Report: Owner Dolan frustrated with Knicks play… and he wants less dancers dancing

It seems James Dolan honestly thinks the New York Knicks should win an NBA title this season, and he’s frustrated here.

So he’s taking it out on the Knick City Dancers. Or something like that.

There’s a lot of poking fun at the Knicks mercurial owner in the latest post from Frank Isola at the New York Daily News. The Knicks are off to a 1-2 start and got thumped over the weekend by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and apparently Dolan has much higher expectations.

According to several sources, Dolan was ready to erupt after the Knicks surrendered 40 first-quarter points and as the deficit ballooned to 23 (vs. Minnesota) Dolan went hunting for Steve Mills, the team’s new president and general manager.

That Mills isn’t responsible for either the roster or the coaching staff didn’t matter. With Dolan the facts rarely matter. The boss needed to vent and found Mills in a suite.

Remember Mills was hired just before this season started, mostly in a long-term effort to keep Carmelo Anthony and recruit players to go around him. This isn’t his roster.

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I’ll say this for Dolan — at least he’s frustrated and demanding action. That’s good, somebody should be (you know the New York fans are). In general you want an owner who sets a high standard and holds guys accountable. Problem is, Dolan is hands on and involved in a lot of the decisions, so if he’s looking for someone to blame…

It’s not the Knicks City Dancers. But apparently they are feeling the owner’s frustration as well.

Dolan has become such a hands-on owner — figuratively speaking — that, according to a source, he doesn’t want the dancers dancing. Crazy, right? The same guy who wanted creative input on the dancers’ outfits (and he’s good at it) apparently ordered that the girls’ roles be reduced to mostly throwing T-shirts into the crowd. They performed maybe one routine on Sunday.

When Isola asks why he seems to get shrugs and people saying “that’s Dolan.”

Later in the day came a report from the New York Post that the Knicks dancers are just being re-branded and that’s why the changes. Whatever. Let’s talk hoops instead.

I’m one of those pundits not really that high on the Knicks (4-5 seed, likely out in the first round) but three games in is far too early to really know what you’ve got. Minnesota started the season hot, the Knicks are still trying to figure out how to fit new pieces in the lineup. The defense is still coming together.

It’s good that Dolan is frustrated and trying to hold some people accountable. It’s just what he might try and do to fix it that should worry Knicks fan.