Isiah Thomas and the Knicks? Again? Yup.
Let’s get right to the latest news on the news story that rears its head seemingly each and every season:
- Yesterday, reports came out that Isiah Thomas was spotted meeting with James Dolan. Today, Frank Isola of the Daily News has this report: “The one person standing in the way of Isiah Thomas officially returning to the Knicks is Isiah Thomas. According to a source close to the former Knicks president, Thomas and Garden chairman James Dolan have had numerous discussions about a position in the organization, but Thomas has been reluctant to accept the job offer. … It is clear that Thomas is serving as an unofficial adviser, considering that his two former college teammates and longtime friends, Mike Woodson and Glen Grunwald, are the Knicks’ head coach and general manager, respectively. There is a theory that Thomas isn’t ready to accept an official position because he is concerned about the potential media backlash. Plus, there is some bad blood between Thomas and other top MSG executives in the aftermath of the highly publicized MSG sexual harassment trial in 2007.”
- In other Knicks news, Marcus Camby is happy to be back in New York, writes Anthony Sulla-Heffinger of the New York Post: “When it boiled down to picking New York or Miami, Camby just had to look back to the playoff wars the teams had over a decade ago. ‘It would have been hard for me to put on that Miami Heat uniform, especially with all of those battles that we had back in the day,’ Camby said. ‘I’m happy things worked out here in New York.’ After coming so close in 1999, when the Knicks lost 4-1 to the Spurs in the Finals, Camby has high hopes for this version of the team. ‘I feel we have a team assembled that can make a long playoff push,’ Camby said. ‘We all know it’s going to be tough. Miami is the defending champions, and there are still a lot of good teams in the East. [But] we consider ourselves one of the top teams in the East, if not the NBA.’ ”
- Despite the Heat winning the NBA title last year, Dwyane Wade is still working on his shot, and recovering from knee surgery, writes Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “In the wake of a season where he felt his jumper got away from him, Wade said upon further review it was not as much about how he was shooting the ball as how he was going through that motion. Now, with training camp three weeks away, he believes he has a grasp on the situation. ‘I have one of the best mid-range shots in the league,’ he said. ‘But, obviously, when you have different injuries, it makes you change a little bit. So it’s just about getting back to that comfort of it and finding out where you are now. My midrange game is very important to me. The biggest thing is coming out of my pull-up without losing the ball and just making sure it comes through my hand the right way. When it comes to my shot exactly, I don’t have a bad shot. There’s other reasons why I come up short a lot. So it’s just trying to work the kinks out.’ “
- Ryan Mahan of the State Journal-Register in Springfield, IL has a piece on Springfield native Andre Iguodala, in which Iguodala is asked about playing for the US in 2016: “Iguodala said going back to the Olympics in 2016 would pique his interest. ‘That would definitely be something I’d consider,’ Iguodala said. ‘I’d think heavily about. It was a great experience. I want to play for the team again and defend the gold medal.’ ”
- One of the stranger rumors that popped up over the last week was that Shaquille O’Neal would play in Mexico next month. But, as he says in an interview with Rachel Whittaker of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, that’s not happening: “No truth to that. It’s kind of unfortunate that so-called experts have to get their sources from the Internet. It’s backwards. Especially like when people from ESPN know me and they can call me and ask me, but somebody else said it so they want to be the first to report it even though it’s not true. However, we could talk, but nobody has contacted me.”
- While lots of the attention in LA was on the Lakers’ acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, the Clippers also received an A+ grade in the SH offseason report cards, and a big part of that was their acquisition of Grant Hill. Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe has a piece up on Hill, which asks if this is the year the 40-year-old finally gets a ring: “Hill has yet another chance — perhaps his best chance — to win a championship, serving as a mentor and productive bench player. ‘As you go through this whole experience, it’s all about reflecting on your career, and you think back at those dark times and whether you’d play again,’ he said. ‘I may not have come back the player I was before because of the injuries but I made it back. I’m still going. To be turning 40 and having teams that are contenders trying to get me to play for them, it is humbling. It’s a great feeling and I’m glad that I am blessed and fortunate to continue to do it.’ ”
- Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic has an excellent and highly recommended in-depth look at the Suns’ rebuilding process. Perhaps the most interesting part is this piece on the Suns’ effective recruiting efforts: ” ‘This feeling kept somehow being repeated to me of, “Why would anyone want to play here?” ‘ Babby said. ‘I couldn’t get that because it’s always been a destination place.’ Dragic agreed to less than he had been asking because he wanted to return, a sentiment that was evident when he visited with Suns players and staffers before and after each game against Houston last season. There was some internal push for Raymond Felton, but Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver favored Dragic, just as he pushed for Luis Scola, via an amnesty waiver that came the day after New Orleans matched Gordon’s offer sheet.”