The Out Route

Yeah. He's coming back.

Garden chairman James Dolan will announce today that Thomas has earned a contract extension. The news comes about nine months after Dolan fired Larry Brown and said that Thomas needed to demonstrate significant progress to return. At 29-34, the Knicks are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and only a half-game out of seventh.

For weeks, Thomas has hinted that he would be returning and Dolan said as much to the players last month during a pregame meeting in Utah. Dolan met with the Knicks players after center Eddy Curry, who has blossomed under Thomas, said that he would ask to be traded if Thomas did not come back.
There is no question that Thomas deserves to continue coaching the team beyond this year. The players unanimously support him as Thomas has gotten Curry and Stephon Marbury to both play at a high level.

The Knicks have already won more games than they did all of last year, with 19 tilts on the schedule remaining. And they are in the hunt for a playoff spot, but perceptions are deceiving. They're 29-34, which is five games below .500, which isn't good.

But, as the Daily News points out, the Knicks are far from being in the clear playoff-wise. If they tank the rest of the season, will anyone really be happy that Isiah Thomas is coming back? For that matter, is anyone happy now that Thomas is returning? Improvement is improvement, I guess, but does anyone believe another coach couldn't run the Knicks better?