Thomas Comments on Williams’ Waiver

“I spoke with Jerome,” President, Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas said. “He was extremely professional about it. We even spoke about him possibly staying on with the organization, doing some scouting, working in the community alongside John Starks, and also possibly working with MSG.”

“Jerome was a big asset for us in our rebuilding process and was wonderful working with the young players,” added Thomas. “But, clearly, we had a glut at the power forward spot. And we felt at this point in time that Malik Rose, Mo Taylor, Michael Sweetney, and Channing Frye give us a better, more well rounded power forward position in terms of using different players at different times. They can all play a different style of game. The one thing you want to do is to give your coach the opportunity to take advantage of that.”

Though long-injured guard Allan Houston was widely believed to be the number one candidate to be waived under the clause, “I think Allan expects to be playing,” said Thomas. “If anybody knows him, you know he’s working hard. He believes that one day he’ll be back to his original form and we want to give him every opportunity to do that. You never question an athlete’s desire. We have confidence in him and stand behind him as an organization.”

“On one hand, you have to take the view that you have to move on and you have to get better,” said Thomas. “But if Allan can come back to his original form, that would be an added bonus.”

As for possibly adding another player to the Knicks roster -- whether he would be another team’s amnesty casualty or anyone else -- “we always look to improve our team so we’ll beat the bushes and try to find the best player available,” said Thomas. “And that’s true whether it will be a young player who we think might develop into something or a veteran. But if we were to sign a veteran player it would be a guy we’d want to contribute and play right away. We won’t add a veteran player to have just as insurance.”

Given the Knicks salary cap circumstances, “we have to find unconventional ways to find talent,” said Thomas. “We’d like a younger type player who has the ability to add to what we’re building here. We will look at those type of players the same way you’d look at first-round picks.”

“We happen to be working for one of the greatest and best owners in the sport in terms of giving us the resources,” said Thomas. “That’s all you can really ask from your top guy, to give you the flexibility to make the moves you want. That helps a lot, to remove that financial burden. So this was never really a financial decision for us. We are just doing what we feel is best for the basketball team.”

“You’ve heard the mantra before in terms of getting younger and more athletic,” said Thomas. “That’s the type of player we’re looking for, whether he’d be a wing or play up front or in the middle. I have always believed in versatility. You want to be able to move your players around so they can operate in different areas of the floor and be effective. We are looking to have a good quality core of players who are capable of playing multiple positions.”