Former Knicks president Isiah Thomas, fresh off teaching a class at Harvard University on Thursday, said he has “moved on’’ from a strong desire to rejoin the Knicks.
While not ruling out returning to the NBA as a general manager, Thomas said the Knicks job wouldn’t be one he covets under the current structure.
Thomas responded Friday to The Post’s exclusive interview with Knicks owner James Dolan, who said Thomas never will return to the Knicks because he wouldn’t “ever get a fair shake’’ with the fans.
Thomas said he’s not sure he would want to work for the Garden as it is constituted, but wasn’t specific.
“I want to be clear about it today,’’ Thomas told The Post. “I have really moved on, and I moved on years ago. Everyone else should really do the same.
“I’ve been extremely busy. I don’t want people thinking I’m sitting around waiting for a phone call. It’s clearly not the case. I read what Jim said in terms of us. I don’t want either one of us to be a distraction to one another in terms of us pursuing the road we’re both traveling down.’’
“This isn’t a one-way street here. If the question is, would I ever go back to the Knicks? I don’t know [I’d want to]. Let’s clear up the assumption that everyone’s making that I want to be there. I did have a choice [3¹/₂ years] ago to stay at [Florida International] or come back to the Knicks [as a consultant]. I went back to college [to coach].’’
Thomas, who got his Master’s at California-Berkeley in education over the summer, still works for NBA TV, but has launched several business ventures in the last year. He still co-owns Popcorn Indiana and increased his charity work in his hometown Chicago. Thomas has spoken to the NBA Players Association about the executive director opening. He said discussions are “confidential,’’ but sources don’t believe he’s aggressively pursuing it anymore.
During Dolan’s interview with Mike Vaccaro, the Knicks owner praised Thomas’ talent-evaluating skills, but said he believes the pressure of returning to the Knicks would be too great for Thomas because of his image problem in the city after losing MSG’s sexual harassment trial, losing too many games between 2003 and 2008 and ultimately losing in the court of public opinion.
“Do I think he deserves another shot?,’’ Dolan said. “Yeah. It just can’t be here.’’
According to a confidant of Thomas, he would not even want to return under the strict media-policy rules that forbid the general manager from talking to the media regularly.
“The only way he would want to go back to the Knicks is if it didn’t have a media policy,’’ the confidant said. “He would need the full authority to speak freely and free reign to operate as a general manager. He worked under the old conditions and look what happened to him?’’
Thomas hasn’t dismissed the notion of working in a front-office with another NBA team.
“If that opportunity presents itself, I’ll definitely listen and take a look at it,’’ Thomas said. “You never say never. But my focus has been on business and helping my community.’’
When asked if he could guarantee he would never work for the Knicks, Thomas said: “Billy Martin wasn’t supposed to come back [to the Yankees] so you leave the door open. I’m not trying to burn a bridge today.’’
Thomas continued to defend the level of talent he brought into New York. The five-year anniversary of the gutting of Thomas’ roster was Thursday. The strategy was to get under the salary cap and start over to sign max free agents. Five years later, the Knicks’ best showing was one second-round appearance and this season, the club is stuck at 3-8.
“The young team we had assembled and the way we were positioned cap-wise, I thought we had a shot to really turn things around,’’ Thomas said. “I left New York with two NBA All-Stars. Zach Randolph is an All-Star and David Lee is an All-Star. Zach and David were [the] second and third leading rebounders in the NBA last year and Jamal Crawford was a Sixth Man of the Year. They were all under the age of 29. Now you’d be hard pressed to find an NBA team even today with two NBA All-Stars under 29 and the sixth man of the year.
“That’s what I left New York with. That’s how we were building.
“Some people said it wasn’t good enough. But the talent was proven and Wilson Chandler was a talent, Trevor Ariza was a talent, Nate Robinson was a talent. If all those guys has an opportunity to stay together and a chance to grow up, I do think New York would be sitting in pretty good shape right now.’’
Thomas said the Knicks could have had enough pieces to wheel a sign-and-trade in 2010 without going under the cap. Thomas also said the team could have gone under the cap if Eddy Curry had opted out, but that was unlikely.
Thomas said his ultimate downfall was losing his sexual harassment trial versus Anucha Browne-Sanders and having to coach the team the next day.
“The environment and atmosphere was so polluted,” Thomas said. “I don’t think anyone could’ve had any success. I don’t think I was in the right frame of mind.’’