James Dolan Back with a Vengeance

Pouty James Dolan & Johnny McEnroe via SportsonEarth.com

When James Dolan told General Manager Steve Mills, Coach Mike Woodson and his staff that he expects this year to end with a parade in the Canyon of Heroes I can imagine their faces resembled a deer staring into the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. Whether Dolan was fed up with all the praise that Mikhail Prokhorov and the rival Nets have been getting over the offseason or he is genuinely tired of mediocrity like the rest of the fan base is still up for debate. What is not up for debate is that the Knicks roster as it stands today does not  look like a championship caliber team.  This is no fault of Woodson who is the best head coach the Knicks have had since Jeff Van Gundy, but the fault of owner James Dolan himself. Going all the way back to the hiring of Isaiah Thomas and the preceding disaster that knocked the franchise back a decade This is the same owner who promoted Dream Week to fans, a week where the best players in the league like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony would come to the Garden and wipe the floor with the home team. The same owner who gave the fans the pipe dream that Lebron James will be in a Knick in 2010 only to miss out and  give Amar’e Stoudemire a $100 million guaranteed contract as a consolation prize all the while the whole world knew his knees could shut down at any moment.

Dolan’s heart is in the right place, but it is clear that his decision making is not.. The firing of Glen Grunwald who did a tremendous job building last year’s team in favor of Steve Mills was a disturbing move. Now Dolan expects this Knicks roster to win a championship. I can hear LeBron James and Dwyane Wade laughing from South Beach. Now while every owner should expect that from his team why not come out last year and say that? As it stands now, last year’s roster was considerably better than this year’s squad. On top of that the Knicks did virtually nothing in the off season besides drafting Tim Hardaway Jr. and adding Andrea Bargnani. The only person Dolan should be furious at is himself for not letting his basketball guys handle basketball operations. My advice for Dolan is to keep quiet, give these players time to get a feel for each other and show Anthony that this franchise is dedicated to winning.