Frank Isola's report from overnight follows up on those rumors about Isiah Thomas and James Dolan meeting in their business suits. Isola suggests that Dolan may, indeed, wish to hire Isiah back into the organization, but that perhaps Isiah is reluctant to get back into things so soon and risk a massive backlash. (If this is the case, then 1. Good. 2. Pretty impressive that Isiah's managed to gauge his own notoriety yet Dolan still doesn't get it). Fine.
Buried somewhat in the Isiah stuff is this bit of insight into the present business of the Knicks' front office:
There are two basketball positions available in the Knicks organization. The club is looking to hire a D-League head coach, and Woodson is looking to add an assistant. Thomas is not under consideration for the latter. In fact, LaSalle Thompson, Woodson’s former teammate with the Kings, is a leading candidate to replace Kenny Atkinson, who was recently hired by the Atlanta Hawks.
Isola states outright that Isiah is not a candidate for either of those positions, nor is he up for Scott O'Neil's old job. Good to know.
Meanwhile, I either missed or forgot that Jay Larranaga left the BayHawks a couple weeks ago to be an assistant with the Boston Celtics. A transition from Knicks D-League coach to Knicks assistant coach would have seemed more natural, but I suppose it's unlike the Knicks to obey the laws of nature. Thompson, meanwhile, isn't someone who's been around the league much for the last few years, though he did serve as a Bobcats assistant coach under Larry Brown back in 2008. Everything is connected. I don't know what Thompson would bring to the team (besides an excellent first name that I quite fancied as a seven year-old studying the 1996-1997 NBA register), but hopefully it'd be enough to fill the shoes of Atkinson, who was well regarded for his grasp of analytics and commitment to developing young players.
Meanwhile, I've seen nothing about the Erie vacancy in the weeks since Larranaga left. If they're interested, though, I'm relatively free, I can relocate, and I once taught a gaggle of eight year-old summer campers how to do the Antoine Walker shimmy, so I've got relevant experience. Just hit me up at wiGgLyTuFf69xoxo@hotmail.com. Thanks!