Knicks likely will be Walsh's problem soon enough

Isiah Thomas could be supplanted by Donnie Walsh as the head of basketball operations and still survive as a Knicks employee. AP

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NEW YORK -- I can't watch anymore. My eyes hurt. That's not basketball. It can't be basketball.

That can't be the Knicks. That can't be the same team that was once considered one of the NBA's flagship franchises. That can't be the same team for which guys like Dave DeBusschere, Clyde Frazier and Patrick Ewing once played.

That can't be Miami, either. A Pat Riley-coached team can't be that bad. I walked onto the court an hour before the start of the game and six Miami players were warming up. I didn't recognize any of them. It wasn't until Chris Quinn took the floor a few minutes later that I had proof that this was the real Miami Heat, not a group of rec leaguers who borrowed Heat jerseys and managed to get on the court.

(And it took Chris Quinn to prove it.)

It's sad, really, to see two of the NBA's marquee franchises in such dire straights. Miami has been decimated by injury this season, from Dwyane Wade's cranky knee and shoulder to Shaquille O'Neal's aging body. Now, it's Miami's fault for drafting with Ed Tapscott-like effectiveness (Wayne Simien, Dorell Wright and Daequan Cook were three of their recent first-round picks), but it's not Riley's fault Wade's body couldn't hold up or that O'Neal aged about as gracefully as Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream.

The Knicks? That mess is entirely Isiah Thomas' fault. Thomas drafted, signed and coached every player on New York's moribund roster. He handed out the mid-level exception like it was a taxi voucher, giving Jared Jeffries (2.8 points per game this season) and Jerome James (five games played this season) fat $30 million contracts.

He's coaching them to lose, too. The worst-kept secret in the NBA is that the Knicks are tanking games in an effort to improve their draft position. You hear that, David Stern? Knicks owner James Dolan would like nothing better than to start the Donnie Walsh era, which reportedly will begin as soon as the regular season comes to a merciful close, with the No. 1 pick in the draft. Would Derrick Rose look good in a Knicks uniform? Would Michael Beasley?

(Memo to Beasley and Rose: Stay in school.)

Thomas certainly thinks so. Whether Thomas has a backdoor deal worked out with Dolan that would guarantee he is either a) retained as head coach or b) paid the balance of his contract is unclear. Speculation ran rampant through the Garden on Wednesday night, with rumors ranging from Thomas being reassigned to a scouting position to his being fired altogether. Regardless, Thomas clearly has decided to mail in the season.

His decision to bench leading rebounder and second-leading scorer Zach Randolph against Western Conference bottom-feeders Memphis and Minnesota last weekend was, to borrow a line from Gregg Popovich, beyond comprehension. Against Memphis, Randolph was on the active list but dressed in street clothes, meaning if a fight broke out (not out of the question with the Knicks) and seven New York players were ejected, Randolph would have to go back in the locker room and change into a uniform.

"Everyone knows what they are trying to do," an Eastern Conference executive said. "It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing for them and it's embarrassing for the league."

Thomas' defense? "You always try to win games," he said. "But when you play young players, they are going to make mistakes."

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