Maybe this is a good sign.
Isiah Thomas, FIU coach and former Knicks president, finally spoke out on the club’s acquisition of center Tyson Chandler and did not sound enthused.
Conveniently appearing on the “Sid Rosenberg Show” on Miami radio yesterday following the Knicks’ 2-4 start, Thomas questioned Glen Grunwald’s acquisition of Chandler, which forced the team to cut Chauncey Billups to get under the salary cap.
Thomas said the NBA has become a guard’s league, and the Knicks cannot win solely with a star-powered frontcourt of Chandler, Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. The Chandler commitment cost them a shot at point guard Chris Paul with next summer’s salary cap space, and Paul was subsequently dealt to the Clippers.
“The guard play right now in the NBA is off the charts,’’ Thomas said. “Losing Chauncey, I thought he brought a veteran leadership to the team. His savviness and guard play has always been severely undervalued. Detroit found that out when they let Chauncey go. I think there was a certain amount of leadership to what he brought to [the Knicks] last year.’’
Grunwald has an interim general manager tag, but Thomas is no longer considered to be in the running if Knicks owner James Dolan makes a move for a permanent GM this summer. Thomas defended Mike D’Antoni, saying it is tough to win with the guards the coach has.
“If you don’t have great guards, it’s hard to put together a game plan,’’ Thomas said. “You’re only as good a coach as your guards.’’
Thomas still is friends with Dolan, and was named a team consultant 17 months ago before declining the offer because David Stern felt it was a conflict of interest with his role at FIU. Dolan would not hire him as president, partly because he was disillusioned Thomas had openly campaigned for the job. However, Thomas is believed to be always offering up his services to Dolan informally.
During Chandler’s introductory press conference, Dolan conspicuously never mentioned Thomas’ name as in the past. Despite being hired by Thomas, Grunwald has not engaged Thomas much for basketball advice since taking over for Donnie Walsh.