It wasn't that long ago Isiah Thomas was coming off a brief but solid coaching stint with the Indiana Pacers and was placed in charge of building the New York Knicks into a power in the NBA once again. In four full seasons with Thomas as the president of basketball operations for the Knicks' organization, the team posted a record of 112-216 and gave out preposterous contracts to under performing players.
Thomas traded for Stephon Marbury, Tim Thomas, Eddy Curry, Jamal Crawford, Steve Francis, Zach Randolph, and Quentin Richardson. He gave $30 million to Jerome James and $30 million to Jared Jeffries. He ran the Knicks into the ground and was given the task of coaching the roster he had acquired his final two years there. They went 56-108 with him as the coach. Despite a troubled history with making decisions as a top executive for the Knicks, that isn't stopping owner James Dolan from bringing him back to the company picnics.
Dolan is hiring Thomas to be the president of the New York Liberty, the Knicks' WNBA affiliate. The Liberty are owned by the Madison Square Garden Company, which owns the Knicks and is headed up by Dolan. Ian Begley of ESPN New York tells us that Thomas has confirmed he has no role with the Knicks and is strictly working for the Liberty as their president.
Isiah Thomas said in a phone interview he will have no role with the #Knicks and will solely work as Liberty president.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) May 5, 2015
Asked Isiah Thomas what he'd tell #Knicks fans who believe he'll have a role w/NYK: "I'm excited to be working for the New York Liberty."
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) May 5, 2015
Dolan has always been a fan of Thomas' and while he's stated in the past he didn't trust him enough to bring him back to work for the Knicks, this no longer applies to the Madison Square Garden Company as a whole. He believes Thomas' judge of talent and work ethic will help rebuild the Liberty into a contender.
Dolan on Isiah: "He's an excellent judge of talent & I'm confident that he will put all of his energy" into making the Liberty competitive.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) May 5, 2015Some could look at this story as a return to New York by Thomas in the effort of making right with an organization he hindered quite a bit. Thomas' time with the Knicks was dysfunctional and anybody would jump at that kind of redemption, even if it's just with the team's WNBA counterpart. Unfortunately, there's that one little bit of history from when Thomas was running the Knicks:
Hiring Isiah is impractical and bad PR, but it's also borderline inhumane to bring a sexual harasser back to the *women's side* of the org
— Seth Rosenthal (@seth_rosenthal) May 5, 2015
That's right; don't forget that Thomas was found guilty of sexual harassment to the tune of the Knicks paying out $11.6 million back in 2007. He had been accused of referring to a female employee as derogatory, sexist names, but may have tried to make up for it by suggesting they have a relationship outside of the Knicks.
This hiring seems inappropriate and tone deaf by Dolan on so many levels that it's offensive. It shouldn't even matter whether or not you consider the Liberty to be a separate entity from the Knicks or that this was nearly a decade ago and the money has been paid out to the victim. This is a ridiculous hiring that goes from your typical "laugh at the Knicks" move to having your jaw drop and the same reaction John Starks had during an insane finish to a Pacers-Knicks game decades ago.
