It took New York Knicks owner James Dolan about seven years to answer a question from a basketball reporter since shutting the beats out in 2007, but now it seems like he’s gotten the hang of it. Dolan sat down with Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post to talk about his struggling Knicks, who have gotten out to the same 3-8 start.
In the interview, Vaccaro asked Dolan to compare himself to the average owner, and the only owner he chose was Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov. “I think I’m more patient than Mikhail is of his team,” Dolan said. “Mostly, I think it does not pay to be impatient, because you destabilize your team. It’s not like the players don’t want to win, it’s not like the owner doesn’t want to win; everybody wants to win, so it’s a question of: Can you get there?”
It’s not clear what type of impatience Dolan is referring to. It’s hard to fault Prokhorov for his desire to improve last year’s non-contending team, nor is it easy to fault him for making the moves he made this summer. He also hasn’t made any wholesale changes to his struggling team yet, despite their equally roughs starts. If anything, Dolan’s patience with Isiah Thomas during the 2000s was what led to their ridiculous struggles throughout the decade.
Vaccaro later asked Dolan for his opinion on his crosstown rival owner, and Dolan spoke in generalities:
I don’t get to see him much but he clearly wants to win, which is a good thing. He’s the only guy paying more taxes than we are which is a club I wouldn’t necessarily want to be part of with him (laughs). I think he wants to win, I know he wants to win, he wouldn’t be putting the resources in that he is otherwise. But, I mean, he’s still my competitor. As a person I kind of know him, I’ve had lunch with him but other than that I don’t really know him well.
New York Post — James Dolan dishes on Knicks, Rangers and Isiah
