Yesterday, I posted with my thoughts on the state of the Knicks and the fallout from Stephon Marbury going AWOL. I approached this ugly situation with my glass half full and considered Marbury's actions as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I also chose to defend Isiah's desicion to bench Marbury, seeing it as a sign that he is growing as a coach, realizing the negative impact Steph has on the young roster. The final line of my post read as follows:
"Marbury has shown his hand Isiah, now it's your move."
Essentially, Isiah had finally reached the crossroads of his Knicks coaching tenure and this was his chance to give his "team first" mantra some teeth. He was in a position to prove to the 14 other players on the Knicks roster as well as the fans that Marbury's selfish, me-first actions would not go unnoticed this time. He had the opportunity to set a refreshing precedent in the Knicks locker room that if you feel you are above the team, your detrimental actions will be met with the appropriate discipline whether it be a fine and/or suspension (both of which were more than warranted in this instance). Most importantly, before yesterdays game Isiah Thomas had the opportunity to begin to change the culture of a downtrodden franchise by putting a hefty dent in the tyrannical reign of Lord Stephon over the Knicks roster.
Unfortunately for Knicks players and fans, Isiah Thomas' response spoke volumes about the sorry state of the New York Knicks. The cover-my-ass mentality of the team's upper management was on full display for the world to see as anyone who cares about this team got to see first hand the dirty motivations that drive descion-making around these parts. Stephon Marbury was not punished for skipping out on his team, rather he sat out the first 9 minutes of the game before playing 34 minutes including crunch time late in an 84-81 loss.
Earlier today, a damning article surfaced (reported first by Johnny Ludden of Yahoo! Sports) stating that before the Clippers game, Isiah Thomas had sent Jamal Crawford to gauge whether the team felt Marbury should play in that night's game. Ultimately, Isiah told Jamal Crawford that if one guy spoke out against Marbury playing, he would be benched. As it turns out, Crawford and the Knicks held a vote which unanimously declared that Marbury should not play in Wednesday night's game.
After reading this article I felt like a fool. I had put my faith in Isiah calling him the right man to oversee the growth of this roster. Given his tremendous leadership qualities and no nonesense attitude as a player, I expected him to make the right move. I was certain he would vouch for the 14 guys, all of whom he has brought in and molded in his tenure in NY, over the one guy that he was finally done placating. But it was not to be and remained business as usual at MSG - save your ass first focus on the success of the team second.
Now, perhaps Isiah was caught in a Playmakers scenario, with James Dolan playing the role of Wilbanks and Stephon being a carbon-copy of DH without the game-changing talent. However, Isiah had to of known that even if he appeased the owner in order to keep his job, his actions would lose him the respect of his players and hit him where it hurts most - the team's on court performance.
Ultimately in New York, if you don't win, you don't stick around long. Ask Larry Brown, Ray Handley or the immortal Richie Kotite. To date, Isiah has defied this logic but given the events of 11/14, the end of the Zeke regime is just around the corner.
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