James Dolan addresses the media about as often as the Knicks win playoff games. Less is more in Dolan’s world, unless you’re talking about ticket prices at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Dolan hasn’t agreed to a question-and-answer session with the Knicks’ traveling media corps since March 12, 2007 when he announced that due to the team’s “significant improvement” and because the Knicks “have grown tremendously” he was rewarding Isiah Thomas with a contract extension.
At that time, the Knicks had a 29-34 record and were in eighth place in the Eastern Conference for a grand total of 24 hours. The bar had never been set lower. Dolan’s Knute Rockne moment so inspired the troops that the Knicks responded by losing 15 of their last 19 games.
John Tortorella probably isn’t well-versed in Knicks history but apparently the Rangers coach knows nonsense when he hears it. Dolan, the chairman of Madison Square Garden, said during an impromptu press conference late Tuesday that his hockey team is close to winning a Stanley Cup.
Tortorella reacted by calling Dolan’s declaration “bull—-.”
You have to love that Tortorella, the NHL equivalent of Stan Van Gundy, isn’t afraid to speak freely. That basically makes him a minority of one at a place where company policy is fear-the-evil media, don’t-speak-to-the-evil media.
Dolan should be proud of his hockey club, which has a legitimate chance to win the organization’s first championship since 1994. But why take a bow in early January? It’s like handing out a contract extension when your basketball team is five games under .500.
It only makes sense to Dolan.
With Tortorella standing next to him, Dolan went out of his way to praise the Rangers’ general manager, Glen Sather, who leads the human race in job security. Tortorella, who is the one fighting in the trenches every day, barely received a mention.
But Dolan has always undervalued coaching and overvalued his beloved “management team.”
Dolan had little use for Jeff Van Gundy but was ultra protective of Steve Mills, Scott Layden and Anucha Browne Sanders. Of the four, none had more to do with the Knicks’ success in the late ’90s than Van Gundy. If you had the choice, which of the four would you like to see return?
Sather plays by Dolan’s rules, including the part about being dismissive of the media. Donnie Walsh, who was rebuilding the Knicks at a record pace compared to Sather’s years with the Rangers, embraced the media and was committed to doing things his way. When Walsh disagreed with Dolan over the Carmelo Anthony trade, his fate was sealed. Within three months, Dolan kicked a great basketball man and a true gentleman to the curb.
And then there is Mike D’Antoni, the lame duck coach and antithesis of Tortorella. D’Antoni, whose Knicks dropped to 6-8 Wednesday night, falling at home to a Phoenix team that had lost five in a row, doesn’t rock the boat. Not with his players and certainly not with upper management.
When it looked as if Dolan had no interest in bringing Walsh back last season, D’Antoni refused to support the man who hired him. True, Walsh had told D’Antoni not get his hands dirty, but the coach should have trusted his gut and said something like, “I can’t imagine Donnie not being back. Look at the job he’s done.”
He needed to say that. But D’Antoni is non-confrontational to a fault. He doesn’t have the appetite to battle management or confront his superstar players when they are mindlessly jacking up shots or not working on defense. Screaming at Toney Douglas only goes so far. Occasionally, holding Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire accountable would send a powerful message.
Give Tortorella credit for doing things his way. If and when he is fired, at least he can say he coached the Rangers on his own terms.
Pat Riley did that here.
So did Van Gundy and even Larry Brown.
Can D’Antoni really say that about himself? The coach is a good man and he’s trying to play by MSG’s wacky rules but he doesn’t have what Sather has: the support of Dolan.
The time to start fighting for himself and his team is long overdue because D’Antoni is being set up as the fall guy. I’m guessing D’Antoni realized that the moment Dolan rejected his request for a contract extension after he led the Knicks to their first winning season since 2000-01.
Significant improvement, as we’ve come to learn, is something only one man at the Garden can define.
