Besides the possibility/inevitability of Isiah Thomas being reunited with James Dolan in an official capacity (besides, y’know, guitar tech) , what could be standing in the way of Knicks team president Donnie Walsh facilitating Chris Mullin’s return to New York in the role of General Manager? While the New York Post’s Peter Vecsey promises the new-look Stoudemire/Felton/Mozgov squad “is the first Knicks team in his three years Walsh can call his own and he likes what he sees”, whether or not the veteran hoops exec will be around for a fourth campaign remains a huge question mark.
it’s reasonable to deduce Walsh recognizes it wouldn’t be fair to the key parties if he signed someone significant whom a successor — I suspect we all know who has long been boxing out for that position — would be obliged to inherit.
In other words, James Dolan is not opposing Mullin’s employment simply because Walsh is not asking for authorization. And that will never happen, obviously, unless Camp Cablevision’s commander exercises Walsh’s fourth-year option.
I think Walsh officially put his signature on a Knicks document April 1. Therefore, it’s practical to presume Dolan must decide by then whether he’s convinced Walsh’s master plan is effectively progressing and Walsh is well enough (getting around the world efficiently in a walker these days) to continue to oversee the overhaul . . . or re-transfer his support to Thomas, whom he’s obsessed with helping.
I realize Nyets owner Mikhail Prokhorov had a dissimilar approach last summer regarding unsigned team president Rod Thorn, but if Dolan trusts Walsh enough to keep him in charge of the draft and the recruitment of coveted mercenaries, you’d think he would insist on locking him up for another year (or two?) before allowing him to attend to such critical commerce.