League closing doors on Thomas’ iffy return

As the clock ticked down in the New York Knicks’ draft room in late June 2005, Isiah Thomas wanted to choose Pittsburgh’s Chris Taft over Florida’s David Lee. Sources say that all around Thomas front-office elders and scouts begged him to change his mind. No one believed Lee would become an All-Star, an $80 million man, but they knew this: Taft was terrible.

Only one of Thomas’ oldest confidants, Brendan Suhr, had a voice strong enough to sway him. Before the Knicks president finally backed down and submitted Lee’s name to be picked with the 30th selection, Thomas snapped, “You’d better be [bleeping] right.”

As it turned out, they were bleeping right, and Thomas could keep proclaiming himself some kind of talent evaluation guru. He’s running out of material, and out of time to sell it. Thomas keeps talking about turning down NBA jobs, but these are make-believe offers. No one has offered him a job, and he’s gone to great lengths to make sure no one ever will. Thomas isn’t delusional, but desperate. He’s speaking to a one-man audience – Knicks owner Jim Dolan.

Only now, it appears Thomas is losing Dolan, too. Dolan has come to understand the severity of the NBA’s investigation into the Knicks after Yahoo! Sports reported apparent illegal draft workouts under Thomas’ regime, sources say. And Dolan’s been livid over it. Rodney Heard, the Knicks scout at the center of the investigation, was Thomas’ guy all the way, and Heard is still involved with Thomas’ Florida International University program.