With Donnie Walsh Gone, Will Knicks Get Back Together With Isiah?

So much for hell freezing over: Knicks GM and president of basketball operations Donnie Walsh announced today that he is leaving the team. Knicks owner James Dolan released this statement: "Following a long series of discussions regarding his future role with the New York Knicks, Donnie Walsh and I have mutually agreed that he will be leaving his position as president of basketball operations of the Knicks at the end of June. Donnie will remain with the team as a consultant for the 2011-12 season." Right now, every Knicks fan is thinking the same thing: is it just a matter of time until the return of Isiah Thomas? Maybe the Rapturists were right, and this is the start of some kind of hell on earth?

Glen Grunwald, the senior vice president of basketball operations, will serve as interim general manager beginning in July, while the team searches for a new general manager. The move came as a surprise: Walsh had been negotiating a new contact with the organization for the last few months, and multiple players and coaches had said they assumed he'd be back for at least another year, especially after he had laid the foundations for the team's future.

But there were rumblings that Walsh was unhappy with the way the Carmelo Anthony trade went last season, and felt that Dolan had overstepped by getting involved with the negotiations. And earlier this week, there were rumors that Walsh was unhappy with Coach Mike D'Antoni: "Sources close to Walsh claim that the team president has privately questioned whether D'Antoni's system is the right fit for the Knicks."

Deadspin points out a terrifying fact about Grunwald: "Isiah hired him in Toronto and in New York, both times as a right-hand man. But don't read too much into that. For your own sake." Dolan has certainly made no secret of his undying affection for Thomas, who wrought havoc, chaos, sexual harassment lawsuits and Eddy Curry upon MSG during his terrifying Garden reign during the 00s.

On the other hand, maybe Thomas is a changed man, and not the abusive GM of old...people can change, right?