Walsh's hiring offers clues to Knicks' future

New Knicks team president Donnie Walsh will have an autonomy from owner James Dolan few team employees have had of late. AP

MAILBAG Submit a comment or question for Chris. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

He was amiable and courteous, forthright and thoughtful. In other words, on his first day on the job as New York Knicks president, Donnie Walsh was everything Isiah Thomas was not.

That's not to say Walsh's answers in a Wednesday afternoon news conference announcing his hiring were crystal clear. Over the course of two hours at Madison Square Garden, an event that brought many members of the Knicks traveling media off the current road trip and back to New York, Walsh straddled the proverbial fence like an Adonis when he was asked (repeatedly and in different ways) about Thomas' future. He stated (and I'm paraphrasing) that he plans to sit down with Thomas over the next few days and discuss Thomas' future with the organization. Walsh was non-committal about Thomas continuing as Knicks coach or his potential role in the Knicks organization, though he did say that Knicks owner James Dolan (who introduced Walsh before making a conspicuous exit) has "more or less" left Thomas' future up to him.

"Isiah has a great basketball mind," said Walsh. "I want to talk to him about everything. I want to ask him questions like how he feels about this and how we do this."

What else stood out about Walsh's first day? Four things, in particular:

1. I don't believe for a second Isiah Thomas will be coaching the Knicks beyond this season.

First, the obvious: Thomas is not an effective coach. Earlier this week he crossed the 100-loss threshold as Knicks coach, doing it in the second fastest time in team history. He has lost the locker room (how many more unnamed players quoted in the press do you need to tell you that), lost the faith of ownership (if Dolan didn't owe Thomas $18 million we wouldn't be having this conversation) and, in general, lost control of his team.

And let's not forget, Walsh is no stranger to firing Thomas. It was widely reported in 2003 that Larry Bird was the driving force behind Thomas being fired as head coach of the Pacers. But as Walsh said on Wednesday "ownership wouldn't have done it if I hadn't approved it."

Walsh added he initially resisted the firing of Thomas ("[H]e coached the team to 48 wins the year before," said Walsh. "I thought he was on his way to becoming a good coach."), though he relented when it became clear that Bird preferred working with Rick Carlisle instead of Thomas.

While Walsh may be fond of Thomas personally (and I got the impression he was), he has to recognize that bringing back Thomas, who has single-handedly turned the Knicks into what they are today, is impossible.

1 of 2