I don’t have sources. I don’t know one NBA player. I know one guy who knows RJ, but that’s about it. And maybe I’m naive, but I really don’t think you need sources to draw the conclusion that in the NBA, money talks. The notion that free agents are going to be too turned off by James Dolan to come play for the Knicks just doesn’t jive with me. I can’t prove it from a player’s perspective, since the Knicks haven’t had cap space to sign free agents this decade, but just look at what’s happened with Knicks coaches over the last 8 years.
Van Gundy gets in to a fight with management and quits. Don Chaney gets the job. Don Chaney gets fired and escorted out of the Garden like a criminal. That didn’t stop Lenny Wilkens, a hall of fame coach, from taking the job. Wilkens gets fired, his feelings hurt terribly in the process, because he couldn’t relate to Marbury (who could?). What happens after the usual Herb Williams interlude? The Knicks, after flirting with Phil Jackson, sign Larry Brown, fresh off back-to-back finals appearances, by throwing buckets of money at him (5 years, $50 million). Brown lasts a year and the divorce is painful and messy. Knicks management tried to exert undue control over Brown, mistreating him and throwing him under the bus in the process. In an attempt to finally instill some credibility into the franchise, Dolan makes Isiah Thomas coach the team. Thomas lasts two years as coach and leaves as embarassed or more embarassed than any of the previous coaches this decade.
Ok, so after those 8 lost years, with coach after coach after coach battered and publicly embarassed, who would take this job? Would you believe that there was a list of coaches waiting for it? Mark Jackson wanted it, but Mike D’Antoni was convinced to take it. How? Knicks management offered him 4 years and $21 million dollars. That’s how.
Coaching is a fraternity, but all the mistreatment and embarassment that previous, hall of fame coaches suffered, didn’t keep other highly regarded coaches from seeking out the Knicks job. I suspect the same dynamic plays out with players. I just don’t see a player saying to himself, “Hmmm…the Knicks offered me a $100 million contract and all the City has to offer. That’s tempting, but they hurt Marbury’s feelings, so I’ll stay in Cleveland/Toronto/Atlanta.”
In the NBA, money talks. Everything else is just nonsense.
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