Donnie Walsh: 5 Reasons Forcing Him Out Is One of Dolan's Worst Decisions Ever

When Donnie Walsh arrived in New York to clean up the remnants of the mess left behind by Isiah Thomas, the Knicks barely resembled a team. The shoddy bunch encountered by Walsh upon his arrival comprised of players with bloated contracts only matched by their inflated egos.

However, he assessed the situation properly and came up with a plan, which he felt would get the Knicks back to being a team that could become relevant in the playoff picture and achieve its ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship.

With patience, Walsh began to clean up the rubble and rebuild the confidence of the Knicks franchise and its fanbase. He did so by first signing Amar'e Stoudemire, and then obtaining Carmelo Anthony. Although his hand was likely forced to obtain the latter too early, that will never be confirmed, but is hard to deny with James Dolan's antics being well documented.

A couple of days ago, news that Walsh would not return saddened and terrified all of Knickerbocker Nation. Fans began to wonder, why isn't he coming back? Is it his health? Is it Dolan's ego? Or could it be that Dolan's egotistical mindset and need to control were worsening Walsh's health status? And the most pressing question of all: Does this mean Isiah Thomas is coming back?!

While none of these questions will likely be answered, it is probable a combination of Dolan's arrogance and need to put his two cents in where it isn't needed, pushed Walsh to make the final decision that he was not willing to return, as Walsh likely does not have the strength and energy to argue with an irrational person like Dolan anymore.

The bottom line is, in a relatively short amount of time, Walsh made the Knicks relevant again and even gave fans enough hope that they could become contenders in another year or two. Dolan has made some ignorant decisions before, such as hiring Isiah Thomas in the first place, and then becoming best friends with the same aforementioned man who made his franchise crumble.

This decision proves that Dolan sees the Knicks as a toy, a rich man's play thing and sadly nothing more. If he cared about the team's well being, he would keep Walsh on and give the man full control over the team's basketball operations until he wanted to retire, and let him finish the job he started, which seemed nearly impossible to repair until he applied his well-thought-out plan to it.

Without further ado, I give you the reasons why this decision will likely haunt Dolan terribly, as Donnie Walsh is one of a kind and will be extremely hard to replace.

5. Firing Walsh in This Manner Will Sever Ties with His Potential Replacements

While it may not be leaked out into the public what truly happened behind closed doors between him and Dolan, long-time Knicks fans can speculate and assume that it likely wasn't a happy ending or "mutually agreed" as Dolan phrased it.

The thing important to remember about Walsh is he is highly respected and has been in the NBA for a very long time, and over that time he has accumulated a lot of contacts that would be useful to the Knicks. 

It's safe to assume that Walsh will likely talk to some of his potential replacements, since some of the people the Knicks contact will likely be off of the possible replacements listed by Alan Hahn and Frank Isola. Replacements such as Mark Jackson, Kevin Pritchard and even Chris Mullin will likely steer clear of working under the belligerent Dolan.

Someone will replace Donnie Walsh, but don't expect that person to have experience or connections that could've helped the Knicks develop even quicker as a franchise. Since Dolan will be doing the choosing, Walsh's replacement may come from within the Knicks organization. Even if Isiah doesn't return, the former Knicks player Allan Houston may succeed Walsh, which could be disastrous as Houston's inexperience could make him a puppet of Dolan's fairly quickly.

4. Walsh Knows How To Handle the New York Media Properly

Handling the New York media is no easy job and, much like the general manager position of the Knicks, Donnie Walsh proved it is 24-hour task.

Walsh had a way of dealing with the media, which showed his experience. He would tell them enough to keep them at bay, but never say too much.

The Knicks fanbase will miss Walsh in this respect as well, since he always seemed to give Knicks fans a preview of what the next step of his grand plan was, even if he didn't spell it out completely.

It is also worth noting that, while Dolan is likely to blame for Walsh's departure, Walsh may not be healthy enough to take on the general manager position in New York, because you always have to make yourself available to the media and ultimately have no privacy. At 70 years old, the combination of dealing with Dolan's brainless banter on top of the swarming media may have been enough for him to leave from the job.

3. Walsh Has the Respect of His Players and Stubborn Head Coach Mike D'Antoni

Walsh always developed a good reputation with his teams and coaching staff throughout his tenure in the NBA due to his ability to make all the right moves and be approachable and level, and his stint with the Knicks was no different.

He has become humble enough to realize that no one knows more about the players the team should acquire than the players themselves. He was at the point of having Amar'e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups all in on the trade talk to help the team move in the right direction, and the ability to humble himself enough to ask the advice of others is commendable.

However, his biggest impact, had he been extended, would have been on coach Mike D'Antoni. He had D'Antoni already agreeing to hire a defensive assistant coach, to balance out the Knicks attack, as opposed to having them be a one-way team, only focusing on the offensive side of the floor (D'Antoni's specialty).

Getting D'Antoni to do this is notable because he already refused the hiring of Tom Thibodeau in Phoenix and Thibodeau led the Bulls to the top record in the NBA this year, so we see how well his stubbornness served him with the Suns.

The point is Walsh had a very amicable relationship with D'Antoni and was able to get him to agree to making coaching decisions, which others have not been able to do. With Walsh leaving, D'Antoni may not be far behind him. While D'Antoni certainly has his flaws, leaving Dolan the choice to choose the next head coach means the Knicks could do a lot worse than having the fiery Italian lead the team into battle.

2. Walsh Deserved To Finish the Job He Started in New York

Walsh was responsible for getting the Knicks back to the playoffs and having enough wherewithal to ink Amar'e Stoudemire instead of waiting on LeBron James, which we can see in hindsight would've left the Knicks with no one.

Then a year later, he was able to acquire one of the best scorers in the NBA in Carmelo Anthony, although speculation is that Dolan forced Walsh's hand to pull the trigger on the deal early, which forced the Knicks to overpay for him. Walsh's thought process seemed to be that if they waited until the summer they could've signed Carmelo outright while keeping the young core in place. And if they didn't land 'Melo they would still have a young team with which they could build upon.

Unfortunately, I could imagine Dolan acting impatiently, telling Walsh to get the deal done immediately. This is likely the first sticking point where Walsh started to question his own authority with the Knicks. Since it was mentioned that he wanted full control over the team's basketball decisions, it is highly plausible to believe that Isiah Thomas reared his ugly head here as well, and directed Dolan to force the deal. This is all pure speculation, but sadly all very likely.

1. Firing Walsh Opens the Door for Isiah Thomas To Have a Larger Role Again

In the last couple days, Isiah Thomas has said, "I have no desire to return as president of the Knicks...I'm not a candidate to replace Donnie." There is still a nauseous feeling that all Knicks fans feel even if he stays as a consultant with the team, because then the door will always be open for him to have an impact even if he doesn't have the title attached to his name.

This was the dooming statement that sent Knicks fans back into the crestfallen state of mind they were in when Isiah Thomas was busy annihilating the Knicks roster. He overpaid overweight players, with hopes that they would eventually get into shape and become the next Shaquille O'Neal. Yes, Eddy Curry and Jerome James, I'm talking about you two.

The logic behind every move Isiah made was so flawed. He became notorious around the NBA for being a legendary player when on the court, but clearly missed the point after he retired.

Walsh became the voice of the Knick fan, standing up to Dolan and calling him on his mistakes when he was wrong. Walsh came in and became the lifeboat for a team that was drowning in narcissism and greed, and rescued the players who had potential to contribute, while dismissing the ones that no longer had a place on the team.

He ushered in a new regime, which injected hope and excitement back into Knicks basketball. All the fans want now is someone who can come in and finish the job Walsh started. He will have one more month as team president and general manager, and then remain as a consultant for the Knicks next season to make things seem like they ended on good terms. Longtime Knicks fans know what really happened even if it never gets leaked out by the media.

While it is disheartening and downright infuriating to see Walsh leave in such a detestable manner, we have to thank him for being the silver lining in Dolan's dark cloud that has become the Knicks franchise, making us remember what New York Knicks basketball is really about. All we can hope for is that someone will come in and finish what he started, and pray that it is not Isiah Thomas.