Isiah Thomas: Healthy New York Knicks ‘as Good as Anyone’

What’s been missing from this New York Knicks season? Drama? Nope, the Knicks have provided that with late, close games (most of which they’ve lost), and some in-house squabbles between players and coaches, too. The Knicks aren’t missing drama. Highlight plays? Not really; we’ve had some cool dunks and shots this season. Wins? Well, yes, they are missing wins, but there’s something else missing….

If you guessed “Elite-level trolling from former Knicks GM Isiah Thomas!” then you are right!

Just when the Knicks are really approaching their lowest levels with injuries ravaging the team, poor coaching that isn’t changing, and a pile of losses that doesn’t seem to be growing any thinner, our old friend Isiah Thomas was able to help us see the situation for what it is really is. Thomas told the New York Post:

"Isiah Thomas feels with Mike Woodson at the helm, a healthy Knicks team could be “as good as anybody.’’ Thomas was teammates with Woodson at the University of Indiana. He cited Woodson’s 81-53 record as a Knicks head coach as a reason why the heat should be off.…“When you evaluate the job he’s doing, I look at the total body of work,’’ Thomas said on WFAN radio Friday morning with Sid Rosenberg and Kim Jones. “Since he’s been here his record is [81-53]. When you look at the season he’s having, fortunately they’re in the Atlantic and nobody is running away with the division.”"

Thomas also gave a prediction on the Knicks’ season, saying, “What will happen to the Knicks eventually is they will get healthy, they will get all their pieces back and they will turn out to have a pretty good season, a season everybody will enjoy.” Oh OK, thanks, Isiah Thomas.

The trolling continued on, however. Thomas said that he would love to return to the NBA for a GM job someday if he ever got the chance. He added that if he had been given time with the rosters he built and the players he drafted, the Knicks would be “a pretty good basketball team in the East.” Right. The powerhouse franchise of Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, Renaldo Balkman, Jared Jeffries, David Lee, and Eddy Curry would have the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat quivering in their boots. What a team.

Of course, Thomas isn’t entirely wrong. He did draft Lee, Robinson, Channing Frye, and Trevor Ariza, all of whom are pretty good players. When it comes to the 2013-14 Knicks, Thomas does make a fair point in saying injuries have really hurt the team, making it difficult to develop cohesion or rhythm with one another.

However, Thomas doesn’t necessarily agree with the foundation of this Knicks roster. He told the New York Daily News:

"“You always say you can’t rebuild here in New York,” Thomas said. “I totally disagree with that. I think if given the proper amount of time the Knicks can develop a nice young roster and develop it and grow it and have success for a long time. I don’t necessarily believe you have to keep going out and trying to do the one-shot wonder."

Of course, going for grand-slam free agency signings and trading away draft picks and cap space is exactly what Thomas did as the Knicks’ GM in the 2000s, but he’s apparently moved on from that state of mind. I’m glad this man is not running things in the organization.

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