As I’m sure you’ve all heard by now, last Friday Donnie Walsh mercifully ended the Isiah Thomas era… but not before Zeke’s chapter in Knick history produced the worst 5-year stretch the organization had ever seen; he single-handedly (ok fine, with a little help from James Dolan) turned the New York Knicks into an NBA laughing stock. Still, even with Isiah banished from public view (unfortunately he is still on the Garden payroll), it’s still not safe to be a Knick fan. Donnie Walsh still has many more steps to take before we can all take the paper bags off our heads.
The next two decisions by Walsh will determine what direction the Knicks– and their fans– will take. First, Walsh has to hire a new GM to help rebuild the franchise. As we’ve seen from past mistakes Scott Layden and Isiah, both of whom proved inept in talent evaluation and their salary cap management, finding the right dude for the job won’t be as easy as it seems. Hopefully, Walsh hires someone in the mold of Brian Colangelo, someone who knows how to identify young talent and can build teams from the ground up. I’m not sold on Walsh being up to the task. Even though Donnie had a great run in Indy, the past 4 years or so the Pacers have been horrible and the Garden faithful won’t settle for him grooming a Larry Bird-type like he did over in Hicksville.
Second, Donnie has to hire a good coach. Again, that may seem like a given, but the Knicks haven’t had a good coach since Lenny Wilkens was fired (Editor’s note: was Wilkens even alive during his tenure? Just wondering). Most Knick fans will say that Jeff Van Gundy was the Knicks last good coach, but people forget that when Wilkens was fired he had a 40-41 record (Editor’s note: this is what the Knicks have reduced their fans to– a game under .500 is considered “good.” Have you no shame, James Dolan?). If Zeke had a similar record this year he probably would have gotten a lifetime contract from Jimmy Boy. And all of this is forgetting arguably Donnie’s biggest task– revamping the Knicks’ strength and conditioning program. Guys like Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph and Quentin Richardson (I won’t even mention Jerome James… wait… crap!) were woefully out of shape this season. The Knicks have clearly been the worst conditioned team in the NBA for a while now and half the roster has a$$es bigger than J-Lo’s.
Donnie, just please do something… ANYTHING, to make me want to even watch this team beyond opening night next year. After spending most of my life rooting for players like Charles Oakley, Patrick Ewing and John Starks, guys who played the game the right way, it’s a crying shame that these current Knicks are even allowed to play in the same building. Hopefully Donnie makes the right decisions and the Knicks have a little luck in the draft. Because right now, I feel about as safe being a Knick fan as Dick Cheney would living in Iran.
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