New York Knicks look for New Day in the NBA with New Head Coach Isiah Thomas

Will the New York Knicks be any different with Isiah Thomas now as Knicks head coach?

A whistle dangled at the end of a blue lanyard near Isiah Thomas' rib cage, where a stylish silk tie normally rested. The pressed Italian suit was gone, too, replaced by a black warm-up shirt and shorts, each adorned with a Knicks logo.

Thomas may be working under a one-year ultimatum, but he seemed perfectly happy to be in charge of his own fate.

After five days of coaching the Knicks' summer-league team here, Thomas was upbeat in his first interview as head coach.

''It feels good to kind of get back on the bike and start riding,'' said Thomas, who had not coached since 2003, with Indiana. ''I'm pretty enthusiastic myself. I love basketball and I really am in love with the game. It's a great game. I don't make it any more than it really is.''

The task for now is simple: Prepare the Knicks' two recent draft picks (Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins) and prod last season's three rookies (Channing Frye, Nate Robinson and David Lee).

The hard part will come in the fall, when Thomas will have to establish a lineup and a rotation and turn the Knicks into something they had no hope of becoming last season, a playoff team.

Thomas carefully avoided making any comparisons between himself and Larry Brown, who was fired last month after one season as head coach. Thomas also refused to offer any definition for ''significant progress,'' the standard that James L. Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman, said was necessary to save Thomas' job.

''My goal is to get to the playoffs. As a coach, I want to be coaching a playoff team,'' said Thomas, whose Pacers teams made the playoffs in each of his three seasons.

''That will be our thought from Day One, and that's what we'll push them towards. Come April, we want to be still lacing them up.''

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