Local amateur musician James Dolan is not known for his warm and fuzzy relationship with the press—reporters are more likely than not to say it's miserable trying to report on the Knicks under Dolan's iron fist. But Dolan sat down for a rare one-on-one interview with the Post today to talk about The Eagles. Oh, and he also talked a little about sports, including the current state of the Knicks and Isiah Thomas.

Here's the good news: Isiah's never, ever coming back! Of course, Dolan would love to have him back, but he's afraid Thomas might kill himself or something if he did come back.

Do I think he deserves another shot? Yeah. It just can’t be here. And I think he’s talented. I think he’s particularly talented at finding basketball talent. But I think he’s probably dismayed at this point. But I don’t see him coming back to New York. I couldn’t do that to him, and I couldn’t do that to the organization. He would probably do it as my friend but I couldn’t do it to him or his family. And you know what the press would do here. We’re interested in getting better and that situation would be such a distraction that it would actually hinder our ability to get better.

Considering the fact that Knicks fans and reporters shudder any time there's a managerial change because of the looming specter of the return of Isiah Thomas, which has seemed a foregone conclusion at different points over the past several years, this is progress! Dolan may not want to throw his good friend under the bus, but he is finally acknowledging that there is no way in hell Thomas could ever be an effective manager of the Knicks in this lifetime.

Other tidbits from the interview: Dolan doesn't regret Amare Stoudemire's $100 million deal even though they'll likely only get one productive year out of it. Dolan supports coach Mike Woodson, and still stubbornly believes this current Knicks team can win a championship. He's quietly hired McKinsey & Company, a Manhattan-based global management consulting firm, to "reprocess" both the Knicks and Rangers.

Dolan also thinks he's a better team owner than "nobody" (I shit you not): "They may not like what I’m doing but it’s much better than having nobody there. Nobody there just leaves you in despair." Considering the Thomas years and subsequently disappointing "revival" years, this is highly debatable.

But most importantly, Dolan wants to talk about The Eagles.

MV: How important is music to you? Obviously you have the band [J.D. and the Straight Shot], you’ve been trailing the Eagles, you’ve opened for them. How much of that defines you? JD: You are not what you own. Music is a big piece of who I am. I don’t own music. I create music, and I play it, but I do not own it. So if you want to get to know me, you’ll see music as a big piece of who I am. MV: The Eagles come to you and say, “Come on up and play one song with us.” Which song do you pick? JD: Whoa … I love so many Eagles songs … MV: That’s the curveball question. JD: They start off their show with a song called “Whatever Happened to Saturday Night” … maybe because I haven’t heard it as much as others but I love that song. And it’s just Glenn [Frey] and Don [Henley] sitting on amplifiers, playing guitars and to me that’s how I grew up playing music.

Of course he loves the fuckin' Eagles.