Regular Reader wrote:
I always discounted Bernstein's take on the CBA as his usual biased bs. I had forgotten about the animus between Isaiah as a former Players Association leader and Stern(& his absolute need for control, no matter how petty) though. Buying the CBA seemed like a crazy, longshot idea from a guy I've always thought was pretty clever. Stern may not have played a direct role in the failure (though I expect he did), but even on my least conspiratorial day, I've always felt the NBA was helping grease the skids.
Isaiah's Knicks experience though...
I remember the CBA to be a nearly bankrupt league at the time he purchased them. To hear Bernstein tell it, it was this glorious organization that Isiah ran into the ground. He has been lying about it for years and has used his usual array of dubious (unnamed) sources as a way of perpetuating the lie.
In terms of the Knicks they were a terrible organization that he failed to make better. He signed off on a number of stupid contracts. I think Dolan was responsible for some of that also. Dolan seems like he is interested in winning news cycles and making splashes. He didn't destroy the Knicks as they were shitty when he took over. He didn't improve the team either. Will admit that.
He did his worst job as coach of the Indiana Pacers. He didn't do a good job there given the situation he inherited. Jermaine O'Neal did credit Isiah and Mark Aguirre for his development as a player, which was cool though.