After the Knicks beat the Bulls on Saturday afternoon, Chicago became the latest team to go “2 and 9” (now 2 – 10). The local and national media responses were like night and day.
In The Isiah Rules: Thomas vs. John Paxson’s Tenure COSELLOUT takes an in-depth and measured analysis of why Isiah Thomas has outperformed John Paxson when CONTEXT is considered and squarely addresses why the Bulls-Knicks won-loss record the last three years is NOT a good measure. This follow-up segment will deal with the media responses to both the similar records of both the Knicks and the Bulls in the early-going of the 2007 season.
Recent ISIAH Media Responses:
· The New York City Papers: These are the following headlines: “Knicks: Team Turmoil”; “Thomas Garden Tenure Overcooked”; “Thomas Tenure Needs to Close”; “Time Running Out for Isiah”; “Isiah’s in the Line of Fire”; “This Turkey’s Gotta Go” . And all those headlines came from one single newspaper! Take a bow New York Post! Now I’ll spare you ugly details of the media mob known as the New York Daily News and the Isiah Rider Firm of “Lupica, Lawrence, & Isola”, but trust that they are just as bad.You will also be spared the contents since COSELLOUT is a family blog! Now, let’s just hear from the milder national folks.
· ESPN’s Chris Sheridan: “Taking it all in [Fire Isiah chants] with a pronounced frown on his face was owner Jim Dolan, who marched straight into Isiah Thomas’ office after the game and either did not have the guts, the will or the good sense to do the right thing and fire his head coach and president. … The Knicks take their traveling freak show on the road to Detroit on Wednesday… (The U.N. is now expected to pass a unanimous resolution Wednesday ridiculing the Knicks)
· ESPN’s Around the Horn panelists offered the most disturbing responses by far. No less than three panelists (Jay Mariotti, Woody Paige, and Bill Plaschke) called for David Stern to intervene by forcing the Knicks to fire Thomas! Yes, you read that right: the commissioner should intervene! And if you weren’t convinced, Mariotti reminds us that the Knicks had 27 turnovers against the Golden State Warriors. And we march on to the public square!
Recent John Paxson Media Responses:
· Chicago Papers: While there have been some rumblings about Coach Scott Skiles Being "on the hot seat" very little has been written about John Paxson. Two points of note: Since the Bulls were picked by almost every “expert’ to be one of the top 3 teams in the East, it would be perfectly natural to hold the Bulls COACH to a much higher standard than Thomas-the-COACH. But that double-standard means little because critics aren’t really talking about Thomas “the coach”… which brings us back to Paxson.
· Deafening Silence: Many other ESPN’s resident armchair GM’s who have all enjoyed taking pot shots at Isiah over the years are quite silent on the Paxson front. Surely, they know that: each inherited a completely different quality of roster; the Bulls current flawed roster was CREATED by Paxson; that the Bull’s standard for success should be MUCH higher than the Knicks; and that the Wallace-Chandler “exchange” may have cost the Bulls perennial title-contender status. They are smart men who analyze basketball for a living. They KNOW this. So why won’t they write about it? At least Bill Simmons — a past relentless “Isiah Rider” who never met a GM he didn’t think was dumb– at least has the decency to spread the hate! At least Henry Abbott had the decency to write about The War in John Paxson’s Mind. But where is everyone else?
· In-Depth Analysis: But the root of the frustration of mainstream media lies elsewhere: for the past few years any in-depth analysis about Thomas’s performance has been non-existent. For example, a couple of weeks ago True Hoop posts this Bulls analysis by SI’s Kelly Dwyer which Abbott solicited by email. I would encourage everyone to read it. Now whether you agree or disagree with the analysis is not important, but just note that it EXISTS. Every reason is considered as to why the Bulls are starting slow. No stone is left unturned. The reader is given CONTEXT at every turn. But here is a question: have you ever read an article like this from ANYONE in a mainstream publication about the context surrounding the Knicks and Isiah Thomas? …About the context of his inherited roster? …About the context of time taken to turning around such a roster compared to NBA history? …About the context of his salary cap situation? …About the context around his past success, yes SUCCESS, as the GM of the Toronto Raptors? If you have, please forward that link to COSELLOUT. And Henry Abbott, if you ever want an article “Breaking Down The Knicks” unseen in the mainstream, you know that my email is modi@cosellout.com. It is this lack of context that ultimately inspired COSELLOUT’s “The Book of Isiah: Unraveling the Biggest Myth in Sports”.
[1]Ty Willingham’s poor recruiting classes are often cited by Weis defenders, the hypocrisy is that 3 years earlier Willingham was almost never given any CREDIT for the maturing players that Weis inherited. Weis was also awarded a 10 year contract immediately after his first season.
"The Isiah Rules I": Thomas vs. John Paxson’s Tenure
"The Isiah Rules" II: Media Gives John Paxson Free Pass
"Isiah Rules" III: Media Mob Calls for David Stern Intervention
The Meaning of “2 and 9”: This past Friday there were three famous teams that had a “2 – 9” record accompanied by three different mainstream media reactions. If your name is Eric Mangini (New York Jets 2nd year head coach), it garners many articles about how pathetic your TEAM is, but not so many calls for your actual job. If your name is Charlie Weis (Notre Dame head coach), some media will call for your job, but many other calls for a broader intellectual and measured analysis about the recruits that he “inherited”[1]. If your name is Isiah Thomas… well that’s quite another story.
Damn, I wish I could be John Paxson! I’d scour the Earth and get three more “offense last” players. Like Jacque Vaughn for Hinrich, Bruce Bowen for Gordon, then get Raja Bell for any two left who shoot over 45% on the team! Finally, I’d do anything under the sun to get Mutombo and pair him with Big Ben.
Just think: Wallace, Mutombo, Vaughn, Bell, and Bowen! Whew, what a lineup for Skiles! I can see it now. The headline reads, “Bulls beat back Wizards, 42-39″… the next night, “Bulls crush Heat, 38-32″ and the sub head reads, ‘teams combine for astounding 20-104 shooting performance’
I’d be GM of the year!