Knicks fans, Isiah Thomas is your new Team President.

[The_herd]

I think everyone figured Layden was out sometime soon, but Isiah as his replacement?????

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

Source: Knicks fire Layden, hire Isiah Thomas
Posted: Monday December 22, 2003 1:33PM; Updated: Monday December 22, 2003 1:52PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- Scott Layden was fired Monday as president of the New York Knicks and Isiah Thomas was hired to replace him, a source told The Associated Press.

The move comes after New York missed the playoffs the past two seasons with a roster largely assembled by Layden. The Knicks are 10-18 this season, and recent speculation centered on coach Don Chaney possibly losing his job.

Instead, the odd man out is Layden, who replaced Ernie Grunfeld in the summer of 1999 after the Knicks were coming off an appearance in the NBA Finals.

The team scheduled an afternoon news conference but would not specify what was being announced. An Eastern Conference official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed Layden was out and Thomas in.

James Dolan, chairman of the team's corporate owner, Cablevision, notified Layden of the move late Monday morning, the AP's source said. Layden and Thomas did not answer calls to their cell phones.

Thomas has been out of the NBA since being fired over the summer by the Indiana Pacers, where he was the coach for three seasons.

"I want to stay in coaching," Thomas told the AP last month. "I enjoy it. I had a great deal of success helping shape and mold young people, making the playoffs with the youngest team to do it in 25 years. I got bit by the bug.

"I'll wait for my next opportunity," he said. "I wouldn't rule out college but I prefer the pro game."

Thomas will get his first look at his new team Tuesday night when the Minnesota Timberwolves visit Madison Square Garden.

Thomas' first task will be evaluating a roster with the league's highest payroll and deciding whether any of those massive contracts can be moved in a trade.

Layden's last major move was the four-team deal that sent Latrell Sprewell to Minnesota and brought Keith Van Horn to New York. The deal has appeared to favor the Timberwolves during the first two months of the season. Sprewell has averaged 17.2 points for Minnesota while Van Horn has struggled, averaging 14.8 points and getting benched for the fourth quarter of several recent games.

Before the Van Horn trade, Layden's biggest move came on draft night in 2002 when he sent Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and the Knicks' lottery pick to Denver for Antonio McDyess.

McDyess fractured his kneecap in an exhibition game and missed the entire 2002-03 season, finally returning 11 games ago.

With the Knicks losing regularly while failing to draw the sellout crowds that were a staple during the 1990s, Layden became a lightning rod for criticism. The anti-Layden feeling was so strong in New York that when LeBron James was selected with the No. 1 pick in the draft last June, commissioner David Stern's announcement of the selection was drowned out by a loud chant of "Fire Layden."

Layden, a native New Yorker and the son of former Jazz coach Frank Layden, spent 18 seasons with Utah before being brought to New York by former Utah executive Dave Checketts.

At the behest of Checketts, Layden traded franchise stalwart Patrick Ewing to Seattle in the summer of 2000, a move that ultimately contributed to the club's current salary cap predicament.

The contracts of Allan Houston, Van Horn, Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson will take up almost all of the team's salary cap space for the next three seasons, and the Knicks must decide after this season whether to invest in McDyess, who will be a free agent next summer.

McDyess is one of six power forwards on the roster that Layden assembled, and the team lacks depth at the shooting guard and small forward positions. The Knicks have shown themselves to be especially vulnerable against younger, quicker teams.

New York went 0-5 on a recent West Coast road trip, then returned home and lost 104-86 loss to Golden State last Tuesday.

Several newspapers reported Saturday that Chaney was in danger of being fired, and he could still be in jeopardy despite a victory Saturday night against Atlanta.

Chaney's assistants include Brendan Malone, who served as Thomas' assistant in Indiana the past. Malone also was Toronto's first coach before getting fired by Thomas when he was running the Raptors in 1996.

Chaney gave an impassioned defense of his work ethic and preparation skills in a pregame meeting with reporters Saturday, making two somewhat disparaging references to the makeup of the roster.

Layden, 44, built his reputation in Utah through his ability to pluck obscure but productive players with low draft picks. But he did not enjoy similar success drafting for the Knicks.

Layden's three picks from last June's draft -- Michael Sweetney, Maciej Lampe and Slavko Vranes -- are all on the injured list. His most promising pick from the 2002 draft, Serbian point guard Milos Vujanic, elected to play in Europe after Layden failed to make him a lucrative enough offer when he was unsigned two summers ago.

[Drake]

Hahaha.

[Drake]

dola...

I believe Bill Simmons would call this a Gut Punch.

Courtesy of the Pacers.

[vex]

Yes, his resume with the CBA and the Pacers must have been impressive.

[Fouts]

Chaney's assistants include Brendan Malone, who served as Thomas' assistant in Indiana the past. Malone also was Toronto's first coach before getting fired by Thomas when he was running the Raptors in 1996.

I wonder what Brendan Malone is thinking right now.

[lynchjm24]

Wasn't that MadDog rant on WFAN at 4:40 great. The Knicks wouldn't allow anyone on the show today and he tore them up.

What comedy.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

STOP LAUGHING!!! . The Knicks are dead anyway, maybe Zeke can do somnething here. Layden made moves that were bad and got worse over time. Zeke can't do worse...

[Ramzavail]

I did hear it lynch - hilarious

[astralhaze]

Can't possibly be worse than Layden. At times it seemed that Layden was trying to intentionaly run the team in to the ground.

[WussGawd]

Hahaha. The Knicks just hired the only guy who could possibly be worse than Layden. With Zeke's track record, MSG could be in receivership by about 2010.

[Suicane75]

I only saw a few minutes of the press conference on YES and I don't know who the guy talking was, but damn, he was bumbling and stumbling and muttering and generaly being rather incoherent, I think it was one of the owners but i'm not sure.

"The contracts of Allan Houston, Van Horn, Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson will take up almost all of the team's salary cap space for the next three seasons"

That is funny, but also a sad commentary on the NBA's salary structure.

[Neuqua]

Originally posted by Suicane75

"The contracts of Allan Houston, Van Horn, Howard Eisley and Shandon Anderson will take up almost all of the team's salary cap space for the next three seasons"

That is funny, but also a sad commentary on the NBA's salary structure.

What's sadder is not one of them is even a superstar player. Wait, I'm a Bulls fan, this is great!

[Suicane75]

Originally posted by Neuqua
Wait, I'm a Bulls fan

My condolonces

[oykib]

Originally posted by Neuqua
What's sadder is not one of them is even a superstar player. Wait, I'm a Bulls fan, this is great!

Actually, what's sad is that only Houston is a legitimate starter.

Van Horn, Eisley, and Anderson are just role players.

[Suicane75]

Van Horn is a solid NBA player, not as good as some thought he might be, but he's a starter.

[Neuqua]

At what position?

As someone who has watched Kieth for years I look at him as a good player off the bench but a below average starter.

[oykib]

Originally posted by Suicane75
Van Horn is a solid NBA player, not as good as some thought he might be, but he's a starter.

At what position?

He's a role player. He doesn't play post defense. He can't score inside. He is not quick enough to play with 3's and not tough enough to play with 4's. His jumper is good. But is that what you want from your power forward?

I can amend the statement to, "Only Houston is a starter on a .500 team." if it makes you happy.

[Suicane75]

Don't get testy, it's Christmas.

[rkmsuf]

It would be hard for anyone to draft worse than the Knicks have recently.

Sweetney was a real find...

[lcjjdnh]

Funny quote from Bill Simmons to sum this move up:

"I never thought HBO replacing "Arli$$" with "Mind of the Married Man" would be topped ... and then the Knicks replaced Scott Layden with Isiah Thomas."

[DeToxRox]

Zeke, loved him as a Piston, but come on.

How will he do more damage?

As a coach or as a president?

[lynchjm24]

Originally posted by DeToxRoxDVHStyle
Zeke, loved him as a Piston, but come on.

How will he do more damage?

As a coach or as a president?

As president he can set the franchise back another decade. As a coach - he can merely ruin whatever games he's coaching.