Isiah Thomas was one of the best basketball players I have ever seen play the game. But his success on the court has had virtually no carry over into post-career life as an NBA executive. He’s made enough blunders to fill a book. Here are Isiah Thomas’ top 10 mistakes since becoming Knicks’ President on December 22, 2003.
10. Signing Vin Baker – In the mid 1990s, Baker was one of the top players in the game. He made four straight All-Star teams and twice averaged over 20 points per game. But the lockout season was a turning point for Baker. His weight ballooned to 300 pounds and he developed a problem with alcohol. He was a liability rather than a star. With the Knicks over the salary cap, Isiah Thomas used the team’s mid-level exemption on Baker, hoping to get a dominant inside presence. Baker averaged 1.4 points per game in 24 games before being traded for Maurice Taylor, a player with an even bigger contract who couldn’t even crack the team’s rotation on a regular basis.
9. Signing Jared Jeffries – The Knicks were a poor defensive team, which must have driven Larry Brown, a defensive-minded coach if there ever was one, crazy. So, Isiah Thomas used his exemption to sign Jared Jeffries. The team then drafted Renaldo Balkman, a player with the identical skill set to Jeffries, and then Jeffries got hurt. Oh, and they got rid of Larry Brown. Jeffries averaged 4.1 points per game last year and has no role on this year’s team. And they have him for three more seasons after this one.
8. Signing Jerome James – Bolstered by the success of the Vin Baker signing, Isiah Thomas inked Jerome James to a free agent contract with the club’s exemption. James was notorious for being an under-achiever throughout his career. He finally played up to his ability in the final year of his contract – imagine that – and he still managed just 4.9 PPG and 3.0 RPG before signing with the Knicks. Shortly after signing James, Isiah Thomas swung the Eddy Curry deal, making James redundant. But that was okay, as James got hurt and has played in just 85 games the past two seasons. James hasn’t played this season and underwent foot surgery in November. And the Knicks have him for two more seasons after this one.
7. Trading Kurt Thomas – Kurt Thomas did whatever he was asked to do. He could play defense, rebound and score. And despite being only 6’7, Thomas frequently played center and held his own against players who had five inches and 50 pounds on him. Isiah Thomas dealt him for Quentin Richardson and the rights to Nate Robinson. Richardson has been a disappointment, even when healthy and while Robinson brings toughness to the team, he’s a defensive liability and is wildly inconsistent night to night.
6. Hiring Lenny Wilkens After letting Don Chaney twist in the wind, Isiah Thomas finally fired him and replaced him with Lenny Wilkens. A Hall of Fame player and at one point a fine coach, Wilkens finished his two previous coaching gigs on dismal notes. He posted a 28-54 record with the Hawks and was 24-58 with the Raptors. He was well on his way to duplicating those marks with the Knicks when he was fired with a 17-22 mark.
5. Not protecting lottery picks on Eddy Curry deal – The Chicago Bulls decided to trade Eddy Curry because he would not submit to DNA testing on his heart. According to an AP report, the Bulls were worried that Curry’s “genetic makeup leaves him susceptible to cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that combined with arrhythmia, could prove fatal.” Isiah Thomas traded three players, three draft picks and the right to swap first-round picks in 2007 to get Curry. But the picks were not lottery protected, a standard condition of trades involving draft picks. The Knicks ended up trading the number two pick in the 2006 draft and swapping the number nine pick for the number 23 pick in 2007. Curry had a nice season last year, but the loss of the number two overall pick and the ninth overall pick in back-to-back drafts has been huge, especially for a player with a major medical condition.
4. Trading for Steve Francis – – The Knicks already had an undersized, shoot-first, no defense playing, malcontent point guard in Stephon Marbury. So, Isiah Thomas opted to trade for his exact double when he sent the expiring contract of Hardaway and promising youngster Trevor Ariza for Francis and his massive contract. Francis was predictably unhappy on the Knicks, saw limited playing time and was eventually dumped. The only silver lining was that this move caused the franchise minimal damage. But it cost $15 million in just 2006-07 alone and never had a chance in hell of working out.
3. Everything revolving around Larry Brown – After the dismal selection of Lenny Wilkens, the Knicks and Isiah Thomas apparently hit a home run with the signing of Larry Brown to be the team’s coach. But Brown and Isiah Thomas did not see eye-to-eye and Brown was his usual cantankerous self. The Knicks had a dreadful season under Brown and did not allow him to stay around to right the ship, like he had done after bad starts in San Antonio, where he went from 21 wins to 56 wins the following season, and Philadelphia, where he went from a .378 winning percentage to a .560 winning percentage the next year. Oh, and this is when Isiah Thomas became coach, allowing him to kill the Knicks in two different capacities.
2. Trading for Stephon Marbury – Isiah Thomas put the Knicks deeper in salary cap hell in order to acquire Marbury. He dealt four players, the rights to another and two first-round draft picks for Marbury, Penny Hardaway and Cezary Trybanski. The Knicks were already massively over the salary cap and adding the bloated contracts of Marbury and Hardaway made this worse. Marbury had been on three teams prior to the Knicks and none of those teams had won anything, a trend continued for Marbury in Gotham. Oh yeah, the Knicks also gave up the team’s first-round pick in 2004 and a pick that has yet to be determined. The pick was protected (see, Isiah Thomas was aware of the concept!) in the top 24 for the 2007 draft; it is top 23 protected for 2008; top 22 protected for 2009; and unprotected for 2010. This deal killed the Knicks in salary, performance and draft picks – no easy feat!
1. Sexually harassing a team employee – The Knicks hold a special place in my heart but in the end, it’s only basketball. But when Isiah Thomas was found guilty of making unwanted advances and verbally insulting team Vice President of Marketing and Business Operations Anucha Browne Sanders, his shortcomings take on a totally different dimension. It’s one thing to be a bad executive but it’s another thing entirely to be a rotten human being. We now know that Isiah Thomas is both.
It will be a great day for Knicks fans everywhere when Isiah Thomas is fired. May it come sooner rather than later.
Sources:
www.basketball-reference.com
AP: Curry’s DNA fight with Bulls ‘bigger than sports world
New York Daily News: Isiah Thomas doubts he’ll be fired
Knicksonline.com: Don’t blame Isiah
