also came from the top. It has been long speculated Jordan kept Thomas off the club but the documentary reveals the snub ran deeper than just MJ. Jordan’s Bulls teammate, Scottie Pippen, also said he didn’t want Thomas on the club. ‘I despised how he played the game,’ Pippen said of Thomas. Pippen charged that Thomas spearheaded Detroit’s ‘Bad Boys’ and incited the rough play. ‘Isiah was the general,’ Pippen said. ‘He was the guy who would yap at his teammates and say ‘Kick them on their ass. Do whatever you have to do.’ No, I didn’t want him on the Dream Team.’ When asked if Jordan wanted Thomas on the 1992 Olympic club at the Barcelona Olympics, Pippen said, ‘I can’t speak for Michael but I don’t think he wanted him on the team.’ Jordan said in his interview that he was reluctant to join the Dream Team because he had a bad first Olympic experience as part of the college group and treasured his offseason. But he came around after Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, David Robinson, among others, were all in. ‘That was one of the stipulations put to me that Isiah wasn’t part of the team,’ Jordan said. ‘I was getting strong innuendos it wasn’t just…it was coming from a higher place who didn’t want Isiah on the team.’ Former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Thomas was not considered because of the incident at the end of the recent Bulls-Pistons playoff series in which he had his teammates bolt the court before the final buzzer. It was seen as a lack of sportsmanship. ‘We were picking a group just after the Pistons had been eliminated by the Bulls,’ Granik said. ‘It was very bad timing for Isiah. Everyone had that impression in their mind, the picture of Isiah walking off the court.’ Rod Thorn, part of the Olympic selection committee and who drafted Jordan, said, ‘When the Pistons walked off the court before the final bell, it left a lot of bad taste in a lot of people’s minds.’ NBA TV officials said Monday a strong effort was made to get Thomas to participate in the documentary to give his side but he declined.”

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Isiah Thomas may have recently gotten fired from his college coaching gig, but this latest setback isn’t enough to deter Zeke from seeking other coaching or front-office opportunities (in the pros or at the collegiate level.) From the Detroit Free Press (via ESPN): “Despite a 26-65 record that got him fired in April after three seasons at Florida International, Pistons great Isiah Thomas would like to be a coach in college or the NBA again. ‘I definitely want to be in basketball again whether it be coaching or as a general manager,’ Thomas said. ‘My gift is basketball. I would love working with the kids. If it’s the right college program, I would consider it. If it’s the right GM job or coaching job in the NBA, I would consider it. I love the game. I just want to be in the game.’ Since he retired from the Pistons in 1994, Thomas, 51, has coached the Knicks and Pacers and been the general manager for the Knicks and Raptors. Thomas said he had strong feelings for the Knicks, where he spent nearly five years in his two roles, but he said he would listen to offers from any team. ‘I’m like everyone else, I keep my options open,’ Thomas said. ‘My mom always said don’t burn any bridges. I followed her advice. It would have to be the right option and right place.’ […] ‘When you have had a lot of success, when you do have a failure, people like to point that one failure a lot. That just comes with the territory. …Even Coach (Bobby) Knight and Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), they have people who love them and they definitely have their detractors. At the end of the day, they’ve won more than they’ve lost. At the end of the day, I’ve won more than I’ve lost.’”

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The Isiah Thomas Era has come to an end at Florida International University. USA Today has the details: “Florida International announced it had fired Thomas after three seasons with the school. ‘We want to thank Isiah Thomas for his three years here at FIU,’ athletics director Pete Garcia said in a statement. ‘However, we have decided to take the program in a different direction.’ Thomas was just 26-65 and 14-36 in the Sun Belt during his tenure. His best year was 2010-11 when the school finished 11-19. This past season started well with defeat of George Mason in the opener. But the team slumped home to a 8-21 record that included a loss to NAIA school Texas Wesleyan.”

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Whenever they weren’t rooting for Jeremy Lin last night, Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden rained boos on Sacramento Kings’ guard Isaiah Thomas just because he has a similar name to the former Knicks’ coach and front-office exec. (Stay classy, Knicks fans.) From the NY Post: “Poor Sacramento rookie point guard Isaiah Thomas. Whenever his name was so much mentioned by the Knicks public address announcer Mike Walczewski, for either a foul or bucket, the Garden fans let loose with a round of boos. Some things never change and Thomas got warned by Knicks superfan Spike Lee. The former 5-foot-9 Washington Huskie was indeed named after the Hall of Famer who now coaches at FIU. ‘I used to come to the Knicks games when Isiah Thomas was coach, so I knew something was going to happen,’ Thomas said. ‘I knew it was going to happen here. Spike Lee told me, ‘Next time you come to New York, you better change your name.’ Knicks owner James Dolan, who maintains a friendship with the elder Thomas but has no plans of ever rehiring him as president, couldn’t have enjoyed the reaction. The Sacramento second-round pick will play [tonight] in Detroit, where Thomas still is revered. ‘I might get some cheers there,’ Thomas said. The boos got louder in the fourth quarter as Thomas kept scoring in garbage time, hitting 6 of 8 buckets, to wind up with 13 points. ‘They kept asking me, ‘Why were they booing?’ I was like, ‘Cause of my name,’ Thomas said.”

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by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Derrick Rose, admittedly, was down in the dumps after the Miami Heat eliminated the Chicago Bulls from the Playoffs last year.

The reigning MVP blamed himself for his team’s flameout in the Eastern Conference Finals, and was in a desperate search for answers: how could he ever get the Bulls over the championship hump, especially given just how rarely point guards of his size carry their squads to the NBA’s promised land.

Rose turned to Isiah Thomas, someone who might be able to provide him with some answers. Derrick asked his fellow Chicago native – a man who went through his share of postseason heartbreak – how he managed to win titles.

From ESPN:

Isiah Thomas said he met Rose last year after a game in Detroit and that Rose contacted him after the Bulls’ season had ended. “He was pretty down,” Thomas said. “He asked me ‘How did you do it? How did you win back-to-back championships at this size?’ And my response to him was that once you understand your opponent and know your opponent better than you know yourself, you’ll win.” […] Rose understands Thomas’ historical standing in both Chicago basketball and the NBA. “… He’s somebody where in Chicago, you definitely got to look up to, especially being a guard, winning championships in this league,” Rose said. “[I] try to take things out of his game and put them into mine. But [he’s] a cool dude. I played against his son in AAU. And he’s from Chicago so I got to look up to him.” “It’s hard to pattern your game after somebody that’s great like that,” Rose said. “If anything, he was a winner. His will to win, no matter how big he was on the floor, he was a small guy, but his passion for the game and how dedicated he was to playing the game.”

“He’s very courageous,” Thomas said of his fellow Chicago native. “You’ve got to be courageous and you’ve got to make sacrifices in terms of your body to have success as a small man in the NBA and to win championships. And I emphasize win championships, because you can pile up statistics and great numbers playing a non-aggressive style and have a great career. But if you want to win championships, you have to pay the price and Derrick is definitely paying the price.” […] Thomas said any talk of resting Rose in an effort to protect him from injury is foolish. “I have a West Side mentality, and that is you’re either fighting to get it or fighting to keep it,” he said. “But make no mistake about it, you are always in the fight. … You want to sit me down and coddle me?”

Media and fans today treat Isiah Thomas as a punchline, endlessly pointing out his shortcomings as an NBA executive and coach. But for players in the League, he represents a living legend, someone whose guidance is to be valued. And, of course, they’re right.

Derrick Rose should take Isiah Thomas’ advice, but one thing remains inescapable: Zeke had a considerably more complete Detroit Pistons team than Rose does now in Chicago when he won back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990.

The post Derrick Rose Asked Isiah Thomas How to Win NBA Titles appeared first on SLAM.

New York’s most infamous front-office executive, Isiah Thomas, tells a sports radio show that the cost to acquire Tyson Chandler may have been a tad too high. From the NY Post: “Isiah Thomas, FIU coach and former Knicks president, finally spoke out on the club’s acquisition of center Tyson Chandler and did not sound enthused. Conveniently appearing on the Sid Rosenberg Show on Miami radio yesterday following the Knicks’ 2-4 start, Thomas questioned Glen Grunwald’s acquisition of Chandler, which forced the team to cut Chauncey Billups to get under the salary cap. Thomas said the NBA has become a guard’s league, and the Knicks cannot win solely with a star-powered frontcourt of Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. The Chandler commitment cost them a shot at point guard Chris Paul with next summer’s salary cap space, and Paul was subsequently dealt to the Clippers. ‘The guard play right now in the NBA is off the charts,’ Thomas said. ‘Losing Chauncey, I thought he brought a veteran leadership to the team. His savviness and guard play has always been severely undervalued. Detroit found that out when they let Chauncey go. I think there was a certain amount of leadership to what he brought to [the Knicks] last year.’ Grunwald has an interim general manager tag, but Thomas is no longer considered to be in the running if Knicks owner James Dolan makes a move for a permanent GM this summer. Thomas defended Mike D’Antoni, saying it is tough to win with the guards the coach has. ‘If you don’t have great guards, it’s hard to put together a game plan,’ Thomas said. ‘You’re only as good a coach as your guards.’”

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Many members of the media have been writing and saying that Billy Hunter may be on his way out as Executive Director of the Players Association once the lockout concludes, and if that is indeed true, the NY Post is reporting that one familiar man is looking to take that job: “How many would be stunned to learn Florida International University’s current head coach is angling in due course to replace the executive director of the Players Association should its membership feel flogged (compromised following so many compromises) by David Stern upon the completion of a new collective bargaining agreement or if negotiations again break down and additional salary (games) get forfeited? How many would be surprised to find out [Isiah] Thomas, a former president of the union during his playing days, is coiled to commandeer the slightest insinuation of instability and insurgence? Let’s see a show of hand. According to a pretty piped-in informant, skulking and stalking are exactly what Thomas has been doing as [Billy] Hunter tries not to lose further frontage to one clearly identified Nor’easter after another: Namely, commissioner Stern stage-managed by 29 owners; players poised to push for immediate decertification if a deal can’t be struck during this extensive bargaining session; weighty agents counseling clients that leadership is limp; and growing frustration among even Hunter’s staunchest supporters. It’s impossible to conceal such stress and strain.”

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The LeBron/Wade/Bosh charity hoops game will be played at the school where Isiah Thomas coaches next Saturday, and Zeke theorizes as to why the public sometimes gets mad at James. From the Sun-Sentinel: “With the lockout,’ [Thomas] said, ‘there’s basically no rules, but that doesn’t mean that guys still don’t want to play. The guys want to play basketball, they love the game and they really play for the love of the game. I just hope during this period that the players and owners remember what has made this league great, and what has made it great has been the partnership between the owners and the players.’ Even with FIU’s arena under renovation, Thomas has made sure there has been a lockout home on the west side of town for the likes of Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Juwan Howard, Jannero Pargo and Damien Wilkins. And now he is about to host the biggest current name of them all, LeBron James. And that could just as easily have Isiah reverting back to the black hat, because for all the derision James experienced with the Heat last season, Thomas experienced something starkly similar during his championship days in the Pistons’ ‘Bad Boys’ era. ‘It kind of comes with the territory when you’re really good,’ Thomas said. ‘Nobody cares about the loser. Everybody likes the loser. Some people are not going to like you because you are successful and I think LeBron has been extremely successful since high school and Wade has been successful and I think those guys will continue to be successful. And with their success, there are going to be some people who are upset with that.’ At the moment, though, Thomas has nothing to be upset with, just a high-profile NBA game on his low-profile campus, with proceeds to honor his late mother. ‘When they said that they wanted to do the game for my mom,’ he said, ‘I cried, really.'”

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Day 2 of the Impact League in Las Vegas is in the books, and with all this talk about NBA labor negotiations hitting another roadblock, it’s nice to see some NBA-type action. Among the highlights from yesterday’s run:  DeMar Derozan’s hops, Rashard Lewis’s baseline fade-away and Tony Allen’s jumper. (Really.) So enjoy a mix of buckets from the second session in Sin City, courtesy of BallisLife, and be on the lookout for more SLAMonline coverage of the “Lockout League.”

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by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

To the endless chagrin of New York Knicks fans (and some of the team’s employees), Isiah Thomas’ influence within MSG doesn’t appear to be shrinking.

If anything — even though he’s not allowed to officially work for the Knicks while he coaches college kids — Isiah appears to have more power within the organization than before.

Amar’e Stoudemire is one of several NBA players currently working out at FIU, and according to the NY Daily News, Isiah Thomas (and Knicks owner James Dolan) are hoping to use this opportunity and others to help lure Chris Paul to New York:

ESPN reported that Stoudemire was working out at FIU which happens to be the school Isiah coaches when he isn’t serving as a de facto GM of the Knicks. There were several NBA players working out at FIU, including Atlanta’s Joe Johnson. None of this is surprising since FIU is located in a favored city among NBA players: Miami. Plus, Isiah continues to share a close relationship with some of the league’s top players. That would including Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e and more importantly, Chris Paul.

This is the reason James Dolan continues to lean on Isiah for advice, even though Isiah doesn’t have an official position with the Knicks. (If he did, Isiah would be in violation of NBA bylaws for having contact with players during the lockout). Isiah played a role in the Knicks signing Amar’e two summer’s ago and he played a role in the Melo trade. He’s now working behind the scenes to help the Knicks land Chris Paul.

Knicks fans may rightfully hate that Zeke continues to be involved with their team in any capacity, but if his endless behind-the-scenes machinations help land Chris Paul, one gets the feeling that they’ll quickly forgive and forget his past sins.

The post Isiah Thomas Working to Help Knicks Acquire Chris Paul? appeared first on SLAM.

Windy City-bred ballers — past and present — are doing what they can to help bring down Chicago’s violent crime rate, especially among young folks. From the AP: “Because those who grow up in rough Windy City neighborhoods face more than just the challenge of the city’s schoolyard competition. The real opponent is often the streets themselves. Perhaps no one is more familiar with that obstacle than former Illinois and Orlando Magic star Nick Anderson. Twenty-seven years ago, Anderson’s best friend, Ben Wilson, was widely considered the top high school prospect in the country. The day before their season opener, Anderson stopped into a local convenience store. Wilson accidentally bumped into a fellow teen just outside it. Seconds later, Wilson was shot. Just hours before what would have been his senior tip-off – Nov. 21, 1984 – he was pronounced dead at 17. … Basketball became Anderson’s way of distancing himself from that type of local trouble, and he often speaks to youths in the Orlando area encouraging them to find a means to do the same … Like Anderson, others are hoping to minimize the damage by using their big-name influence. [Derrick] Rose himself brought attention to the issue by donning jersey No. 25 – Wilson’s number, also worn by Anderson at Illinois and Orlando – while winning back-to-back city titles in 2006 and 2007 at Simeon Career Academy, the same school Anderson and Wilson attended. But for all the esteemed preps history Chicago has to offer – think names like Dwyane Wade, Tim Hardaway, Mark Aguirre and Candace Parker – perhaps no one ranks higher than Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, a product of the city’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Despite his professional rivalry with the Bulls honed by years of playoff battles as a member of the Detroit Pistons, Thomas makes regular trips back home to work with city officials on improving the area for children. ‘I give them real information,’ said Thomas, now the head coach at Florida International. ‘I let them know there are some unsafe places in your environment, but your environment isn’t a dangerous place all the time. If you seek the light, and stay away from the dark, you’re more apt to have a chance to make your mark on society.'”

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Here’s the immortal James Dolan leading his band in song, about fixing the Knicks (with Isiah Thomas in the lyrics! Seriously.). Man, it must be awful to root for the Knicks.

(H/T: Newsday’s Alan Hahn)

The post Video: Knicks Owner James Dolan Sings ‘Fix the Knicks’ appeared first on SLAM.

Mike Woodson is considered a leading candidate to replace John Kuester in Motown, but according to the Detroit News, it wouldn’t be wise to rule out Pistons legend Isiah Thomas: “There are some interesting names, though, as most believe the Pistons will go for a more experienced head coach this time around, after the failures of Kuester and Michael Curry (2008-09). Mike Woodson is probably the leading candidate at this point. Woodson was on Larry Brown’s staff in 2003-04 when the Pistons won the NBA title, along with Kuester. Woodson went on to take over a young team in Atlanta and took the Hawks to the precipice of the elite. More important than the Hawks’ steady improvement, though, was the development and maturity of his players. Woodson took a talented but raw Josh Smith, drafted straight out of high school, and although the two had their moments, Smith matured into a productive, if not consistent player … Isiah Thomas also could have a formal chat with Dumars. The former backcourt mates speak regularly, and during Thomas’ last visit to The Palace, during Dennis Rodman’s jersey retirement, he was in Dumars’ suite. Thomas’ issues have been well-documented during his time in New York, although it should be noted the Knicks were a mess well before he set foot in Madison Square Garden. Thomas does have experience in developing young players during his time as an executive in Toronto and as head coach in Indiana. While Thomas’ interest level isn’t known, he still feels a strong emotional bond with the team and the city of Detroit.”

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With Donnie Walsh leaving his post as President of Basketball Operations and General Manager for the Knicks, the Isiah Thomas rumors have begun to manifest.

Stephen A. Smith sat down with Thomas on ESPN New York to discuss the departure of Walsh and whether or not he saw himself in the Knicks future plans.

From Sports Radio Interviews:

” Do you want to be back with the New York Knicks organization?

‘I don’t want to be the President of the New York Knicks. That’s not what I’m angling for. In terms of being in the NBA or working in an NBA organization I’ve said this before at some point in time I would like to return to the NBA and I would like to continue in the NBA, but at this time my focus is at FIU [Florida International University] and working in college and working with the kids that I’m working with.’

Why do you not want to be the President of the New York Knicks or for any team?

‘I…not necessarily any team, but I would just say in this situation right now you know what with what went on with myself and my family and the toll that it took on just my family here in New York. It was just difficult for us and we had a very difficult time. I don’t know if I would want to go through that again.’

Let me just make this clear for the listeners out there. Are you trying to say that if your friend, the billionaire, Mr.Dolan, picked up the phone, called you and said ‘I want you back in the same position you had before you’d likely say no?’

‘I probably would because I think I could help him…I would try to help him in other ways. I just don’t know if my skin…I don’t know if my family and myself… I don’t if we could all go through that again. It was very difficult for all of us during that period of time and I wouldn’t want to go through that again.’

What about being the coach of the Knicks?

‘Absolutely not.’

While Knick fans can breathe a sigh of relief, rumors have also surfaced that Isiah Thomas could be in contact with Joe Dumars regarding the Detroit Pistons coaching vacancy.

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by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

The year was 2004, when Isiah Thomas sauntered over to center court at Madison Square Garden, and triumphantly declared, “Welcome to the Playoffs.”

Nothing that silly or overwrought took place at MSG last night, as New York qualified for the postseason tournament for the first time since ’04.

The expectations for this current team are much higher — they were not only expected to make the Playoffs, but to do something meaningful once there.

From the NY Daily News:

[Chauncey] Billups, in fact, once had a streak of seven straight appearances in a conference finals. His attitude Sunday night was essentially, “Yeah, so we made the playoffs. Aren’t we supposed to do this?” “It’s crazy to think that a storied franchise like the Knicks went seven years without making it,” Billups added. “Every year I never think ‘I just want to make the playoffs.’ I go into every season thinking, ‘How far can we go this year.'”

“This is exactly where I expected to be… in the playoffs,” Amar’e Stoudemire said following the Knicks’ 123-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday night at the Garden. “This was the goal when I signed here. I sat down with Mr. Dolan and said this is our plan. The plan has come into full motion and now it is time to take the momentum into the playoffs.”

For now, it’s time for the Knicks and their fanbase to celebrate the end of a long and miserable drought.

Currently the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference, the New York Knicks will likely battle either Miami or Boston in the first round of the postseason. No one reasonably believes they’ll beat either team, but Knicks fans and media do expect them to make things interesting, at the very least.

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by Alan Paul

“I sort of came up with the whole Bad Boys thing,” Isiah Thomas says. He’s not exactly bragging, but neither does he need to be prodded. The cherub-faced former point guard is simply answering a question about the nickname and outlaw image so proudly sported by his two-time champion Detroit Pistons teams a decade ago. The name gave the team a strong identity in their quest to unseat the reigning Lakers and Celtics and hold off the surging Bulls, but it has also obscured their greatness. Ten years later, it’s easy to forget that the ’89 champs went 63-19 during the regular season and romped through the playoffs with a 15-2 record. The last great team before Jordan’s royal reign, they were recently hailed by the NBA as one of the 10 all-time greatest squads.

“It’s not that I or any of us wanted to be the bad guys,” Thomas insists. “We had to wear the black hats because the Celtics and Lakers were wearing the white hats. They were the good guys and all of America was rooting for them, so we just figured we’d be the guys who no one was rooting for, the bad guys.”

The Bad Boys. The Pistons began to be widely referred to as such in January of ’88, after Rick Mahorn floored Michael Jordan then took on the entire Bulls bench, including coach Doug Collins, when they came to the aid of their battered star. Collins ended up sprawled across the press table, and the Pistons had shown the world that they would bow to no one. “I don’t take any shit from anyone,” says Mahorn. “I had a lot of confrontations with a lot of people, but that was definitely one of the more significant ones that labeled us.”

The next day, the Pistons read in the paper that Jordan had called them the dirtiest team in the League and claimed that they intentionally tried to hurt people. Their first reaction wasn’t exactly to sue for libel.

“I thought, ‘Here’s our opening, our chance to establish a niche,’” Thomas recalls. “You’d go to Boston Garden and everyone would talk about the mystique, then Kevin McHale, Larry Bird and Robert Parish would kill you—they beat you, not some leprechauns, but the talk distracted you. I figured we could get the same kind of thing going. I always liked the Oakland Raiders, and I wanted our image to be just like that.”

So the Pistons turned the complaints into a badge of honor. From ’85, when Mahorn arrived in Detroit, until ’93, when Bill Laimbeer retired, the Pistons were fined more than $220,000 and lost about $85,000 due to suspensions. The burly, 6-10 Mahorn had long been known for his dirty tactics; on the Washington Bullets he had teamed with Jeff Ruland to form an infamously brutal duo known as McFilthy and McNasty.

“I had great partnerships with Jeff, Bill and then Charles Barkley with the Sixers,” Mahorn says. “The truth is, they were all more talented players than me but had a similar style, and they all thrived knowing that I was out there to watch their back.” The 6-11, 260-pound Laimbeer, a slow-moving center and great defensive rebounder, was viewed as a cheapshot artist and consummate crybaby.

“I hated him before he was my teammate,” says Mahorn. “I hated him for most of the first year he was my teammate. I thought he was an asshole and a cheapshot artist, but then I realized that he was a straightforward dude and he played by the rules. We didn’t go beyond the rules, but we took them to the limit, and the rules had to be changed because our limit was just a little bit different than most people’s. For instance, we would always give someone an extra shot after the whistle. Like Jordan or Dominique might be fouled up top on a drive, then we’d smack them on the continuation. Well, they outlawed that because of us.”

While Mahorn was more likely to get into an actual physical confrontation, Laimbeer was the one who tormented opposing players into losing their focus, or blowing their top and taking a swing at him.

“Laimbeer rarely hit anyone; he just drove them nuts,” says longtime Pistons’ announcer George Blaha. “He delighted in getting under your skin. He was constantly trying to gain not the only physical edge, but also the mental edge. If he could make you lose your concentration, then he’d won, because he never seemed to lose his cool. There would be an incident, then he could go right to the free throw line and nail them, while the other guy would often have trouble playing the rest of the game.”

“It was all about throwing people off their games,” says Mahorn. “I think Michael developed that baseline jumper because of us. There were some teams and some people who just couldn’t deal with us. They’d be preoccupied thinking about us instead of their game. Like Charles Oakley was one of the few guys who wasn’t intimidated by us at all, but he would get frustrated because his teammates [were]. But we wouldn’t try to hurt anybody, just hit them. And nobody could scare us. Our best fights were with each other at practice, where we could actually land some punches.”

But while Laimbeer and Mahorn were clearly the chief instigators, they were not the lone Bad Boys. A skinny, ferocious-rebounding forward by the name of Dennis Rodman learned well from his mentors. Easygoing center James Edwards, veteran guard John Long, scoring machine Adrian Dantley and his replacement Mark Aguirre all garnered fines with the Pistons. Even consummate nice guy Joe Dumars lost his cool a few times; in ’90 the 6-3 Dumars was fined $2,000 for fighting 6-10 twins Harvey (Washington) and Horace (Chicago) Grant three weeks apart.

And then there was Isiah, the Pistons’ captain and little general. He may have weighed in at 185 pounds soaking wet, but says Mahorn, “Isiah was a little man who wanted to be a big man and played as if playing hard enough would make him a foot taller.”

In April ’89, Thomas showed his lack of both fear and common sense when he busted his hand clocking 7-foot Bulls center Bill Cartwright in the head. He slapped Lakers center Mychal Thompson the following January, drawing a $2,500 fine. In April ’90, he punched Mahorn (then with Philadelphia), despite being outweighed by nearly 100 pounds.

“I didn’t back down to anyone,” Thomas says today with a slight laugh. “I’m lucky I didn’t get hurt. I don’t think I played cheap, but I definitely played hard. I’d most like to be remembered as a guy who just did whatever it took to win—whether that meant scoring 40 and looking pretty or digging in my heels and playing ugly. And that goes for the whole team; we thought we should have won the title in ’88, and by the next season we were prepared to do whatever it took. I think our toughness was mental as well as physical.”

Thomas undoubtedly is right, but mental toughness doesn’t leave black-and-blue marks, so it doesn’t tend to be as noticed. “You felt it when you played them, because the whole team was incredibly physical,” recalls Pacer vet Chris Mullin. “It’s not that they were all dirty, but they gave you nothing.”

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by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

All things considered, Denver and its young, inexperienced front-office did pretty well for themselves in the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York.

They got the Knicks to give up much more than it had initially wanted to, and didn’t lose their franchise player for nothing in free agency like other franchises did last summer.

When team president Josh Kroenke and GM Masai Ujiri met with the media to discuss the blockbuster trade, they sounded like a couple of wounded soldiers. To hear them tell it, ‘Melo and the Knicks are the real winners here.

From the Denver Post and FanHouse:

“We feel we got killed in the trade because we lost a couple of pretty good players,” Ujiri said. “Obviously, Carmelo Anthony. I feel sad for the city of Denver. I feel bad that this was done on my watch. To lose a guy like that. And also Chauncey (Billups). But I think we had to do it.”

“This was a process that was started by Carmelo; everything that we did just now was at his request,” said Kroenke, who hadn’t spoken on the record during the drawn-out trade process. “Our perceived desire to go young or cut salary (is unfair). The salary thing really hits hard with me because we’ve been in the luxury tax four of the last five seasons. We have a top-five payroll in the league this season. Our market doesn’t even come close to supporting that. The notion that this organization somehow is only concerned with cutting costs is absurd. We’ve explained that to Carmelo. This is all a result of his request to play in a different market.”

Denver is right, of course. Losing a superstar in the NBA, no matter what pieces you get in return, is a devastating blow to a franchise.

The Nuggets will remain competitive this season, and may even hang on and squeeze into the Playoffs. But they and everyone else knows there’s no replacing what ‘Melo represented.

After all, Kosta Koufos isn’t going to save the day.

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Our long, international nightmare mercifully came to an end last night. The Melodrama is over, and the Knicks have their man. At last.

It’s a glitzy, fascinating, somewhat desperate, and vaguely terrifying move on New York’s part. In other words: it’s absolutely, perfectly Knicks-esque.

The Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks have been forever transformed by this, and though it’s clear that the Nuggets are now in full rebuiding hell, it’s harder to tell where the Knicks truly stand.

We’ll have to wait until the summer of 2012 to see if New York can land another big fish to compliment ‘Melo and Amar’e Stoudemire; it’ll be yet another tumultuous period for the team and its fanbase, with a front-office that may look radically different by then.

For the rest of this season, the New York Knicks are going to be wildly entertaining. They won’t defend anyone, may even put a scare into a Playoff team or two in the Spring, and Madison Square Garden will once again be the most electric gym in the NBA.

Welcome to New York, Carmelo Anthony. This is what you wanted all along. Now, it’s time to deliver on the grandest of stages.

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by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, the Knicks have yet to guarantee that president Donnie Walsh will finish out his deal in New York.

Though Walsh’s shrewd moves have led to the turnaround of New York’s hoops team — only one of the NBA’s marquee franchises — MSG overlord James Dolan hasn’t seen it fit to reward him by assuring his future with the franchise.

According to the NY Post, commissioner David Stern is pushing Dolan to keep Walsh in charge.

It’s all reportedly very hush-hush, especially when one considers how much Donnie Walsh hates having his personal business out there like this, but the message from NBA HQ is unmistakable:

Commissioner David Stern has worked quietly behind the scenes to have Knicks owner James Dolan bring back president Donnie Walsh to finish out the final year of his contract, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post. Three years ago, Stern lobbied Dolan to hire Walsh to restore respectability to the franchise in the wake of the Isiah Thomas fiasco and the sexual harassment trial involving former marketing employee Anucha Browne-Sanders that stained the franchise.

However, as The Post reported Friday, Dolan has hesitated on exercising the option on the fourth and final year of Walsh’s contract because he still has Thomas on his radar, speaking to him more than once a week. The deadline for Dolan to exercise the option is April 30.

This isn’t the first time that Stern and the League have stepped in to stop the Knicks from doing something horrifically stupid, and unlikely the last.

Now that the New York Knicks are relevant on the basketball court again, it appears as though David Stern isn’t willing to let them screw things up so easily.

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by Alan Paul

Bill Laimbeer was not a player people had mild feelings about. He was, in fact, unforgettable. Pistons fans will forever recall him helping Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Chuck Daly win back-to-back titles in ’89 and ’90, while the rest of the basketball world holds memories that are, well, not quite so sweet. They likely remember the hacks and flagrant fouls, or Laimbeer’s grimacing, shiner-stained face whining about a non-call, or him flying across the floor, sent sprawling by the most incidental of contact. And of course, the sight of Big Bill draining threes, pulling down crucial rebounds or pumping his fist after Zeke, Joe D or Vinnie Johnson scored after being freed by one of his bone-rattling picks.

Laimbeer was the ultimate guy you loved to have on your team, and otherwise hated-really hated. He was called a thug, a flopper and “His Heinous.” He was booed from coast to coast. He was punched by many of the game’s greatest players, including Robert Parish, Larry Bird, Bob Lanier and Charles Barkley. And he never minded any of it. In fact, getting under opponent’s skin and driving them to the point of distraction was a key-maybe the key-to his game. “I just did my job, played basketball and won championships,” says Laimbeer today. “I didn’t get distracted by the other stuff, and if other people did, it worked to our advantage.”

“I hated him before he was my teammate,” says fellow Bad Boy partner in crime Rick Mahorn. “In fact, I hated him for most of the first year he was my teammate. I thought he was an asshole and a cheap shot artist, but then I realized that he was a straightforward dude, and he played by the rules. We all did. We didn’t go beyond the rules, but we took them to the limit and they had to change the rules because our limit was just a little bit different than most people’s.”

Adds longtime Pistons announcer George Blaha, “Laimbeer rarely hit anyone; he just drove them nuts. He delighted in getting under your skin. He constantly was trying to gain not only the physical edge, but also the mental edge. If he could make you lose your concentration, then he’d won, because he never seemed to lose his cool.”

Still, Laimbeer was more than just a provocateur; he was, in fact, one of the best centers of the ’80s, a four-time All Star who became just the 19th player in League history to amass more than 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. For his 14-year career, all but the first season and a half of it in Detroit after starting out with the Cavs, he averaged 12.9 ppg and 9.7 rpg. He led the League in rebounding with 13.1 in ’86, in the midst of six straight seasons averaging better than 10 rpg. It’s an amazing accomplishment for a slow-footed 6-11 guy who could barely jump. Laimbeer, who retired in ’94, is now the coach of the Detroit Shock, whom he led to the WNBA championship last year.

SLAM: How quickly did you realize that playing with Isiah was going to be special?

BL: Right away-as soon as I got to Detroit after being traded from Cleveland. Just playing a couple of games you could see the great talent and unselfishness in him. Playing with him was just a great, really fun experience because he took care of his guys. When I got there, he reminded me that I had played with him before at the Olympic Trials and I said, “Oh yeah-you were the guard no one could stop, and our team kept winning.” It was really a good fit, and I loved playing with him.

SLAM: Settle an argument: I say that Isiah was far better than Allen Iverson, because he could control a game without scoring, which Iverson can’t do, and that had he wanted to he could have been just as much of an offensive threat and scored 30 a night. A friend disagrees and says AI has more offense. Who’s right?

BL: Probably you, but it’s hard to say because that’s not who he was. Isiah didn’t want to score 30 a night. His whole focus is winning and winning championships. Could he have done that? Probably. Would he have? Absolutely not. He’d do whatever he had to do to win basketball games.

SLAM: When did you start thinking that you guys could be championship caliber?

BL: Isiah and I both always thought that we were going to win a championship. That was our sole focus and drive behind everything we did, which was one of the best things about our team. Everyone shared that. We always got better. We never took a step backward; we always kept moving forward, getting closer to a championship step by step, and we all believed that we were going to get there.

SLAM: You guys had some brutal seven-game series losses on the way, notably to the Celtics in the Eastern Finals in ’87 and to the Lakers in the Finals in ’88. Did you ever lose faith?

BL: Not at all, and that’s one of the greatest things about our team-we were mentally tough, able to go through very tough times and come out feeling good and looking forward. Our first championship was more relief than joy because we had been building to it for so long.

SLAM: I can assure you that some of those series nearly killed Pistons fans. Did any of them hurt particularly bad?

BL: They all did. Don’t get me wrong, any time you lose a tough, hard-played series in seven games, it hurts like hell. When you play so good and lose it makes for a tremendous basketball series and the losing team goes away shaken and disappointed. But we never quit or played badly. We just got beat, and you can take that. You can live with playing well and losing as much as it hurts. It’s not like panicking and blowing a series, and we knew if we kept pushing we were going to break through eventually, and that’s what happened.

SLAM: I noticed that in the Pistons Hall of Fame at the Palace, you, Joe D and Isiah all have your own lockers, and Adrian Dantley and Mark Aguirre share one. That makes sense, because while Aguirre got the rings, both were essential to what you guys achieved. Do you agree?

BL: Yes, actually, though I never noticed that [laughs]. Both of them did a great job and were important to our success, but neither of them was here long enough to be huge players in the long-term history of the franchise.

SLAM: But when Dantley was traded to Dallas for Aguirre, it was a huge source of controversy, because a lot of people saw it as Isiah sending off someone who’d had the nerve to stand up to him and bringing in his childhood buddy.

BL: The only controversy was in the media, not in our ball club. Adrian did a fine job for us on the court and also in teaching some of the youngsters like John Salley and Dennis Rodman about being professional. He came in during a transitional period when we were moving from being a free-wheeling offensive team to a more methodical defensive-oriented team, and he fit right in to a disciplined offensive structure. But I think our team just outgrew Adrian Dantley. Joe D was about to come into his own, and it was important that we had more ball movement, and that was not Adrian’s strength.

SLAM: Isiah really pushed the Bad Boys image, and you all seemed to embrace it.

BL: Well, I certainly did. Someone like Joe, who is more of a quiet, unassuming person who kept to himself, may not have liked it that much, but many of us did. It was our identity, it was fun and we used it as a tool.

SLAM: You seemed to revel in being hated by other teams’ fans.

BL: Well, I don’t know if I’d say “revel,” but it didn’t bother me. It was cast upon me through my style of play, and I wasn’t going to run away from it or alter my game to please anyone else-particularly my opponents or their fans.

SLAM: How would you describe your working relationship playing with Rick Mahorn?

BL: We played well together. It wasn’t the best at first because Rick came in here overweight and out of shape and didn’t understand how to play an intense team style, but he changed overnight and became a really important part of what we were doing.

SLAM: Do you have any regrets about the way your run ended, with you guys walking off the court refusing to shake hands with the Bulls after they swept you in the ’91 Eastern Finals?

BL: No, I have no regrets. They had said some things about us personally over the course of a year and half in the papers. Not stuff about us as players, but personally, and we weren’t going to forget or ignore that. And time has shown that we were true champions and hasn’t treated them all as kindly. [Huh?-Ed.]

SLAM: You led the League in rebounding in ’86. How did you manage to outrebound people like Moses Malone?

BL: Being relentless and wanting the basketball. You take a lot of abuse down there, so you have to really want the basketball. I wanted to be a great rebounder, so I spent a lot of time working on my timing, positioning, anticipating when someone was going to shoot and where the ball would go. I was a position rebounder, so the key was to get between your man and the basket and want the ball more than he does.

SLAM: You had a very unusual game, in that you were a great rebounder who scored most of your points from outside.

BL: I was always a perimeter shooter, and we had a ball club that was structured differently in that our post scoring came from our forwards and guards, not our center. I was a great pick-and-pop player for our guards, had great success doing that and loved playing that role.

SLAM: How would you compare the feeling of winning as a player to winning as a coach?

BL: There’s no comparison. Winning as a player is much better. You’re the one out there doing the doing and putting your mental and physical well-being on the line. As a coach, you’re happy for the players because you helped put them in a position to experience that great feeling.

SLAM: A lot of people compared this year’s Pistons team to your teams. What do you think of that?

BL: Just like us, they are mentally tough, have strong internal leadership in the locker room and are a well-prepared ball club that puts the emphasis on defense. But you really can’t compare the two eras because there is just not the same depth today. You can get one or two very good players on the bench but you don’t go 10 deep like we did. You don’t have great offensive players like Vinnie Johnson and James Edwards or defensive stoppers like John Salley and Dennis Rodman on the bench. It’s not that the players are worse now; it’s just that there are more teams so they are spread thinner.

SLAM: This team was very unusual in not having a single focal point, a la Isiah, Michael, Bird or Magic.

BL: Ben Wallace is a very strong leader. He was the guy and everyone on the team knew it. It is certainly unusual to have a defensive rather than offensive player in that role, but leadership is leadership and it doesn’t matter where it comes from.

SLAM: Let’s play a little name association. Isiah Thomas.

BL: Winner. Great leader.

SLAM: Larry Bird.

BL: Mentally tough competitor.

SLAM: Robert Parish.

BL: Solid role player.

SLAM: Joe Dumars.

BL: Quiet leader, true professional.

SLAM: Kareem.

BL: One of the best ever. A great team player.

SLAM: Vinnie Johnson.

BL: Two things-close friend, and sacrifice. He sacrificed a lot for us. He never made the All-Star team, which he would have done easily on another team, and he got rewarded by winning championships.

SLAM: James Edwards.

BL: Buddha! A very underestimated post player.

SLAM: Rick Mahorn.

BL: Great teammate, great personality.

SLAM: Chuck Daly.

BL: Knowledgeable, non-egotistical.

SLAM: Bill Laimbeer.

BL: A great complementary player who won championships. That’s really all I want to be remembered for-just winning championships. That’s what we played for, and that’s what was fun.

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Attention, Knicks fans: it is not safe for you to read any further. I strongly urge you to turn away before it’s too late. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Isiah Thomas tells ESPN that not only does he plan on running the franchise again soon — into the ground? Zing! — he also thinks he can reel in LeBron James in a few years, and help the franchise win an NBA championship.

He may not be allowed by the League to work for them at the moment, but as soon as he can get out of his contract at Florida International University, Thomas envisions himself riding a float down Broadway as a vindicated champion.

He really said this, because, um, he’s a “visionary”:

Isiah believes he can recruit James out of Miami and into Madison Square Garden in 2014. Isiah believes that, with or without James, he will someday help the Knicks win their first NBA title since 1973. “I want to be on the float and I want to get my ring,” Thomas said.

Asked if he hopes to replace Donnie Walsh whenever the 69-year-old Knicks president retires, Thomas said, “Every single day of the week. When I look at my GM/executive record, if I’m evaluated on that, then whoever’s after Donnie, if you’re not talking about some of the top people in the game, I’ll put my draft evaluation record up against anyone’s.”

… Not that Thomas is giving up on the hope of being a high-ranking Knicks executive in the summer of 2014, when James can opt out of his deal with the Heat. “I’d like to still hold onto that dream,” Thomas said. “I do think that he’ll win championships here in Miami, and they will be a great dynasty. … But I think when he comes to New York and he wins it in New York, I think he’s the greatest player ever.”

Knowing that Walsh’s days are numbered in the Big Apple, and James Dolan’s well-publicized infatuation with Zeke, it’s amazing that Knicks fans continue to be as impassioned about their team as they are.

Speaking of fan disillusionment, FIU supporters will surely be thrilled to read all about Isiah’s hopes and dreams for the very near future.

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by Nima Zarrabi / @NZbeFree

In 1984, Nike was gaining little traction in the basketball shoe market despite its collection of 120 NBA players representing the brand. Converse was making a bigger impact with far less talent under contract thanks to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas. The realization led the Nike basketball team to transition into a new model. A strategy was put into place that began with cutting cash payments to many of their basketball players and the brand practically challenged its players under contract to leave for their competitors.

When it came to basketball, the key players for the Nike brass were Rob Strasser and Sonny Vaccaro. Strasser is known as one of the men who helped build Nike and was one of Phil Knight’s closest confidants until the late ’80s. He had an incredible impact on the brand especially when it came to Nike basketball.

Vaccaro’s role in the basketball culture has been well documented and his work for the swoosh was critical—Sonny was the best foot solider in the Nike army. He knew all the players, the coaches and fully understood the art of the basketball hustle. Vaccaro didn’t agree with Strasser’s idea to cut ties with most of Nike’s talent, but was overruled. Strasser wanted one basketball star that the brand could make a marketing push behind. Someone fresh, talented, healthy, charismatic—an athlete who fit the Nike brand image. They immediately took notice of Charles Barkley of Auburn, who had both talent and flair—Nike liked that.

But Vaccaro had another person in mind. Someone he would pound his fist for: Michael Jordan. Vaccaro described Jordan as the best player he had ever seen, claiming he could practically fly through the air. But he was a self-proclaimed adidas nut at that time who had never worn Nike. That didn’t faze Vaccaro. Jordan was about to begin his junior season at North Carolina and Vaccaro believed he would leave school early to enter the Draft. He warned the powers at Nike that they had better have an action plan in place. When asked if he was willing to bet his job on Jordan, Vaccaro said yes.

Strasser went to work. In a quarterly meeting with an agent by the name of David Falk, a man Strasser had negotiated 50 prior deals with at the time, he brought up Jordan. If anyone could sign Jordan, Strasser felt Falk would be the guy. Falk told Strasser that players from North Carolina didn’t leave school early. Strasser told Falk, “You never know. Let’s stay in touch and see how things develop.”

As predicted by the Nike team, Jordan came out early for the 1984 Draft and chose Falk as his representation, who immediately laid groundwork for meetings with Converse, adidas and Nike. Falk was working for Pro Serv, a powerful sports agency founded by Donald Dell that had represented numerous star tennis players such as Arthur Ashe, Yannick Noah, Ivan Lendl and Stan Smith. Through his experience, he understood that tennis players had signature shoes and were paid royalties on products that carried their names. Falk wanted Jordan to be treated like a tennis player, not a basketball player. Nike agreed with Falk. They would allow Jordan to have royalties and his own sub-brand. The next step was to figure out how to market Jordan’s image to the American public.

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-Schneezy

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“One of the biggest regrets of my life is that the Knicks didn’t perform up to the standards the fans had every right to expect while I was in charge. I take full responsibility for that. I was very much looking forward to this unique opportunity to help the organization do what I do best: find basketball talent. I wish the team nothing but success in the future.”

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One day after the Knicks announced they were bringing back Isiah Thomas as a consultant, it’s still hard to figure. For once, reactions in this morning’s New York papers seems to mostly be unified.

Mike Lupica in the Daily News…

Here is what happened the last time Isiah Thomas was an employee of Madison Square Garden: A jury decided he sexually harassed Anucha Browne Sanders in the workplace and that when Browne Sanders complained, James Dolan – owner of the Knicks and the Garden – fired her.

Thomas and Dolan still blame that on everybody except themselves. BP is more accountable than they are.

Harvey Araton in the Times…

But Dolan’s affection for Thomas seems to have no bounds, despite the sludge that had to be swept under Pennsylvania Station two years ago. And Knicks fans setting their eyes on the “He’s back” headlines can’t help but feel as if they have stepped inside a “Friday the 13th” movie or a time capsule back to the days when George Steinbrenner never tired of Billy Martin sequels.

Marc Berman in the Post…

Knicks owner James Dolan and Thomas remained friends after he left the organization for FIU following his demotion to advisor. On the surface, Dolan appears to be helping out a desperate compadre seeking an NBA return. But the public-relations damage of giving Thomas a position and paying him is a sickening blow to their loyal fan base still reeling from the LeBron James loss and who detest Thomas for what he did to the franchise.

The Knicks claim not to read anything more into it, that he is not on a fast track to supplant president Donnie Walsh or become his GM. Walsh has one guaranteed year left on his contract and his health has become an issue this summer after neck surgery placed him in a wheelchair.

But when The Post reported two weeks ago Thomas visited the Garden’s offices at 2 Penn Plaza for several hours to meet with Dolan and others, the club denied it was a job interview. So with Dolan, anything’s possible.

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Allen Iverson certainly didn’t invent the crossover dribble move. Long before he donned a Sixers uniform, guys had been breaking ankles with this devastating maneuver for years. Tim Hardaway, Tiny Archibald, Isiah Thomas, Pistol Pete … the list goes on and on.

It’s just that A.I. took it to a level never before seen. He turned it into a weapon as feared and revered as Kareem’s skyhook, Michael’s fadeaway, Magic’s no-look pass, Shaq’s power dunk, and Hakeem’s Dream Shake.

The funny thing about Allen Iverson, though, is that his most legendary crossover — the move that ensured him an irremovable spot in NBA lore — happened during his rookie season. It was more than a decade ago; hell, it wasn’t even in this century.

The Answer stared Michael Jordan down, and loudly announced his arrival on MJ’s turf.

Much like his most famous victim, Michael, A.I. had to change up his game as he got older. Iverson began to rely more and more on his pull up jumpers to get his points. He no longer looked to embarrass people each time down the floor.

A generation of new jacks eventually picked up the torch from Allen, and turned plenty of defenders’ legs into mince meat: Jamal Crawford, Steve Francis, Jason Williams, Dwyane Wade, and a host of others. As it turned out, however, none of them were able to recreate the magic of A.I.

As his career began to wind down, he would become less and less known for the crossover than for battles with coaches and front office types. But when the moment called for it, Allen Iverson would not hesitate to remind everyone who the best ankle-breaker in the League (this entire decade, and maybe ever) was. Sorry, Antonio:

***

For more Decade Awards, check out the archive.

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It takes a truly special team to take home a title such as ‘Worst NBA Team of the Decade.’ Special in the sense that we’re not talking about a team over a specific year; what this moniker rewards is one franchise’s total futility across an entire decade. And a team needs to be epically horrible — on the court, off the court, in management, coaching, drafting — just an all around special kind of bad.

After extensive looks through the standings, stats, division finishes, playoff appearances, draft choices, et cetera…five frivolous franchises stand out for their lengthy dwellings in the NBA’s gutter. And the hard part in choosing who’s truly the worst is that each brings a unique contribution to the argument. (Note: The Charlotte Bobcats will not be included in the conversation as they were an expansion team in 2004 and thus haven’t even played the full decade.)

For instance, the Atlanta Hawks, yes those same Atlanta Hawks that started this year 11-2, have the lowest winning percentage among all teams in the last 10 years at 36.8 percent (not including the current season). In other words, they have lost the most games of any franchise since ‘99-00. Five-hundred and eighteen Ls. Ouch. And Atlanta indeed has made the postseason the last two seasons, but this includes a 2007 eighth seed appearance with a 37-45 record. I’ve said it before — gotta love the East. (Although, the Hawks did almost pull off the first-round upset over the Celtics, who would then go on to the title.) So while the Hawks continue to gradually improve with a strong nucleus, I cannot ignore the nine sub par-to-embarrassing seasons the Hawks experienced this decade.

But Atlanta did begin rebuilding their team in 2004 when they hired a fiery Larry Brown protégée in Mike Woodson and also smartly drafted Josh Smith, who I believe is vastly underrated amongst NBA stars. A year later, they traded for Joe Johnson, currently 10th in the NBA at 21.5 ppg, and took a chance on a young freshman Tar Heel, Marvin Williams. And from there, the Hawks have transformed themselves into contenders and might become a class of the NBA in the upcoming decade. So, alas, the Atlanta Hawks dodge the bullet.

The Memphis Grizzlies pose an interesting case. Get this — out of the five squads, the Grizz have posted the most above-.500 records in the last 10 seasons: three. Yet despite averaging 48 wins from 2004-2006, their win totals the other seven years read: 24, 22, 22, 28, 23, 23 and 22. Do the math, and the Grizz only have six fewer losses than Atlanta. And worse off, even with three postseason appearances since 2000, tied for the most amongst the five candidates, they have the least amount of playoff victories of all NBA franchises in that span — the ol’ goose egg. Zero. Swept in the first round three straight years by three different teams. In fact, Memphis hasn’t won a single playoff game in its entire 15 years of existence — dating back to its days in Canada.

The Grizz caught a stroke of bad luck right before the ‘06-07 season when their star 7-footer, Pau Gasol, went down with a broken foot in the FIBA World Championship as a member of the Spanish team — and with that, also took all of the Grizzlies’ recent success, momentum and hopes down with him. Memphis has plummeted to the bottom since then, and Gasol just won a ring with the Lakers after being traded to L.A. in 2008. Poor Grizz. So with the three strong years and the whole Gasol ‘tragedy,’ I say to the Memphis organization: You’re pretty god-awful, but have managed to ever-so-slightly elude the title of Worst NBA Team of the 00s.

On a side note: When all is said and done, what are we supposed to call this decade? the zeroes? the oughts? noughts? nils? zilts? zilches? And what about the next decade for that matter? I don’t know. It’d really help with this whole ‘decade’s best’ tribute. Anyway, back to the debate…

While California might house the defending champs, two of its hoops residents are immersed in failure. Not only are The Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors tied for the least amount of playoff appearances in the 00’s at one — their inferiority is best described by the fact that the Clips have clinched postseason berths in only four seasons (’92, ’93, ’97, ’06) since they moved to Los Angeles in 1984, while G.S. has made it only six times (’87, ’89, ’91, ’92, ’94, ’07) in the last 32 years. So don’t get it twisted — these two have been dancing with demons for much longer than the last 10 seasons.

What’s amazing about the Clippers is that since 2000, they’ve practically only had two head coaches, Alvin Gentry and Mike Dunleavy (Dennis Johnson replaced Gentry for the final 24 games of the ’02-03 season). So say what you want about owner Donald Sterling, but he has shown loyalty in an era where losing springs uncountable coaching moves in all sports.

Now, it did take the Clips all decade to get back to the top — of the draft board, that is. And with the first overall pick in the 2009 draft, they selected Blake Griffin who will hopefully change the franchise’s fortunes when he returns from a knee injury in January. But let’s revisit the last time the Clippers had a number one overall draft choice — 1998 when L.A. chose Michael Olowokandi. While Olowokandi eventually proved to be one of the biggest busts in NBA history, a handful of players from that draft have enjoyed flourishing careers: Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki, Mike Bibby, Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter. And it’s a shame that the Clippers didn’t manage to draw the first pick the year before, as they’d be still enjoying one Timmy Duncan who has won four championships with the Spurs. That kind of a nightmarish draft pick in Olowokandi will set a team back one, two, five or maybe 10 years.

Since Olowokandi left the Clippers as a free agent in 2003, recent drafting has improved with the core of Griffin, Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon and Al Thornton being established. So we’ll see how this team really stacks up when fully healthy. And although there’s no lack of effort — the Clips have made numerous moves involving big names this decade, Elton Brand, Corey Maggette, Baron Davis, Sam Cassell, Andre Miller, Lamar Odom, etc. — it just hasn’t quite panned out for Los Angeles’ little brother. Brand was supposed to be the savior at PF, but instead his L.A. days have proved responsible for sparking his current injury-riddled career that’s only continued in Philadelphia.

The Warriors, while mirroring the the path of the Clippers this past decade, have instead tried out seven different head coaches since PJ Carlesimo started the ’99-00 season at the helm. Golden State tried to build a young team around Jamison and Gilbert Arenas in the early part of the decade, but fell short to the Western elites who were just simply better, and thus had to completely rebuild when Chris Mullin took over executive decisions in 2004.

And if the Warriors want to hang their hats on something — it’s that they haven’t been as dismal as other teams have been since 2002, when they went 21-61. Last year’s 29 total victories were the lowest since that abysmal year — but the Warriors have at least enjoyed an offensive resurgence the last four seasons under Don Nelson, averaging well over 100+ ppg in that span. Defensively, though, the Warriors continue to be among the worst in the League and thus the reason they’re even in this conversation.

But as the envelope opens to reveal the winner of ‘Worst NBA Team of the Decade,’ the two Cali cousins can breathe a huge sigh of relief…

…because in the end, this distinguished honor actually goes to one of the NBA’s most historic staple franchises: the New York Knickerbockers.

To be fair, the Knicks have the highest winning percentage (42.4 percent) of the five teams during the decade and also match match Memphis with three postseason appearances. But the number are deceiving, my friends, so look a little deeper. First of all, New York sported a winning record only twice in the 10-year span, and it was the first two years (’99-00 and ’00-01). Since then, they haven’t sniffed a .500 mark and that includes ’03-04 when they snuck into the playoffs as a seven-seed with a 39-43 record. There, the Nets easily handled the Knicks in four games, so that postseason appearance doesn’t even seem legitimate. Take away the first two years, and the Knicks have been irrelevant in the last eight seasons.

Aside from the numbers, the many front office moves, draft picks and trades have been all harshly criticized. Head coach Jeff Van Gundy stepped down in the middle of the ’01-02 season, while the Knicks attempted to spark the post-Ewing era by acquiring Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson for big money. The season finished tumultuously as both players turned out to be huge busts and therefore a trend with the Knicks began which really hasn’t ended yet: New York seemed to be declining the more they raised their payroll, most evident by the ’05-06 season where they finished 23-59, good for the second worst in the League with the highest paid players. A true recipe for disaster.

And if there are two names that truly epitomize the Knicks’ lengthy swoon, it’s got to be Isiah and Stephon.

If a team is going to be the worst of the decade, then their embarrassing exploits are probably publicized more often than not. And Isiah sure led a circus act the last three years he was affiliated with the Knicks. He had off-court issues — the sexual harassment suit with Anucha Sanders, the strange hospitalization saga with him and his daughter in October of last year — as well as one of the worst approaches to building a team in recent memory. He continually traded for ‘names,’ guys like Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph who had serious health and attitude concerns. Of course, both deals were unfortunate for the Knicks, as Thomas cost New York a multitude of draft picks in the last five years because of his front-office moves. Tons of expensive yet overrated players, like Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jalen Rose and others made their way through the Big Apple on account of Thomas, and even these acquisitions often included veterans with bad contracts that Isiah was more than happy to take on.

Bottom line: Isiah Thomas dug the Knicks a hole so deep that it’s still unclear when they’ll be good enough to even contend for a .500 record. And there’s no better example of this then one Mr. Starburst, er, Starbury.

First of all, the Marbury trade that Isiah Thomas concocted is a joke in itself. The ramifications of the move still aren’t known yet, as the Utah Jazz will receive the Knicks 2010 first round pick based on the Marbury deal that was done six years ago. And by the way, Isiah, ever hear of lottery protection? Wow.

But aside from all of that, Stephon Marbury’s time in a Knicks uniform transformed him from a superstar into a bench player with a nasty attitude. Oh yeah, did I mention he’s a complete nut-bar too? I used to love the younger version of Marbury; he was always a little wanna-be Iverson, but was no doubt talented. Once a lightly-tattooed All-Star who consistently put up 20 and 8 for the Nets, Suns and even the Knicks for a year, fallouts with management led Starbury to the bench and thus he eventually took a hiatus from basketball to focus on his internet career: Get it, Steph. Get itt. Ugh, Yeaaa…Go boy, Shake it… Watch all of his videos if you can, by the way. It’s pure entertainment.

Now, Thomas did indeed bring in Nate Robinson, Wilson Chandler and David Lee through the draft, but the Knicks have struggled in putting a semblance of a playoff team around these cogs. Now Marbury’s out of basketball this year doing god-knows-what. Thomas is coaching Florida International University. Randolph’s gone. Jamal Crawford’s gone. Channing Frye is having success in Portland. And the Donnie Walsh era hasn’t started with much promise either.

Walsh took over for Thomas in the front office and hired Mike D’Antoni as head coach before the ’08-09 season. I can’t tell you how much I still disagree with this move. D’Antoni coached an explosive Phoenix Suns team for four years – a team that had speed, shooting and an offensive core that could score on anyone and make their coach look like a genius. Not only is there no Steve Nash or Amar’e Stoudemire on the Knicks, the defensive side of the basketball is what Walsh should be focused on to start the rebuilding process. Yet the Knicks remain horribly inefficient on ‘D,’ giving up the third-most points last year as well as this current season.

Drafting hasn’t been much better, as the Knicks picked Jordan Hill this year and passed on one Brandon Jennings. Hill will probably serve as a role player during his career while Jennings could grow into a superstar.

Because of the financial trouble the Knicks have immersed themselves in during this decade, they’ve been trading away all valuable assets to clear up cap-space for the big 2010 free agency bowl. So the question must be posed: What if the Knicks don’t sign LeBron or DWade? Sure, there are tons of other big names set to be on the market this coming summer, but I don’t even think that LBJ could help turn this current Knicks squad around.

So while Atlanta might have worse numbers than New York during the last ten seasons, the Hawks are on an exponential rise while the Knicks are still in the middle of its downward spiral. Thus, in all good conscience, I cannot hand this blemished title to a team headed in the right direction. Not to mention that beyond these past ten years, the Knicks haven’t won an NBA championship since 1973. But let’s take it one step at a time…

And even though the Knicks still ranked in the top ten in attendance this entire decade (except ’06-07), the fans have been ‘rewarded’ with a consistently pitiful product on the court. Thus, the enormous pressure of the New York sports market coupled with the long championship drought only helped make this decision easier.

Congratulations New York Knickerbockers: You are the worst team of the decade. Raise your glasses, I guess?

***

For more Decade Awards, check out the archive.

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Words by Justin Walsh

The first week of the season has passed, and we have another SLAM Radio for you.

This week is the beginning of the early signing period and we already have some news. Ohio and Baylor have signed two of the highest ranked big men in the class. Harrison Barnes is set to commit at the end of the week; will he choose the front-runner Duke, or another team on his list?

After losing to a Division II team in an exhibition match, Syracuse opens their season with a victory over Albany during the 2K Sports classic. Make that 800 wins for Jim Boeheim and redemption to get the stink of an unacceptable defeat off of the ‘Cuse. And after all that posturing Isiah Thomas made, clearly because he was afraid to get mollywhopped by UNC, FIU was not embarrassed in the slightest; UNC had trouble taking care of the ball with 25+ turnovers & FIU played within twenty points of a top 5 team in the country.

For this episode, our guest is former writer for ESPN.com and radio host for AM 620 The Bull, Bomani Jones. He’s an expert on ACC hoops and provides a point of view few people can provide.

We at SLAM hope you enjoy this week’s episode. Also, we will be doing a special episode early next week to analyze all major moves following this weekend’s signing period.

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In April 2008, Donnie Walsh became president of basketball operations for the New York Knicks, replacing he-who-shall-not-be-named-ever-again-in-this-blog. He inherited a roster with no chemistry, no heart and no pizzazz. That’s right, pizzazz. Just like pizza, but with two z’s. It’s a fancy way of saying “root-ability” or “watch-ability,” in which case this group had neither. They were so awful you resorted to “boo’ing” or throwing things at the television screen.

More importantly, Walsh stumbled into a roster with no cap flexibility. Here’s what he inherited and why they clogged up the salary cap quicker than 5 p.m. rush hour.

Stephon Marbury | $76 million, through 2009
This was the contract-extension Marbury received from the Phoenix Suns back in 2004. He averaged 20.8 ppg and 8.3 assists in 34 games for the Suns, before being dealt. They were 12-22 in those 34 games. In fairness, he was near or at his prime when he got the extension. But as the Marbury story goes, he’s just another good player on a bad team.

Zach Randolph | $84 million, through 2011
This is what really sunk the ship. He was 2 years into his contract-extension, which he won after winning the NBA’s most improved player award in 2004 while playing for the Portland Trailblazers, when he signed with New York. This left the Knicks with a huge chunk of salary that would only hinder the cap as the years progressed.

Eddy Curry | $60 million, through 2011
All of that green for a guy with a heart problem, weight issues and who has never averaged more than 7 rpg at the center position. There’s nothing we can do here but shake our heads.

Jamal Crawford | $55.4 million, through 2011
Sure, he was a nice guy off the court and said all the right things, but on the court was a different story. Crawford was a sub-par defender and a constant shoot-first guard with a poor 41 percent clip for his Knicks career. He was meant to replace Allan Houston, the way Houston replaced the beloved John Starks. The problem was, Crawford couldn’t shoot like Houston or display the fire like Starks.

(Sidebar: You can argue the Knicks still haven’t replaced Starks as a fan-favorite. David Lee and Nate Robinson get love, but in no way like Starks or Oakley did. It goes to show how much winning really does affect a franchise and its fan-base. It’s sad.)

Jared Jeffries | $30 million, through 2011
He can’t shoot. It’s actually an understatement to say he can’t shoot. He doesn’t know how to shoot would be more accurate. For a guy to get paid that handsomely just to defend is disgusting. So what can Jeffries do? Guard multiple positions and… help me out here?

Jerome James | $30 million, through 2010
I don’t even want to talk about this one. Let’s talk about food instead. Where’s the biggest slice of pizza you’ve ever had? For New Yorkers, Koronet in Morningside Heights is pretty monstrous and at 3 a.m., when you’re feeling good, it’s pretty damn delicious.

Those are six of the most detrimental contracts to the Knicks cap at the beginning of the ’08-09 season. People argued there wasn’t enough time for Walsh to clear-out space for 2010 and the LeBron James sweepstakes. Here’s what Walsh did and didn’t do with these six contracts…

Stephon Marbury
Agreed to a contract buyout (one-year left at $20.8 million)
When: February 2009

Zach Randolph
Traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas (both have expiring contracts by the summer of 2010)
When: November 2008

Jamal Crawford
Traded to the Golden State Warriors for Al Harrington and his expiring contract (by the summer of 2010)
When: November 2008

Jerome James
Traded to the Chicago Bulls, in a deal that also included Tim Thomas and Anthony Roberson, for Larry Hughes and his expiring contract (by the summer of 2010)
When: February 2009

Eddy Curry, Jared Jeffries
No transactions.

In addition to those six, Walsh also…

— Rid the franchise of he-who-shall-not-be-named, and brought in Mike D’Antoni to run the team.

— Signed Chris Duhon to a two-year contract (expiring by the summer of 2010).

— Traded Quentin Richardson (and his expiring contract) to the Memphis Grizzlies for Darko Milicic (and subsequently, his own expiring contract).

— Signed Danilo Gallinari during the 2008 NBA Draft.

— Signed Jordan Hill and Toney Douglas during the 2009 NBA Draft.

— Resigned David Lee and Nate Robinson to one-year contracts.

What does this all mean for 2010? The Knicks only have six players against the cap in 2010 so far (Wilson Chandler, Curry, Jeffries, Gallinari, Hill and Douglas), at around $22 million. We’ve read the apocalyptic cap scenario released by the League, predicting it may drop to as low as $50 million if the economy doesn’t improve. The cap for this season is $57.7 million, with a $69.92 million luxury tax level. The Knicks payroll this season is about $84 million.

Fun fact: from 2005 to 2009, the Knicks paid the League $125.7 million, just from going over the luxury tax. Let me repeat that number…

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. Are you kidding me?

Sorry, continuing…

In the worst-case scenario (a $50 million cap), it appears the Knicks only have room to offer one max-contract to the free agent class. The amount of a max-contract depends on how long the player has been in the League, according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

By 2010, LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will be entering their eighth years (they were all part of the star-studded draft class of 2003); Amar’e Stoudemire his ninth; Joe Johnson his 11th and so on. It’s unlikely anyone but LeBron and Wade will be offered max-contracts. According to reports, teams will need at least $16.5 million to offer a max-contract to a player going into their eighth season.

This won’t leave the Knicks with much room to fill out the roster. That’s why we have to pray to the economic God’s that the recession begins to recede a bit. The salary cap is roughly determined by how much income the League accumulates and what the League expects income will be for the upcoming season. If the Knicks want any chance of signing LeBron/Wade plus another marquee free agent (Bosh/Johnson), they will need to shed the remaining contracts of Jeffries ($6.9 million) or Curry ($11.3 million).

If the cap doesn’t dip to $50 million, and the Knicks still haven’t moved Jeffries or Curry, the team will be in OK position regarding free agency, enough to sign one big name. Here are specific things we should be looking for if we want New York to have a successful free agency coup:

1. How the teams with 2010 free agents perform. If you’re a Knicks fan, you want Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto and Miami to tank. Especially Cleveland.

2. Keep an eye on the Knicks growth, both as a team and individual players. The only way Curry or Jeffries gets dealt is if they perform on the court. This will be much easier said than done. Also look for improvement from Gallinari, Chandler and the rookies, Douglas and Hill. People will be more hesitant to jump to a team with no chance of winning, so it’s imperative these four display potential.

3. Understand what’s going on in the economy. Keep up with NBA television ratings, sponsorships, advertising, etc… I’ll repeat: Knicks fans need the economy to improve so the cap doesn’t dip too much.

My head hurts now. I become a journalism major to avoid numbers. That worked out well.

The discussion of whether LeBron departs Cleveland or Wade leaves Miami is excellent. It gets people talking about this lovely game of basketball, and the more the better. We all have our opinions on what they might do (I don’t believe Wade leaves; LeBron I’m not too sure about), but let’s be mindful that whether or not the Knicks acquire them, it was prudent and necessary to fix this roster and this franchise. Walsh moved this once-proud organization in the right direction. Careful spending, having enough room to actually chase people and nurturing young talent are what they’ve done. We’ll probably have to sit through one more losing season, but come 2010, it will be worth it, LeBron or not.

Knickled & Dimed List
• Jerome James’ contract and the “Big Snacks” nickname.
• The absence of a bona fide fan favorite.
• The recession.

The post Knicks Salary Cap and Some Pizza appeared first on SLAM.

David Thompson and George Gervin are both logical choices. One inspired Michael Jordan’s game, and the other is the most beloved San Antonio Spur of all time, a fitting presenter (along with Larry Brown) for the criminally under-appreciated David Robinson.

For reasons that have yet to become clear to anyone, Isiah Thomas and Charles Barkley will both be presenters at the Hall of Fame ceremony this Friday. Zeke will be ushering in fellow point guard John Stockton, and everyone is hoping that Chuck (for the good of his own personal health) can reign in the inappropriate jokes during Jerry Sloan’s presentation.

The Salt Lake Tribune attempts to make sense of things:

Presenters must already be members of the Hall of Fame and both former NBA stars fit that criteria … When Stockton was named to the Original Dream team in 1992, he got the roster spot many thought would go to Thomas. For that reason and others, Stockton’s selection of Thomas as his presenter was a huge surprise — at least to outsiders. “First of all, he set a huge standard for all little guys,” Stockton said. “At the time, the NBA was going toward bigger and bigger guards. But he showed everyone that little guys could play, too.”

For Sloan, the reason was simple. “The biggest thing, I guess, is that my [late] wife Bobbye was a big fan of his,” Sloan explained. “At the [1992] All-Star Game in Orlando, she saw him stand there for an hour or so and sign autographs … After Bobbye Sloan’s death, Sloan married and his wife, Tammy, also happens to be a big Barkley fan.

Hmm, all of the above are actually heartwarming reasons, and I now feel like a total jerk. Terrific.

Coverage of the festivities will kick off this Friday night, beginning at 6.30 EST on ESPN.

The post Sloan and Stockton’s Strange HOF Choices appeared first on SLAM.

On a humid summer day in Philadelphia, Isiah Thomas sat in the stands with assistant Anthony Anderson, as he took part in his first live recruiting period. The new Florida International University head coach was without a doubt the most notable individual in the building, grabbing much of the crowd’s attention at the Reebok All-American Camp. For a few minutes, he was the main attraction, despite the fact that two games were being played simultaneously with some of the nation’s top prospects on the floor. But the crowd seemed to be more drawn into witnessing one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game start his collegiate coaching career right before their eyes. We all have sort of gotten accustomed to seeing Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Bill Self, Jay Wright, Billy Donovan and all the other great college coaches in gymnasiums during the summer, scouting for the best talent out there.  The average spectator wasn’t the only one diverted by the arrival of the Hall of Famer as even college coaches contemplated the unconventional panorama, including an assistant coach from a Big Ten Conference school sitting beside me who turned to me and said, “there goes my idol going growing up.” But soon our eyes will have to get acquainted to seeing Thomas out there in the recruiting trail, as it is part of the routine of being a college coach.

Thomas will now be attempting to leave memories of his NBA coaching days behind (especially his tenure with the Knicks) and look for a fresh new start in Miami. The task won’t be easy, as he will have to find a way to produce a winning program while also striving to make fans and the media forget about what happen in New York, on and off the court. But Thomas is hardly the first coach to go from the NBA to the collegiate level with a bad taste in his mouth. Tim Floyd, Rick Pitino and John Calipari are prime examples of coaches who have been able to find success in the NCAA after substandard years in the League.

Floyd was hired by the Chicago Bulls in the summer of 1998, same-off season when all the key players of the Bulls championship years parted ways. The team went 13-37 his first season, which was stalled for a while due to the lockout. The next season they went 17-65, followed by the 2000-01 season in which the team finished two games worst with a 15-67 record. Floyd would resign on Christmas Eve of that same year in the midst of disputes with players and the front office, after a 4-21 start, culminating a three-and-a-half year stint with Chicago and a 29-190 overall record. Floyd got a second shot in the 2003-04 season, this time with the New Orleans Hornets. He led them into the Playoffs after a 41-41 regular season, only to get bumped out by the Miami Heat in the first round. The organization dismissed Floyd after the season, ending his NBA head coaching career with a 93-235 overall record. In January of 2005, the University of Southern California hired Floyd and it didn’t take him long to start making some noise. The Trojans finished the 2006-07 season with a 25-12 record, marking the most wins in school history and taking them to the NCAA Sweet 16 for only the second time in almost 30 years. He also was able to attract some of the top prospects in America on consecutive years, in O.J. Mayo and Demar DeRozan, both of whom are currently in the NBA after one year in college.

Pitino’s NBA coaching career was also not the prettiest. After a nice start with the NY Knicks in the late 80’s, finishing second in the Atlantic division with a 38-44 record in his first season as a NBA head coach and then taking the team to the Eastern Conference semi-finals the following year after winning the division with a 52-30 record, Pitino wasn’t able to find much success when he returned to the NBA with the Boston Celtics in the late 90’s after leading Kentucky to the ’96 and ’97 NCAA Championship games. His Celtics team would finish 6th in the division his first year followed by back-to-back 5th place finishes. After starting the 2000-01 season with a 12-22 record, Pitino resigned as head coach and president of the Celtics. In his 3-plus seasons in Boston, the New York native posted a 102-146 record and ended his NBA coaching career with a 192-220 record. Within months, Pitino found a new home at the University of Louisville where he still coaches today. He would quickly pick up from where he left off at Lexington when in charge of the Kentucky Wildcats program in the early 90’s. In 2005, Pitino led the Cardinals to there first Final Four appearance in almost 20 years. As of today, the program continues to be a force in the Big East Conference as well as attracts some of the best talent in the country.

John Calipari and his tenure as a NBA head coach also didn’t go too well. In his first season with the New Jersey Nets, his team finished with a 26-56 record. The following season, the Nets would improve and make the playoffs after a 43-39 regular season, but their time in the postseason was cut off real short as they were swept by the Bulls. The team was not able to transcend from their previous year and Calipari was fired after a 3-17 start to the 1998-99 season. In 2000, the University of Memphis hired Calipari as their new head coach, embarking on what would turn out to be as one of the best moves in school history. In only his second year at the school, Calipari led the Tigers to a NIT Championship. The following season, Memphis would make the NCAA tournament on consecutive years. In 2006, the Tigers appeared in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1992 after a 33-4 season.  That same year marked the first of four consecutive years in which Memphis would finish with 33 or more wins. The 2007-08 team went 38-2 and reaped a trip to the NCAA National Championship game, led by Derrick Rose. Coach Calipari made the University of Memphis a national powerhouse, attracting some of the best players in nation while having every prospect consider it as an option. In his nine years with the program, Calipari posted a 252-69 record, going 137-14 in his final four while 61-1 in conference play.

So here stands Isiah Thomas trying to join that list. Although his coaching numbers aren’t quite admirable, his playing days without any doubt were. For some of the young people who only know about his controversial days with the Knicks and not so much about his numbers as a player, it goes as follows: 1982 NBA Rookie of the Year, twelve-time NBA All-Star, two-time NBA All-Star MVP, three-time All-NBA 1st Team, two-time All-NBA second team, two-time NBA Champion, 1990 NBA Finals MVP. He is also the Pistons’ all-time leader in scoring with 18,822 points (19.2 ppg), in assists with 9,061 (9.3 apg), in steals with 1, 861 (1.9 spg) and games played with 979 for his career. He ranks ninth and fifth in NBA history, in steals and assists respectively.

But his post-playing days haven’t been so nifty. After taking over the Indiana Pacers for Larry Bird in 2000, Thomas led the team to the playoffs in his three seasons with the organization but was never able to win a series. Bird then returned to the Pacers and replaced Thomas with Rick Carlisle. But it’s his time in New York that has caused much of the blemish in his post-playing career. Aside from going 56-108 in his two seasons at the helm with the Knicks, a sexually harassment lawsuit against him and Madison Square Garden tarnished his career.

Zeke now has the opportunity for a fresh start at FIU and most importantly a shot at winning back the fans as well as his reputation. Between games I was able to catch up with the Hall of Famer and ask him a couple of questions as he prepared to watch the new group of players that were about to take the floor. The one thing that became very clear to me is that he is very optimistic about his new gig and sees it as a big opportunity. He quickly described the situation as a positive one, using the word “excited,” referring to his new job at Florida International.

“Basketball is basketball at any level. The Xs and Os are the Xs and Os,” said Thomas with a smile when I asked about the transition he will have to make from coaching at the NBA level to now at the collegiate level. “But just the learning of the rules, the managing of the game, those are the things that will come into play.”

And the ever-controlling NCAA rules will also be an adjustment and adaption that he will have to commit to. “The NCAA rules are the biggest thing I’m trying to understand right now,” Thomas said. “The difference between the state and private university rules.”

Thomas has made it clear about how he wants to assemble the program and reiterated it once again to me. “The first thing we want to do is be a good defensive team. That’s what we will base our foundation on, defense. We will build from there,” Thomas explains.

Florida International went 13-20 last season, exhibiting its third 20-loss season in last four years. The program has only been to the NCAA Tournament one time in its history; under head coach Bob Weltlich in 1995. Yet the former member of the Pistons Bad Boys years believes that he can help lead the Golden Panthers into becoming a powerhouse in the Sun Belt Conference and a place where all recruits will consider suiting up for.

“At the end of the day, we want to be known as a top program. Whenever kids are thinking about choosing a college or when kids are thinking about going to the next level in playing in the NBA, we hope this will be a place they will consider,” says Thomas.

Some may think that since Zeke is a legendary former NBA player, it shouldn’t be too hard to get players to play for him and win, but if you ask him, communication is the key.

“You just gotta be able to communicate. That’s the biggest difference. Whether you are out on the floor communicating with your teammates or whether you are coaching and communicating to your team, you just gotta be able to articulate your thoughts and get the team to implement your thoughts,” Thomas said.

Thomas has started on the right direction as he announced that he would be donating his first year salary to the school. While in Philly, he also picked up a recruit as he received a verbal commitment from Chris Coleman. The 6-10 center of Mount Zion Christian Academy in North Carolina picked FIU over high-major schools such as Connecticut, West Virginia, Syracuse and Virginia Tech among others.

Just as it always was in his playing days, the ball is in Thomas’ hands again. Where does he go and what does he do with it will be up to him. But just as in basketball as it is in life, everyone deserves a second shot.

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Somehow, you had to have known that he’d find a way to get back into coaching. Where exactly that would take place was the question, and for the time being, it appears to have been answered.

Word has it that Isiah Thomas is on the verge of accepting a job with Florida International University. ESPN reports:

Florida International is trying to hire former New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas as its next basketball coach, sources have told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz.

A source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told ESPN.com on Monday night that the two parties are working on a deal and it could get done as early as Tuesday. Thomas just has to sign off on the final details.

The source said Thomas was intrigued by FIU’s location in South Florida, its growing football program and its over 30,000 students. The source said Thomas was looking for a fresh place to start and that, despite other previous NBA and college opportunities, this is the one that finally piqued Thomas’ interest. The source said negotiations are moving very quickly.

Isiah has an eye for college-level talent, as his NBA Draft record clearly indicates … but, damn. From Broadway to FIU. That’s quite a steep drop.

Should he accept the gig, Thomas will have his work cut out for him. The FIU Golden Panthers haven’t had a winning record in close to a decade. Best of luck, Zeke.

UPDATE: The Sun-Sentinel reports that FIU has indeed hired Thomas as its next head coach.—Ed.

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Should a nuclear war wipe out life on this planet at some point in the future, only a few earthly creatures will survive: cockroaches and, apparently, Isiah Thomas.

Thomas is reportedly a hot commodity in NBA circles again, with the Los Angeles Clippers being the leading candidate to acquire his brilliant services. Of course they are.

ESPN and the NY Post are hearing similar things:

Isiah Thomas is actively seeking work again, and he spoke several weeks ago with Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in a meeting arranged by current coach/general manager Mike Dunleavy,

Several NBA sources confirmed the February meeting between the former president and general manager of the New York Knicks, adding that there were follow-up discussions between Thomas and other high-ranking club officials — but also stressing that no job has been offered.

Sterling is said to be considering adding another executive to the Los Angeles front office to alleviate some of Dunleavy’s responsibilities in his dual role as coach and general manager…The discussions between Thomas and the Clippers were described by one source as informal yet substantive. Thomas remains under contract to the Knicks for the remainder of this season and two more, but he has the franchise’s permission to seek employment elsewhere.

As the old saying goes, if you can’t get Jerry West, you gotta nab Zeke.

How amazing (and horrible) would it be if Thomas was tabbed to replaced Dunleavy in the Clipper front office? The absurdity, the sheer absurdity would be too perfect. Replace one disaster with an even bigger one. Oh, Clippers, don’t you ever change.

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The other night as I was putting together The Slammys, I hopped on YouTube to find the video of that Nuggets/Knicks brawl. And as often happens on YouTube, I ended up watching about 200 videos, of nearly everything but that brawl. I have a friend who doesn’t have TV, so they sit around watching YouTube all night. This post should make their evening.

When I was a kid, my friend Mike had a copy of the NBA Superstars videotape (on VHS, no less). I think his dad bought it somewhere. We spent hours watching that tape over and over and over. We knew every song, every dunk, every edit.

But I forgot most of it. Until the other night. I watched every NBA Superstars video I could find, and they were just as great now as they ever were then. I hope the person at ESPN responsible for their highlights sees this post, because at some point highlights need to go back to just best simply edited, without Photoshop filters and artificial jump cuts and all the crap they use now. The Superstars videos are simply edited, with maybe an occasional flourish in time to a song or something. I wish the NBA would do a retro series of videos now. Or maybe I’m getting old.

Anyway, let’s check ’em out…

Charles Barkley, set to Scandal ft. Patty Smyth’s “The Warrior”
Bang! Bang! In my mind, the greatest NBA highlight film every made. The spirit of the song perfectly matches the way Barkley played, at leaast before he went to Phoenix and started cracking jokes all the time.
FAVORITE PLAY: The tomahawk over Ewing is pretty sweet. Just remember while watching Barkley bull people around that he was just 6-4.

Michael Jordan, set to Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away”
This is an obvious play on the Top Gun hysteria that was sweeping the nation at the time (the song was actually in Top Gun). Interesting that they chose a slow jam for MJ, but it works and it works well.
FAVORITE PLAY: The play where MJ goes past Mike McGee and then splits Tree Rollins and Kevin Willis for the reverse is ridiculous, as is pretty much every highlight on here. But one of my faovrite plays of all-time is on here: Jordan holds on the left wing, ballfakes toward the baseline which makes Cliff Levingston FALL DOWN, then Jordan goes past him and dunks on Tree Rollins. Lots of Hawks getting used on this highlight. Not fun for me as a kid.

Dominique Wilkins, set to Yanni’s “Looking Glass”
This remains the only Yanni song I’ve ever willingly listened to. It works OK on here, but it takes well over a minute to get to the actual highlights. Not my favorite Nique video of all time, because they try to edit this to make seem like a more complete player than he ever was — blocking shots, making crazy passes. Still, some great highlights.
FAVORITE PLAY: Probably the double-pump in traffic against the Clips. There’s also a nice tomahawk over Larry Bird.

Akeem Olajuwon, set to Kool Moe Dee’s “How Ya Like Me Now?”
Akeem before he added the H. Pretty hilarious to see the NBA try to embrace hip-hop back then — they mostly just flash words on the screen (The Dream!).
FAVORITE PLAY: If you’ve never seen a proper turnaround jumper, watch this video. Personally, I love the play where Akeem strips Bill Walton and takes it coast to coast for the dunk. You’ve got to control the ball, Bill! Send it in, Big Fella!

Isiah Thomas, set to Vanessa Williams’ “The Right Stuff”
He’s Mr. Right, alright. It’s funny to watch this video now, when all we think of is Isiah as a bumbling businessman. Don’t forget that he one of the greatest, fastest point guards to ever play.
FAVORITE PLAY: The one where he’s triple-teamed by the Blazers but dribbles out of it and pulls up for the 15-footer. How many point guards in the NBA today can make that play? And yes, I know he hits two buzzer-beaters against the Hawks on here. I’m thinking about Yi Jianlian.

Larry Bird, set to John Mellancamp’s “Small Town”
I understand the music choice here, playing up Bird’s working-man roots. And the video is remarkable, with a lot of gritty, crafty plays. But I always remember Bird more as a guy who nailed clutch shots and made the big baskets, and that gets underplayed here. One of the few flaws on this tape.
FAVORITE PLAY: Where Bird misses the jumper, runs down the rebound and switches hands in midair to hit the runner.

Magic Johnson, set to Janet Jackson’s “Control”
When I was 17, I did what people told me. Great video. Similar to Isiah, in that Magic’s still so active now you kind of forget how ridiculously good Magic was.
FAVORITE PLAY: Nearly every pass on here is a no-look. I can’t pick a winner. Watching this video the other night is kind of what inspired this entire post.

Julius Erving, set to Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love Of All”
This was near the end of Dr. J’s career, so the NBA goes straight for the sentimental tip. If this video was SLAM, this would be the Old School feature.
FAVORITE PLAY: The layup against the Lakers. You know which one. Also, the cuffed dunk right on Michael Cooper’s head. Shoot, just check out the picture below on the frozen video.

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