Though it wouldn’t be entirely correct to say there’s no room for old Knicks in James Dolan’s regime —- John Starks and Allan Houston remain gainfully employed — the lack of a role at MSG for Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley continues to rub some the wrong way, particularly in light of Baron Davis’ cushy gig. The New York Daily News’ Stefan Bondy caught up with Oakley while the power forward / fashion plate / chef prepared Thanksgiving meals for the needy yesterday, with the former Michael Jordan wingman claiming he’s “cried and tried” to secure a job with the Knicks.
“They say I’m hard on them. I say, I’m not hard on them; that’s just the way the game goes and people have opinions,” Oakley said. “Ex-players I talk to, they say, ‘Management, they like you. But sometimes it’s the way you say things, the way you do things. I don’t know. I try to keep it simple and up front. I feel like I owe that to the fans with them coming to watch me for 10 years, following me, being a fan of mine. I feel I’m not going to let them down because somebody else wants to say something else. . . . (Dolan) shouldn’t be mad at me because all I did was come before him and play the hardest and the best I could do. I’m going to be a Knick for life, though, no matter what people say.”
Oakley was also critical of the way the Knicks have treated Ewing, who was offered a D-League coaching job instead of the Knicks’ assistant gig given to LaSalle Thompson.
Ewing declined the D-League offer.“That’s embarrassing,” Oakley said. “How can you offer Patrick a D-League coaching job? I think it’s embarrassing. No matter what a person did to you or whatever over the years, his agent or somebody. “That’s Kindergarten. This man has been the coach for 10 years and you’re going to offer him a Kindergarten job. Totally disrespectful. Then you’re going to hire a guy, LaSalle Thompson, that had nothing to do with the Knicks.”