Isiah Thomas deserves a running drop kick to the sternum.
He really, really does.
And I'm genuinely hoping - no, make that praying - to whatever basketball gods that still pay attention to Knicks basketball that it happens.
Maybe one night this season, as the Knicks are being railroaded by the abysmal Atlanta Hawks in Madison Square Garden, one of Isiah's handpicked malcontents decides he's had enough. Maybe Quentin Richardson, Jalen Rose or even the Hindenburg-sized Jerome James rises from the end of bench, lines up Isiah and takes off running. Isiah, distracted by the fistfight for the ball at the top of the key between Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis, is none the wiser. A few steps away, James throws his body into the air and hearing the pounding steps behind him, Isiah turns around.
BLAMMY!
That's what he gets for building a team with four shoot-first point guards (Marbury, Francis, Jamal Crawford and second-year man Nate Robinson), two overpaid, out of place small forwards (Richardson and Rose) and two overweight, underachieving centers (Eddy Curry and James). The newly acquired defensive stopper, Jarred Jeffries, just broke his left wrist and is shelved for the next six to eight weeks.
Channing Frye and David Lee are the two best things going at the Garden these days. But wait, surprise, they play the same position.
Isiah, coach and general manager after the dismissal of enigmatic Larry Brown and his National Basketball Association-record 42 different starting lineups, could have at least attempted to fix some of those problems in the 2006 draft. After all, despite trading away their own pick (which turned out to be the second overall) to Chicago for Curry, the Knicks were still left with two first round draft picks, at slots 20 and 29.
Sitting at 20, things had broken perfectly. Marcus Williams, a pass-first point guard from an established college program at Connecticut, was available. The Knicks instead drafted Renaldo Balkmon, a small forward from South Carolina. Balkmon was barely expected to be drafted, if at all.
The overall response at the draft (held in New York City at MSG) was somewhere between flummoxed and furious. Stephen A. Smith, the NBA's resident loud mouth (worse than even Sir Charles Barkley) was "nearly speechless." Spike Lee, the Knicks' Jack Nicholson, laughed and hung his head.
Two picks later, Williams went to New Jersey to back up and learn from an aging Jason Kidd. No wonder New Yorkers are hoping the Nets move to Brooklyn. At least then they can attend New York basketball without using brown paper bags for hats.
At 29, Isiah reached for a fifth combo guard, Mardy Collins from Temple, who "struggles shooting the ball from everywhere on the floor," according to ESPN.com.
All could be forgiven if not for the fact that the Knicks don't have a realistic chance of being under the salary cap until the 2009-10 season. Their cap number this year is $140.595 million. The salary cap for the NBA is $53.135 million. Nearly 100 million dollars extra in salary, not to mention luxury tax fees, for a team that's sitting comfortably at 100-1 odds to win a championship, according to Vegas.
Most experts this year predict the Knicks to finish somewhere near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. A select few hypothesize the Knicks could win as many as 40 games and contend for the eighth and final playoff spot. That latter prediction is a lofty one.
Either way, barring a deep and extremely unlikely run into the playoffs, Isiah Thomas will no longer be with the Knicks at this time next season, thankfully.
Where he'll be is of no accord to me, as surely no other NBA team is incompetent enough to give him the reigns of a professional franchise again. He's ruined three NBA franchises and forced an entire league (Continental Basketball Association) to fold and file for bankruptcy.
The only thing that I will take solace in this year, as I watch the Knicks continue to cement their status as the laughing stock of professional sports, is that the man who caused it all will have completely ruined his legacy.
Good riddance, Isiah, I'm counting the days, and watch out for charging seven footers.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
