Isiah Thomas' presence continues to overshadow Liberty, WNBA

Brittany Boyd sat alone in the New York Liberty locker room Friday night during media availability time, just minutes from making her professional debut in an 82-73 win against the Atlanta Dream at Madison Square Garden.

According to Jim Dolan, chairman of the Liberty, the Knicks and everything else under the Madison Square Garden umbrella, his decision to hire unrepentant Isiah Thomas, found to have sexually harassed Anucha Browne by a jury in 2007 and unapologetic ever since, would draw publicity to the team.

Or as Thomas put it to the New York Times last month, "Everyone will have their questions for me. I hope that they also look at our players."

But as Boyd prepared to show an enthusiastic crowd at Madison Square Garden the kind of athleticism supposedly missing from the women's game, she told a lone reporter about what she believed would bridge the gap between the crowds at NBA games and for the WNBA, which draws about half of the men's league, to enjoy the stars across the WNBA landscape.

"I think people just have to watch," Boyd said quietly. "And by watch, I mean more televised games, more people are exposed to it. And that's what they'll be able to see."

But the large number of media members on hand Friday night gathered instead in the press conference room, where Thomas himself made an appearance before the game — not Boyd, or star center Tina Charles, or even coach Bill Laimbeer. The Liberty drew more than 8,900 fans per game last summer, so this is hardly a team without a fan base interested in the show, absent a sideshow.

So even judged by the supposed parameters of the team's own odd gambit — come for the unapologetic sexual harasser, stay for the enlightened women's basketball — their actions on Friday were incomprehensible. And they didn't work.

At 4:09 PM, a little more than three hours until the Liberty season tipped off, Madison Square Garden released a statement responding "to the Women's Sports Foundation", which had initiated an online petition asking the WNBA to deny Thomas the job of president and part-owner of the Liberty. (The WNBA's Board of Governors currently has a six-person committee studying the matter).

The statement read: "The Women's Sports Foundation has continued to rely on erroneous and exaggerated media reports regarding Isiah Thomas and MSG. They are misinformed. In fact, the case was never concluded.

"Anucha Browne Sanders voluntarily dismissed her complaint. Ms. Sanders accepted that MSG and Mr. Thomas did not admit guilt or concede any wrongdoing. MSG agreed to forego any additional legal action and agreed to a payment covering past and future salary and legal expenses. Isiah Thomas did not pay anything."

The statement wasn't dissimilar to the one MSG issued the day Thomas' hiring was announced last month, a collection of easily disproven half-truths that forced Browne and her lawyer to clarify what is a matter of public record. But the arrival of the statement, just before the opening tip of the Liberty, functioned as the clearest proof that whatever Dolan has in mind with hiring Thomas, the well-being of his team of professional women's basketball players is not part of the plan.

Thomas answered plenty of questions during a 10-minute media availability that guaranteed virtually every story written about the Liberty Friday night would begin and likely end with him.

When asked point blank why MSG would issue a statement about the seven-year-old sexual harassment settlement hours before the Liberty's season began, Thomas replied without apparent intentional irony, "I hope you cover their stories as well as you cover mine. I hope you go in the locker room before the game. They have interesting stories also. That's what this is really all about. I'm not here to talk about the past." When pressed about the timing of the statement release, Thomas repeated, "Hey, I'm not here to talk about the past, the statement speaks for itself", presumably referring to what had happened roughly three hours earlier.

And when asked about those outside protesting his presence, Thomas replied, "If you have Liberty basketball questions, that would be great."

He's not wrong about the interesting stories. Boyd electrified crowds at Cal, and her style of play mirrors her irrepressible energy off the court. And as all of New York desperately hopes the Knicks can find a center, a legitimate one already plays her games at The Garden in Charles. It is her belief that if WNBA players are promoted as people, the audience will grow.

"As some people know, I have a foundation, Hopey's Heart Foundation, which promotes sudden cardiac arrest prevention," Charles said before the game. "Maybe not a lot of people know that I've been able to get the Euro League to change its policy to add AEDs (Automatic External Defibrilitors) courtside. So maybe if you get to know us as people, you can relate to us ... if you allow (teams) to promote your players on the personal side, a lot of people can relate. Because we're humans, too. Not just athletes."

And the former national champion at Connecticut injected a dose of realpolitik into how she viewed the entire controversy, when asked whether it could open some eyes to what she and her teammates can do.

"Well, that's how it's always been for women," Charles said. "Some people just see it as, we're women, that's it. Other things need to happen to draw that publicity. I mean, we've been doing this for years. I think this is our 19th season."

But surely there can be other ways to draw more fans to the WNBA, short of hiring the only NBA executive in recent memory who a court found had created a hostile work environment while making repeated sexual overtures to her, and has failed to apologize since.

At least, that is the argument put forward by Nevin Caple, executive director of Br{ache the Silence and self-professed longtime fan of the league, which led a protest of a few dozen outside the front entrance of The Garden Friday night.

"We are here today, not only to ask Isiah Thomas to apologies for his role in creating a hostile work environment for Anucha Browne, but also issue a public apology to Anucha Brown and all women in sports for the racist and sexist comments that he has made," Caple told reporters just before Friday's tipoff, wearing a shirt reading "I am Anucha Browne." "He's not even trying to just ignore it. He's out there trying to deny the situation. And that's what's most alarming."

In the meantime, many media members present at Friday night's game expressed the likelihood they wouldn't be returning for Game 2. When the game was over, Liberty coach Bill Laimbeer referred to the distractions as "Jim's thing."

Caple doesn't plan to stop protesting until Thomas apologizes. And even if the fan base truly increases as a result of Isiah Thomas' presence, Caple expressed some doubt about the value of it.

"I think you'd draw the types of crowds you don't want," Caple said. "You want crowds who are there to support strong leadership, positive leadership, and also players who are also out there working hard on the court every night. And if your only way of getting fans is by bringing someone who's been accused of sexual harassment back into a leadership role, then you need to re-evaluate your values system."

For Boyd and Charles, it was pretty straightforward. The talented rookie point guard started several breaks in transition by stepping in front of Atlanta Dream passes, collecting four steals. With less than a minute to go, Boyd gathered a defensive rebound, streaked the length of the court, and fed Swin Cash for the game-clinching layup. Charles continued a career of seemingly automatic double-doubles with 17 and 12.

As Boyd dribbled out the final seconds, a Friday crowd of 8,910 at The Garden declined to count on the post-game box score rose to its feet. They saw a star performance from Charles and perhaps the dawn of a new star for the league in Boyd. Speaking to a trio of reporters, still in her uniform, Boyd was asked whether she was aware of playing with the kind of wow factor that could draw fans in the more traditional way.

"Definitely," Boyd said, smiling wide. "I think I put on a show. I think the team put on a show of who we are and what we're going to be this season."

Too bad more people aren't going to hear about it.