AP Isiah Thomas

After last night's loss to the Golden State Warriors, I think it's a foregone conclusion that New York Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas is not lasting another month. (My official guess is Dec. 8 right before the Knicks begin a three-game homestand). I'm sure owner James Dolan and his number crunchers are doing the math right now and let me say, it's not pretty.

I've never seen the terms of Thomas' contract published, though we know that he was given a mysterious multi-year extension last March. The Knicks, by the way, were an unimpressive 29-34 at the time. The team is 6-23 since the extension.

Here's the main problem from a financial standpoint. Because Dolan and Thomas were in cohoots together on the sexual harassment lawsuit (that cost the Knicks $11.6 million), it's impossible for Dolan to have any just cause for terminating Thomas. That means, at least to start, Thomas is owed his full salary even though these things are often settled.

Add to the tally the fact that if Thomas is fired, the Knicks chance of a successful appeal of the sexual harassment lawsuit goes out the window. Yes, I know, the sexual harassment appeal is supposed to be evaluated on the merits of the case, but just knowing that Thomas would no longer be an employee of Madison Square Garden is enough to hurt the story they tried to tell the first time around. So Anucha Browne Sanders can pretty much start spending that money.

Not even going into player salaries, the amount of money the Knicks have paid coaches in the past four years is astronomical. Add Thomas to Larry Brown, who coaches for one-year at $10 million and get $18.5 million for four years of doing nothing and don't forget, Don Cheney had two years left on his contract when the Knicks fired him in 2004.

Please Bug Me!
As part of its auctions, MLB.com soon will take bids on more than 50 autographed and game-used items from the 2007 postseason. The most interesting item? A can of bug spray that was used in Game 2 of the ALDS between the Yankees and the Indians when the bugs, called midges, attacked. You can see the actual can in the image we have here. The auction begins on Nov. 23 and runs through Dec. 7. I'm guessing it goes for $2,800, but we'll do a poll to see what you guys out there think.

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