Isiah Thomas said in mid-December that he would give himself two weeks to evaluate the job he was doing as head coach and decide whether anything should be done about it.
Well, those two weeks are up today and the Knicks are 1-4 since Thomas’ Dec. 18 statement. So naturally, it should come as no surprise that he isn’t going anywhere.
“We’ll keep moving in this direction,” Thomas said.
When asked what direction that would be, he responded, “Me as coach.”
Happy New Year, Knicks fans.
This came after practice yesterday, less than 24 hours after the Knicks dropped their fourth straight game and 10th in their last 12.
Following Sunday’s ugly defeat to Chicago at the Garden, where fans were too tired or fed up to continue their “Fire Isiah” chants until the waning moments, Eddy Curry questioned Thomas’ future. The center had been taken out of the starting lineup against Chicago on Sunday.
Curry said, “You can’t help but think about” Thomas’ job security. Despite the turmoil, Thomas insisted his authority isn’t being undermined.
“No,” Thomas responded with his patented chuckle when asked if he felt he was losing the locker room.
Yesterday, Thomas said his players’ thoughts should be focused elsewhere than on him.
“The only thing that concerns me is, can we stop the other guy and can we put the ball in the hole?” Thomas said. “And it should really be the only thing on their mind: Put the ball in the hole and stop your man from scoring and get a couple rebounds.”
Thomas’ players defended him yesterday.
“I understand and I’m sure every other player understands that when you’re 8-21, you have to make changes,” Jamal Crawford said of Thomas’ constant lineup alterations. “You have to search for something. Coach just wants to win. It’s nothing personal. He likes all of us, he brought all of us here.”
To very little success, as no amount of mixing and matching has resulted in anything but failure.
Nevertheless, his latest addition also stood up for him.
“I wouldn’t say he’s losing the team,” Zach Randolph said. “He’s doing the best he can.”
Which might be the most distressing thought of all.
Still, both players insist a turnaround can be made.
“We can’t give in,” Randolph said. “It’s too early. The season’s still early.”
“He’s done everything,” Crawford said. “It’s not on him. It’s on the people that are out there. And I honestly believe we have a good team in this group, we just have to find it … We’ve had good moments. But the bad outweighs the good right now.”
Which is how Curry wound up not starting.
“I’ve shown if anything, as a coach, I’m going to try to play the best people,” Thomas said. “To his credit, he did come in and have a good game [on Sunday]. Twelve [points] and eight [rebounds], it shows me that while he may not like the bench, it definitely had an [impact] on his rebounding effort and if he continues to rebound, the minutes are there.”
That hasn’t been the case for most of the season.
“From that position, we need rebounding and some shot blocking,” Thomas said. “You just can’t have 16 points and two rebounds. That doesn’t work.”
Not much has.