Today is his last official day under contract as President and General Manager for our New York Knickerbockers.
I think we should all take time out and give the proper respect and kudos to MR. Walsh for helping us get back to a point where only 3 short years ago we never though we'd see.
Thank You Donnie!
Here is an article about his (temporary..maybe) successor, Glen Grunwald:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/sports...
Donnie changed the culture and hired good people in the front office.
Grunwald is a smart dude and experienced. Not a rock star but he is solid. Maybe he is the man.
Donnie is always a tough read. Hope he can consult for some time and keep some input coming.
Larry Bird is done after this season. Maybe he does a stint with INdy again?
In any event Im a fan of Donnie!
He brought us back to respectability. Thanks Donnie. Sucks you are not staying with us.
I thank you for bring back Knicks.
You made me one happy knick fan.
Love Donnie - glad we had him at least for a brief period. He changed the fortunes of this franchise around.
Not sure on Grunwald - there is a lot of heavy spin in that article trying to make him look better than I think he is. He was fired from Toronto and they really slid during his tenure there, he was also an adviser to Isiah and although he isn't considered a loyalist - what happened to the Knicks during that time says it all. Maybe he will do a good job but I am a little concerned.
He came in after one of our worst eras with Isiah Thomas. He came in risking his legacy and image by coming to the worst laughingstock in the NBA. He got a dysfunctional roster of mostly untradeable players and the daunting task of transforming it into a more cap conscious franchise with true stars and balance to compete for the ultimate goal.
As fans we always think we know better and there will always be people who question many of his trades, but the bottom line is undeniable: he brought us back to respectability with his class, cleaned up a huge mess and now leaves us really close to a championship. Donnie Walsh is a true old-school basketball professional that really, without a doubt, saved us from basketball purgatory. We matter mainly because of his excellent job.
To Donnie Walsh, as a hardcore Knicks fan, I thank you for bringing the Knicks back and making me believe again that we can win a championship sooner rather than later. You have been arguably the best story we've had in the last 10 years and if we do taste gold in the next years, you have to be there holding the trophy.
Thanks a lot!
I agree with sentiment of this thread. Donnie brought accountability and common sense and class to an organization that desperately needed it. The Knicks are better for his tenure here, and poorer because he's leaving.
Thanks, Donnie!
OasisBU wrote:Love Donnie - glad we had him at least for a brief period. He changed the fortunes of this franchise around.Not sure on Grunwald - there is a lot of heavy spin in that article trying to make him look better than I think he is. He was fired from Toronto and they really slid during his tenure there, he was also an adviser to Isiah and although he isn't considered a loyalist - what happened to the Knicks during that time says it all. Maybe he will do a good job but I am a little concerned.
He twice had to mop up the mess of Isiah!
A GM that does a good job elsewhere is not assured of continuted success. Bryan Colangeld did a hell of a job in PHX but has strugled in Tor for example.
Many times its unavoidable. Glen had to deal with Vince and ownership issues. Somtimes its the owners who are making the directive and success is not attainable.
Look at how DOlan stepped on Donnie this year? Its more common.
He did have some success in Toronto early on and like I have said before both success and failure are teaching moments that make us more experienced and better. Gm's have unique cicrumstances with each team and each circumstance.
Is he a starphuch glamor pick? Not really. We have enough front office talent for player development and evaluatons in Mark Winkydink, Gabriel and I suppose Houstan. Allan is a sharp guy, a coaches son and one that has been a successful person.
Donnie brought competence and intelligence to the position and succeeded in bringing two star players to the Knicks.
One might be tempted to say that any GM would look good following Isaiah. But that would not be fair to Donnie, who elevated this team by doing what HAD to be done: Cutting the bloat and ushering us through a couple of tough years to get our cap situation back on track. Now phase one is finished and he is moving on. So long, Donnie, thanks for the walnuts. You done a great job here.
This doesn't have enough posts. It deserves more.
I'm really sorry to see Donnie go. It just doesn't make any sense for this man to leave before he had a chance to complete his work. That's life in Dolan's world tho. Just when the team was getting back to respectability they make a classless move. I know Donnie was old and really went thru heck the last 3 years, but now could've been the time when he got to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I really liked his patience tho Dolan didn't let him fully use that to get the best deal. Donnie wasn't perfect, no GM ever is, but he did the best he could do under the circumstances. I only hope this team can continue on the path he laid and that Dolan won't mess up all his good work.
My only regret from this classy regime is that Donnie couldn't somehow manage to talk JimmyDough in to taking up 3rd rate blues full time, and therefore the spectre of The Return of PocketLord still hovers over the franchise...
It was a painful 3 years, but expelling all those years of backed up, IT pus was going to be painful no matter what.
Bye Jamal, Bye Bye Eddy, Bye Jesse James.
Good work, Mr. Walsh.
Dolan is more concerned with putting people on the Catwalk.
nixluva wrote:I'm really sorry to see Donnie go. It just doesn't make any sense for this man to leave before he had a chance to complete his work. That's life in Dolan's world tho. Just when the team was getting back to respectability they make a classless move. I know Donnie was old and really went thru heck the last 3 years, but now could've been the time when he got to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I really liked his patience tho Dolan didn't let him fully use that to get the best deal. Donnie wasn't perfect, no GM ever is, but he did the best he could do under the circumstances. I only hope this team can continue on the path he laid and that Dolan won't mess up all his good work.
That would be like, mathematically impossible, Dolan's affinity for messing up is unmatched.
I'm glad our organization got to experience having such a professional guy as Donnie. I hope that may inspire a level of standard with Dolan, but yeah. Pipe dreams will be pipe dreams.
I do like that Grunwald is the interrim GM considering he was known for being good with the salary cap and we're about to have a whole 'nother CBA in place.
ramtour420 wrote:nixluva wrote:I'm really sorry to see Donnie go. It just doesn't make any sense for this man to leave before he had a chance to complete his work. That's life in Dolan's world tho. Just when the team was getting back to respectability they make a classless move. I know Donnie was old and really went thru heck the last 3 years, but now could've been the time when he got to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I really liked his patience tho Dolan didn't let him fully use that to get the best deal. Donnie wasn't perfect, no GM ever is, but he did the best he could do under the circumstances. I only hope this team can continue on the path he laid and that Dolan won't mess up all his good work.
That would be like, mathematically impossible, Dolan's affinity for messing up is unmatched.
It bears repeating that Dolan ran the Wiz (electronics chainstore in NYC)into the ground, in an era when everyone was starting to spend a ton of money on consumer electronics like digital cameras, home computers and big screen TVs.
Dolan is an idiot. He'd screw up a waterstand in the desert. He's a fool.
:shrugs:
when you think about the fact that the league is showing somewhere between $150M and $350M in losses this year - you wonder how much the other 29 teams miss the massive luxury tax checks the knicks used to cut in the Isiah Thomas era. I believe it was 2008 when the Knicks had a $118M payroll and had to cut something like a $50M luxury tax check to the other owners.
this year for the first time in good knows how long, despite amare, melo and billups on the roster - the knicks didn't pay the luxury tax. think about that. the 2010-11 knicks with amare and melo cost $65M. the 2008 knicks with a bunch of guys who won 23 games and were an embarrassment to the game and new york cost $168M when you count luxury tax. not to mention the lawsuits.
donnie walsh literally saved jim dolan $100M dollars and put an infinitely better product on the floor. and for that, dolan couldn't guarantee walsh's 2011-12 salary at $5M?!??!?! he wanted donnie to take a 60% pay cut??? fuck dolan. i fucking hate this piece of shit clown owner we have. duck folan.
crzymdups wrote:when you think about the fact that the league is showing somewhere between $150M and $350M in losses this year - you wonder how much the other 29 teams miss the massive luxury tax checks the knicks used to cut in the Isiah Thomas era. I believe it was 2008 when the Knicks had a $118M payroll and had to cut something like a $50M luxury tax check to the other owners.this year for the first time in good knows how long, despite amare, melo and billups on the roster - the knicks didn't pay the luxury tax. think about that. the 2010-11 knicks with amare and melo cost $65M. the 2008 knicks with a bunch of guys who won 23 games and were an embarrassment to the game and new york cost $168M when you count luxury tax. not to mention the lawsuits.
donnie walsh literally saved jim dolan $100M dollars and put an infinitely better product on the floor. and for that, dolan couldn't guarantee walsh's 2011-12 salary at $5M?!??!?! he wanted donnie to take a 60% pay cut??? fuck dolan. i fucking hate this piece of shit clown owner we have. duck folan.
amen
crzymdups wrote:ramtour420 wrote:nixluva wrote:I'm really sorry to see Donnie go. It just doesn't make any sense for this man to leave before he had a chance to complete his work. That's life in Dolan's world tho. Just when the team was getting back to respectability they make a classless move. I know Donnie was old and really went thru heck the last 3 years, but now could've been the time when he got to enjoy the fruits of his labor. I really liked his patience tho Dolan didn't let him fully use that to get the best deal. Donnie wasn't perfect, no GM ever is, but he did the best he could do under the circumstances. I only hope this team can continue on the path he laid and that Dolan won't mess up all his good work.
That would be like, mathematically impossible, Dolan's affinity for messing up is unmatched.
It bears repeating that Dolan ran the Wiz (electronics chainstore in NYC)into the ground, in an era when everyone was starting to spend a ton of money on consumer electronics like digital cameras, home computers and big screen TVs.
Dolan is an idiot. He'd screw up a waterstand in the desert. He's a fool.
:shrugs:
Wow, never knew that about the Wiz. No wonder JimmyD loves IT: they've both made executive careers out running things into the ground.
Many CBA managers blamed Thomas for the league's failure, citing mismanagement and out-of-control spending on his part.
