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Assuming that Mark Jackson is hired as the New York Knicks coach, he won’t have to grow a third eye to watch his every move.? What exactly do I mean by that?? Simple.? When former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas was fired re-assigned by team president Donnie Walsh, part of the deal was that Thomas would have no contact whatsoever with the team’s next coach – especially when the Knicks start training camp at their headquarters in Westchester, NY.? In other words, Thomas has been barred from any contact from the team from this point on.

What Thomas’ responsibility is is to help in the acquisition of talent on the Knicks’ roster (isn’t that why he was canned in the first place – his lack of skills in the personnel department?); the mindset is that if Thomas has any type of contact with the players, then Thomas could be possibly undermining the Knicks next coach.? Oddly enough, the new agreement doesn’t prevent Thomas from having daily contact with the team’s owner, James Dolan – one of Thomas’ few supporters, despite 4 straight losing seasons.? What I do not understand about this whole arrangement is this: Firstly, while I do realize that Thomas has this contract with the Knicks from the first day he was hired and he does have to earn his money, what precludes Dolan from just eating Thomas’ contract and simply start fresh??

Secondly, from all accounts, what does Thomas know about scouting college talent?? He never did that?during his stint with Indiana.? One theory that does come to mind is one that colleague and the Editor of Slam Dunk Central, Jeff Sack, brought to my attention, is the “Peter Principle”.? The “Peter Principle” works somewhat like this: Let’s say you’re an employer and you have an employee under your watch who is so bad at what he does that instead of simply firing him, the employer re-assigns the incompetent employee to a higher level on the corporate ladder.? This theory sounds eerily similar to what’s going down at Knicks headquarters to me.? Other than the coaching sidelines, I cannot, for the life of me, imagine what else that Thomas can do to benefit the Knicks franchise.? I have this feeling the Thomas soap opera will not be over any time soon, so stay tuned to Slam Dunk Central for the latest installment of “As The Knicks Burn”.