Knicks' D'Antoni: Thomas not a threat to Walsh's job
Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni talks about the end of the 2009-10 season and the future of next year's team. (Apr. 15, 2010) Credit: Richard Harbus
Just because Isiah Thomas has his foot in the door at Madison Square Garden doesn't mean that Donnie Walsh is now headed out of it.
So said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who repeatedly praised the job that Walsh has done since taking over for Thomas as Knicks president two years ago. D'Antoni said he did not believe that there was a "sense of unease" at the Garden or a feeling that Thomas was going to try to parlay his new consulting job into a bigger role.
"I don't think so," D'Antoni said yesterday after a Team USA practice in Manhattan. "It could happen. Anything could happen. That means we didn't do our jobs well and failed. We're not planning on doing that.
"We just think that [Thomas] can add something as a consultant and Donnie will use that when he has to use that. But Donnie is in complete control, and when he's comfortable about doing something, he will do it. Whatever Donnie wants, he is going to do it. And I'm very comfortable with that."
Thomas was removed as coach and team president in April 2008, after spending five years with the organization. On Friday, the Knicks announced they had hired him as a consultant.
Thomas plans to keep his job as coach of the Florida International University men's basketball team while consulting for the Knicks, unless, of course, the NBA says he can't. According to several sources, the NBA is looking at the arrangement.
D'Antoni, who was hired by Walsh to be Thomas' replacement as coach, was in Phoenix when the consulting deal was announced. He said he did not know about Thomas' hiring until it was announced by the team.
D'Antoni said he thinks Thomas has "a lot to offer." He added that he did not think Thomas' hiring was an indictment of the job Walsh has done with the Knicks over the past two years.
"Donnie is not going anywhere," D'Antoni said. "We've come a long way in two years and Donnie has done a lot to get us out of the hole. We're out and we're not going back into it."
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