Here's how little the observing basketball world knows about the New York Liberty: Aside from local Detroit coverage of Isiah Thomas' hiring as Liberty team president, mentions of who exactly Thomas would be in charge of were largely ignored, which is surprising, given the history Thomas and the Liberty's current head coach share. In his return to MSG, Thomas gets to be Bill Laimbeer's boss. Laimbeer, Thomas' old Bad Boys running mate, was recently re-named Liberty head coach for the 2015 season.
In an interview with the New York Post, Laimbeer commented on Thomas' hiring. While wouldn't address Thomas' involvement in the 2007 sexual harassment lawsuit that cost MSG $11.6 million, he did acknowledge the negative backlash he's seen the team take in the days since Thomas was announced as Liberty president. He just sounded happy to have his team's name in the headlines.
“The spotlight is on the Liberty—that’s OK by me,’’ Laimbeer said. "People are talking about the Liberty—now it’s detrimental. But people will pay attention—how are they doing, getting better, getting worse. I’m sure some people will want us to get worse. I never ran from that stuff.’’
Despite being found guilty of creating a "hostile work environment" during his days as Knicks team president, Laimbeer's players were upbeat about the prospect of having Thomas around the building.
“It was unanimous that it was a great thing—I spoke with every player,’’ Laimbeer said. “There were a lot of ‘wows’ and ‘that’s so great.’ It was positive feedback across the board. I was wondering what everyone was going to say. I expected a good reaction, but the level of excitement exceeded what I thought.’’
The New York Post notes that Laimbeer's Liberty have missed the playoffs the past two seasons, and average game attendance hovered just below 9,000 fans. According to the report, Thomas convinced owner James Dolan to re-hire Laimbeer in January after his contract was originally not picked-up in October.
Laimbeer may be happy to have a job again, but holy hell is this statement out of his ass:
“James Dolan is involved, talking about us," he told the New York Post. "That’s a great thing for the Liberty.’’
Wow, it's almost like a group of old friends forgot about how terrible they are at their jobs and decided to get the band back together. Time really does heal all wounds—or at the very least, bore people into trying new ways to bullshit other people. Remember: The world hasn't gone crazy. You're fine. It's just that everyone inside of Madison Square Garden is out of their goddamn minds.
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