Reply With Quote
Whoever is in charge of music in MSG should play a funeral march while introducing the Knicks starters. Kinda appropriate given the cir stances.
Unhappy with Knicks' effort, Isiah Thomas kicks players out of practice
BY FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Tuesday, November 20th 2007, 9:52 AM
A desperate Isiah Thomas kicked his entire team out of practice Monday. The Knicks' embattled coach was unhappy with their work habits.
The move comes on the heels of a six-game losing streak and amid increasing speculation that Thomas is on the verge of being fired. According to a source close to the team, Thomas tossed his players off the court at their practice facility in Greenburgh after he became frustrated with their lack of hustle and focus.
The players eventually returned but not until Thomas had made his point. It is unclear if the assistant coaches ran the workout, but the players were in a somber mood when practice ended.
"It is a three-ring circus," said the source. "It's getting worse."
The Knicks are back at the Garden tonight to face the Golden State Warriors before heading back on the road to play in Detroit tomorrow. Tonight's game is the Knicks' first at home since Stephon Marbury was demoted from the starting lineup last week and went AWOL for 24 hours.
It is likely that both Marbury and Thomas will be the target of boos tonight as the Knicks enter the night with a 2-7 record. Marbury attended yesterday's practice but had already left the gym when the media were permitted to enter the room. There are unconfirmed reports that Marbury left quickly after learning that a relative had died.
Marbury should be available tonight and likely will be used as a backup for a fourth straight game. The Knicks' season was thrown into chaos last week when the point guard and Thomas got into a heated argument on the plane to Phoenix after Marbury was informed that he wouldn't start against the Suns.
Marbury returned to New York, only to rejoin the team on Wednesday in Los Angeles, where he played 34 minutes against the Clippers. An unidentified Knick said that Thomas asked the players to vote on whether Marbury should play and even though the team felt unanimously that he should be benched, Thomas put him in anyway.
That decision came on the same day the Daily News reported that Marbury had threatened to go public with unsavory information he claims to have on Thomas. Jamal Crawford, who reportedly was in charge of polling the players, dismissed the idea that the Knicks are a divided group.
"We're good," he said. "There is no turmoil. Teammates get into it on every team. But we haven't had that here."
Yesterday, Thomas reiterated that he would not have changed the way he handled Marbury's demotion and its aftermath. He also repeated that he is not worried about his job security.
The Knicks are 6-22 since Thomas received a contract extension last March, believed to be worth $24 million. He revealed that he had a conversation with Garden chairman James Dolan "the day before yesterday (Saturday)," but he declined to elaborate.
There is a group of players that believes that Thomas is acting like he wants to be fired.
Thomas, however, is smart enough to know that he does not want to fight Dolan for his contract. Dolan refused to pay Larry Brown because he felt that the former coach had violated the team's sacred media policy.
Thomas apparently has learned from history and is careful not to say anything even remotely derogatory about the team, the organization and especially Dolan. But Dolan is upset over the daily leaks concerning the state of his team and likely will hold someone accountable.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba..._.html?ref=rss
Whoever is in charge of music in MSG should play a funeral march while introducing the Knicks starters. Kinda appropriate given the cir stances.
I love this, its like watching a huge train wreck in slow motion.
This will really help the Knick gel though.
You stole my post!
I'll make some popcorn. This train wreck has been a couple of years in the making, and will be worth watching.
You stole my post!
I'll make some popcorn. This train wreck has been a couple of years in the making, and will be worth watching.
lol.... its like that seen in the last Matrix movie where Morpheus is fighting the agent on top of the truck then the trucks colide head on in super slow motion and you can see every bit of shrapnel flying through the air. Thats what I invision this as.
One does wonder when Daddy Dolan will step in and end the embarrassing reign of his incompetent frat boy son. I know he's rich, but this team is just throwing money away on horrible long term contracts. They could just RAKE cash if they would retool and even put a playoff team on the floor. Of course, that is probably 5 years away.
It's his own damn fault. There's nothing funnier than a lousy parent/coach getting pissed at unruly charges because they don't have any discipline.
im going to NYC on dec 8th to see the Mavs play the Knicks on the 10th, I wonder if Isiah will still be around in 2 weeks
Why do you still have the DJ avatar?
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
