Did Isiah Thomas OD on Sleeping Pills?

On Friday, The New York Post and WCBS-TV in New York reported that Isiah Thomas was hospitalized for a drug overdose. Thomas and his family have denied the reports. But Fox Sports reports:

"Harrison (NY) police said Thomas was taken to White Plains Hospital Center after police and an ambulance were summoned to his Purchase, N.Y., home after midnight following a 911 call.

Thomas denied being taken to the hospital when reached on his cell phone by The (New York) Post."

More (via Fox Sports):

"Police said a 47-year-old man was taken to the hospital and treated for an accidental overdose of sleeping pills at Thomas' home.Harrison Police Chief David Hall told the New York Daily News that the victim had consumed about 10 Lunesta sleeping pills.

'He was unconscious, but breathing on his own,' Hall said.

The Associated Press quoted Hall as saying it was not a suicide attempt: 'We're classifying it as an accidental overdose of prescription sleeping pills.'"

D'Antoni to the Knicks

Mike D'Antoni has left Phoenix to become the Knicks' new coach.

The New York Post cites a source close to D'Antoni:

"According to a member of Mike D'Antoni's inner circle, the Sun marquee fast-break guru verbally accepted a four-year, $24 million offer Saturday morning, beating out (Chicago)."

Knicks: Isiah Thomas Out

This afternoon, the Knicks announced that Isiah Thomas' reign over the franchise has officially come to an end.

The only question that Drive and Dish would like to ask is the same question that Knicks fans have been asking today: What took so long?

Obviously, Isiah must have had "pictures" on Knicks owner James Dolan. After all, it's widely known that Mr. Dolan has battled his share of demons over the years.

And based on his obliviousness to Mr. Thomas' stunning ineptitude, one is left to wonder if Mr. Dolan's drug and alcohol problems have resurfaced. What else could explain the impaired judgment on his part that permitted Isiah to keep ruining his franchise, year after year?

Mr. Thomas has ruined every franchise that he's been allowed to run (or, more appropriately, run into the ground). He did it in Toronto, he did it when he coached Indiana, he did it when he bought the Continental Basketball Association (which he bankrupted) and, finally, he did it with the Knicks.

But if history is an indicator of future events, Isiah will -- no doubt -- resurface yet again. And, once more, he'll ruin whichever organization he gets his hands on.

More:

KnickerBlogger notes the timing of Isiah Thomas' firing:

"(Knicks owner James) Dolan showed a good understanding of the New York press by making the decision public on Friday at 5pm. Most people are either on their way home to their family or having happy hour drinks at their local pub with the music pumping. By Monday morning no one is going to remember that Isiah Thomas was fired. The mere mention of Thomas’ name draws laughs and criticisms, and this was a good way to minimize the number of people that are going to sit around the water cooler and bad mouth the organization."

And The Wall Street Journal's Market Beat Blog notes that today's stock market rally coincided with the date of Isiah Thomas' firing (and it also traces the market's volatility to the start date of Thomas' coaching tenure with the Knicks):

"It’s tempting to think the gestation of the current market malaise began on July 22, 2006, the day the New York Knickerbockers named Isiah Thomas head coach of the team, but it’s too much of a stretch. Similarly, it’s too much of a stretch to suggest that today’s rally has anything to do with reports that Mr. Thomas is done as Knicks coach after a 56-108 tenure, during which time shares of Cablevision Inc., which owns the Knicks, rose a meager 4.9%. Then again, when one considers that Mr. Thomas’s first game as head coach of the Knicks took place Nov. 1, 2006, well, Cablevision is down 18% since then, which when compared to the performance of the New York pro hoops squad, doesn’t seem too terrible. The real question for management now is this: since nobody else wants them, are Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry eligible to be exchanged for Treasury securities at the Federal Reserve’s discount window?"

NBA Teams Stock Up on Veterans

P.J. Brown is back in the league. Yesterday, the 6' 11", 240 pound Brown (who had previously been out of the league this season) signed with the Celtics.

Brown attributes his decision to play for the Celtics to the urging of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen:

"They just pulled me over and said, 'Man, we'd really love to have you on the team,' " said Brown before last night's game against the Cavaliers. " 'With your experience, we think you can help our young guys and add some stability to our team. As a player, we still think you can play. Your defense and rebounding fits in with what we're trying to do."

And P.J. Brown isn't the only veteran big man who has caught on with a playoff bound NBA team in the last couple of days. Jamaal Magloire just joined the Dallas Mavericks.

According to the 6'11", 265 lb. Magloire, the decision to go to Dallas was easy:

"I've admired the team and the organization," he said. "I had a chance to come here and jumped at the opportunity. I've worked tremendously hard, even not playing in New Jersey. I'd be the first one in and the last one to leave and I hope I'm able to show that out on the court.

"Everything pointed in the right direction. There were other teams, but I thought this was the best fit. What also made the decision easy is this is a team that does have an opportunity to win a title. And to be a part of that is special."

And the Detroit Pistons are looking into the possibility of bringing back veteran forward Dale Davis:

"Former Piston Dale Davis could re-sign with the Pistons as early as Thursday, according to his agent.

"We're in pretty serious talks with them," said Chubby Wells, Davis' agent. "We hope to have something done soon."

Davis needs to sign with a team by the end of this week in order to be eligible for the playoff roster.

"He'll be signed in time for that," Wells said."

Every year, playoff bound teams look to add playoff tested veterans, especially big men. Don't be surprised to see a few more late additions to teams before playoff rosters have to be set.


On A Side Note:

Isiah Thomas has indicated that Stephon Marbury may have played his last game as a Knick. According to the New York Daily News, Thomas told reporters:

"Going into next season, we're still going to need another guard," Thomas said. "There's certain things that Nate (Robinson) and Jamal (Crawford) are extremely good at, but to have them do it for 48 minutes a night, you still need a third guard to kind of come in and help with some ball-handling and do some other things. And Fred (Jones) has done a good job. But we need to get better back there."

When asked if Marbury could be that guard, a suddenly nervous Thomas replied: "Let's talk about the Bobcats. Can I get a question about the Bobcats?"

Marbury is out for the season after undergoing ankle surgery. But Isiah has told him to stay away from the team:

"Marbury, who has appeared in just 24 games, decided to have season-ending ankle surgery last month. He no longer attends games and, according to one team source, Thomas has told Marbury to stay away.

Marbury will earn $22 million next season, his final year under contract."

Not that Marbury is likely to be too upset about not having to play for the rest of the season. After all, since he's recovering from ankle surgery, he's probably enjoying having a legitimate excuse for hanging around the crib all day, high on drugs (prescription painkillers, of course).

Aww hell, who are we kidding? It's not like Marbury actually needs Vicodin or Oxycontin. That cat smokes more weed than Snoop Dogg.

Stephon Marbury is one of the most perpetually blazed dudes in the league.

Check out this video of an obviously baked Marbury appearing on the local sports show, "Mike'd Up," on NBC Channel 4 in New York.

The video is kind of long (about 9 minutes), but it's well worth watching it all the way through. The weed seems to kick in harder as the interview unfolds. By the 5 minute mark, he's clearly losing it. By the 8 minute mark, he's really, really fkuced up.

But the most amazing part of the video isn't Marbury's obvious altered state, but rather the amazing professionalism displayed by the show's host (especially when confronted by Marbury's erratic behavior near the end of the segment).

Knicks Fans Protest Isiah Outside Madison Square Garden

Today, Knicks fans staged a protest rally outside Madison Square Garden to demand that the Knicks fire Coach/General Manager Isiah Thomas.* Most of the protesters carried signs. Someone brought a giant pink slip. The national media had it blanketed. It was a top headline on ESPN.com. And it was big news on ESPN radio. It was an AP headline. Shepherd Smith reported it breathlessly on the Fox News Channel.

But at Drive and Dish, we have one question: WHO CARES?

There's no question that Isiah Thomas has failed with the Knicks. And, as such, it's not surprising that Knicks fans want to run him out of town. Frankly, I couldn't believe that Knicks fans tolerated Isiah as long as they did. Isiah was initially popular in New York. And while I thought the coterie of Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Jamaal Crawford, Jalen Rose and Eddy Curry was a train wreck waiting to happen, most Knicks fans were ecstatic about the amount of supposed "star power" that Isiah was assembling. In fact, if you listened to Knicks fans and the national media (which are often one and the same), the Knicks were a dynasty-in-the-making.

But now, after years of ineptitude, Knicks fans have finally had enough. OK. But it certainly took them long enough to figure out that Isiah isn't the best guy to run that franchise: Just as he wasn't the right guy to run the NBA franchises in Toronto and Indiana. And he wasn't the right guy to run the Continental Basketball Association (which went bankrupt while under his stewardship).

But this shouldn't be national news. The Knicks are a bad team. Bad teams' fans often campaign for the team to fire the coach ... and the General Manager. That's extremely common in the world of professional sports. It's also common in college sports (ask Kentucky fans -- they ran Tubby Smith out of town last year, now they want to run Billy Gillispie [Smith's replacement] out of town). Hell, it's not even uncommon for high school fans and parents to try to get the coach canned.

The only reason this is such a big news story is because it's happening in New York, and because the team at the center of the controversy is the Knicks. Believe me, fans of under performing teams want to get rid of their teams' coaches in every corner of the globe. When the Green Bay Packers don't win the Super Bowl, their fans want the coach fired. That happens almost every year. Similarly, nearly every July, Cubs fans start to clamor for the manager's scalp. And just this summer, the coach of Pakistan's national cricket team was killed after a Paki loss.

But it's New York. It's the Knicks. So it's big news.

Whatever.

* - Click on the box titled "Discussion Board" under the photo of the protesting Knicks fans in the linked NY Post article, then scroll down and read the comment by "Costa in Greektown" -- I know Costa and I agree with his comment 100%.


By the Way:

This protest comes on the heels of the Knicks ejecting a fan from his seat for carrying a "Fire Isiah" sign at the Knicks game the other night. Apparently, Knicks fans are really, really mad at Isiah now.

What took them so long?

Washington Wizards Honor Earl "the Pearl": Can You Dig It?

Last night, the Washington Wizards honored former Knick and Baltimore / Washington Bullet Earl "the Pearl" Monroe, the man whom Washington Post Columnist Mike Wise said "changed the culture of the game (basketball)."

Wise says that although young people think that "improvisation and creativity started with Michael and now resides on an AND1 bus," Earl "the Pearl" was holdin' it down before "Jordan or LeBron's mother were born."

Unfortunately, most people don't know much about old school basketball. If you don't know about "Earl the Pearl," or old school basketball in general, read the article and take notes.