“They Hired Him Back?”: When Charles Barkley Took a Dig at Isiah Thomas’ Stint as New York Knicks GM

Isiah Thomas is among the few NBA Hall of Fame players who went on to become NBA General Managers. Zeke applied for his role in Toronto straight after his retirement. But even so, Thomas is remembered more for his time in New York. Thomas’ friend and media personality Charles Barkley had a lot to say when New York bought Zeke back in 2010. Talking about it in his GQ interview, back in 2010, Barkley said,

“Well… I like Isiah. He’s a friend of mine. But he did not do a good job as G.M. And I don’t know what the Knicks are doing. That’s one of those things where you’re like, “They hired him back?” [laughs] I mean, they ran him outta town. Shit, I don’t even know what to say about that.”

Isiah undoubtedly didn’t have the greatest time with the Knicks, as he failed to deliver a single title to the franchise in his five years with them. Starting in 2003, Zeke was heavily criticized by the city’s media, once he failed to deliver within his first few runs.

Things turned sour soon, with Isiah being replaced by Donnie Walsh soon after his 2008 contract expired. Isiah, who was rumored to be returning to the Knicks, was later confirmed to be joining on as a part-time consultant, nothing more.

Zeke’s time with the Knicks

Isiah Thomas is one of the greatest minds in basketball history. A point guard extraordinaire, and a master at manipulating people and their emotions, Thomas had it all to someday, become a Hall of Fame coach. But luck didn’t seem to turn his way, as Thomas would soon crash and burn, being fired from both coaching/GM roles at Toronto and the Knicks.

Though many didn’t expect much from his time with Toronto, his time with the Knicks was an “up and down” experience, that’s how Isiah himself described it.

According to Zeke, the failures he faced at the Garden, weren’t due to a lack of strategy, but a lack of talent. According to him, when he stepped in 2003, the payroll was too high, while the talent wasn’t there to back it. So the first order of business was to let go of the older-higher paid stars, for younger, more athletic, prospects.

But that’s not all, Zeke did manage to find some great players, and he managed to bring them all under one roof. Talking about the same, he said,

“So when I left New York, five guys on that team when I left New York became NBA champions — David Lee, Channing Frye, Trevor Ariza, Matt Barnes and last but not least Eddy Curry.”

Though not without his faults, Isiah did recruit a bunch of great role players and specialists. The 2003 Knicks even made the playoffs but weren’t good enough to even make it past the first round. Even though Thomas did screw up in his time with the Knicks, there is little doubt about his greatness as far as basketball is concerned.