New York Knicks

[FAQ]

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Knicks-Thomas reunion against NBA rules ... and a horrible idea

The Knicks, sources say, are going to have a very difficult time getting this hire past NBA officials. Not because it's a stupid idea, but because it's probably against league rules.

The NBA Constitution and By-Laws include very strict prohibitions against team employees having contact with draft-ineligible players –- i.e., high school prospects and college or international players not yet eligible to be drafted. NBA team officials aren't even permitted to utter the names of such players, much less coach them, scout them, or comment about them in press conferences.

The league is "reviewing the agreement, in consultation with the Knicks, for compliance with league rules," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. This being summer vacation time, no heavy hitters from the NBA legal department will have to come home from the beach to render this decision. Any paralegal-in-training will do.

In their carefully worded news release Friday, the Knicks only vaguely defined Thomas' duties by saying he would assist the organization "in various capacities, including player recruitment." But the announcement went astray –- and the hiring potentially ran afoul of league rules –- when it proclaimed that Thomas would "provide valuable insight and analysis of young prospects from around the world" while remaining coach at FIU.

That part of the job description is against the rules, plain as day. NBA guidelines expressly forbid team employees from having any kind of contact with draft-ineligible players, including international players. The rules apply to all "basketball operations staff, coaches or scouts, whether full-time or part-time or whether classified as employees or consultants."

What's more, a person who has worked as a top basketball operations official with an NBA team said the league couldn't possibly allow the Thomas hire to stand for the simple reason that it would open the floodgates to other teams hiring college coaches as consultants. As if the basketball waters aren't already muddy enough.

"I think it's going to blur the line to such a degree that teams are going to say, 'OK it's a competitive disadvantage if we don't have a guy,'" the official said. "So they're going to go get guys, whether they're low-level coaches or whatever. All these teams and executives are going to say, 'Hold on, this is a different message you're sending us.'"

Knicks-Thomas reunion against NBA rules ... and a horrible idea - NBA - CBSSports.com Basketball

[ManWhore]

^^ Grabe gyud diay ka strict aning rules sa NBA.

[Mr. BrokenHearted]

wa man au mo dala og team si isiah oi...

wala pud ko kasabot ngano wala nila gi hatagan contrata anak ni ewing?
payter baya to

maayo ra ba sd to ang anak ni ewing karon naa na ron sa orlando magic naa guroy chance pasynon siya didto kay iya papa assistant coach mn didto heehhe

[icon_king]

hahaha anak ni patrick ewing angay gyud sa knicks

[vcmov_15]

AMARE looking good in his preseason debut at MSG.... 30 points in 3 quarters?? not bad at all...

[FAQ]

Knicks may have circumvented NBA rules

For the past four years, the New York Knicks may have circumvented NBA draft rules by conducting secret workouts of collegiate players throughout gymnasiums in suburban Atlanta, Yahoo! Sports has found.

Knicks director of East Coast scouting Rodney Heard coordinated and conducted the sessions, three players who were involved in some of the workouts told Yahoo! Sports – including one May 2007 session that resulted in a devastating knee injury to Kansas All-American Brandon Rush(notes). A tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in Rush’s right knee forced him to withdraw from the 2007 draft and required surgery plus six months of rehabilitation.

In addition to the Rush session – which was an apparent violation of NBA bylaws forbidding teams from working out players before the annual predraft camp – Heard may have broken more rules by conducting predraft workouts with additional players during restricted time periods in 2007 and for excessive sessions in 2009 and 2010.

• League sources with knowledge of the workouts said Heard trained forward Wilson Chandler for multiple weeks before the 2007 predraft camp. The Knicks went on to draft Chandler with the 23rd overall pick that year.

• DePaul’s Dar Tucker said Heard led two-a-day workouts for him and other players for multiple days before the 2009 draft. NBA rules limit teams to two total workouts spaced three days apart.

• Heard also helped oversee multiple workouts in 2010 for a group of players including Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh and Notre Dame’s Tory Jackson, said Jackson and a college coach who was present at the sessions. The workouts also are an apparent violation of NBA rules limiting the time teams may spend with players before each draft.

Reached Monday, Heard denied being involved in any of the workouts. The NBA said Tuesday it will investigate the allegations.

Rush, now a member of the Indiana Pacers, said he was injured during a workout with Heard at a gymnasium connected to the former home of former NBA player Shareef Abdur-Rahim in Marietta, Ga. Rush had previously maintained that he sustained the injury in a pick-up game in his hometown of Kansas City, Mo. Multiple NBA executives, who researched Rush for the following draft in 2008, and sources in college basketball, the sneaker industry and those close to Rush and Heard said they were aware the injury happened in a workout with the Knicks.

“It was [during] drill work, doing a three-man weave,” Rush said in a recent interview. “I went up for a dunk, came down and that was it. It was a quick pop in my knee.”

When asked by Yahoo! Sports whether Heard was running the workout, Rush replied: “Yeah.”

Sources: N.Y. scout led improper workouts - NBA - Yahoo! Sports

[vcmov_15]

^ pretty serious issues the knicks are involved in... unsa kaha resulta aning ilang investigation

[vcmov_15]

thanks for the win knickerbockers... you scared me towards final minute...

[XyRuz]

sos abi nko peldi nato ang nuggets ai.. bangaa pud ni chandler pag pasa ooe.. c felton pa jud iya gpasahan nalisod au position.. naa jud saun pasahan wla jud gpasa..

[vcmov_15]

bouncing back after a loss to atlanta.... beating the pistons....