The Knicks Fix

Things could be very different about the Knicks by next season, and not just with the potential player deals that Isiah Thomas has on his chess board. The coaching staff could see some changes, starting with the highly-respected Herb Williams, who is getting his name on head coach interview lists around the NBA.

Williams was in to meet with the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday. It is believed the Indiana Pacers also plan to bring him in, though the Pacers have yet to seek permission from the Knicks.

I've always appreciated Herb Williams, whether as a fan watching the Knicks in the 1990s and enjoying his readiness and enthusiasm (and I loved hearing the Garden yell "Herrrb!" whenever he came in for Patrick). I got to like him when I first met him when he was the Knicks interim coach at the end of the 2004-05 season (I was helping out on the Knicks beat then as a result of the NHL lockout).

Aside from his great stories, passion for the game and wealth of knowledge, Williams is a plain-speaking realist, which is refreshing around this franchise. He's also the last direct connection -- John Starks does work for the team, but he isn't on the coaching staff or around the players that often -- to the elite years the Knicks had in the 1990s. Before the final home game this season, I chatted with Herb during the pregame warmups. Unsolicited, he said, "This is the time of year you're supposed to look forward to."

He meant because the playoffs were a week away. He talked about how the Knicks loved going down to Charleston, S.C. for those minicamps before the first-round would open. "We would beat each other up for a few days and then go to the playoffs and beat up on other people," he said.

I asked him about accountability, and how it worked on those teams and how it was lacking on the current team. He said those teams he played on were different, because they had been through so many battles together. He said the current team would develop that over time. But he did suggest one difference in the two eras: Guys back then really had time for only one set of friends during the season -- their teammates. These days, players have their entourage, their boys; those who are good for telling you what you want to hear, which isn't always what you need to hear.

So with a support system outside of the locker room, you tend to feel less concerned with what your teammates think of you.

Just something to think about.

As has been reported elsewhere, if Larry Brown gets one of these available NBA jobs, it could also effect the Knicks because he could seek to bring Carolina pals Phil Ford and Dave Hanners with him.

But as long as Isiah Thomas has Mark Aguirre (to work with Eddy Curry and Randolph Morris and whomever else the Knicks get as a low-post player) and Brendan Suhr (to assist him in strategy and player evaluation), he'll be OK.

But Herb will be missed.