Basketball HOFer Isiah Thomas "has become president and part owner" of the WNBA Liberty, "despite a checkered reign with the Knicks that ended ignominiously" in the aftermath of an '07 sexual-harassment scandal, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Thomas "will preside over both basketball and business operations for the Liberty." The Liberty and the Knicks are owned by MSG Chair James Dolan, who hired Thomas as Knicks President in '03. Thomas "has served the Liberty in an unofficial advisory role for the past few years, consulting on the hiring" of coach & GM Bill Laimbeer. Thomas, who eventually became coach at Florida Int'l Univ. after leaving the Knicks, "has worked in the NBA in several capacities," including Raptors GM and Pacers coach. Thomas has spent the past year as a commentator working for NBA TV, and sources said that he "will continue in that role while working with the Liberty" (ESPN.com, 5/5). WNBA President Laurel Richie in a statement said that the process of approving Thomas’ ownership interest in the Liberty by the WNBA BOG "had not yet begun" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/6). Thomas appeared this morning on ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike." He said of what he would like to convey to the WNBA BOG regarding an ownership stake in the team, “If you speak into false allegations -- and I emphasize false allegations -- those have been addressed and I will continue to address them. I've always maintained my innocence. If people want to continue to believe in the falsities, I can't speak to that. I only can speak to the facts.” ESPN's Mike Golic: “We know what the court said, ‘He wasn't found liable,’ but the court of public opinion is what he's going to face with fans and with others he has to explain this to outside the court of law” (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 5/6).
IMPACT ON KNICKS: Thomas, when asked yesterday if he would have any influence with the Knicks in his new role, said, "No." He added that he "would be completely separated from the Knicks’ operations." Thomas said that he "was not advising Dolan on the Knicks" during the period when he was acting as Dolan's advisor for the Liberty (ESPNNY.com, 5/5). But in New Jersey, Steve Popper notes the Knicks and Liberty share not only MSG and Dolan atop the corporate hierarchy "but a practice site in Greenburgh, N.Y., and offices." Popper: "If Thomas has maintained Dolan’s ear in the years since their departure, how do you figure that pipeline will flow with him in the building again?" (Bergen RECORD, 5/6). In N.Y., Harvey Araton notes Thomas' advisory role with the Liberty was "without public knowledge." Thomas said that he was "instrumental in the January reinstatement" of Laimbeer, and that he "was involved in the hirings" of assistant coach Herb Williams and Dir of Player Development Teresa Weatherspoon. Araton notes Dolan "tried to return Thomas" as a Knicks consultant in '10, but the NBA rejected the idea because Thomas was at FIU. Speculation of "what Thomas’s presence" at Madison Square Garden could mean for the Knicks "will be unavoidable" if team President Phil Jackson cannot get the team winning soon (N.Y. TIMES, 5/6). ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser: “(Dolan) says to himself, ‘I’ve got Phil Jackson saying it’s a disaster. I know it’s a disaster. I’ve got to hedge my bet'" (“PTI,” ESPN, 5/5). The N.Y. Daily News’ Bill Madden said, “If Isiah Thomas is in the house, it’s nothing but trouble for Phil Jackson” (“Daily News Live,” SNY, 5/5).
HOW COULD YOU, MAN? The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jason Gay writes the move amounts to "another utterly inexplicable Garden maneuver." What is "mystifying is that Thomas has been given the reins of -- and a stake of ownership in! -- a Garden WNBA franchise after such an underwhelming performance overseeing the Knicks." His return "is especially baffling" when considering the sexual-harassment suit (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/6). In N.Y., Mike Vaccaro writes under the header, "Only James Dolan Would Entrust A WNBA Team To Sexual Harasser." The first reaction to this news release is perhaps "Funny or Die has just posted a new video on its site," or "maybe it’s really a link to The Onion" (N.Y. POST, 5/6). In N.Y., Michael Powell wonders if Thomas and Dolan "paid any attention to any part of the past NFL season." Powell: "We live, thankfully, in a slow-dawning age of cultural change, in which sexual harassment of women is less and less tolerated." Columbia Law School Center for Gender & Sexuality Law Dir Suzanne B. Goldberg said, "It’s surprising that a company whose fan base is primarily women would not directly express itself on this question. You would expect the Knicks to be upfront about affirming a basketball environment free from sexual harassment. Their posture seems defensive rather than affirming" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/6). SNY’s Eamon McAnaney called the move "mind-boggling." McAnaney: "How does the WNBA … sit back and allow that to happen? There is an arrogance that we know about at the Garden and this is just trumpeting it, saying, ‘I don’t care what you think’” (“Loud Mouths,” SNY, 5/5). Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw: “I don't know why anybody in the WNBA would be okay with it. Just getting a famous person involved in your league is not going to sell tickets, especially when they’re involved (in a sexual harassment suit) the last time they worked at Madison Square Garden” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 5/5).
ACCORDING TO JIM: ESPN N.Y.'s Johnette Howard wrote Thomas "never really lost influence at the Garden." Thomas "has always had the ear" of Dolan -- "sometimes against all reason." But even for Dolan, "this move takes guts." Few pro sports owners "would choose to give a second act to a man who a jury found to have sexually harassed a female Garden employee -- let alone put him in charge running the Garden's women's professional basketball team." In addition to overlooking Thomas' on-court track record, Dolan has "chosen to re-hire Thomas at a time when allegations of abusive treatment of women among athletes is front and center in the social consciousness." Then there is the WNBA's fan base, which "trends toward women, families, teens and the LGBT community" (ESPNNY.com, 5/5). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Chris Herring notes, "Despite Thomas’s failures in New York, his relationship with Dolan has remained strong through the years" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/6). In N.Y., Frank Isola writes Dolan apparently "believes in Thomas with more conviction than most 8-year-olds believe in Santa Claus." The irony of "having someone involved in a harassment lawsuit running a women’s basketball team isn’t lost on the boss." Dolan in his statement yesterday said, "We did not believe the allegations then, and we don’t believe them now. We feel strongly that the jury improperly and unfairly held Isiah Thomas responsible for sordid allegations that were completely unrelated to him" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/6). In DC, Adam Kilgore writes the move "makes no sense on any level." The only explanation is that Dolan "is a tone-deaf buffoon who remains hypnotized by Thomas’s greatness as a player and personal affection for him" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/6).
FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH: ESPN’s Mike Greenberg asked, “How should fans of the New York Liberty reconcile your position with that team and the sexual harassment history with you back in your days with the Knicks?” Thomas replied, “Let me unpack that question because you said team and yes, I was with the team, the New York Knicks. I was president of the New York Knicks. I was not the president of Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden is a corporation and you just said Madison Square Garden was the team. So when the jury had an opportunity to fine, they fined Madison Square Garden. I was not liable or personally held for anything so the jury found no findings. Again, I’ve worked in the NCAA, I’ve worked at NBA TV, Turner, so anyone who has vetted this has looked at it and has come out and found that, as the jury found, there were no findings in terms of Isiah Thomas.” ESPN's Golic said to Thomas, “What it does do is put you back in New York and back in a relationship with James Dolan who in November of 2013 told the Post, ‘I don't see Isiah coming back to New York?” Thomas replied, “I can never speak for Mr. Dolan. ... We were talking maybe four months ago about the Liberty. He asked my opinion about the game. He asked my opinion about what we can do to make the product a little better and I was consulting about the Liberty three or four months ago and working with Christian Burnett. After a couple of months we just decided to make it official so here we are” (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 5/6).
NOT SO BAD, AFTER ALL? ESPNW's Jane McManus wrote there "is no way" Thomas should have been hired in this role. McManus: "Not allegations, but a finding -- a finding of sexual harassment. That's an important distinction. As a corporation, as a professional basketball league, it's not something you can brush aside just because you don't like it." The hypocrisy of "putting Thomas in charge of a women's team couldn't be any plainer." But ESPNW's Kate Fagan wrote while the optics of this move "are terrible," some good "could come from this -- if given the chance." Many Liberty personnel "spoke passionately about Thomas' knowledge of the women's game." Former NBAers who went on to coach in the WNBA have "brought with them a spotlight, and some of that light usually spilled over onto the women's game." But the question is whether "leveraging Thomas' name brand and connections" will be "worth the bad publicity" (ESPNW.com, 5/5). Former WNBAer Lisa Leslie said, “It’s all about winning and it’s about putting together the best product. I have zero problem with Isiah Thomas being a part of it.” Leslie: “That organization would be closer to whatever that situation that happened before, they would know what’s best in order to bring him back into that environment and to hire him” (“The Doug Gottlieb Show,” CBS Radio, 5/5). FS1’s Petros Papadakis: "Remember, Isiah Thomas was working for NBA TV. He was already accepted by the NBA. NBA people are fine with Isiah Thomas, otherwise he wouldn't be underneath their brand on TV two or three nights a week” (“Fox Sports Live Countdown,” FS1, 5/5).
