AP Source: Knicks Fire Scott Layden

 

By CHRIS SHERIDAN

AP Basketball Writer

Posted December 22 2003, 12:23 PM EST

 

NEW YORK -- Scott Layden was fired Monday as president of the New York Knicks and Isiah Thomas was hired to replace him, a source told The Associated Press.

 

The move comes after New York missed the playoffs the past two seasons with a roster largely assembled by Layden. The Knicks are 10-18 this season, and recent speculation centered on coach Don Chaney possibly losing his job.

 

Instead, the odd man out is Layden, who replaced Ernie Grunfeld in the summer of 1999 after the Knicks were coming off an appearance in the NBA Finals.

 

The team scheduled an afternoon news conference but would not specify what was being announced. An Eastern Conference official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed Layden was out and Thomas in.

 

Thomas has been out of the NBA since being fired over the summer by the Indiana Pacers, where he was the coach for three seasons.

 

"I want to stay in coaching," Thomas told the AP last month. "I enjoy it. I had a great deal of success helping shape and mold young people, making the playoffs with the youngest team to do it in 25 years. I got bit by the bug.

 

"I'll wait for my next opportunity," he said. "I wouldn't rule out college but I prefer the pro game."

 

Thomas' first task with the Knicks will be evaluating a roster with the league's highest payroll and ascertaining whether any of those massive contracts can be moved in a trade.

 

Layden's last major move was the four-team deal that sent Latrell Sprewell to Minnesota and brought Keith Van Horn to New York. The deal has looked tilted in the Timberwolves' favor over the first two months of the season as Sprewell has averaged 17.2 points for Minnesota while Van Horn has struggled, averaging 14.8 points and getting benched for the fourth quarter of several recent games.

 

Prior to the Van Horn trade, Layden's biggest move came on draft night in 2002 when he sent Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson and the Knicks' lottery pick to Denver for Antonio McDyess.

 

McDyess fractured his kneecap in an exhibition game and missed the entire 2002-03 season, finally returning 11 games ago.

 

With the Knicks losing regularly while failing to draw the sellout crowds that were a staple during the 1990s, Layden became a lightning rod for criticism. The anti-Layden feeling was so strong in New York that when LeBron James was selected with the overall No. 1 pick in the draft last June, commissioner David Stern's announcement of the selection was drowned out by a loud chant of "Fire Layden."

 

James Dolan, chairman of the team's corporate owner, Cablevision, notified Layden of the move late Monday morning, the AP's source said.

 

Layden did not answer a call placed to his cell phone.? ? ? Email story

 

Copyright ? 2003, The Associated Press

 

 

Isiah Thomas? how long is he going to hang around this time? does anyone seriously think he can turn the Knicks around

Did anyone seriously think the Heat were going to turn there season around for the better? (Other than LCastillo :thumbup )

best move the Knicks have made in 5 years

Did anyone seriously think the Heat were going to turn there season around for the better? (Other than LCastillo :thumbup )

heeeyy I also rooted for the heat on this board while they were winning... and losing..

Did anyone seriously think the Heat were going to turn there season around for the better? (Other than LCastillo :thumbup )

heeeyy I also rooted for the heat on this board while they were winning... and losing.. Well we all know what he predicted before the season right? :shifty

i think he predicted a deep run into the playoffs. hopefully his prediction will come true (im still not saying it'll happen, just win games and see what happens)

i think he predicted a deep run into the playoffs. hopefully his prediction will come true (im still not saying it'll happen, just win games and see what happens)

Actually he predicted they would go all the way ain't that right Das and LCastillo... :shifty

best move the Knicks have made in 5 years

Why, because he is a big name?

Hiring Isiah is another dumb move by the Knicks organization. Layden may have been dumb and a change was need but Isiah doesn't know how to run a team. That team needs to just scrap every player they have and start over again. Its sad how Layden ran that team into the ground with idiotic trades and draft picks. I the Knicks but I miss the opportunity to them in the playoffs.