The one thing the Carmelo Anthony-to-the-New York Knicks madness was missing was a heaping portion of Isiah Thomas. We got a little Isiah, but not nearly enough. Adrian Wojnarowski took the liberty of fixing that for us:
Thomas is driving everything through owner James Dolan – the trade for Carmelo Anthony(notes), the departure of Donnie Walsh and perhaps even the eventual hiring of the New York Knicks’ next president and general manager, multiple league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
"Isiah is calling the shots for New York," said one front-office executive with knowledge of the Anthony trade talks. "It’s a disgrace. Donnie should walk."
The Isiah conspiracy, though incredibly unpleasant and pretty played out at this point, is hard to ignore. James Dolan did try and rehire Isiah this offseason, and Isiah himself has done little to deflect the notion that he still has ties to the Knicks. In any event, New York is in damage control mode, and they released a statement shooting down Woj’s report (via Howard Beck):
“We want to make it abundantly clear that we have been in constant communication throughout this process and the three of us are in complete agreement with everything that we are currently working on. Together, we will do what is best for the long-term success of the franchise. we want to make it clear that no one from outside our organization has been involved in this process in any way.”
In all likelihood, Thomas has some involvement in these negotiations (as he did in the LeBron James courtship this past summer), but isn’t quietly slipping poison into Walsh’s prune juice. It’s probably just the same seedy underbelly that the Knicks have maintained since Dolan has been owner. The whole thing is very, very unsavory for the Knicks and their fans, but it should blow over once the Anthony deal is done (or not done). Or maybe Wojnarowski is right and the Knick chain of command is about to come crashing down. Above all else, we just want this to end.