The Miami Heat is of course king of basketball around here, and across town down in the deep shadows and echo of a near-empty gymnasium is the Florida International University men’s team, the two oddly intertwined by the backroom maneuvering of one Isiah Thomas.
What a strange tale – how Thomas, while ostensibly devoted to the FIU team he coaches, has been the behind-the-curtain puppeteer making New York Knicks owner James Dolan dance. The Knickerbockers deny it, but the city’s media is convinced with good reason that Thomas served as Dolan’s confidante and de facto general manager in pushing this week’s trade for Carmelo Anthony to happen.
It is further presumed that Thomas will drop FIU like an unpinned grenade the New York minute Dolan decides to dump current team president Donnie Walsh in favor of bringing back Thomas. That would be despite the fact that ol’ Isiah departed in disgrace in 2008, leaving the Knicks’ piece of the Big Apple rotting and wormy.
So here we have one man, Thomas, who has helped impede the Heat’s would-be dynasty on a rival’s behalf, while also short-changing FIU in his obvious plotting to return to the NBA. Thomas similarly endeared himself to South Florida fans last summer by openly saying he hoped LeBron James would sign with the Knicks.
There is a good chance that, despite a winning smile, Isiah’s legacy in South Florida will be Nick Saban-esque, a basketball figure booed equally by Miami fans of both the pro and college games.
The ludicrousness was captured perfectly this week with the right touch of deadpan sarcasm by Walsh, when asked if he thought Thomas was angling for his job.
“I’m assuming Isiah’s getting ready for the NCAA Tournament,” said a straight-faced Walsh. “That’s what I’m assuming.”
The needle was laugh-out-loud funny to anyone following college hoops, of course, the idea that Thomas’ FIU Golden Panthers – with a 9-17 record (and 4-10 in the weak Sun Belt Conference) – might end up within a million miles of March Madness.
What Walsh didn’t say directly, but implied quite well, was that maybe Thomas should spend less time obsessed with getting back to New York and more time being a focused, full-time college coach.
You would think the same thought might have occurred by now to FIU athletic director Pete Garcia, whose hiring of the big-name Thomas succeeded in getting the program a temporary bump of attention, but has otherwise failed abjectly.
I tried to reach Garcia and Thomas through the school Wednesday. Thomas said via a spokesman he would have no comment on anything to do with the Knicks. Garcia, traveling, did not avail himself by phone or choose to forward a comment on any concern over Thomas’ split loyalties.
A change needs to be made.
Thomas has a two-year FIU record of 16-42, including 8-24 in a bad league, and his unwavering eye on the Knicks has meant FIU’s head coach is a moonlighting temp less committed to the program than he would expect a recruit or player to be.
The school should cut its losses, free Thomas to make his lust for New York less private and hire a men’s basketball coach who – at the least – considers it a full-time job and can keep a straight face in saying FIU is where he wants to be.
A mystery in all this is why Dolan, chairman of the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, would entertain bringing back Thomas, who in a 2003-2008 term as coach or president left the Garden full of tall weeds, overseeing the big franchise’s steep decline and leaving the club saddled with a $12 million judgment in a sexual harassment verdict against him.
Inexplicably, Dolan remains enamored of Thomas. Heck, remember he hired him as an official Knicks “consultant” last fall before the deal collapsed under the weight of obvious conflict of interest – a college basketball coach being paid by an NBA team.
So Thomas has since been an unofficial consultant, the role that helped broker the Anthony trade. The Knicks gave up too much, gave up most of their surrounding talent to pair Anthony with Amare Stoudemire, but final judgment on the trade must wait.
It will only seem smart if, next summer, the Stoudemire-Anthony alliance can convince free agent-to-be Chris Paul to take less money to also join the Knicks and make it the latest Big 3 to present a roadblock to the Heat. At Anthony’s wedding this past summer, Paul offered a toast suggesting just that.
Now, “If they get Chris, it’ll be all the way true,” noted the Heat’s James before Tuesday night’s home game against the Kings.
Meantime the Heat host the ‘Melo-fied Knicks Sunday night on ESPN to jump-start the welcome revitalization of a great ‘90s rivalry gone dormant.
It will be interesting to see if FIU’s coach happens to show up at the game, but don’t look for him courtside in a blue-and-orange jersey a la Spike Lee.
When it comes to the Knicks, the shadows are more Isiah Thomas’ style.
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