"Give me liberty or give me death!"
I doubt Patrick Henry ever thought that quote would apply to a basketball team - if basketball had existed back then. But yesterday was nonetheless a day of liberation.
For over four years, Knicks fans were killing themselves watching their favorite team go through disaster after disaster. And now, finally, we can collectively toss away the Isiah Thomas shackles of NBA fandom and begin to enjoy the rebirth of the great tradition of New York basketball. Finally, we have rid ourselves of the tyranny of the head of basketball operations!
That's because yesterday, the Knicks hired Donnie Walsh, one of the most respected front-office executives in the NBA. It had been rumored for a few days, but I suspect they waited until yesterday just to make sure everyone knew that it wasn't an April Fools' joke. It's for real! Isiah's gone! Gone, gone, GONE!
I went to a Knicks game over break, and it was one of the most depressing sporting events that I'd ever been to. At every sporting contest I've ever attended, there was a certain level of energy, excitement and anxiety. At the Garden, there was none of that - not that I expected anything different. Isiah has completely zapped the place of its electricity. There was more intensity at my high school's football games. Seriously.
The Knicks were playing the Hawks, meaning they actually had an outside chance of winning the game. They lost, of course, but it's actually gotten to the point where that doesn't matter anymore. When you suck, you suck. It doesn't matter if you're 20-54 or 21-53: You are not good at basketball. So maybe that's why there were a ridiculous number of empty seats, aside from those courtside and the $10 nosebleeds.
That made for a pretty interesting arena. There were a good number of people in front, a good number of people in the back and absolutely nobody in the middle.
In a scene exemplifying the incompetence of Madison Square Garden over the past few years, the Knicks cheerleaders had no idea what to do at halftime. They had slingshots with T-shirts, but they couldn't reach the people in the back, and they obviously couldn't send a T-shirt flying into some courtside sap's dome piece. So they just jumped around and looked pretty and sent T-shirts into the empty seats.
That was probably the second most enjoyable part of the game. The first was when a troupe of kids no older than 12 broke out a surprisingly good dance routine to salsa music.
And then they came back and laid down some sick coordinated break dancing.
I literally couldn't get up at halftime to grab some concessions because I didn't want to miss the little kids dancing. That was the highlight of the Knicks game!
If you said that about a professional football game, you would be likely to get a beating. Hell, if you said that about a college or high school football game, you would be likely to get a beating.
But that was the case at MSG. The Knicks' starting five consisted of Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Zach Randolph, Wilson Chandler and David Lee. Somehow, Robinson found himself room to take 22 acceptable shots (in his mind) but only had five assists in 35 minutes of action. They just don't play team basketball.
You could see the Hawks making the extra pass, looking for the open man - you know, the fundamentals. The Knicks looked like there was no plan, no mutual understanding and no chemistry.
Before the game, the PA announcer said that "Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry and Jerome James are not dressed for this game."
I couldn't help but giggle at that one. The moves Isiah made to get those players are just so telling of his regime. It's like when Helios, the sun god, gave the reins of his chariot to his son, who lost control and died. It was just too much power for one man - a man who was in no way qualified to assume a position of such stature.
Isiah took over the Knicks on December 22, 2003, a day that will live in infamy. The Knicks were a bad team that was over the salary cap, and anybody with knowledge of the situation knew it would take patience and diligence to turn the team around and build a contender.
So what did Isiah do? He traded for Stephon Marbury, an expensive player who has never proven he can win anything. Isiah did that on Jan. 5, 2004 - if you're keeping track at home, that's less than two weeks after he got the job. He waited just under two weeks before making a move that would make or break his legacy. The man doesn't have patience, he doesn't have foresight, and he doesn't have any concept of the phrase "build a contender."
But Isiah wasn't done. Later that year he used the team's mid-level exemption on Vin Baker, a 300-pound drunk. Baker averaged 1.4 points in four games. Apparently, Isiah hadn't filled his overpaid, unneeded forwards quota, however, so he acquired Tim Thomas.
And still, the Isiah train rolled on! The next year he acquired another old, expensive, useless forward in Malik Rose and then traded away a smart, reasonably priced, useful forward in Kurt Thomas in 2005.
Later in '05, Thomas made three of his defining moves: trading four draft picks for Eddy Curry, a fat center who couldn't run, rebound, block or pass; acquiring Steve Francis, who was essentially Stephon Marbury V. 2.0; and signing forward Jerome James, who somehow earned a five-year, $30-million contract despite posting averages of 2.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in 22 games the year before. Since then, he's started 20 games for the Knicks, produced nothing, and was not too long ago declared "unfit" to practice with the team.
This was the Isiah Thomas era. I didn't even touch on everything: the Anucha Browne sexual harassment lawsuit, four coaches in four years and Jared Jeffries.
Now it's finally over, and we've got Donnie Walsh, a man who at one point took the Pacers to 16 out of 17 postseasons and is responsible for drafting Reggie Miller ahead of the more popular Steve Alford. How did that one work out?
So here's to you, Donnie, and hopefully a successful run at the top of the Knicks organization. If you're pondering your first move, look no further, I've got one for you: Fire Isiah! He's still coaching, you know.
David Heck is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at David.Heck@tufts.edu.
