03 Oct
The Drafting Genius: Isiah the Prophet
Intro: The Book of Isiah: Unraveling The Biggest Myth in Sports
Chapter 1: The Roster: Worst in Sports History?
Chapter 2: The Past: Rewriting Isiah’s Resume
Chapter 3: The Salary Cap Myth: Pure Media Madness
Chapter 4: The "Mistakes": Mountains from Mole Hills
Chapter 5: The Drafting Genius: Isiah the Prophet
Chapter 6: The Trades: Turning Weatherspoon Into Wine
Chapter 5
The Drafting Genius: Isiah the Prophet
Pop Quiz: Which Knick’s drafting era has yielded the higher sum total quality of draft picks?
A) 14 Years Prior to Isiah (1990-2003) OR
B) 3 Years into the Isiah Era (2004 - 2006)
Media Backlash?: Okay, in fairness, even some of his harshest media critics begrudgingly concede that Thomas is a “good drafter”. But it is time to “tell it like it is”. Thomas is not merely “good”, he is simply the best in the business. Hey Media – Do Your Homework!: The answer is B. He has been able to: pluck superstars from notoriously thin draft crops, find steals very late in the draft, and have the courage to select highly unpopular picks over media and fan favorites. He has yet to have even one single 1st round “bust pick” in his entire drafting career. Any thorough review of his drafting record will show that Thomas, with all due respect to Toronto GM Bryan Collangelo, has an unparalleled eye for young talent.
- “End of an Error” — Thomas Takes Over: In his first three years (too early to include 2007 draft) Thomas drafted more talent than the Knicks had selected in the previous 14 years whose drafting incompetence netted only two starters and no star players from 1990 to 2004. Consider that since 1990 the Knicks 1st round draft picks were: Jerrod Mustaf, Greg Anthony, Hubert Davis, Charlie Ward, Monty Williams, John Wallace, Walter McCarty, Dontae Jones, John Thomas, Frederic Weis (one pick ahead of Ron Artest), Nene Hilario (traded on draft day; 2 picks ahead of Amare Stoudemire;), and Michael Sweetney. Now all Knicks fans should follow these directions: 1) Please read that list again… 2) Rinse and repeat; 3) Send Isiah a thank you note.
- McGrady in a Haystack: Isiah’s selection of perennial all-star Tracy McGrady with the 9th overall pick in 1997 draft should go down as one of the greatest selections in NBA draft history. Sure, your grandmother could have selected Tim Duncan with the 1st pick, but what about after that? The #2-#8 picks were: Keith Van Horn, Chauncy Billups, Antonio Daniels, Tony Battie, Ron Mercer, Tim Thomas, and Adonal Foyle. Insert McGrady here. The next three picks were: Danny Fortson, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, and Austin Croshere. Besides Billups, these 10 surrounding picks spend most of their time at the end of an NBA bench or watching games from their couch at home.
- Late-Pick Heists: With the 43rd pick in the second round of the 2004 draft, Thomas nabbed Trevor Ariza as his first-ever Knick draft choice. Basketball isn’t football and draft picks after #40 aren’t even supposed to make NBA rosters. Unfortunately, his emerging talent is developing in an Orlando Magic uniform. The very next year Thomas nabbed rebounding extraordinaire David Lee with the final pick in the 1st round. Lee is already drawing comparisons to previous power forward Knick greats Charles Oakley and Dave DeBuscherre. If Mardy Collins, last year’s 29th pick, is able to add a jump shot in the next couple of years to his solid all-around game, he will add to Thomas’ resume of draft larceny. If not, the selection should still be a solid one.
- The Guts Picks: Considering the intense media and fan pressure to pick more popular individuals (see Marcus Williams and Ed O’Bannon), the selections of Renaldo Balkman in 2006 and Damon Stoudamire in 1995 may very well be Thomas’ most impressive draft feats. Had Thomas been wrong in either case, he would have been the subject of endless draft ridicule that would have defined his legacy. Thus far, Balkman has outplayed the 10 selections before him, and Stoudamire became Rookie of the Year as the first ever pick for the expansion Toronto Raptors. With the previous pick in that same draft the expansion Grizzlies also made their first ever draft selection: …Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. Oh yes, and O’Bannon was out of the NBA after three seasons. Considering the media mockery, if there ever was a NBA drafting upset equivalent to Ali-Foreman a generation after Ali-Liston over all of the so-called "experts", Balkman and Stoudamire were it.
- Quality in Any Draft: With the 2nd pick in 1996 Thomas chose Marcus Camby who has become a rare defensive, rebounding, and shot-blocking (leading league 3 times) force along the lines of Dikembe Mutombo. Only yearly injuries have robbed Camby of perennial all-star caliber status. Channing Frye and Nate Robinson, selected #8 and #21 in 2005, have been solid contributors that are in line with their draft slots. However, Frye has since been traded as his full range of skills (read: post-up) cannot be maximized in an offense centered around Eddy Curry who was acquired shortly after Frye’s selection.
- Not One “Bust Pick”: Thomas has done the near drafting impossible in being “flop-free” across all his 1st round picks. This fact where Thomas distinguishes himself from nearly every other GM who also possesses a stellar drafting record. Peers such as Bryan Collangelo (see Zarko Cabarkapa), Jerry West (see Troy Bell & Dahntay Jones), and Geoff Petrie (see Tariq Abdul-Wahad), all had at least one “bust pick” while high quality players were selected shortly after those selections.
Final Verse: Thomas is not a just a “good drafter”, but might even contend for the best in NBA history this side of Red Auerbach. He is a drafting GENIUS, and the media should start using this word to describe his drafting acumen and break the silent media code of only applying the "genius" tag to white managers and executives (see Tony Larussa, Bill Belichick, Jerry West, Charlie Weis, etc.), often an undeserving tag at that.
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Isiah also drafted jermaine oneal if i remember correctly, and even vince carter
if im wrong correct me(maybe im thinking of tracy instead of carter)
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:18 pmknicksfan- Jermaine O’neal was drafted by the portland Trailblazer and Vince Carter was drafted a couple of months after Isiah resigned from the Raptors. However, had the Raptors not blown up Isiah’s plan, then you are looking at:
– Marcus Camby
– Vince Carter
– Tracy Mcgrady
– Damon Stoudamire
– Doug Christie
now that is some nice talent! My guess is that Isiah trades TMAC or Vince (assuming he drafts him) for a big man and you have yourself a title contender. Oh well.
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November 1st, 2007 at 1:05 amWhile I’m not the Thomas basher some are, I believe you are grossly overrating him. He has assembled an arsenal of fantasy players who score a lot but play little defense and young role players (his draft choices are generally good role players picked late . . . a very solid draft record) . . . Curry, Randolph, Crawford, Marbury: this isn’t a winning core, it’s not a terrible core, it’s a recipe for mediocrity.
Unfortunately as a Wizards fan who lived through the Bob Ferry years, I can tell you chapter and verse about teams that constantly get enough talent to compete for the 8th playoff spot. The problem I have with Isiah is that with the money he has to spend, he should be aiming for championships, not mediocrity and I don’t see it.
The road to championships historically has been through a willingness to be terrible for a 3-5 year period and draft a great player and some very good complements. The Spurs are winners because they were terrible enough to draft David Robinson, then (when he was injured), bad enough to get Duncan. The Knicks were great when they got lucky enough to get Patrick Ewing as the first pick. Thomas’s attempt to garner win now talent has left the Knicks without the great player to build the team around, just some good ones that aren’t enough. That’s my case against him.
OF course, having great draft picks isn’t enough, you can always end up as the Clippers . . . but most great teams get there by being willing to be bad for a stretch to draft a Duncan/LeBron. It’s a big risk but one Chicago embraced and Thomas didn’t. Hopefully Curry will become a great player, good luck otherwise.
November 2nd, 2007 at 6:10 pmPen, let’s be honest: The Spurs (Robinson, then Duncan) are beneficiaries of incredible luck of the #1 pick lotto prize on key years. About three of those type of guys come out every 10 year. Gotta get the #1 AND during that special year. That is not a rebuilding strategy, that is prayer.
Knicks don’t have the luxury of the 1999 Bulls to wait 7 years before making the playoffs…
you make some good points but I think that ultimately the Knicks aren’t done retooling (I see at least one more big piece via trade).
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:25 pmThe Best.
November 15th, 2007 at 4:24 amIt’s fine.
Super!