The Case for Isiah

Isiah Thomas returns from NBA exile to the Knicks.

The prodigal son has returned to New York. Last Friday, the New York Knicks announced that former coach and president of basketball operations Isiah Thomas would return to the organization as a part-time consultant. Thomas touted this role as an opportunity for the Knicks to take “full advantage of [his] skill set as an evaluator of basketball talent.”

Current Knicks president Donnie Walsh isn’t impressed, with reports surfacing that he nearly resigned when he learned Knicks owner and Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan went over Walsh’s head to hire Thomas. Many believe this is a sign that Thomas is angling to claim the GM position and usurp control over the Knicks operations back from Walsh.

As expected, the always zealous New York media is rampantly battering this decision, although New York fans don’t appear to be as unilaterally against Thomas’s return or his intentions. However, assuming David Stern doesn’t quash the entire idea due to the potential conflict of interest with Thomas’s current job at Florida International University, are there merits to having Thomas as a Knicks consultant?

Isiah Thomas: Skilled Evaluator of Talent?

Thomas with David Lee, not a bad draft pick.

One reputation Isiah Thomas has picked up is that he’s a master at the draft. When he actually keeps the draft picks to use, as opposed to trading them so he can throw bloated contracts at mediocre talents like Eddy Curry and Stephon Marbury, Thomas has often found success. His credits:

• 1995 Toronto Raptors – #7 Damon Stoudamire, #35 Jimmy King. The first ever pick in Toronto Raptors history was heavily booed, as Raptors fans wanted UCLA hero Ed O’Bannon. Yet, in a rookie class featuring Antonio McDyess, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, and Kevin Garnett (all of whom were picked before #7), Stoudamire ended up winning Rookie of the Year. Clearly, he was the right choice, as knee injuries ended O’Bannon’s career after only two years. Jimmy King was the last member of the Fab Five and accomplished little professionally.
• 1996 Toronto Raptors – #2 Marcus Camby. After Allen Iverson was selected #1, Naismith College Player of the Year Marcus Camby was a no-brainer. Although injuries muddled the middle of his career, Camby has Defensive Player of the Year, four All-Defensive Teams, and All-Rookie First Team awards on his mantle and continues to be a force in the middle for the Portland Trailblazers.
• 1997 Toronto Raptors – #9 Tracy McGrady. Thomas’s pick in 1996 would look even brighter had that draft not been arguably the deepest ever. Of course he missed out on Kobe Bryant at #13, but no one–NO ONE–predicted the career Kobe would have. Thomas would not miss the high school phenom of the 1997 class, however, selecting McGrady after such luminaries as Keith Van Horn, Antonio Daniels, Tony Battie, Ron Mercer, Tim Thomas, and Adonal Foyle were off the board. Seven-time All-Star McGrady was the last pick of any value in this draft until Stephen Jackson at #43.

Following an unsuccessful bid to buy the Raptors in 1998, Thomas resigned, tried broadcasting, ruined the CBA, did a stint as coach of the Pacers, and didn’t re-surface in another front office until Crazy Jimmy Dolan hired him late in 2003.

• 2004 New York Knicks – #43 Trevor Ariza. With only one pick, Thomas still managed to find value with the athletic swingman from UCLA. Ariza was a critical component to the Lakers 2008 title run and a highly sought-after free agent the following summer. Nobody drafted after Ariza is still in the league, and only two others from the second round (Anderson Varejao and Chris Duhon) also still collect NBA paychecks.
• 2005 New York Knicks – #8 Channing Frye, #21 Nate Robinson (via Phoenix), #30 David Lee. People forget that Channing Frye was the consensus second-best center in that draft (after Andrew Bogut) and actually showed quite a bit of promise his rookie year (All-Rookie First Team) before losing steam and then finding his role as a floor-spacing big man for the Suns. David Lee has been a revelation, as his new six-year $80 million contract demonstrates. The Knicks bought Nate Robinson from notorious Phoenix cheapskate Robert Sarver, and, after some turbulent seasons in New York, Robinson became a playoff hero in Boston last year and proved to be better than your average 21^st pick.
• 2006 New York Knicks – #20 Renaldo Balkman, #29 Mardy Collins. Here’s where it gets dicey. Renaldo Balkman wasn’t a bad player, but Thomas drafted him right before Rajon Rondo and several picks before Kyle Lowry, Shannon Brown, and Jordan Farmar. The Knicks did have both Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury at the time, but Balkman apologists can’t play the “We didn’t need a point guard!” card because Thomas drafted PG Mardy Collins at #29. Worse, Balkman was a total unknown, which led to an entire summer of awful “Did he think he was getting Rolando Blackman?” jokes. Collins, meanwhile, is still best known for getting slapped by Carmelo Anthony.
• 2007 New York Knicks – #23 Wilson Chandler. Another relative unknown. The big knock here is that he was drafted one spot ahead of Rudy Fernandez, but Chandler actually outplayed Fernandez last year. No, Chandler hasn’t been as good as Carl Landry or Marc Gasol nor as beneficial to his team as Glen Davis (all picked in the second round), so this will go down as a solid pick for its position rather than another home-run.

Good evaluation of talent? Evidence supports it. The ESPN D.R.A.F.T. Initiative agrees, calling Thomas the second-best drafting GM of the past 20 years. On the other hand, first was Bryan Colangelo, who has been widely panned for the sorry state of the current Raptors, and third was Jim Paxson, who was chased out of Cleveland with sticks and burning copies of DeSagana Diop’s contract.

Clearly there is more to being a good GM than simply drafting.

Isiah Thomas: Credibility with Current Players?

Despite what Crazy Jimmy Dolan wants you to believe, 
this image had nothing to do with Isiah Thomas.

When Mike D’Antoni and Donnie Walsh pitched LeBron James in Cleveland this summer, they presented him with a Tony Soprano shout-out and spent hours talking X’s and O’s to convince him that the Knicks franchise and team were right for him. All seemed to go well, but word after the meeting was that Team LeBron now considered the Knicks out of the running.

Who did Crazy Jimmy Dolan send back to make the final plea? The same man responsible for the embarrassing quagmire that Walsh had to untangle even to have a chance at LeBron – Isiah Thomas. Thomas did get a meeting with one of LeBron’s representatives, which was good enough for Crazy Jimmy to decide Thomas had credibility with players that both Walsh and D’Antoni lacked. Like most decisions made during Crazy Jimmy Dolan’s reign of incompetence, a shred of logic led to a narrow-sighted leap off a cliff.

Yet there is that shred of logic. As much as the media and NBA offices lambast Isiah Thomas for his executive career, many NBA players still remember him as the greatest small point guard of all time and a member of the NBA’s 50 Best Players.

Forget the rumors that Thomas recruited Stoudemire, which appears questionable at best. Even without that, there is no question that Isiah has the charisma to charm even his biggest detractors in person, as well as the two championship rings to back up his words.

Is Isiah a Good Rehire?

Not better than the guy on the left.

The ultimate question. Yes, if he is coming onboard as a consultant. The ramifications this will create for the FIU basketball program and NCAA recruiting in general will be a bigger trainwreck than the one Thomas left in New York, but this can be good for the Knicks.

Yet if the rumors about Thomas’s ambitions are true, and Crazy Jimmy Dolan plans to replace Walsh, the man who fixed the worst salary cap situation in the league, with Thomas, a man who may not even know what the salary cap is, then this hire marks the first step back to insignificance for the New York Knicks franchise.

Examining Atlanta Hawks GM Rick Sund, or The Man Who'd Rather Keep Playing Checkers when Everyone Else Is Playing Chess

Mr. Five Years Behind Everyone Else

One of the oddest asterisks in the NBA’s summer of 2010 free agent bonanza is that the biggest contract handed out did not go to any of the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, or Chris Bosh. It didn’t even go to Amar’e Stoudemire or Carlos Boozer, despite big men always commanding a premium.

No, the biggest contract of this summer, for $120 million over six years, went to Joe Johnson.

Joe Johnson who quietly threw down a 21-5-5 last year for the 53-29 Atlanta Hawks. Joe Johnson, who then averaged below 13-5-4 on 30.3% shooting when the Hawks were swept by a historic 25.3-point margin of victory by the Orlando Magic. Joe Johnson, who was last seen criticizing the people of Atlanta for not showing up and supporting the Hawks (which, to be honest, they didn’t). Joe Johnson, who is 29—three months older than Dwyane Wade, the oldest member of Miami’s new trio—and will be paid $24.1 million at age 35.

Joe Johnson, who needs to send a giant “Thank You” card with a blinged-out Jacob & Co. watch to his general manager Rick Sund, who made the biggest reach in a summer of reaches and will force poor Hawks fans to continue living with the smelly mess he grabbed.

Full details in the Suite 101 article.

King James Copies Big Z but Can't Duplicate Warm Fuzzy Feelings

Last Sunday, Zydrunas Ilgauskas placed a full-page ad in the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer thanking Cavaliers fans for 14 years of supporting him. Today, LeBron James placed a similar full-page ad in the Akron Beacon-Journal stating that Akron has always been his home and central focus.

Ohioans have been very understanding and supportive of Ilgauskas's decision to leave and pursue a championship, even in Miami.

LeBron? Hahahaha! Full details in the Suite 101 article.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas's ad in the Plain Dealer
(Credit: The Plain Dealer)

LeBron James's ad in the Akron Beacon-Journal
(Credit: Akron Beacon-Journal)

Not sure what happened to all the capital "F"s in LeBron's ad. They might have left to join all the "uck You"s in the comments section.

Also, is it just me, or do all the kids look like they just wanted to get a bike and go home, not be part of the damn show?

What Would Be Yao Ming's Legacy if He Retired from Basketball Right Now?

Yao Ming is considering retirement after
this upcoming season.

Professional athletes have been known for some brazen arrogance. This can be particularly true when returning from a major injury. Witness Tracy McGrady’s assertion that he has rehabilitated himself to the point of being a starter again as exhibit #1.

The obvious reasoning is that teams are not likely to sign a player who’s going to fall apart before the ink dries on his contract. Beyond that, though, professional athletes require a phenomenal amount of confidence to play at the highest level of their sport. It’s the rung between talent and discipline on the giant ladder that separates them from pedestrians like us. Any chip to that confidence is like denting the armor that a warrior wears into battle.

Then again, Yao Ming has never been a typical professional athlete. After missing all of last season due to foot surgery (his third in the NBA, fifth overall), Houston Rockets fans have been hyped to see what last year’s scrappy team could do with their 7-foot-6 seven-time All-Star center returning to the court. If any fans harbored championship aspirations, however, Yao quickly put those thoughts to rest.

Yao has been the (strained) face of
Chinese basketball for nearly a decade.

“Talk about recovering my form is nothing but nonsense and will only be realized if I can get through the next season smoothly,” he told China Daily two weeks ago. “Then you will see results after that season.”

That statement was not nearly as shocking as the one he released last week to Chinese state media. “If the foot injury does not heal next season, I might choose to call it quits.”

Yao Ming retire? Can it be possible? The face of Chinese basketball for the last eight years added a poignant remark for his 1.6 billion fans in China and the legions of Chinese diaspora around the world to consider, “I'm 30. As an athlete, I am not the future of China basketball anymore.”


Yao Ming Becomes an All-Star, Later Actually Deserves It

It could have been very ugly. Following unprecedented hype from being selected first overall in the 2002 NBA draft (quickly eclipsed by the 2003 hype around some other #1 pick named LeBron James), Yao Ming struggled early in his rookie season. This prompted the infamous promise by TNT analyst Charles Barkley that he would kiss colleague Kenny Smith’s ass if Yao ever scored more than 19 points in a game during his rookie season.

Of course, Barkley kissed that ass (ultimately a donkey Kenny rented to save himself the embarrassment) when Yao scored 20 on a perfect 9 for 9 from the field and 2 for 2 from the line on November 17, 2002 against the Shaq-less Lakers. What people generally don’t remember is that Yao followed that up four nights later with a whopping 30 points and 16 rebounds against Dallas, then averaged 17 and 10 in December to claim his first Western Conference Rookie of the Month award. That made it official: Yao Ming was not Mengke Bateer or Wang Zhizhi, his Chinese predecessors in the NBA. Yao Ming could play ball.

No one considers Yao anything but a legitimate
All-Star these days.

Yet the controversy continued. With hundreds of millions of fervent Chinese supporters, Yao Ming has been voted a starter in the NBA All-Star game every year that he’s played in the league. It was a ridiculous affront to Shaquille O’Neal during Yao’s first two seasons, back when Shaq could still keep a few fingers around his self-assigned “Most Dominant Ever” title.

As Shaq declined and Yao improved, however, the criticisms about Yao’s All-Star selections faded (Shaq moving to the Eastern Conference helped of course). Yao had his first 20/10 season, averaging 22.3 points and 10.2 rebounds, and picked up his second All-NBA third-team selection in 2005-06. Then, in 2006-07, Yao asserted himself as the most dominant center in the league, putting up a line of 25.0 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.0 blocks on 51.6% shooting from the field and 86.2% from the line.

Yao’s Achilles Heel … And Toe, And Foot, And Knee

Anyone who reads Yao Ming’s resume will notice two All-NBA second-team and three third-team selections, but no first-team honors. How could someone be the best center in 2006-07 but not make first-team All-NBA? It wasn’t due to his often-maligned defense, as the even more defensively criticized Amar’e Stoudemire was first-team that season. No, Yao missed his opportunity that season by missing 34 games due to injury, while Amar’e returned from microfracture knee surgery and played all 82.

Of all the criticisms on Yao’s legacy, injuries would be the most unfortunate. After playing an ironman 244 of 246 regular-season games in his first three seasons, Yao has only managed 237 of 410 in his most recent five. When a man stands 7-foot-6, weighs 310 lb, and plays basketball year-round for the NBA and the Chinese national team, his legs and feet will inevitably collapse and crumble.

One may wonder how Yao Ming’s career could have unfolded had his life paralleled that of his Houston Rockets predecessor Hakeem Olajuwon, joining the NBA at a time when professional basketball players couldn’t compete in international competition and hailing from a country that had no Olympic aspirations in basketball anyway. If Yao had spent every summer healing his injuries and improving his skills, rather than being forced to tax his body in more games for a cannibalistic national program, where would he be? What could he have accomplished? How would we view him?

Futile questions. He didn’t get to walk that path, so he had to forge a different type of legacy.

Thank God Yi Jianlian Wasn’t the First

As unfair as it is, NBA fans will naturally compare the first Chinese basketball player of any significance to the second Chinese basketball player of any significance. The problem is that the second Chinese basketball player of any significance happens to be not that good so far in his career. Blame Charles Barkley, who pulled an audible on Chinese athletes during Yi’s rookie-sophomore game and called him out as being a future star (while conspicuously not giving the same confidence to Kevin Durant). Barkley once again proved he’s infallibly entertaining and infallibly wrong. After three seasons, Yi Jianlian holds a 9.6 career scoring average, has been traded twice, and is, by one account, the softest power forward in the league.

By the way, the second time Yi was traded, it was for Quinton Ross. And New Jersey had to throw in an additional $3 million for Washington to take him. Ouch.

Why is Yao so much better than I am??

Three years into his career, Yi Jianlian is still best known for his holdout in the 2007 draft. This serves as a prime example of how, as Sean Deveney of the Sporting News put it, Yi is not Yao. After Yi was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks, Yi’s handlers, a brain trust including executives from the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and agent Dan Fegan, stalled and pressured Milwaukee to trade Yi to a bigger market. They were unsuccessful in extricating Yi, but they did succeed in creating several weeks of strained NBA-CBA relations and sportswriter fodder.

This is not to say that farce never could have happened with Yao, but Yao has demonstrated much more backbone in managing his own career. Before he was drafted, Yao’s CBA team, the Shanghai Sharks (which he now owns), also tried to pick Fegan as his agent, but Yao insisted on finding his own representation and did so. In 2003, when the CBA sold Yao’s image to Coca-Cola for an ad, Yao, then a Pepsi spokesman, fought the Chinese state-run regime and won. And despite China’s authoritarian sports association’s rambling criticisms of him, Yao remains one of China’s most popular figures and still has the cajones to shoot back his own critiques of their national basketball program.

Finally, Yao clearly wins when it comes to swagger on the court.

What is Yao Ming’s legacy?

Yao and Shaq will always be a chapter in each other's careers.

Yao Ming only turns 30 this year, and it would be a tragedy if he were retired by 31. Yet if the worst case scenario does happen and Yao hobbles his way through his last NBA season this year, how would we remember him?

• He was the first international player ever drafted first overall in the NBA draft.
• He was the key to David Stern’s aggressive NBA marketing campaign in China that created 300 million basketball fans.
• He made Charles Barkley kiss Kenny Smith’s ass.
• He is great friends with Shaquille O’Neal and was quite possibly the least-offended Asian in this country by Shaq’s purported racist comments toward him.
• He was the best offensive center in the NBA from 2005 to 2009. His career free throw percentageof 83.2% is unheard of at that center position.
• His defining game is Game 7 of the 2007 Western Conference First Round against the Utah Jazz. In this series-deciding game, Yao rumbled for 29 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter. On the other hand, he also had no clue how to stop Carlos Boozer, who eviscerated him for 35 points and 14 rebounds in a four-point Jazz victory.
• He rebounded far less than one would expect from someone 7’6”. In that crucial game against Utah, he only managed six, and he averages 9.3 over 32 min for his career.
• He has made tireless efforts for charity in China. Buying the crappy Shanghai Sharks franchise that used to employ him must be included as part of that.
• And around the time he became really, really good was the same time he could never seem to stay healthy.

The strangest picture of Yao Ming ever.

If Hall-of-Fame applications were built on class and character alone, Yao Ming would be a shoo-in. But does his career to this point merit a spot in Springfield? Certainly six to eight more years in the league with a championship ring or two would solidify that honor. Yet even with the fatalistic prediction that we may have seen all there is of Yao Ming, the resume he has put together on and off the court screams for his induction.

NBA Players I'm Rooting for in 2009-10

With links to better articles than this one.

1. 

   Carmelo Anthony, for bulling his way passed Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard, and Brandon Roy into the conversation with LeBron, Kobe, and Dwyane Wade.

2. Brandon Jennings, for telling the NBA, "Fuck your bullshit age limit. Look how dominant a pro I became without your NCAA slave labor system." Somewhere Jeremy Tyler is buying a #3 Milwaukee Bucks jersey.
3. Paul Pierce, for sending out the memo to everyone that the Celtics are still the team to beat.
4. Every Houston Rocket, for telling Yao and T-Mac, "You know what, just stay on the IL this year. We got this."
5. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, and Thabo Sefolosha, for informing the league that the Oklahoma City Thunder are here.
6. Ron Artest, because I just love Ron Artest.