The tenuous nature of Isiah Thomas

March 12th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

At this point, I’m not exactly sure how to summarize my feelings toward Isiah Thomas. Ripping the dude incessantly feels unreasonable, but praising him, or defending him, oftentimes comes off as nothing short of ridiculous. It’s a bit of a quandary.

That said, perhaps James Dolan might want to rethink his stance on Isiah the general manager and keep Isiah the coach, because Thomas has apparently earned Dolan’s trust enough to get a contract extension today:

The Knicks owner is expected to announce a multiyear extension for Thomas, rewarding a 29-34 start after taking over for Larry Brown this season. The Knicks won just 23 games all season under Brown.

Several New York media outlets are reporting the deal, with The New York Times saying Dolan will make the announcement this morning at Madison Square Garden.

The move is no surprise, as the Daily News reports that Thomas has been hinting at it for weeks and Dolan confirmed as much to the players recently.

Dolan had given Thomas an ultimatum to make “progress” with an overpriced roster he put together as team president, but had floundered under Brown.

The team is currently in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Well, Dolan wanted “progress,” and progress he got, though it’s still hard to justify an under .500 team with a $117 million (!) payroll. Then again, as bad as this team was last year, it’s clear that Thomas’ style works with the corp of players he has more fluidly than Larry Brown’s “screw rookies, screw creativity … now run my half court set, goddamnit” attitude.

Not only that, but the Eddy Curry trade looks better by the day. Considering Curry is the legitimate piece the Bulls need to really contend this year - regardless of his weird heart condition - it’s hard to look at Isiah the GM with the same disdain. He’s still a terrible GM ($117 million!), but he’s a little less terrible than he once was. I suppose that’s “progress.”