New York Knicks: 10-plus years in free-fall with no signs of slowing

Hello Mike D’Antoni, Goodbye Stephon Marbury

On April 2, 2008, it was reported that Donnie Walsh would take over from Isiah Thomas as President of the New York Knicks and just a little more than two weeks later Walsh also relieved Thomas of his head coaching responsibilities.

After five years and a little over three months, the constant disappointment and poor press of the Isiah Thomas era was at an end. But not before one more huge on-court humiliation for the Knicks when the Boston Celtics beat the Knicks by 45 points on November 29, 2007. And this was not just another locally broadcast Knicks game. It was their first nationally televised game in years.

Unfortunately, the exit of Isiah Thomas from the Knicks would not mean any substantiative change to the organization. Instead, the Knicks would take a different path in the same direction they’d been heading in for years.

On May 11, 2008, it became public knowledge that Mike D’Antoni would become the Knicks’ sixth head coach in eight seasons not including Herb Williams‘ interim stints after Don Chaney and Lenny Wilkens took their leave of New York.

There was no love lost between Stephon Marbury and Isiah Thomas. The two had notoriously clashed over Thomas taking Marbury out of the starting lineup in November of 2007. Marbury and Mike D’Antoni had a very brief player/coach relationship when both were with the Phoenix Suns during the 2003- 04 season. Marbury welcomed D’Antoni to New York with open arms saying:

"We went with experience. It’s a great move. We had a great relationship. I never had a problem with Mike D’Antoni. He said we have our work cut out for us and he’s right. But I’m looking forward to running up and down the floor."

This development must have been encouraging for Knicks fans along with the fact that D’Antoni said he was confident that he could adjust his coaching style to work with his new team. D’Antoni, however, apparently had different memories of the relationship than did Marbury.

Early in the 2008- 09 season, Marbury reportedly refused to enter a game against the Detroit Pistons though Marbury disputes that characterization of events. On February 24th, 2009, Stephon Marbury was bought out by the Knicks after five really solid seasons on the floor to go along with the kind of dramatics that had become the hallmark of the Knicks organization.