Donnie Walsh is not out of the Knicks’ picture, but they have become his fallback choice.
It’s clear Walsh prefers to return to Indiana, and the Pacers CEO indicated that sentiment to The Post Saturday night when he reluctantly broke his weeklong silence.
However, what isn’t as clear is if Pacers owner Herb Simon will take him back, as he must make the hard decision of whether to keep Walsh or Larry Bird. Walsh may have used the Knicks as a bargaining chip with Indiana.
“Just look back to what I’ve always said about my feelings on the Pacers,” Walsh told The Post in an indication of his loyalty to the franchise despite his Bronx upbringing.
Sources state Walsh and Bird have no chance of returning as a tandem, a mutual wish. That is why any decision on Walsh’s future won’t occur until after the Pacers’ season, contradicting speculation something might happen this week. If Walsh signs a new deal this week, then Bird would have to be fired with the Pacers chasing the eighth seed. Meanwhile, Knicks owner James Dolan waits on the sidelines while the Pacers’ soap opera plays itself out.
Walsh indicated nothing will be decided until season’s end and said he’s had no discussions about a new contract with Simon. Surprisingly, Walsh even denied an Indianapolis Star report Friday that he met with Simon.
Walsh told The Post, “I’m not going to have any comment until after the season.”
When asked if the Knicks were a longshot, Walsh said, “I wouldn’t say that.”
Meanwhile, lame duck Isiah Thomas appears to be carrying out orders from above not to worry about victories in a quest to gain more ping-pong balls in the lottery.
They didn’t this weekend, blown out by lottery bottom-feeders Memphis and Minnesota to fall to 19-50 with Randolph Morris as starting center and Zach Randolph receiving two straight DNPs. The Knicks appear on a mission to try to fall into the second seed in the lottery to give them better odds of landing the draft’s two studs, freshman forward Michael Beasley and point guard Derrick Rose.
Thomas made a coy reference Saturday to Kansas State’s strong freshman class.
It’s unclear if Walsh is the Knicks’ top choice and Dolan may have been first approached by Walsh’s new agent, Steve Kauffman, to initiate contact. That has put the Knicks in an awkward position of not being able to comment.
Jerry Colangelo, Kiki Vandeweghe, Bryan Colangelo, Chris Mullin, Jerry West and Billy King may all be contacted.
The Knicks will definitely try to give a more earnest effort to win tonight when they host the Nets, who are battling for the eighth seed. Randolph will play after sitting out the last two games, but the Knicks will still be missing Eddy Curry (knee surgery), Nate Robinson (sprained knee), Quentin Richardson (wrist) and Stephon Marbury (ankle surgery). Morris’ two-game audition was a disaster (2 of 15).
The gloom in the locker room is growing and players, to a man, can’t wait for the season to end April 17. David Lee looked glass-eyed as he discussed the nightmare.
“Hopefully we won’t have to go through this again next year and we’ll make corrections,” Lee said. “If I knew what it is, I would’ve spoke up 30 games ago.”
With 13 games left, Team Titanic II likely will become the first Knicks team to lose 60 games.