He set out to spend the most amount of money possible on the poorest evaluation of talent. Accomplished. He arranged for millions to be paid to men who were better set in their recliener at home. He traded away draft picks for promising team players, like Stephan Marbury. He formed a team that had one qualification to be on the roster....the largest ego in the game. He wasn't finished. So he chose to step on to the court and mold the talent he had arranged by imploring strategies similar to the drunken millionaire at the poker table. Surely this mockery had to end soon....so we thought.
It appears that Isaiah Thomas has been fired as coach, but is going to somehow still remain with the team. Knick's president Donnie Walsh has chosen simply to "reassign" Thomas, rather than doing what he should have done, putting him in a wooden crate on some ship to the far east. At this point of the news, I wasn't sure whether Walsh was so dilushend that he just had to convince himself "There's still some good in him, I can feel it". But then as I learned of the job description, the move became apparent. This is classic game of stubborn chicken, daring each other who can take on more embarrassment.
Here is the 'new' job description: Thomas has no official title, he is to have NO contact with any players or personel related to the Knicks. The "good news" is that Thomas may still speak to Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, who knows what they would even have to talk about? Walsh described Thomas' new duties like this, " I don't want there to be some kind of double-voice here, so he's answering to me and nobody's reporting to him."
Here's what we have: Isaiah Thomas is getting paid by the Knicks to have no contact with anyone on the team, occasionally hang out with Millionaire James Dolan, and be available to change the toilet paper in Donnie Walsh's office bathroom. In fact, Thomas will get in trouble if does any actual work. He is on salary to do nothing. Have you ever heard of this? Essentially, he has been assigned to a job that is intended to humilate any "Legacy" Isaiah wanted to write. The funniest part is that Thomas has yet to quit, he wants to play the game, go head to head with Walsh. Who is going to back down first?
This is the real life saga of the Seinfeld episode "The Voice", if you remember George Costanza's company wants to get rid of him b/c they found out he wasn't really handicapped. Ironically, George was handicapped, just not physically, or 'legally'. Play Now wanted George out, but couldn't b/c he had a 1 year contract with them, and "faking a handicap" was not proper grounds for legal dismissal. George chooses to go head to head with the boss refusing (like Isaiah) to quit, who tells him "I'll see you in Hell Costanza!!". George chooses to exploit the contract by meeting it's one demand: Showing up to work everyday. Play Now tries to force him out by 'reassigning' his office to the basement, boarding it up which forced George to climb through the vent, poisoning his food. But George persisted through, until he ironically bankrupts them at the end of the episode, putting himself out of a job.
Maybe that's what Isaiah will do next, figure out a way to bankrupt one of the richest franchises in sports. Who know's what is next. But the Legend continues....
