11.30.2007

An Open Letter to Isiah Thomas

Dear Isiah Thomas:

I have been in your corner for a while. When you traded for Stephon Marbury, I was down with it. When you traded for Eddy Curry, I was down with it. When you signed Larry Brown, I was down with it. When you signed Jared Jeffries, I was down with it (in fact, I was thrilled). When you signed Jerome James,….okay, my allegiance wasn’t blind.

When people bashed you as a GM, I reminded them how irrelevant the team was under the Scott Layden/Howard Eisley/Clarence Weatherspoon era was. When people wanted to throw you over the side for Larry Brown, I reminded them of his insubordination (going behind the GM’s back with trade proposals) and asked what exactly Brown did so great in his first year to deserve more power.

I’ve had your back for a while, but I can’t ride with you anymore. Not (and I know you have heard this phrase before) if you are going to go out like a punk.

The same man who escaped the Chicago streets, who thrived under legendary coach/bully Bob Knight, who was the toughest man on the Bad Boys is now scared of Marbury?

You were doing the right things early. You told Marbury, Curry and Jamal Crawford their defense was not acceptable in the preseason. You gave it a couple of games, saw that playing the Knicks was Christmas for opposing point guards, and decided to bring Marbury off the bench. He loses his shit, bolts the team at a time where Zach Randolph and Renaldo Balkman were out, leaving your team woefully shorthanded against Phoenix. If the reports are right, you went to the remainder of the team and asked them if Marbury should play in the next game, they unanimously voted no. And you played him.

You took the path of less resistance. Sitting Marbury may have added to the circus atmosphere surrounding your club, but it would show Marbury in particular and the rest of your team in general that failure to meet the coach’s standards has consequences.

Instead, you went out like a punk. And you probably lost the remainder of your team in the process.

Fast forward to today. The day after your team suffered an historic blowout on national television against the Celtics, the day after you say the team’s performance was the most selfish you have ever seen, you run the same starting five out on the court to start against the Bucks. Once again, no consequences for failure.

What does Marbury have on you? Did you and he double team and kill a hooker during the summer? Does he know you ATM card code? Are you a financial backer of his sneakers? What hold does them man have on you that you seem to be willing to throw everything away just to avoid conflict with a player who you would smash into a million pieces when you were playing?

The Knicks becoming an embarrassment isn’t all your fault. But enough of it is your fault that I don’t want you as my coach, my GM or my President anymore.