What does James Dolan see in Isiah Thomas? The man who did a terrible job as the President of basketball operations with the New York Knicks and just as bad of a job as the team’s head coach might be returning to some managerial positions once again, if the owner gets his way.

Thomas was recently fired from the head coach position at Florida International University, leading the Golden Panthers to a 26-65 record during his three year tenure at the job. Needless to say, his “big name” didn’t show any kind of influx in rare talent enrolling to the program, and Thomas was always looking toward other, “greater” things, blamed for not being fully focused or competent enough to do a good job with the school.

And now, after another failure is behind him, James Dolan wants to hire the man only he believes in once again. A man who didn’t get the Knicks into the playoffs even once, as a GM or a head coach. A man who Donnie Walsh succeeded and needed two-three seasons to get rid of all the bad decisions, contracts and deals Thomas managed to load on the Knicks during his five year stint, not to mention the costly sexual harassment case in 2006, costing the Knicks $11.5 million.

Thomas himself, at the moment, doesn’t want the job. Why? Not because he can’t do it, but because  he’s not ready to jump back into the NBA just yet. Some say he’s still whispering advice to James Dolan, with no official role on the team. Some say he was involved, to a certain degree, with team affairs during his time at Florida as well. Maybe the decision to let Jeremy Lin go was something he advised Dolan to do, although that is a bit far fetched. Blaming him for everything that goes wrong with the Knicks isn’t realistic. It’s possible, but not realistic.

Sometimes, you don’t need Isiah Thomas to help you make a bad decision. But it seems Dolan is intent on making a few more in the future, and he needs a fall guy to use as the face of the franchise when things go south. Guys with huge egos hate taking the blame on themselves, so someone who’s an easy target like Thomas, who also happens to be some sort of confidant and friend, is a person worth hiring. Just not for basketball reasons, which should be the first aspect of any job interview. Thomas seems to be good for everything but that.