When Isiah Thomas was fired by the New York Knicks as head coach and president of the team it was assumed that the two would never do business again, but it appears that times have changed as Knicks’ owner James Dolan has reached out to Thomas.
Thomas and Dolan had a business meeting and the Knicks currently have an opening for a president and assistant coach. Thomas also played at Indiana with current Knicks’ head coach Mike Woodson and GM Glen Grunwald.
As Knicks’ President of Basketball Operations from December 22, 2003 until April 2, 2008, Thomas will always be remembered as the man who didn’t know how to spend his money wisely. In the 2005-06 season, the Knicks had the highest-payroll in the NBA, but produced the second-worst record in the league at 23-59.
Arguably the worst move Thomas made with the Knicks was trading for Stephon Marbury who helped the Knicks tie a franchise record for losses in season twice after making the playoffs before acquiring him. Marbury clashed with every Knicks head coach until former head coach Mike D’Antoni showed him the door.
The trade of Michael Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, Tim Thomas, two second round picks and two first round picks to the Chicago Bulls for Eddy Curry, Antonio Davis and a first round pick was questionable too. The second round picks landed the Bulls Omer Asik and helped them trade up for Thabo Sefolosha while the first round picks landed them Joakim Noah and LaMarcus Aldridge, who was later traded for Tyrus Thomas and Veektor.
While the Knicks were able to select Wilson Chandler with their first round pick acquired, Curry was a 285 pound, injury prone player and Davis was highly overpaid at $13 million for providing an average of five points per game.
Another bad move by Thomas was trading Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza to the Orlando Magic for Steve Francis, a player past his prime and cost the Knicks $15 million.
