With Contract Extension Announced, Thomas Looks Forward To More Challenges

“Mr. Dolan told me late last evening, face to face,” the New York Knicks President and Head Coach said of his just-announced multi-year contract extension after practice at the team’s Madison Square Garden Training Center. “Yes, I was surprised. I mean, I wasn’t thinking that way -- I was just thinking about how to beat the next opponent. I feel good that the uncertainty about my professional situation is cleared up. But a lot of work is still to be done. The most important thing is that we keep our team moving forward, that we stay focused, and continue to try to get into the playoffs.”

“I thought that continuing in both jobs was important to the stability of the team,” added Thomas. ”There is a foundation that’s been laid in terms of the style of play and the players in the locker room deserve the consistency and the stability.”

The team, of course, has shown immense improvement since last year, has been making a solid run in spite of an avalanche of injuries, and, for the first time this season, is actually occupying the eighth playoff spot in the NBA Eastern Conference. As the entire roster appears to have solidified behind Thomas -- they unanimously speak of him as “a player’s coach” and an excellent communicator -- could there be a concern that now, with his situation settled, the team might be losing some of that all-essential “edge”? “It’s never been about me,” Thomas shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it. What I try to inspire and motivate the players toward is solidifying and playing together as a team. I don’t think they do that because of me. If they weren’t receiving proper direction and believed in what we’re doing, it wouldn’t matter how much they might like me as an individual, they would have problems with me.”

“I think the guys are playing well because they’re playing well, not because of some sense of saving me. I think my career, my professional life, and my financial life is probably a lot better than theirs. Thus I don’t need a whole lot of saving,” said Thomas.

“So losing their edge, I don’t think that is a concern I need to address.”

“Nobody’s been playing to save Isiah,” star point guard Stephon Marbury concurred. “We’ve been playing to win.”

“I was never so much concerned about job security,” said Thomas. ”It was more about my basketball legacy. When I originally took the job, one of the big questions I had to ask myself was “Okay, if you can’t get it done in New York, it’s not going to be a pretty picture.’ The position the Knicks were in at that time was deemed hopeless. I have just left a team that won 48 games so I knew I would always be able to go back into coaching and get a job. But to put it on the line for a situation that seemed almost irreparable? That was the decision I had to make.”

That decision, of course, now appears more than vindicated. “Well, we still got a long ways to go with this team,” smiled Thomas. “I don’t think we are near where we’re going to be. But I do think we are on the right path. We’ve come a very long way in a short period of time.”

“What happened today is just going to make me work harder,” said Thomas. “I always want to earn what I get -- and I’ve never been given anything in my life or in my career. I also think have a certain responsibility I owe to the game of basketball. There’s a standard that the Knicks have globally -- we want to make sure that we live up to that standard.”

“I want to get it done here,” smiled Thomas. “That was the challenge from day one, why I took the job. Everyone said it was impossible to do it here. There’s a ‘sickness’ inside of me that wants to do it and put up with the torture and everything else that goes along with New York. There’s a sick part of me that I acknowledge in a strange kind of way that likes that kind of challenge. There’s something about me that draws me to that.”

Of all of Thomas’ accomplishments this season, the change in Marbury’s approach to the game and Eddy Curry’s growth have probably been the most important. “I think Isiah has proven that the way he’s going about everything is, well, great,” said Marbury. “Look at the way we’re playing. I’ve gotten a lot better as far as running the team, how to control the team. He’s been through it, he understands the mentality of winning. We’ve all been pulling for him to come back, that’s no secret. Playing for someone who’s won championships and has played on teams that had great camaraderie together in order to win, is very important.”

“This has been much-deserved -- and now we can go on from here,” added Curry. “A lot of us look totally different from what we were last year, both as a team and as individuals. Isiah inspired me by wanting me to embrace the task of being a leader out here. No one has ever asked me to do that before. But he just finds a way to dig down deep inside each person and bring the best out of you. He brings that championship attitude to us. It’s a whole different culture.”

How different? “Making the playoffs is not enough for us,” Marbury shook his head, eyes flashing. “Once we’re there, we want to make a run. We have all of the pieces to do that. And playing against anybody in the Eastern Conference, I think it’s up for grabs.”