They may not make changes, because they’re still pretty cheap and dysfunctional. But the story that they’re not looking doesn’t ring true.

You are right – the idea has merit when you get past the emotions of ’It’s friggin’ Isiah Thomas!’

The guy is a draft savant. In fact, one of the most amazing things to me has always been that he could spot draft talent so well, but he couldn’t see that Steve Francis or Eddy Curry or Jerome James (to name just a few) weren’t worth anywhere close to the money they were being paid. It’s as if his talent evaluation prowess is binary – player A talent greater than player B talent works great in the draft. But at some point you have to start putting price tags on things. And the irony of trading away draft picks – when drafting is the one thing you do really well – well, that’s just so funny.

The point would now appear to be moot, but the other thing that occurred to me is that Isiah may or may not have been a terrible GM in a vacuum – though we know he was terrible in combination with James Dolan’s money. The simple fact of the matter is that about 27 GMs in the league would not have the option of doing what Isiah did in New York (Dallas and Portland being the other places it could possibly happen). For about 27 NBA teams, even if they stray over the luxury tax line for a season or two, it’s always understood that it’s a temporary situation. (We’ll see what happens with the Lakers and Odom this summer, but I’m guess they let him walk.) The worst decisions Thomas made all had to do with the Knicks long term cap. He would never have been allowed to do those things with the Clippers. Any parent will tell you that kids needs some boundaries to help them make good decisions.

Would Isiah Thomas suddenly become a great GM with a different owner? Probably not. But it’s clear he couldn’t be as bad as he was in New York with Dolan.

He was a great college basketball player, I’ll grant you that. But Joe Dumars carried him in the Pistons backcourt for years. ;)

Go Hoosiers!

Look at Sheridan’s ESPN piece that got the Isiah storm brewing.

Sterling met with Isiah. Dunleavy set up the meeting. Those are the facts that were reported. Everything else was inference.

The story from the Clippers side makes both of those sound like half truths at best. Sterling and Isiah ran into each other. Isiah approached Dunleavy.

But Sheridan is New York based, and of course he’s getting the story from Isiah’s side. Isiah’s people aren’t going to say “yeah, he offered his free services but they said no.” They just want it known that he’d like a meaningful job in an NBA organization.

Bear in mind – Dunleavy and Roeser may be spinning the story to Dillman as much as much as Thomas’ people are spinning it to Sheridan. But then there’s the sniff test. It never made a lot of sense – not even for the Clippers.

(Although, given the desire to do something on the cheap, getting Thomas on New York’s dime might have some appeal.)