Isiah Thomas Becomes President & Part Owner of NY Liberty

[Wbbfan1]

Just Announced via twitter

Sarah Spain Questioning move.

Isiah Thomas, he of the '07 sexual harassment lawsuit that cost the Knicks $11mil, named president/part owner of the WNBA's NY Liberty. Huh.

 

[ThisJustIn]

And the woman he harassed is the head honcho of Division I women's basketball....

 

[Wbbfan1]

Press Release http://www.wnba.com/liberty/news/Is...ampaign=tweets&utm_content=twitter_1430842083

 

[rvwsleep]

I don't know what Isiah has on Dolan but I would love to find out what it is. This is why the Knicks have floundered for so many years. Management decisions.

 

[VAMike23]

The kiss of death......!!

 

[CocoHusky]

Isaiah Thomas is not worthy of my respect as a human being IMO because of this single incident. It takes a really low human being to blame a suicide attempt on your own daughter: "Thomas, in a brief cellphone interview with The New York Post, said it was his teenage daughter, Lauren, who was in distress. Thomas denied that anything had happened to him."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/sports/basketball/25thomas.html?_r=0. First Lamebeer and now Thomas with 4 former UCONN players-they deserve so much better.

 

[j66kicker]

And the woman he harassed is the head honcho of Division I women's basketball....

And the guy who hired him back is the same guy (James Dolan - Knicks owner) who had to pay the $millions to the victim....?#$%^&??????

 

[BlueDolphin]

Guess who steered the once highly-regarded Continental Basketball Association into bankruptcy and oblivion. All this before driving a once-proud Knicks franchise into a black hole.

Even without the toxic sexual misconduct stuff I wouldn't let this guy run a lemonade stand.

Hope he quickly trades Tina and Kiah.

 

[Bonpland]

Does the WNBA not have a say in hirings that might (will) endanger the reputation of the league? Isiah has been the poster boy for what not to do after retiring as a professional athlete. Does he see any situation clearly? His decision making has always been clouded by his massive ego, and he has had disasterous tenures in several iterations as a basketball guru and apocalyptic businessman.

I think that it is particularly disturbing that Dolan is willing to show so little respect for the women's game that he'll dump Isiah on the Liberty knowing first hand what a failure he has been as an executive.

His sexual harassment law suit on its own, should have been enough to warrant keeping him away from the team's young women.

To echo a previous post, "What has he got on Dolan?" Just when you think we have seen the last of him......

The WNBA right now is a ship attempting to navigate through a mine field of serious business challenges, while trying to improve its public profile, its professional image.

Isiah Thomas cannot help them to acheive long term financial stability. Everywhere he's gone he's had the exact opposite effect.

 

[CocoHusky]

Does the WNBA not have a say in hirings that might (will) endanger the reputation of the league? Isiah has been the poster boy for what not to do after retiring as a professional athlete. Does he see any situation clearly? His decision making has always been clouded by his massive ego, and he has had disasterous tenures in several iterations as a basketball guru and apocalyptic businessman.

I think that it is particularly disturbing that Dolan is willing to show so little respect for the women's game that he'll dump Isiah on the Liberty knowing first hand what a failure he has been as an executive.

His sexual harassment law suit on its own, should have been enough to warrant keeping him away from the team's young women.

To echo a previous post, "What has he got on Dolan?" Just when you think we have seen the last of him.

The WNBA right now is a ship attempting to navigate through a mine field of serious business challenges, while trying to improve its public profile, its professional image.

Isiah Thomas cannot help them to acheive long term financial stability. Everywhere he's gone he's had the exact opposite effect.

I couldn't agree more. Thomas is the kind of hire you make if you are determind to fail spectacularly.

 

[HGN]

Obviously this move was planned............Now it makes sense why Bill Laimbeer was brought back less than a year after being fired. At some point Isiah Thomas entered the discussion to buy part ownership in the NY Liberty. He obviously wanted his old Detroit Piston teammate and fellow Detroit 'Bad Boy' as coach and business associate with the organization.

Thus , this may have been a shotgun marriage for Dolan if he wanted to gain an investor to lessen his financial risk.

 

[Bonpland]

HGN, you very well may be right, but does Dolan need (or for heaven's sake want) Isiah Thomas' financial help in keeping a WNBA franchise afloat?

He's already got the building and the management structure in place, and his massive financial empire is not threatened at this point.

Oh wait, now that he has Isiah onboard, maybe it is.

 

[j66kicker]

Obviously this move was planned..Now it makes sense why Bill Laimbeer was brought back less than a year after being fired. At some point Isiah Thomas entered the discussion to buy part ownership in the NY Liberty. He obviously wanted his old Detroit Piston teammate and fellow Detroit 'Bad Boy' as coach and business associate with the organization.

Thus , this may have been a shotgun marriage for Dolan if he wanted to gain an investor to lessen his financial risk.

I believe Isiah already was part owner of the Knicks, who own the Liberty. No separate Liberty ownership.

BTW this is the same organization who recently agreed to pay $12 million/year for 5 years for a President (Phil Jackson) with no management experience.

 

[bschwartz]

So who engineered the trade to get Kiah. Was it really "Trader Bill?" Did Isiah make that call, and if so, should we be concerned for her. So many questions.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Dolan is an absolute B'ball bonehead. This is such a disappointing head shaker.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Just Announced via twitter

Sarah Spain Questioning move.

Isiah Thomas, he of the '07 sexual harassment lawsuit that cost the Knicks $11mil, named president/part owner of the WNBA's NY Liberty. Huh.

Simple solution---if you can't fire Isiah, assuming he deserves firing, then dissolve the Liberty Franchise and do a better job of Vetting all the coaches including Pokey Chapman and executives in both NBA and the WNBA!!

 

[BroadwayVa]

So who engineered the trade to get Kiah. Was it really "Trader Bill?" Did Isiah make that call, and if so, should we be concerned for her. So many questions.

I don't think anyone has to worry about Kiah's personal safety--that kid will knock any one Thomas's size into orbit around Jupiter!! If not Kiah than her hubby to be, if not him--have you had a look at the size of Daddy Stokes??? Anyone messing with his daughter needs to get off the dope quickly.

 

[Kibitzer]

Dolan hiring Thomas (yet again!) is comparable to the captain of the Titanic instructing his crew to rearrange the deck chairs after that iceberg knocked them awry.

Don't look for Jimmy Dolan to take a vow of poverty. Not just yet. Madison Garden is his toy. the big dough is from his cable tv biz.

 

[BigBird]

Tone deafness taken to the max. I thought Donald Sterling was the worst of NBA owners. And maybe he was. But Dolan is stepping into Sterling's stinky shoes to again walk his walk.

Who do they think they are marketing to? As if women are going to double-down on season ticket purchases now.

 

[bschwartz]

I don't think anyone has to worry about Kiah's personal safety--that kid will knock any one Thomas's size into orbit around Jupiter!! If not Kiah than her hubby to be, if not him--have you had a look at the size of Daddy Stokes??? Anyone messing with his daughter needs to get off the dope quickly.

True though I did not intend to mean physically...more about her ability to prosper in a system known for suckage made worse by Thomas' history.

 

[Goodgood]

Dolan might not be that dumb. The NY Liberty franchise has been losing money since forever. Get Thomas in so he can run it further into the ground. Best way to get rid of the team without a p.r nightmare.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Against all reason, tone-deaf Dolan once again turns to Isiah

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/sto...eaf-james-dolan-once-again-turns-isiah-Thomas

In a statement, WNBA president Laurel Richie wrote that the WNBA was aware of The Madison Square Garden organization’s announcement about Thomas and “that he will take an ownership interest in the team, pending WNBA approval. New owners are approved by our WNBA Board of Governors, and this process has not yet begun.” (emphasis added)

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/05/isiah-thomas-dolan-liberty

 

[ThisJustIn]

Cam - you think anyone in the W will have the guts to say no to Dolan, even with the media firestorm running 1 for (Lisa Leslie) and everyone else against?

 

[ballhawk]

Isiah is bad news. This feels like the plot line for "The Producers." The only way Dolan can somehow make money is by destroying the franchise. Not only is Kiah going to be stuck in the muck bit I feel sorry for Brittany Boyd, a class act who deserves better.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Cam - you think anyone in the W will have the guts to say no to Dolan, even with the media firestorm running 1 for (Lisa Leslie) and everyone else against?

I think they will say no to the ownership interest, but let him have the GM position (over which there is not the requisite approval).