DALLAS — Donnie Walsh’s most sacrilegious compadre predicts Walsh’s semester break at his Indianapolis home will not agree with him.
“The fresh air will kill him within a week,” Mel Daniels says.
Boredom might do him in first.
Walsh has no hobbyhorse to mount, though Murph and Jack (Bouviers) and Jessie (Pyrenees) are big enough (125 pounds) to ride. He plays no golf, collects no stamps, coins or paintings, isn’t into bird watching or weed whacking, and his surgically repaired body appears to rule out training for a mini-marathon.
“Mel swears I won’t be able to stay home and do nothing,” Walsh said several months ago. “But I’m convinced I can do nothing as well as anybody.”
Especially because Walsh’s three years as Knicks president earned him lifetime money ($15 million plus) for him and his family. Additionally, being James Dolan’s kept man as a consultant for the next year gives him the freedom to continue to enjoy life to the fullest — as opposed to grinding it out 24 hours a day in New York — while deciding whether to retire for real.
“I’m good,” Walsh emailed Friday after the abrupt announcement he was stepping aside. “I get to play with [wife] Judy and the dogs. What’s bad?”
Everything, if you subscribe to sensationalized reports that externally make sense because of the fear of the known. Since Dolan began firing and hiring Knicks executives, one crisis is almost always closely followed by aftershocks, and Isiah Thomas again is prowling in the forefront.
This provokes newspapers and talk shows to feed the frenzy by squandering space and hot air for his drivel.
Who cares that the False Prophet attended Saturday’s (brilliantly written and acted) production “Motherf…… With the Hat”?
Chris Rock, that’s who. He couldn’t help but feel he was suddenly in serious job jeopardy.
In any event, as soon as the losing Dolan-Thomas parlay began getting mentioned as a possibility, the natural reaction of utterly shocked reporters was to think the worst. They imagine a devious conspiracy has taken place. Or, at best, Walsh had no other option but to bolt.
None of those controversial explanations are true. I can write with complete certainty Walsh’s departure was not about lack of control, money or respect. His exit stage right is as pure as it gets; it’s strictly about wanting to do what’s best for him and the Knicks’ franchise.
There were no prohibitive issues except term of contract. Walsh was only willing to accept one more season for x-amount of money and was satisfied with his stage-managing power. In a show of good faith, Dolan offered him two seasons to continue rebuilding the Knicks into genuine championship contestants.
My lone misgiving about any of this is why it took so long to reach a conclusion. Surely Walsh was clear from the outset regarding the term of engagement he preferred. You would think that would have been one of the first things discussed. Maybe Dolan didn’t think he was serious about giving up such a plush position and millions. If so, he never got to know Walsh that well over the last three years.
At any rate, believe it or not, Walsh’s choice was not impulsive, grouchy or forced. But it was indeed selfish — for the good of his well being and the team.
At 70, Walsh simply couldn’t see knocking himself out beyond next season. Like Jerry Sloan, he no longer felt he had the “energy” to do his job justice. He’s not sick, but his earlier battle with cancer and other afflictions obviously played a part in his decision to seek quality time with loved ones.
Unlike Sloan, Walsh did not want to walk away in the midst of unfinished business. Better to step down now so the Knicks — hopefully listening to his recommendations — can appoint someone else to take them where they crave to go.
“I enjoyed getting the franchise back to respectability, but I do not have time to get it a contending level,” Walsh said in the email. “I have done this for 27 years straight. But I am not retiring. I could change [laugh]. I loved doing this in New York. It’s the best city in the NBA.”
Not if you live in Dallas or Miami, it isn’t. So now, we have a good, ol’ fashioned best-of-five NBA Finals, with the next trio in the American Airlines Center, not to be confused with the American Airlines Arena, the American Airlines Concourse or the American Airlines I-Hope-Like-Hell-The-Air-Traffic-Controller-Is-Awake Pavilion.
Though the venue changes, the storylines essentially do not. LeBron James, anointed the real MVP after the Eastern Bloc finals, hasn’t been nearly the aggressor — and certainly not the closer — he was against the Bulls.
In the first two games of this series, he has shot well enough (17-for-31), but was verifiably vacuous in the fourth quarter Thursday night and has gone to the line a grand total of six times — and that’s with home cooking. This from a guy who should be a gimme to go anywhere from 8-10 times each night. Compare that with the last two games of the last series, when he visited the welfare line two dozen times.
If you’re the Mavericks, keeping James popping (12 threes) versus infiltrating can’t hurt. Neither can continuing the radial rebound reversal — won Game 2, 41-30, after losing the opener, 46-36.
While on the subject, can I get an “Amen!” for Shawn Marion? Two-game totals of 36 points, 18 boards and seven assists make him the Finals’ most indispensable player who barely gets into a conversation.
On the other end of the equation, over the past two series, Peja Stojakovic is 5-of-24 from deep. He has officially become a sub-Serbiant.
peter.vecsey@nypost.com