According to a source close to the former Chicago Bulls coach, Skiles already has been contacted by several teams and is eager to return to work.
But Skiles and former Knick Mark Jackson have emerged as the top candidates to replace Isiah Thomas once Walsh makes the much-anticipated change.
So who are these sources close to the former coach?
According to a source, Skiles is reluctant to negotiate with any club that still has a coach in place. His adviser, Keith Glass, declined to comment but said that Skiles was adamant about not campaigning for a job through the media. "In other words, no comment," Glass said before hanging up.
Come on, Knick fans, you must know the name Keith Glass, right? Sound familiar? He's the former agent for one Jackie Butler. A Jackie Butler who got a lot of playing time for the Knicks under Larry Brown, and parleyed that into a nice fat contract with the Spurs (thanks again to Larry Brown's connections with Spurs coach Greg Poppavich). Keith Glass has a long history with Larry Brown - he was an assistant of Larry Brown's at UCLA. He's also the son of Joe Glass, who is Larry Brown's long time agent and... surrogate father, according to Brown.
Point being: my guess is that despite Glass "adamant" claim to not be campaigning for Skiles through the media, someone is. Larry Brown and Joe Glass know the NYC media better than almost anyone else in the NBA, including David Stern.
My personal opinion: I didn't like Skiles as a coach in Chicago, and don't think too much of him as a coach in NYC. He'll be great in that he'll focus on teaching the Knicks to play hard, and play defense, but much like Larry Brown himself, he'll wear out his welcome quickly, as most Knick players will phase him out.
And while we are on the topic of Isiah Thomas and Larry Brown... I noticed that yesterday was the Pistons 50th Anniversary celebration. Isiah gave a rousing speech before the game yesterday in Detroit, delighting the Pistons fans in attendance. What's interesting is to note who was missing from the Detroit championship teams (the Bad Boys plus the 2005 team): two big names. One, Isiah sent a very direct message to:
"One person is missing here tonight... Worm, wherever you are, you've got to come home..."
Yep, Dennis Rodman still gets love from Isiah and the Pistons organization.
And the second person missing? Hint: Gets no love from Isiah, nor the Pistons organization:
No reason was given for why Larry Brown wasn't there, but I have a few suspicions.
If you ask me to tell you who I blame for the Knicks current mess, I would have to say Isiah falls forth on my list, behind the douche above (#3, for contributing heavily to the negative press that suffocates the Knicks), Scott Layden (#2, for laying the mess that begot the mess), and, of course James Dolan (#1, for creating the negative press with his media policy, generally meddling at the wrong times, then being hands off at the wrong times, and for his poor overall management of MSG, top down. Oh, and for firing David Checketts, and forcing the trade of Marcus Camby, among other things).
From today's NY Post, on former Pistons coach Chuck Daly's comments on Isiah Thomas:
Daly believes the New York media/fan reaction to Isiah has gone overboard. “I know you’re supposed to win but where do you draw the line on criticism and stuff and when is enough, enough,’’ Daly said. “This guy is the toughest guy I know to survive everything that’s been thrown at him.’’…
I know most Knicks fans hate Isiah, but I do hope he finds his redemption somewhere. And I do hope that, should the Knicks ever go on to win a championship in 20 years, that the organization will be classy enough to not trot out Isiah Thomas just so the fans can say "You're forgiven", after insulting the man for over 20 years, like Boston did yesterday with Bill Buckner....
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A few quick Knick related links:
- Upside and Motor took a look at some of the Knicks photos this year from games, to put together a compilation on one of the worst seasons we'll see as Knick fans. Good job by the them to dig up these photos, especially since I had no idea the Knicks had so many guys on the bench. I guess now we know why Wilson Chandler is finally starting.
- If you can stand the music (I generally turn off my sound when I go to Barnesgasm's site), this post by Son of Dippin' on Stephon Marbury is really well written. Barnesgasm does a great job of breaking down the biggest shortcoming of Marbury's career - his inability to separate his public basketball persona from his personal home persona.
- And while we are at it, go check out Barnesgasm's recap of last night's Knicks-Pistons game at Posting & Toasting. Splendid work.
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Excellent ranking of who is to blame, though I would put Isiah 5th, after Zach Randolph or maybe even 6th after Marbury.
Good point, Cobra. Agreed... I just think this is Skiles' agent using the media (and his favorite outlet, the Daily News) to lobby for some work. I would bet Donnie Walsh does not hire Scott Skiles.
Skiles is actually pretty straight forward with the jobs he's wanted/didn't want in the past and he's never really 'lobbied' for one in the papers. When he's hired it's usually a "Oh yeah, I forgot about him." kind of a deal.
Why doesn't Skiles just get a college gig? His temperament is better suited to coaching kids. In the NBA, he will always improve the team shortly before losing them.
Why doesn't Skiles just get a college gig? His temperament is better suited to coaching kids. In the NBA, he will always improve the team shortly before losing them.
Isiah behind LB? Really, the GM/President for the last 5 years over a guy who coached for one? Larry came here, tried to pull a power play to get Isiah canned, then got fired himself. I also blame Isiah more then Layden since even with the crap Layden left him, Isiah managed to add more expensive (albeit more athletic) crap. Hell, I still believe the Marbury thing might have worked if he had stopped there and let him play pick and pop basketball with Van Horn and Kurt Thomas, while trying to acquire another sharpshooter.
Either way, let's hope Walsh does this right.
The reasons LB is more to blame than Isiah are two: (1) It is accepted wisdom that LB was responsible for the Francis trade, which led to the Randolph trade just to get rid of that miserable Francis, which was even worse for chemistry and keeps the team over the cap after 2010. (Yes, Isiah alone made the Randolph trade, but it never would have had to happen but for the Francis trade.) (2) LB's intentional losing (at least Isiah didn't try to lose) led to Dolan requiring Isiah to coach, even though he didn't want to. Thus, no LB, no Isiah the coach. It's not Isiah's fault he sucks as a coach. But it's LB's (and Dolan's of course) fault that Isiah was forced to.
You know what, SML? For you? I turn the music off. (Actually, I'd been planning to do it for a while and had just been waiting for the first person to complain, and you won. Congratulations.)
And just to chime in... nobody named yet has seemed like a decent coach to me. Skiles is just gross, Mark Jackson would become pretty much the only person to become a head coach without prior coaching experience of any sort, and it seems to me like Calipari's best asset isn't his coaching but his ability to shadily recruit players... and that doesn't really help in the NBA.
1) Isiah
2) Dolan
3) Scott Layden
4) David Stern - for not fixing it himself
5) Bin Laden - because everything bad that happens to NY can be traced to him somehow
I have to agree with you SML on the blame listing.
But Isiah goes 5th behind Steph...
Curry's lack of development or (not and/or cuz I'm trying to manage my expectations) conditioning have to be right behind Isiah.
Steph was presented the golden platter.
He had the keys to the franchise but wasn't the "franchise player". He had all the glory and none of the responsibility and still managed to go insane. Then he piles it on by trying to use Berman all yr as his personal assistant. He really blew it man. Out of everyone in NY, I can't imagine a scenario where Stephon will live this down. Isiah always has Detroit...he's loved there and who knows if he can land there in some capacity if the Knicks let him go. But Steph?
Where's he gonna go? Will he win a chip and redeem himself? Doubt it. He's even got LBJ (aka Lebron Baby Jesus) to say in an interview that he wouldn't want someone "like that on my team". Ouch.
Steph's alienated a great in Isiah and he's left the next generation of greats unimpressed.
That's my pitch for Steph at 5.
Curry at 6 is much like Steph. He was presented an opportunity...awarded another high priced big to work with (in Zach) and instead of filling in the blanks (like rebounding and defending a little bit), he chose to privately lament at the amount of touches he receives. That's kiddish.
Isiah's to blame for obvious reasons but who else is GM/Coach of the Knicks and the NBA's most hatest person?
He's dealt with it quite well I'd say.
As long as Eddy Curry is in NY there is no chance that Skiles will go there.