Talk about your falls from grace. And to think Isiah Thomas’ middle name is Lord.
It’s one thing to be the coach and general manager of a bad basketball team, which the New York Knicks are with a 6-15 record as they arrive in Chicago to play the Bulls on Friday night. We’ve seen bad basketball before, and so far the Bulls are only a little better than bad.
But how did Thomas join the legion of super sports villains headed by Barry Bonds, O.J. Simpson and Michael Vick?
He didn’t cheat the national game or commit a crime. He hasn’t declared war on anyone or obstructed justice or lied to the country about some extramarital affair.
But now it seems as if the sins have become transcendent for the West Side kid who once was thought of here as an inspiration, surviving the local gang and drug culture as a basketball prodigy who was playing against high schoolers when he was in 4th grade.
Yes, there is that sexual harassment suit that Madison Square Garden lost and settled for $11.5 million this week. I don’t condone harassment in the workplace, sexual or otherwise. Harassment of any sort is inappropriate. And I don’t know what happened.
This, however, was a curious case, with each side still screaming it was the victim. Anucha Browne Sanders, the successful complainant, told the New York Daily News this week she resented being considered a gold digger and had been vindicated.
Thomas and Knicks owner James Dolan insist it was a bad verdict, which can happen.
Neither side had corroborating evidence for any of its claims. The jury’s verdict was against Madison Square Garden, so Thomas was not held liable for damages. The judge instructed the jury that it could find for the plaintiff because of retaliation for filing a suit.
This was a huge embarrassment for the Knicks, for Thomas and for the NBA, although Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer, after an explanation, recanted an earlier condemnation of Thomas. Ubiquitous activist Al Sharpton said he saw no reason to boycott the Knicks.
Unless it was for poor play, maybe? That’s where Thomas’ saga grows most curious.
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Yes, the Knicks are playing horribly. They’re a sieve of a defensive team with locker-room issues and personal agendas, most involving Stephon Marbury, who mutinied against the team and apparently threatened his own retaliation against Thomas.
It’s not going to be easy to cure what ails the Knicks, although dumping Marbury would be a start. He has a history of bringing down teams.
Also, holding the dual jobs of coach and general manager doesn’t work in today’s NBA. Just this week Miami coach Pat Riley supposedly ripped his general manager for bad acquisitions. Then Miami general manager Pat Riley wondered if he had the right coach.
Still, what Thomas has done to deserve the treatment he gets is somewhat curious.
Thomas, echoing Frank Sinatra, often says New York is a tough place to make it. In sports it’s a borderline hysterical place. My favorite line about New York sports is the definition of a dynasty: When a family in China rules for hundreds of years, or a New York team has a three-game winning streak.
Hey, look at us! New York is the Mark Cuban of cities.
Thomas is losing, and how dare anyone do that to New Yorkers, who deserve better. I agree. If you must live your life in a miserable, overpopulated city with crumbling infrastructure — and do you know what they charge for a pastrami sandwich? — don’t you deserve more sporting satisfaction than anyone else?
I know it’s unfashionable to defend Thomas, and in New York the collective disappointment over the end of public executions merely produced the tabloid media.
When the Knicks beat the Jazz recently, Thomas’ predecessor, Scott Layden, was on the Jazz’s bench.
No one ever rebuilds in New York, but the Knicks’ chance to do so ended with Layden, who had a George W. Bush-like approach to deficit spending, trading Patrick Ewing for Glen Rice when the Knicks could have waited a year to let Ewing go and been in position to add players.
Layden also traded Marcus Camby and the No. 7 pick (used for Nene) for Antonio McDyess, traded Latrell Sprewell for Keith Van Horn, drafted Michael Sweetney No. 9 overall, signed Allan Houston for $100 million and traded for Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson and their big contracts.
Only McDyess, Othella Harrington, Dikembe Mutombo and Michael Doleac remain in the league from the team Thomas took over four years ago.
Thomas did make some good draft picks (David Lee 30th) and bad free-agent signings (Jerome James). His biggest problem seems to be his players lack his playing toughness.
Yes, he did bring them in. Marbury and maybe Zach Randolph aside, Knicks players generally seem to be good, law-abiding, decent young men whom you could spend a comfortable afternoon with sipping coffee. Unfortunately, that’s their game face.
Yes, Thomas has done his share of dumb things over the years, like the walk-off against the Bulls in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals that might have been done more in the heat of perhaps the league’s last great rivalry. The day before, with the Bulls up 3-0, Michael Jordan said the Pistons were undeserving champions because they played so dirty. He got into Detroit’s heads one last time. Chicago loved it; the love affair with Thomas had long been over.
There was the alleged freeze-out of Jordan at the 1985 All-Star Game, but if you watch the tape, it’s difficult to see any evidence. Yet when Thomas wasn’t invited to join the 1992 Dream Team, friction with Jordan was believed to be a factor.
There was also the comment that Larry Bird was an MVP only because he was white, but again, the remark came in the heat of competition and extenuating circumstances. It was goofy Dennis Rodman who said it first, and Thomas was probably trying to protect an immature young teammate after another frustrating loss.
Thomas apologized; Bird accepted.
And it was Thomas who welcomed Magic Johnson back to the NBA after Johnson disclosed he had the HIV virus. At the time, other high-profile players such as Karl Malone were raising questions about being on the court with Johnson.
Thomas was a terrific player, a Hall of Famer, and his Finals-record 25-point quarter against the Lakers on a sprained ankle in 1988 was one of the best individual performances I’ve ever witnessed.
I also witnessed him stepping on players’ feet while they tried to defend him, one of the famed Bad Boys tactics that helped make that Pistons team so despised.
You hear of Thomas’ missteps, which usually seem to involve more hubris than cunning.
He bragged prematurely about becoming Pistons president and had the job taken from him. He tried to buy the Toronto Raptors without enough financial backing and lost out, although his draft picks of Camby, Damon Stoudamire and Tracy McGrady had the team on the road to early success if changes hadn’t been made.
He bought the Continental Basketball Association and believed the NBA was trying to cheat him by offering a reported $9 million in a proposed merger. Nothing unusual there — Thomas generally believes everyone is trying to cheat him … old neighborhood habits and all. Thomas held out despite the advice of friends to sell, the NBA started its own minor league and the CBA was forced to shut down for a while. It was a bad business decision.
The Indiana Pacers broke up their 2000 NBA Finals team, letting three of five starters go, but they improved each season Thomas was their coach, getting up to 48 victories before Bird took over as team president and replaced him with a buddy, Rick Carlisle.
At least Thomas can say it hasn’t been at all boring. Unlike his team.
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