Thomas Takes Charge of Knicks

Mild-mannered Scott Layden, who got four years to bring back the glory that was once the New York Knicks, was fired Monday, when it was clear he hadn’t done that, and was replaced as team president by Isiah Thomas.

Both moves were surprises. The Knicks had just lost eight of 11 games since the ballyhooed return of Antonio McDyess, falling to No. 10 in the East, and local speculation was focused on the fate of Coach Don Chaney.

However, Chaney, who has never been over .500 as Knick coach, is a favorite of Madison Square Garden President James Dolan, who has given him contract extensions in each of his first three seasons.

Layden, meanwhile, was hired in 1999 by Dave Checketts, former Garden president and currently persona non grata, and wound up taking the fall.

“These are tough times right now for the New York Knicks,” Thomas acknowledged at Monday’s news conference. “I wouldn’t be standing here today if things were going well....

“We want to change the situation. We want to turn it around. And we know we don’t have a very long time to do it. Mr. Dolan wants to make the playoffs. I want to win the championship.... The only reason you play is to win the NBA championship, and in my mind, everything else is failure after that.”

By that standard, the Knicks have been failures since 1972-73, when they won their second title in the decade, which was supposed to herald a new age for the NBA.

Instead, their aging team faded, and the league’s renaissance was deferred to the ‘80s, when the Lakers and Celtics, not the Knicks, led it.

The Knicks regained their status as the hottest ticket in town in the ‘90s, under Pat Riley, but fell one victory short of a title in 1993-94 and lost Riley to Miami in 1995. Checketts then elected to try to patch the veteran roster, trying to remain in contention while maintaining profits and furthering his ambition to move from Knick president to the top of the Garden hierarchy.

The team faded annually but, improbably enough, after a No. 8 finish in 1998-99, the Knicks made the NBA Finals after a miracle playoff run under Jeff Van Gundy.

All the while, a battle of wills raged between Van Gundy, a Riley protege, and Checketts, who was close to firing him. When ranking star Patrick Ewing threw his support to his coach, Checketts was obliged to fire his own lieutenant, Ernie Grunfeld, his ally against Van Gundy.

It was Grunfeld’s job in the strife-torn front office that Layden got in 1999.

Layden had done a solid job of rebuilding the Utah Jazz into NBA finalists in 1996-97 and 1997-98, but was soft-spoken and shy, so even though he was a New Yorker, he was a fish out of water running the Knicks, with their rabid media scrutiny.

It became Layden’s job to rebuild an old team that was tens of millions of dollars over the salary cap. He soon lost his sponsor, Checketts, who was pushed out by James Dolan, the son of Charles, the head of corporate parent Cablevision, when James decided to run the Garden himself.

As mandated, Layden made one desperate move after another -- as Checketts and Grunfeld had -- but none worked.

In 2000, Layden traded Ewing in a four-way deal for the Lakers’ Glen Rice, who was given a four-year, $36-million deal.

Rice lasted one season, averaged 12 points and was dealt for Shandon Anderson, who got a contract which has $7.9 million a season left on it through 2006, and Howard Eisley, who got one that’s worth $6.9 million a season through 2006.

The decline became a plummet. The Knicks missed the playoffs the last two seasons, joining the house hockey team, the Rangers, who also haven’t been in the playoffs under Dolan.

Last summer, Layden tried to add size after years of starting three guards and a small power forward, such as Othella Harrington, with Kurt Thomas at center.

However, the new front line of Dikembe Mutombo, Keith Van Horn and McDyess was slow and McDyess, who sat out last season after knee surgery, was predictably rusty.

Of course, Dolan had been predicting and promising something better than 10-18, where they found themselves.

Thomas is sharp and media-savvy but has had trouble finding his niche. He ran the Toronto franchise for its first three seasons, drafting Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady, but left after trying and failing to buy the team, after which all his players were allowed depart too.

Then Thomas coached the Indiana Pacers for three seasons, but they fell apart at the end of the third and he was fired last summer.

However, Thomas had applied for the Knick job when Layden got it in 1999 and someone remembered him.

“You’ve got players right now that are probably a little unsure about what’s happening,” Thomas said. “You’ve got coaches now that are probably a little unsure about what’s going on. My job is to come in and try to calm the waters right now and to give the players and coaches the confidence to go out and play and perform at the level that they’re capable of performing at.”

The level they’re capable of performing at is the problem. Now he’s the one in charge of finding the solution.