Dolan, Walsh to talk contract for Knicks
New York Knicks newest basketball players Carmelo Anthony, second from left, and Chauncey Billups, second from right, pose for photographs with team owner James Dolan, center, head coach Mike D'Antoni, right, and team president Donnie Walsh during a news conference before an NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks. (Feb. 23, 2011) Credit: AP
James Dolan attempted to answer one of the biggest questions of the season: Donnie Walsh's future with the Knicks.
The Knicks owner said Wednesday night he and Walsh "have agreed to get through the trade deadline and we will sit down and discuss his contract, which expires in June. We will comment on that at the appropriate time."
Walsh has a team option for the 2011-12 season that must be picked up by April 30.
But will Walsh, who turns 70 on Tuesday, want to come back? There have been reports that he was not involved in the final stages of the Carmelo Anthony trade and that he was against giving up as much as the team sent to Denver for Anthony. Walsh, who did not speak at the news conference introducing Anthony, on Tuesday dismissed those reports and insisted he and Dolan "met and talked about this deal ad infinitum."
Dolan, who has not done an interview in four years, praised Walsh, saying he "has done a great job on this trade, he has done a great job since he's been here, especially putting us in the position to even think about adding players of this caliber."
Since Walsh arrived in April 2008, he made moves to get the team under the salary cap in time to target the top free agents last summer, including LeBron James, and, of course, Amar'e Stoudemire. The pieces remained in place to be able to pull off a trade for Anthony and the team is still set up in 2012 to make a run at All-Star point guard Chris Paul.
Isiah Thomas' involvement in the Anthony deal has also been a major issue. Dolan acknowledged Thomas as a friend, but denied he had any involvement in the trade.
"Isiah Thomas is a friend of mine," Dolan said. "A very good friend of mine. He was not at all involved in this process.
"He wasn't advising me or telling me what to do in any way. And any reports that imply he was doing that are simply untrue and fiction in somebody's mind."
The Dolan family owns
controlling interests in the
Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.
