An Open Letter to Isiah Thomas

Isiah Thomas
President, Basketball Operations, New York Knickerbockers
Four Penn Plaza, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10021

Mr. Thomas,

Salutations Mr. Thomas, I hope this letter meets you in good health and spirits. If you don’t mind, I’m going to refer to you as Isiah for the balance of this letter.

Isiah, I’ve been meaning to write you for some time now and your recent acquisitions at the trade deadline last week finally spurred me into action. By way of introduction, I am a 24-year-old lifelong devotee of your organization. Some of my favorite moments as a sports fan came courtesy of your team, from Starks’ dunk over MJ in the ’93 playoffs to Ewing’s putback slam to clinch the ’94 conference championship to Houston’s leaner against the Heat five years after that. I cherish these memories and I must thank your franchise for that.

So please understand Isiah why I must call you to task on your recent moves as the Knicks chief of basketball operations. I cannot grasp what your plan is for my team, and judging by public outcry, I am not alone in this. To be honest Isiah, I have no clue what you are thinking. If you don’t mind, I’m going to refer to you as Thomas for the balance of this letter.

You see Thomas, when you were announced as the new leader of my team, we were apprehensive. We had heard the stories: How you were a talented but dirty and inherently unlikable player, how you ran the long-running CBA into the ground, how your teams with the Raptors and Pacers always seemed to underachieve with above-average talent.

And while we had our reservations, we gave you a chance. Maybe it was those two rings, maybe it was because Patrick was gone and we needed something fresh, maybe we saw you watch those games from the tunnel with that sly smile, and we believed no man could look so supremely confident without the goods to back it up. How misguided we were.

If you don’t mind, I’m going to refer to you as The Problem for the balance of this letter.

Sadly, it comes down to this: In just 14 months on the job, you have effectively destroyed any chance for my team to contend for a NBA title for the next 10 years. Almost out of defiance to the previous regime, you overhauled an entire roster, intent on making it out of your own image.

You chose to build around a point guard who is paid like franchise player but has never played like one. You took on career underachievers and traded away serviceable talent. Last week you jettisoned your only true center essentially to get back two first round draft picks that are higher than ODB. You took back a couple of has-beens, never-will-bes and another $23 million on your already shipwrecked cap number to boot. No general manager in the NBA gets more thank you cards and fruit cakes during the holidays than you.

I am writing you this letter so that you will go away. We don’t want you here anymore. When the stories circulated that you were going to skip town on yet another franchise/organization that you had doomed, we just hoped the door wouldn’t hit your Armani suit on the way out. Of course, we weren’t that lucky.

I don’t know if you know this, but there was a time when the Garden was the most exciting place in sports. Maybe you remember the electricity of MSG as a player -- it was a jolting current that could lift players and teams to another level. That current is gone now. Do you know where it is?

Of course you don't. And that’s why you’re The Problem. You don’t have any answers. No substance, only style. We know better now, but it's too late. You’re a fraud, and we’re just along for the ride…one poor decision at a time.

Sincerely,

A troubled fan