02-27-2008, 08:31 AM
|
#1 (permalink)
|
|
Sexy Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 11,111
|
Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan Losing Ways Unriveled
Quote:
Wednesday, February 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
Michael Jordan versus Isiah Thomas. As warring players, it didn't get much better than that. But as competing NBA executives, it can't get much worse.
When Thomas' Knicks host Jordan's Bobcats on Wednesday night at the Garden, they will be freezing out winning basketball and putting on a case study of how two of the game's biggest winners have flopped while trying to build successful teams.
The Bobcats are 19-37, only marginally better than the 17-39 Knicks. But Thomas doesn't think that Jordan, in his second season running the show in Charlotte, has had enough time to put a stamp on his team.
"No, it takes some time in this league before you can really get it right," he said after practice in Greenburgh. "You're talking about championship basketball. It takes some time to build it and put in your philosophy and build your culture. You've got to get the players."
Thomas still hasn't found the right players in New York, and he is thought to be on shaky ground beyond this season. The Bobcats are headed for their fourth straight losing season since the NBA put a team back in Charlotte in 2004.
Thomas' signature moves were trading for Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry, neither of which has panned out. After a playoff-less stint leading the Wizards, Jordan is running his second team, and his biggest transactions also have not resulted in much of anything positive. He traded last summer for Jason Richardson, re-signed Gerald Wallace and chose a relative coaching neophyte, Sam Vincent, to lead his team.
If there is one area Thomas gives Jordan an edge in, it's big men. Curry is practically a lost cause, and Thomas tried to ship Zach Randolph out of town at last week's trading deadline. When Thomas looks at Charlotte's Emeka Okafor, he sees a big man he likes.
"I'd say Okafor is pretty dominant," he said.
However, Okafor, now in his fourth season, has not proven to be a difference-maker who can lead a team to the playoffs. This season has been typical, with the ex-UConn star posting solid numbers (13.4 ppg, 11.1 rpg) but nothing spectacular for a player taken with the No.2 pick of the 2004 draft.
"Given time, he'll win," Thomas said of Jordan. "He's as tough a competitor as I ever had to face. And I know his determination and his passion. There's a lot of work that goes into what we all do. And what we're all trying to do is not easy."
Not half as easy as when they were out there playing.
|
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/ba...s_losing_.html
__________________
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.
This country was born with a huge birth defect, slavery. -Condoleezza Rice
PLEASE BEWARE THIS POSTER MAY GO ON THE DEEP END AT ANY GIVEN TIME. Use Caution!
|
|
|
Isiah Thomas and Michael Jordan Losing Ways Unriveled
Linear Mode
