When people talk about bad owners, it usually conjures up the image of the miserly bean counter who won’t spend any money to make the team any better. However, sometimes it’s the guy who will spend any amount of money but has no clue what he’s doing and continually sabotages the team with his mistakes. The poster boy for clueless ownership is James Dolan.
At a press conference today, Dolan cemented his status with the following:
- Told the press that Isiah Thomas had one year to turn the team around or he will be fired. Something which Thomas didn’t appear to be aware of.
- Said that Larry Brown wanted to release 6 players whose contracts totalled $180M. Among the 6 were Steve Francis, Stephon Marbury, and Jerome James. Note that the NBA has guaranteed contracts.
- Said that wanting to release those 6 players was Larry Brown’s way of forcing Dolan to fire him. Accused Brown of having no intention of coaching more than one year when he signed the five year contract with the Knicks.
Let’s just focus on his ultimatum to Isiah Thomas shall we? It’s fine to put Isiah on notice in private but calling him out in public? First, it puts undue pressure on Isiah and will become a press conference question after every game in the second half of the season. Second, how is Isiah supposed to motivate his team (we actually don’t think he can anyway) if, say, they are struggling by the all-star break and the players know that he’ll get fired by the end of the season. Why bother busting you hump for a coach who won’t be there? They didn’t do it for Larry Brown, who’s actually a good coach, they won’t do it for Isiah Thomas.
We can’t wait for the vegas over/under on number of Knicks wins next season. We’re going to peg it at 25.
Links:
[NY Post]: Thomas gets fair warning
[NY Daily News]: Dolan places Isiah on deck
