posted March 8, 2006 at 12:56 EST in NBA Betting Trends

Thomas under fire

It’s really not even about him.

Isiah Thomas has heard it from every major news outlet since his trade for Steve Francis, but in actuality, he was taking a lot of heat well before that deal even went down. When it was finally consummated, any one of his remaining supporters dove right off the fence. And they’re all right. He’s a terrible GM. There, I said it.

I won’t take it any further than that. By now, that horse has been beaten, stabbed, beaten some more, and invited on an honorary hunting trip with Dick Cheney. A while ago, I even thought about writing a comparison between Isiah and a common houseplant-- who could run the Knicks better? But again, I feel that would be overkill at this point. And everyone already knows that the houseplant would have at least gotten under the cap after next season.

The truth of the matter is that Isiah is not the real problem with this franchise. Like most organizations, failure starts at the top and bleeds down. If the Garden were a crime scene, Isiah might have his fingerprints on the gun, but the weapon is registered to its owner: James Dolan. It starts with him. The capo di tutti capi.

Dolan, the arrogant son of cable television magnate Charles Dolan, has a collection of regrettable traits that spurn the Knicks at every turn. On the one hand, his impatience with losing has led to quick-fix attempts like trades for Steve Francis and Jalen Rose. On the other, Dolan has demonstrated Biblical patience in sticking with his general manager’s “plan.”

Even Dolan’s best quality, his willingness to spend, has become the team’s greatest downfall. If this were baseball or a similarly cap-less sport, Dolan might be able to spend his way out of trouble. But basketball’s system is one that will punish you for making ill-advised financial decisions-- one bad signing can jam-up a team’s flexibility for 5 years. (Do I really need to mention Allan Houston here? I mean, isn’t it astounding that Scott Layden was so colossally bad as a GM that he inspired the NBA to amend the collective bargaining agreement?)

You need savvy in where you throw your loads of money. George Steinbrenner might be impetuous, but he isn’t going to spend $60 million on Rueben Sierra. But for whatever reason Jim can’t seem to put these ideas together.

The sad truth for Knicks fans is that Dolan is not going anywhere any time soon. Madison Square Garden is too big of an asset for Cablevision, and Jim gets too big of a kick out of running the show, the same way he gets a kick out of starting his own blues-rock band in his mid-forties. “JD and the Straight Shot.” He helicopters his band members out to his Long Island estate for jam sessions. Jim plays guitar and does vocals. I wish I were making all this up.

Another cause for concern is Dolan’s patience with Glen Sather, the calamitous Rangers GM who has only recently has tripped over success (Cablevision owns the Rangers as well, and Dolan oversees both teams). Like Thomas, Sather came under heavy fire from New York fans and media as the Rangers eerily patterned the Knicks current situation: an embarrassingly high payroll and a mountain of losses. Stubbornly though, Dolan stood by his embattled front-office man, the only one convinced Sather was worthy of keeping his job.

The Rangers have finally turned it around this season—but this recovery occurs on the heels of a radically transformed salary system ushered in by the NHL’s 2005 lockout. Unfortunately for the Knicks, Dolan likely interprets the team’s success as a reward for his patience with Sather, and thus will be more unlikely to make a change with the fantastically incompetent Thomas.

With Dolan at the top forgiving Isiah’s ineptitude, the situation in New York is as bleak as any on the professional sports landscape. The Knicks make the Arizona Cardinals look like an expertly run sports institution. So where exactly is the silver lining in all this?

The best hope is to start preparing to get under the cap after the 2009 season-- when Francis and Marbury’s contracts expire. Was Isiah cognizant of this symmetry before making the trade? He hardly deserves the benefit of the doubt. But he might have stumbled upon a savvy move here, provided that he has learned to stop spinning his wheels for more outrageous contracts. Granted, that’s a big “if”. Although seeing how Kevin Garnett becomes a free agent in 2009, Isiah might stopto give it some thought.

Until then, Knicks fans will just have to sit tight and pray that management follows. The tragedy of it all is that even if Thomas screws up enough to get fired, the man up top will still be pulling the strings. Or at least pulling his six-string.

Dolan. The man who played the guitar while the Garden burned.

Dennis Doyle is an NBA Staff Writer for www.Basketball.com.