Isiah threatens Simmons!
Just ran across this fascinating write-up by ESPN.com Page 2 columnist Bill Simmons, who apparently has been challenged to a fight by Knicks GM Isiah Thomas.
As faithful followers of the best sportswriter going know, the Sports Guy is constantly reminding his readers that Thomas is the worst GM in the NBA (read here for one example). Well, Thomas supposedly has been reading, and has had enough.
Apparently Isiah Thomas has threatened to kick my ass during a New York radio interview yesterday. I’m still trying to find out all the details, but I thought it was ironic that he made this threat on Martin Luther King Day — I’m sure MLK would have been proud.
Readers from the NYC area alerted Simmons about the comments Thomas made as a guest on Steven A. Smith’s show on ESPN Radio. I did not hear the words myself, but from what I gather from Simmons’ readers, Isiah said something to the effect of, “If I were to meet this Bill Simmons on the street, there would be a problem.”
The real problem for Isiah, though, is that Simmons is making valid arguments about his questionable tenure as Knicks GM. Thomas has done nothing right since being named to his post, except lure coach Larry Brown away from Detroit.
Right now, you have a roster that costs something like $120 million. You completely overhauled the Knicks roster in 14 months, and now, you’re trying to overhaul it again. There’s no rhyme or reason to anything you’re doing.
Thomas has a history of making friends. Legend has it that Michael Jordan said he would not play for the 1992 Dream Team if Thomas, a certain Hall of Famer at the time, was selected. (He wasn’t selected) He also said that Larry Bird would be just another player if he was black after a playoff defeat to Bird’s Celtics.
Still, if this fight does go down, I gotta go with Thomas, seeing that he grew up on the streets of Chicago, played under Bobby Knight at Indiana and was a member of the Pistons’ “Bad Boys.”
UPDATE: Simmons prodives a transcript of Thomas’ radio interview.
January 17th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
How do you have the highest payroll in the league and be one of the 6-7 worst teams? Terrible, terrible GM. Even hiring Brown was misdirected focus for Thomas. Nobody was going to coach that team to do anything anyway. Thomas wouldn’t pick a fight with Simmons anyway, he’d have Laimbeer or Mahorn drill him with an elbow.
Which series did Isiah follow with that quote again? Was it the one he pissed away by throwing a bad pass under his own hoop, only to have it stolen by a diving Bird? Isiah was an unbelievable player, but with the Knicks, he’s shown that he’s no Bird when it comes to managing/selecting talent. I’ll leave the CBA out of this, but that was a trainwreck too.
I wonder what Smith was thinking (or said), because I’m sure he agrees with Simmons.
January 17th, 2006 at 5:29 pm
Simmons does sound like a sissy though….but so does Isiah.