New York Knicks: By The Numbers

The NBA salary cap for the 2006-07 season is $53.135 million.

The "luxury tax" for the 2006-07 season is set at $65.42 million. Teams above this level pay a dollar-for-dollar tax on every dollar by which they exceed the threshold.

The New York Knicks team salary for 2006-07 is a league-record $141,666,359.

The Knicks are $76,246,359 above the tax threshold and will pay a luxury tax of $49,102,609 (Note: This represents less than a dollar-for-dollar tax because the team received tax relief by releasing Jerome Williams before last season under a one-time exception known – ironically - as the “Allan Houston” rule. The team also received tax relief when Allan Houston was deemed medically unfit to continue playing and retired).

The Knicks total payroll this season (including luxury tax) will be a league-record $190,768,968.

The Knicks will pay $62,295,250 this season to five players who are no longer on the roster: Allan Houston ($20,718,750 of which some - or all - may be covered by insurance), Jalen Rose ($16,901,500), Maurice Taylor ($9,750,000), Shandon Anderson ($8,500,000) and Jerome Williams ($6,425,000).

The Knicks will pay 49% of their total payroll (including tax), or $93,322,218, for the 14 players who will be in uniform on opening night.

The Knicks will pay 51% of their total payroll (including tax), or $97,446,750, for the five players who will NOT PLAY A SINGLE GAME for them this season ... but might play against them while still collecting a paycheck from the Knicks.

2006 NBA Draft: Two Picks for Knicks

There's (moderately) good news and (very) bad news for the New York Knicks in the 2006 NBA Draft. By now, everyone knows that the Knicks no longer control their own first round pick in the 2006 NBA draft. That pick - second overall! - was dealt to the Chicago Bulls in the trade that sent Eddy Curry to the Knicks. Fewer people realize they've also dealt away their second round pick. That pick - #32 overall - was sent to Houston (along with Vin Baker and Moochie Norris) for Maurice Taylor. That's the (very) bad news. So what's the (moderately) good news? The Knicks still have two first round picks: #20 and #29. While no one's going to find the next LeBron James with those picks, it is possible to find players who can contribute. Unfortunately, it's even easier to end up with players who never do anything more than collect some paychecks before disappearing from the NBA scene.

To get an idea of the type of players that the Knicks might be getting in this year's draft, let's look at players selected 20th and 29th in the last ten NBA drafts.

20th Player Selected

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005	Player Zydrunas Ilgauskas Paul Grant Roshown McLeod Dion Glover Speedy Claxton Brendan Haywood Kareem Rush Dahntay Jones Jameer Nelson Julius Hodge

29th Player Selected

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005	Player Travis Knight Serge Zwikker Nazr Mohammed Leon Smith Mark Madsen Trenton Hassell Steve Logan Josh Howard David Harrison Wayne Simien

So what does this mean to the Knicks? Best case scenario, they draft players on a par with Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Josh Howard. Worst case, they end up with the second comings of Paul Grant and Serge Zwikker. Yikes! Knicks fans better keep their fingers crossed because the two players they come away with at the draft may be the only new additions to last season's 23-win embarrassment.

Believe It or Not, the Final 19 Knicks Games Really Do Mean Something ...

Both New York Knicks teams were on display in last night's 121-117 double-OT victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden. For the first three quarters, it was the high-priced "stars" who have been mailing it in for weeks: Jalen Rose, Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry, Jerome James and Malik Rose. In fairness to Malik Rose, he's not mailing it in ... he's just not good.

Scary thought for New York fans: Once this season ends, the Knicks are still contractually obligated to those six players for another 19 years and $222,250,283! Throw the inactive Quentin Richardson and Maurice Taylor onto the deadweight/unmoveable pile and the obligation becomes $266,655,283 for 24 years of unwanted service -- over $11.1 per season! After three quarters of sleep-walking, "those" Knicks were trailing the 20-41 Hawks by a score of 73-65.

To start the fourth quarter, Larry Brown inserted the "other" five Knicks ... the ones who still seem to care enough to play some defense and scramble for loose balls: Nate Robinson, David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Qyntel Woods and Jackie Butler. That group of players outscored the Hawks 56-44 over the final quarter and two overtime periods to get the win. They also woke up the Garden crowd by simply putting forth effort. Sure, they made mistakes (they are Knicks, after all) ... but they were able to compensate with hustle and determination.

Larry Brown has talked all season about "playing the right way". Well, last night he finally stumbled across five guys who were willing to "play the right way". Brown has done an awful job this season ... by far, the worst coaching - both on and off the court - of his career. However, he still has 19 games in which to attempt to get his message across and lay the groundwork for the future.

If Brown's "play the right way" mantra means anything at all then the starting five tomorrow night against Detroit will be the five players that were on the court at the end of the Atlanta game. This switch would accomplish two things: reward the players who are trying to "play the right way" and motivate/punish the players who are unwilling (or, again in Malik Rose's case, unable) to "play the right way".

Will the benched players take the message the right way and adjust their attitudes? The answer will almost certainly be a resounding NO. However, Larry Brown shouldn't care. There are 19 games remaining on the schedule. The Knicks can't make the playoffs and - thanks to the crafty wheeling and dealing of Isiah Thomas - don't even own there first round pick in the next draft. In other words, it really doesn't matter whether the Knicks go 19-0 or 0-19 the rest of the way. What does matter is that they play with some heart.

If Larry Brown starts Robinson, Lee, Crawford, Woods and Butler tomorrow night (and gives them significant minutes the rest of the way), he will be sending a clear signal that he still cares and is still committed to turning this franchise around.

If, on the other hand, Larry Brown reverts to a starting lineup of Marbury, Francis, Rose, Rose and Curry, then that's a clear signal that he has surrendered ... not only on this season but on the future of the Knicks as well.

New York Knicks: A Perfect Storm

Perfect Storm: A situation where, by the confluence of specific events, what might have been a minor issue ends up being magnified to proportions that are out of control; generally considered to be a "once-in-a-lifetime" phenomenon; see 2005-06 New York Knicks.

It's been obvious for a long time ... now it's official: The New York Knicks are the worst team in the National Basketball Association. Last night's loss to Memphis, coupled with a win by the second-year Charlotte Bobcats, gives New York the lowest winning percentage in the league.

Not only are the Knicks the worst team in the NBA, they may very well be the worst team in the history of professional sports. You read that right ... worst in history.

The criteria being used to judge them as the worst in history is as follows:

1. Worst record in the league - CHECK

2. Highest payroll in the league - CHECK

3. Least hope for the future. This is clearly more subjective than the first two criteria but if you measure hope for the future in terms of management's track record/competence, roster flexibility to get under the salary cap/attract free agents and stockpiling of draft picks then the Knicks fail miserably on all counts - CHECK

Never before in the history of professional sports has a single team met all of the above criteria.

The 1993 New York Mets might be the closest comparable to the 2005-06 Knicks but they still fall far short. That Mets team went into the 1993 season with high expectations yet ended up with the worst record in the league. They also had a very high payroll (especially given their 59-103 record), but it was still only the ninth highest in baseball that season. Plus, baseball has no salary cap so it would have been impossible for the future of the 1993 Mets to be as bleak as that of the current Knicks because the Mets had the flexibility to basically alter their roster in any way they saw fit. The Knicks, sadly, do not have that luxury.

The collective vision and talents of James Dolan, Isiah Thomas and Larry Brown (that's right, until he proves he's part of the solution then he has to be viewed as part of the problem) have yielded the sports equivalent of a Perfect Storm ... and, as long as they're at the helm, this storm shows no signs of letting up any time soon.

Stevie Francis to the Knicks? Really?

The New York Knicks win! Break up the Knicks! Really, break up the Knicks ... please.

And that – apparently – is exactly what Isiah Thomas intends to do. Despite the fact that he is personally responsible for bringing every single player on the roster to New York during his tenure as president of this once-proud franchise, Thomas will continue to wheel and deal – if for no other reason than to create the illusion of having a master plan.

The latest name being tossed around as a soon-to-be-Knick is Orlando's Steve Francis (for Jamal Crawford, Penny Hardaway's expiring contract and either Trevor Ariza, David Lee or Nate Robinson). Francis is a fascinating player to target on two levels:

1. If you were going to make a list of players that are exactly the opposite of what Larry Brown desires (present Knicks excluded as Brown has already voiced his distaste for all of them on numerous occasions) then Steve Francis would undoubtedly be on the very short list.

2. If you were going to try and find a player in the NBA who is most like Stephon Marbury, it would be hard to come up with a better match than Steve Francis ... and we all know how much Larry Brown loves Marbury. Check out their career stats:

Player Marbury Francis	Min/G 38.7 39.3	FG% 43.5% 43.0%	3PT/G 1.2 1.1	FT% 79.1% 79.8%	AST 8.2 6.4	PPG 20.4 19.4

Both Marbury and Francis are undersized shooting guards trapped in point guard bodies. Both are athletically gifted. Both turn 29 later this month (they were born on back-to-back days in 1977). Neither makes their teammates better. Neither has tasted any post-season success. Both have worn out their welcomes on multiple teams. Neither demonstrates much interest on the defensive end of the floor.

It is this final similarity that is, perhaps, most troubling. Especially since Isiah Thomas either doesn't recognize it or simply chooses to ignore it. Thomas apparently envisions a pairing of Marbury & Francis bringing back memories of and (hopefully) duplicating the championship success of himself & Joe Dumars and Walt Frazier & Earl Monroe. Please tell us he's joking.

While Marbury and Francis could create some match-up problems for other teams, it would be one of the weakest defensive backcourts in recent memory. Walt Frazier was first-team all-defense seven times! Joe Dumars was first-team all-defense four times! Marbury and Francis have been in the league a combined 15 years and the next time either is even considered for the NBA all-defensive team will be the first.

Not only is Francis a bad fit with the current Knicks, he also comes with - you guessed it - another monstrous salary obligation -- $49.3 million over the next three seasons.

So we obviously object to trading Jamal Crawford, Penny Hardaway and Trevor Ariza for Steve Francis, right. Wrong! Despite all the reasons that Francis will not make the Knicks a better team, we still say DO THE DEAL. Why? Partially because when you're as bad as the Knicks are right now, then change simply for the sake of change isn't necessarily a bad idea. But more so because we finally accept that the New York Knicks will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be under the salary cap ... meaning they will never, ever, ever, ever, ever be able to compete for impact free agents on the open market.

Dumping expiring contracts is the only way for the Knicks to improve the talent on their roster (even if that talent duplicates rather than complements what they already have). The Francis trade is 100% about stockpiling and 0% about chemistry ... yet it still makes sense. Remember, it was less than two seasons ago that Steve Francis was traded more-or-less straight-up for Tracy McGrady.

The best case scenario for the Knicks is to acquire Francis and hope that either he and/or Marbury plays well enough to – at some point – be able to trade one of them for a player that may actually help them win some games. Yes, Knicks fans, it's come to that -- advocating trades that don't make sense and won't translate into wins ... simply because they may lead to other trades in the future that do make sense and might translate into wins. Yikes!

Question: What do you think? Should the Knicks trade for Steve Francis? If not, who should they go after with Penny Hardaway's expiring contract? Please click below on "COMMENTS" and share your thoughts ...

One Dozen Reasons for Knicks Fans to Remain Optimistic

The degree of difficulty on this piece is 10.0 but we're going to go for it anyway. It has never (and we mean never) been harder to be a New York Knicks fan than it is right now. While it's easy to kick them while they're down (and infinitely more enjoyable than actually watching them play), we're not going to do that (at least not today). That's right, we're going to do everything in our powers to identify 12 positive things in which a beleaguered Knicks fan can take some consolation. So, for advocates of glass-is-half-full-thinking (or "GIHFT") everywhere, here goes:

Top 12 Reasons for New York Knicks Fans to Remain Optimistic

Fact: The front office is – at best – incompetent and at worst – criminal.
GIHFT: There have yet to be any arrests and – in America – you're still innocent until proven guilty.

Fact: The Knicks have – for the first time in franchise history - lost 15 of their last 16 games.
GIHFT: On Jan. 27, after squandering a 25-point lead, the Knicks hold on for a glorious 97-94 win over the Orlando Magic – thereby averting (at least for the time being) the only thing worse than losing 15 of 16.

Fact: The Knicks lead the league in turnovers at 16.7 per game.
GIHFT: Don't think of them as turnovers ... think of them as passes to future teammates (i.e., players that Isiah Thomas is interested in acquiring). Hey, good team chemistry has to start somewhere ...

Fact: Anonymous sources are reporting that players are beginning to tune out coach Larry Brown.
GIHFT: Excellent news because this suggests that – all evidence to the contrary – they were actually tuning him IN at some point.

Fact: The Knicks have the second worst record in the entire NBA.
GIHFT: Thank God for expansion. As we're writing this (though it could easily change by the time you're reading it), the second-year Charlotte Bobcats are one game worse than the Knicks.

Fact: Thanks to the Eddy "The Franchise" Curry trade, the Chicago Bulls own the Knicks' first-round pick – a lock for the lottery – in this June's NBA Draft.
GIHFT: Knicks fans can rest easy knowing that the pick is no longer available to re-acquire the draft rights to Frederic Weis. Plus, Larry Brown is known to have little patience with rookies -- this way he won't have to be bothered with a nuisance like Adam Morrison or J.J. Redick.

Fact: The Knicks payroll is the highest in the NBA at $120 million and climbing steadily.
GIHFT: It's not our money that's being squandered (at least not directly) ... and if someone's going to be forced to watch helplessly as their money is flushed down the toilet it might as well be fan-friendly sweethearts like Jim Dolan and the rest of the Cablevision family.

Fact: The Knicks are 0-9 with Stephon Marbury out of the line-up.
GIHFT: See, Marbury really is more valuable than anyone realized (although 14-27 is only impressive when you're comparing it to 0-9).

Fact: At 14-36, the Knicks have established a new mark for the worst record in franchise history after 50 games (the 1963-64 squad opened the season 15-35).
GIHFT: The Knicks "only" have to win nine of their remaining 32 games to avoid becoming the first team in franchise history to lose 60 games. While far from a slam dunk, our sources tell us that Janet Jones-Gretzky likes the over.

Fact: For obvious reasons, no Knicks will be participating in the upcoming NBA All-Star Game.
GIHFT: Nate Robinson has been invited to participate in the dunking contest during All-Star weekend and he's a better bet to win it than the Knicks are to win nine the rest of the way (see above). Plus, everyone knows that a win in the dunk contest automatically translates into a long and productive NBA career -- just ask Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner ... or Kenny "Sky" Walker. Oh well, at least it gets you a cool nickname ...

Fact: Isiah Thomas is intent on trading Penny Hardaway (and his atrocious expiring contract) for the likes of Kenyon Martin, Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson or Theo Ratliff (and their equally atrocious multi-year contracts).
GIHFT: While other teams apparently liken negotiating with the Knicks to stealing candy from a baby, Isiah Thomas has (thus far) resisted including Channing Frye in any of the egregiously one-sided offers he has received. Reason to worry: The trading deadline (Feb. 23) is still ten days away ...

Fact: The Knicks worst loss of the season was a 33-point drubbing at home against the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 31.
GIHFT: Despite their woes, the Knicks will not suffer the worst loss in New York this season. That distinction belongs to the Brandeis High School girls basketball team, which suffered a 137-32 loss to Murry Bergtraum High School. In the game, Epiphanny Prince scored a record-setting 113 points. [Hey, we don't feel good about piling on the Brandeis girls either, but you try and come up with 12 good things to say about the Knicks!]

They said it couldn't be done but – against incredible odds - we have successfully delivered on our promise to come up with a dozen reasons why New York Knicks fans should refrain from wearing paper bags over their heads ... at least for a few more weeks.

Old Kobe: Three Rings; New Kobe: 81 Points

Last night Kobe Bryant scored 81 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 122-104 win over the Toronto Raptors. Only Wilt Chamberlain - with 100 points against the Knicks in 1962 - has scored more points in an NBA game. An absolutely incredible individual achievement ... by an incredibly selfish individual.

The official attendance for the game read 18,997, but it may as well have included all of Kobe's Lakers teammates since they're not given much to do these days but stand around and watch Kobe execute one-on-one moves against overmatched defenders.

Kobe has apparently gotten exactly what he wanted. No longer does he have to suffer the indignity of sharing the spotlight with Shaquille O'Neal as the Lakers win NBA titles. No longer does Kobe have to watch helplessly as mere mortals like Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady win scoring titles. Now Kobe is Showtime and can win all the scoring titles and possibly even break all the scoring records ... but he's made a conscious trade-off: Personal glory over team success.

You always hear players saying they want to play alongside with Jason Kidd ... or how Steve Nash makes everyone around him better. You never hear anyone saying those things about Kobe Bryant ... and you probably never will.

For years, Kobe Bryant seemed intent on following in the footsteps of Michael Jordan. Numerous players have been prematurely dubbed as heir apparents, but only Bryant comes remotely close to combining Jordan's physical gifts and his killer instinct. Kobe's career does have some parallels to Jordan's ... only Kobe is doing Jordan in reverse.

Jordan started out as an unstoppable one-man show. He almost single-handedly carried the Chicago Bulls to post-season success. The key word being almost. It wasn't until Jordan began trusting his teammates and making them better that he was able to win the NBA title that had eluded him while he attempted to do it all by himself. Once Jordan finally figured out what it took to win an NBA title he wanted to keep doing it ... and he did -- five more times.

Kobe had the good fortune of joining a 53-win team as a rookie and having Shaq, the game's most dominant player, as a teammate. Jordan joined a 27-win Chicago team and had the trio of Steve Johnson, Dave Corzine and Jawann Oldham manning the middle during his rookie campaign.

Jordan didn't win his first NBA title until his seventh season ... at the age of 28. Kobe Bryant won his first title at 21 and now - in his 10th season - is still only 27! Perhaps it all came too easy to Bryant ... or maybe it was just a case of too much too soon. Whatever it was, something changed ... and not for the better.

It was no longer good enough just to win titles ... Kobe needed to be alone in the spotlight. Well, guess what? He got what he wanted.

Kobe Bryant can set all the scoring records he wants, but if he's unwilling to share the spotlight (not to mention the basketball), he's unlikely to ever win another NBA title. And if he never wins another NBA title, Bryant's legacy appears headed towards that of a selfish scoring machine. Baseball fans care about statistics and remember them long after a player has retired. In basketball, it's all about the rings.

Nobody remembers - or really even cares about - the stats put up by Bill Russell or Larry Bird or Magic Johnson or Isiah Thomas or Michael Jordan. Everyone just remembers them as winners. Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Reggie Miller were all great players ... but every hoops fan knows they won a total of zero rings between them.

Bryant's three rings can never be taken away from him so he can never belong to the ringless fraternity. However, it no longer looks like he's destined to be mentioned in the same breath as Michael Jordan and the other great "winners" either. Wilt Chamberlain or Bob McAdoo are better comparables ... but even Chamberlain and McAdoo won their scoring titles early in their careers and only later learned to accept playing contributing roles on championship teams. Bryant is going in the opposite direction. He's got the NBA titles ... now he wants the scoring titles ... and history will remember him accordingly.

Final 2005 Grades for New York Teams

2005 is over. Time to hand out grades to the professional sports franchises in New York. By New York, we include the football Giants and Jets (which are really New Jersey teams) AND the Buffalo Bills (which really is a New York team). First a look at each team's winning percentage [and record] during calendar year 2005 (including playoff games, if any):

Team Giants Rangers Yankees Nets Mets Islanders Devils Bills Knicks Jets	Winning Pct. [W-L] .706 [12-5] .667 [22-11-5] .581 [97-70] .563 [49-38] .512 [83-79] .486 [17-18-2] .471 [16-18-5] .313 [5-11] .296 [24-57] .222 [4-14]

Collectively, New York teams went 329-321 for an entirely uninspiring .506 winning percentage. Five teams had winning records, while five others lost more games than they won. Three teams (Yankees, Nets, Jets) played post-season games. One other team (Giants) played well enough in 2005 to qualify for the playoffs in 2006. Three other teams played a sport (hockey) which - through its own stupidity - didn't even have any playoffs in 2005.

GRADES:

Yankees: C+
For most teams, a 95-67 regular season, a division title and a trip to the playoffs would merit a significantly better grade than a C+ -- the Yankees aren't most teams. With the highest payroll and winningest tradition in sports history, nothing less than winning the World Series is truly acceptable ... and for the last five years the Yankees' final game of each season has been a playoff loss. Not acceptable. Maybe Johnny Damon can help change that in 2006.

Mets: B-
How do the Mets finish 12 games worse than the Yankees and still get a better grade? Lower expectations. New-additions Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran led the Mets to 83 wins and a third-place finish -- a 12-game improvement over 2004. After adding Pedro Delgado and Billy Wagner, it will take another 12-game improvement and a trip to the playoffs to earn better than a C+ in 2006.

Giants: A-
Rebounded from a disappointing 6-10 season in 2004 to capture the NFC East with an 11-5 mark. Tiki Barber was the New York sports MVP of 2005 (sorry A-Rod). Eli Manning may never be the best quarterback in his family but he's the best in the New York ... by a wide margin (sorry Chad). Note: 12-5 record for Giants includes winning final game of 2004 regular season, which was played in 2005.

Jets: D+
Why not an F? It might seem like ages ago, but the Jets actually started 2005 with a two-week playoff run which - with better coaching and placekicking - could have easily lasted at least another week. The 2005 season began with high hopes but - like so many other season in J-E-T-S history - quickly disintegrated into frustration ... desperation ... embarrassment ... and, finally, talk of rebuilding from scratch. Not pretty.

Bills: D
Finished 9-7 in 2004 and seemed to found a stud running back in Willis McGahee, so Bills fans were not prepared to go 5-11 this season. McGahee proved to be a workhorse but it turns out replacing Drew Bledsoe was harder than expected as neither Kelly Holcomb not J.P. Losman distinguished himself at QB.

Nets: B
Finished the 2004-05 season with a 32-22 run to make the playoffs, only to get swept in four straight by the Miami Heat. Started this season 9-12 before winning eight straight to end silly speculation over coach Lawrence Frank's job security and Vince Carter's value to the franchise. If these Nets played at Madison Square Garden, New York would once again be the great basketball city it still considers itself.

Knicks: F
The reason New York City can no longer be considered a truly great basketball town. Finished last season by losing 36 of their final 53 games. The arrival of Larry Brown raised expectations but the team has done the inconceivable -- they'll actually gotten worse under the tutelage of the Hall of Fame coach. The Knicks receive New York's only failing grade for 2005 ... and they've earned it. While the Jets were nearly as bad [excluding their playoff run that began the year], there are two big differences:

1. The Jets always played hard ... unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Knicks.
2. The Jets still own the high draft pick they earned through their losing ways ... the Knicks dealt their pick - maybe a #1 overall - to Chicago in the Eddy Curry deal. Oops.

Rangers: INCOMPLETE
Devils: INCOMPLETE
Islanders: INCOMPLETE
Sorry, but when the hockey pucks that are in charge of your sport cancel an entire season, you don't get a grade. Check in again next year.

Knicks Predictions: Marbury to Outlast Brown

Got two predictions and New York Knicks fans are not going to like either one. Sorry, but here goes:

# 1. As anticipated, Larry Brown plus Stephon Marbury is not a productive pairing. In fact, they are bringing out the worst in each other. Prediction: Stephon Marbury is going to outlast Larry Brown with the Knicks.

# 2. Forget the debate over how many years Larry Brown will coach the Knicks. His contract calls for five years. Prediction: Larry Brown will not finish season number one on the sidelines of the New York Knicks.

Most Knicks fans were understandably elated when Isiah Thomas – armed with $50 million of James Dolan's cash - convinced Larry Brown to weasel his way out of Detroit to take on the daunting task of leading the staggering franchise back to respectability. Some fans expected the arrival of Brown to immediately make the Knicks a playoff team. In fact, the over/under in Las Vegas before the start of the season was 40 wins.

Yet now – one-third of the way into the season – the Knicks find themselves at 7-20 with only one team in the entire NBA with a worse record (Toronto at 7-22). The Knicks were bad last season and it still took them until April 1 to fall 13 games under .500. No one could have foreseen it going this bad, this quickly. Yes, the Knicks roster is still flawed. Yes, they're young. Yes, they've got new faces that are still trying to "jell". Yes, they've had injuries. Yes, Larry Brown teams often start off slow. OK, now that we've got all the tired old excuses out of the way, let's be honest: If Larry Brown wasn't Larry Brown, he would already be on the hot seat. Yes, you read that right. If Brown is to be judged purely on the job he has done as the Knicks coach – and not on his Hall of Fame resume – then a fairly compelling case can be made that he is doing a terrible job and the team would be better off with someone else at the helm.

Consider last night's 105-95 loss to Orlando in which the Marbury-Brown relationship – already rocky at best – may have bottomed out. Marbury played 39 minutes and went 0-for-7 from the floor with two assists and no steals. To say he was a non-factor is being charitable. In truth, he appeared to be pouting. So Marbury - in a characteristic display of (im)maturity and (non)leadership – elected to sleepwalk his way through the contest. Brown, in what has already become a predictable and tiresome post-game ritual, blamed individual members of his team – in this case Marbury – for the loss:

"I think he just didn't want to shoot the ball. I thought he'd have 15-20 assists. Just one of those nights he maybe he didn't feel like he was on. He's 0-for-7 shooting with three assists in 41 minutes. He got the ball all the time. I ran as much stuff for him as I have all season. He maybe didn't feel like he had it. He got three assists and no steals. By accident you can get a steal. That makes me think we weren't aggressive defensively."

Brown usually follows these backstabbing sessions with an insincere "Guess I gotta do a better job of coaching". Last night he didn't even bother with his self-deprecating act. But you know what? Larry Brown has gotta start doing a better job of coaching.

Great coaches adjust their coaching philosophy and game-planning to accentuate the strengths and conceal the weaknesses of their personnel. Great coaches do everything in their power to put players in a position to succeed. Larry Brown has not done that this season. On the contrary, Brown repeatedly takes not-so-subtle jabs at the flawed roster that Isiah Thomas has assembled. Even worse, Brown goes out of his way to call attention to the flaws of individual players. Pat Riley used to preach "having each other's backs". Brown's players have to watch their backs or their coach is likely to stab them in it.

Another point on Brown's performance this season: While chemistry is often overrated in basketball, Larry Brown has made a mockery of the concept by using 18 different starting lineups in 27 games. Last night's starting unit – another new one - combined to go 6-for-34 from the floor for a total of 20 points. It's hard to imagine any starting line-up in NBA history has ever been less productive.

So back to the predictions – which, it turns out, are directly related to each other. Marbury will outlast Larry Brown in New York because he is virtually untradeable. While the Knicks make it four teams that Marbury has failed to improve (joining Minnesota, New Jersey and Phoenix), there might still be a team willing to give the 28-year-old another chance if not for one huge obstacle: HIS CONTRACT. Marbury is in only the third season of a six-year, $105 million contract. Yikes. No team – especially when factoring in the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax implications - is going to touch that.

So Marbury is going nowhere any time soon. But why won't Larry Brown see the end of the season on the Knicks sidelines? Simply because he won't want to. The Knicks are not fun to watch and it's hard to imagine they're any fun to coach. Brown is 65. He's rich and no longer needs the hassle. Given his track record, there was no shot he was going to coach the Knicks for all five seasons of his five-year deal. But there was also probably no shot – at least in Brown's mind – that there would be no light at the end of the tunnel ... and absolutely no joy whatsoever in returning to New York to coach his hometown team. Another two months or so of the day-to-day grind of practicing, traveling and losing and Larry Brown will have had enough. He won't quit – that would mean walking way from the most lucrative coaching contract in league history. Most likely, it'll be a recurrence of undisclosed "health issues" that will be the stated reason for leaving. Plus, going the "bad-health" route leaves open the option of coming back next season in the unlikely event the Knicks are able to pull off a major deal – think LeBron James or Kevin Garnett – that makes the prospects of coaching them more palatable to Brown.

Bottom Line: Stephon Marbury will still be Knick at the end of this season ... but Larry Brown will no longer be the guy complaining about the team's deficiencies in the post-game press conferences.

Isiah's Report Card: Part Two

[To See Part One of Isiah's Report Card, CLICK HERE]

Today marks the two-year anniversary of Isiah Thomas agreeing to come to New York to try and build a championship caliber team. At this point, we'll settle for respectable. In fact, let's start with not embarrassing.

In part one of Isiah's report card, he earned high marks for making the roster younger and more athletic. He received a D for failing to make the team any better in terms of wins and losses.

If he's succeeded in making the roster younger and more athletic by jettisoning every single player from the roster he inherited, why isn't that translating into more wins? That's the big question and - sorry Knicks fans - it's where Isiah gets a failing grade. There is no master plan. Isiah loves to make moves. If a player's available - regardless of whether or not that player can help the team - Isiah's interested. The Stephon Marbury deal was done to make a splash and the Eddy Curry deal was a calculated risk. Beyond those two, however, it is difficult to defend Isiah's pursuit of Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson, Maurice Taylor, Malik Rose, Jerome James, Vin Baker, Nazr Mohammed and Tim Thomas. Isiah wanted all these players because their previous teams were only to happy to let them go (what does that tell you?) ... not because they fit into an actual plan to make the New York Knicks better. And that's not even taking account the players Isiah has reportedly coveted (again because they were unwanted elsewhere), such as Antoine Walker, Ruben Patterson, Darius Miles, Eddie Griffin, Eddie Robinson and numerous others. Ironically, Ron Artest - a high-risk, high-maintenance player who could actually help the Knicks - couldn't be more available and Isiah has reportedly shown little to no interest in obtaining him. Go figure ...

So are the Knicks hopeless under Isiah? Not quite. The two things for which Thomas clearly deserves credit are solid draft picks and luring Larry Brown (albeit with the largest pile of cash ever thrown at an NBA coach) to take on a massive rebuilding project with little light at the end of the tunnel. Hard to argue with the selections of Trevor Ariza (#43) in 2004 and Channing Frye (#8), Nate Robinson (#21 from Phoenix) and David Lee (#30) in 2005.

Also hard to argue with hiring Larry Brown. After bungling his handling of Don Chaney, Lenny Wilkens and Herb Williams, Isiah made the biggest and best acquisition of his two-year reign when he convinced the Hall-of-Fame coach to weasel his way out of his contract in Detroit. While the results so far are disappointing - did someone say disastrous? - there's no question that having Brown at the helm - for however long he chooses to stick around - is a positive for the Knicks.

CONCLUSION: Isiah Thomas gets credit for overhauling the roster, making the team younger and more athletic, drafting well and hiring Larry Brown as coach. On the flip side, Thomas is to blame for the Lenny Wilkens experiment; trying to build around Stephon Marbury; making a bad salary cap situation worse (which didn't seem possible); and churning the roster with no master plan. Finally (and most importantly), after two years on the job, the New York Knicks are no closer to being a respectable NBA franchise - let alone a championship contender - than they were on the day Isiah Thomas took over.

OVERALL GRADE: D

Isiah Thomas: Report Card After Two Years

Thursday, Dec. 22 marks the two-year anniversary of the appointment of Isiah Thomas as President of Basketball Operations for the New York Knicks. After two years, it's time for a job review. So how's Isiah doing?

To be fair, one must first take into account what Isiah Thomas inherited -- a team with a 10-18 record; an aging, athletically-challenged roster; and a salary cap nightmare. The tenure of Isiah's predecessor, Scott Layden, was an mitigated disaster. Knicks fans were ready for a change ... even if the choice of Isiah Thomas seemed curious given his track record of running the CBA into the ground and failing to improve either Toronto (as GM) or Indiana (as coach).

From day one, Isiah's stated goal was to get younger and more athletic. His unstated - but completely obvious - goal was to rid the team of every single player he inherited. Presumably, the accomplishment of these goals would translate into more wins. So how's it going? Let's take a look at the "before" and "after" rosters:

Dec. 22, 2003 Allan Houston Kurt Thomas Keith Van Horn Mike Sweetney Antonio McDyess Dikembe Mutombo Othella Harrington Clarence Weatherspoon Howard Eisley Shandon Anderson Charlie Ward Michael Doleac Frank Williams Maciej Lampe Slavko Vranes Milos Vujanic (rights)	Dec. 20, 2005 Stephon Marbury Eddy Curry Channing Frye Jamal Crawford Nate Robinson Trevor Ariza Quentin Richardson David Lee Antonio Davis Maurice Taylor Malik Rose Qyntel Woods Jackie Butler Jerome James Anfernee Hardaway

Younger? Check. More athletic? Check? All new players? Check. In fact, Isiah's incessant roster churning has also seen the following players both arrive AND depart during his relatively brief time on the job:

Vin Baker
Matt Barnes
Jamison Brewer
Jermaine Jackson
DerMarr Johnson
Nazr Mohammed
Moochie Norris
Bruno Sundov
Tim Thomas
Cezary Trybanski
Jerome Williams

OK, so where were we? Oh yeah ... has the younger, more athletic roster full of fresh faces translated into more W's and fewer L's? Unfortunately, that's where Isiah's report card gets a big fat D. In the 110 games leading up to Isiah's arrival, the Knicks were 47-63 for a .4273 winning percentage. In the 159 games since his arrival, the Knicks are 68-91 for a .4277 winning percentage. When you have to go out four decimal places to find improvement, something's wrong ... and plenty remains wrong with the present state of the New York Knicks.

To See Part Two of Isiah's Report Card, CLICK HERE

Who SHOULD Start in NBA All-Star Game? Who Cares?

The 2006 NBA All-Star Game will take place on Feb. 19 in Houston. The game is a completely meaningless exhibition. Agreed. Nevertheless, it's still fun to debate who the fans vote in as the starts versus who should be starting. The first returns of the 2006 balloting are in and here's who the fans are favoring so far:

Eastern Conference F - LeBron James (CLE) F - Jermaine O'Neal (IND) C - Shaquille O'Neal (MIA) G - Allen Iverson (PHI) G - Dwayne Wade (MIA)	Western Conference F - Tracy McGrady (HOU) F - Kevin Garnett (MIN) C - Yao Ming (HOU) G - Kobe Bryant (LAL) G - Steve Nash (PHO)

Here's who should be starting based on how they've performed over the first quarter of the 2005-06 season:

Eastern Conference F - LeBron James (CLE) F - Paul Pierce (BOS) C - Jermaine O'Neal (IND) G - Allen Iverson (PHI) G - Dwayne Wade (MIA)	Western Conference F - Dirk Nowitzki (DAL) F - Elton Brand (LAC) C - Marcus Camby (DEN) G - Kobe Bryant (LAL) G - Steve Nash (PHO)

In the East, Pierce gets the nod over Jermaine O'Neal. O'Neal - who is really a C/F - gets slid to center in place of Shaq, who's only played seven games. In the West, Nowitzki and Brand get the slightest of edges at forward, leaving Garnett and McGrady (and Duncan!) to come off the bench. Camby is an easy choice at center over Yao Ming.

Interesting to note: The Pistons and the Spurs are the two best teams in the NBA. Yet neither team has a single player listed - on either version - of the above all-star teams. Nevertheless, wouldn't you give the Pistons a decent shot at beating the Eastern Conference stars? Likewise, wouldn't the Spurs give the Western Conference stars all they could handle? Absolutely ... because basketball is a team game -- always has been ... always will be. Just ask any of the "teams" that now routinely beat the hand-picked rosters of U.S. "all-stars" in international competition ...

NBA Playoff Preview: Eastern Conference - First Round

Miami Heat (#1) vs. New Jersey Nets (#8)
How great would it be for the Nets to send Alonzo Mourning home for the season and possibly for his career? Rhetorical question. It would be awesome given the way Mourning weaseled his way out of both New Jersey and Toronto this season in hopes of riding someone else's coattails to a ring. Others have done the same (e.g., Karl Malone, Gary Payton) but actually sacrificed some cash to do so. Mourning took all the cash he could get from the Nets and has been a self-centered pain-in-the-ass ever since. Go Nets!
Prediction: Heat in 6

Detroit Pistons (#2) vs. Philadelphia 76ers (#7)
Pound-for-pound, Allen Iverson is among the best athletes in the world today and he's the toughest and most competitive player in the NBA. However, the addition of Chris Webber has done nothing to ease Iverson's burden and you still can't win an NBA title single-handedly. The Pistons finally started playing like defending champs down the stretch and are just too deep for Iverson and his still-mediocre supporting cast.
Prediction: Pistons in 6

Boston Celtics (#3) vs. Indiana Pacers (#6)
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until I'm proven wrong -- no team that relies heavily on Antoine Walker will EVER go far in the playoffs. He's a great player in fantasy basketball but a terrible player in the real world and, unfortunately for the Celtics, the playoffs are still played in the real world. Indiana deserved most of the adversity it faced this season but instead of using that as an excuse for falling apart, they fought through it all to have a very respectable season and make the playoffs. Plus, love him or hate him, the league won't be as much fun without Reggie Miller. He's stretched opposing defenses for 18 seasons. Let's hope he can stretch out his career a few more weeks.
Prediction: Pacers in 6

Chicago Bulls (#4) vs. Washington Wizards (#5)
No one could have predicted that the Bulls would improve by 24 victories this season. While it wasn't quite as simple as taking away Jamal Crawford's chucking and replacing it with Ben Gordon's clutch-shooting, that certainly had a lot to do it (just ask the Knicks). At full strength the Bulls are a strong favorite over the Wizards. However, with Eddy Curry and Luol Deng sidelined, this series becomes a toss-up. The Wizards are led by the talented trio of Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes and Antawn Jamison. Talented? Yes. Playoff-tested? No.
Prediction: Bulls in 7

Inmates Running the Asylums ...

In light of yesterday's firing of Jeff Bzdelik, let's all acknowledge once and for all that being an NBA coach is no picnic. Sure, it's a lucrative job that is coveted by many ... but why? How many other jobs involve managing a group of employees who make much more money than you do? How many other jobs involve trying to motivate a group of employees who know that if the team does not succeed that it will be you - not them - that will pay with his job. Plus, good luck trying to motivate a group of people whose success is more or less a product of pulling a winning ticket in the genetic lottery pool. The only things that give an NBA coach a fighting chance these days is having one or more of the following:

a great NBA playing career - ideally not too long ago and preferably with at least one championship ring

a big fat contract as evidence that management actually might support the coach through tough times

the unqualified support of his best player ... and last but not least

a large physical presence. Remember, the average NBA player today is 6'7" and 225 pounds.

For all these reasons, coaching in the NBA is much tougher than being a manager in the big leagues or a head coach in the NFL. Ever wonder why coaches such as Jeff Bzdelik, Jeff Van Gundy, Stan Van Gundy and Lawrence Frank look so worn out all the time? Because they are! It's amazing that they've gotten as far as they have in this profession, but - regardless of what they accomplish - they'll still never be more than one extended losing streak away from having to wonder about their job security.

Nuggets Fire Bzdelik

Last season, the Denver Nuggets improved by 26 games -- the sixth-best turnaround in NBA history -- to reach the playoffs for the first time in nine years. And they didn't just reach the playoffs, they gave Minnesota all it could handle in a five-game first-round series. But then this season starts out a disappointing 13-15. Sure, Voshon Lenard, the team's only outside shooter blew out his Achilles' in the opener. And sure, Kenyon Martin really is just a good, solid player ... not the $86 million franchise stud Kiki Vandeweghe hoped he would be. And sure, Carmelo Anthony continues to make more headlines for being an immature stoner off the court than he does for being an impact player on the court. Injuries have forced the team to use 10 different starting lineups. So no need to panic yet, right? Wrong! The Nuggets fired coach Jeff Bzdelik because he is obviously to blame for Lenard's injury, Martin's lack of superstar impact and Anthony's immaturity. Wasn't this the same guy that got lots of credit for giving the typically pathetic franchise a hardworking, defensive-minded identity? Did he suddenly forget how to coach? Or did the players begin to believe the hype that they were now an elite team (WRONG!) and that they could win games just by showing up and going through the motions (WRONG!). It's most likely the latter. And while Vandeweghe has done a good job as GM of this team, he overpaid for Martin and does not yet have enough talent on this roster to be a force in the Western Conference. Perhaps the Nuggets will respond better to Bzdelik's replacement, Michael Cooper, who at least has the NBA pedigree that seems almost a prerequisite to command the attention and respect of today's NBA players. At least until that inevitable day when they tune Cooper out as well and he - like Bzdelik - pays for it with his job.