NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Even though my blog is one of the few that has yet to get a nifty redesign (I’m told it’s coming soon), I nonetheless feel compelled to share some pre-game info from the Knicks-Nets preseason game tonight. Here goes:

Isiah Thomas is tinkering with his starting lineup, starting Jared Jeffries at small forward, Quentin Richardson at the 2, and Jamal Crawford at the point. Isiah talked up Nate Robinson big before the game, and said N8 will get a long look at the point, too. Stephon Marbury and Allan Houston didn’t dress.

Isiah explained that you have to reward people when they work hard and get better, which explains why both N8 and Jeffries will see a lot more floor time tonight. The cynic in me can think of only one word to explain this: Showcase.

Some interesting trade possibilities could present themselves in the coming weeks, so why not put some potentially enticing assets on the floor? Not the least of these scenarios could involve Ron Artest, whose Sac-Town Kings aren’t going anywhere this season. Based on the way the Knicks have defended thus far in preseason, they could use a little jolt of defense from someone like Ron-Ron.

But I digress. They could also get a jolt of defense from Jeffries, who worked his tail off this summer at the IMG Training Center in Clearwater, Fla., and deserves a shot to get his confidence back – especially in the preseason, because that is what preseason is for. They could also get some better perimeter D from Robinson, who has shown signs that he’s renewed his commitment to the things that will keep him on the floor and has distanced himself from the things that will not. We’ll see.

I found Isiah’s explanation for the lineup change a little strange, but I’m not going overboard trying to figure out how he’s trying to spin things. But here is the telling quote anyway, for your discussion:

“I look at our situation as really no different than football,” Thomas said. “When a guy’s not doing it, they bring in somebody else. Rex Grossman led the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl last year, and now he’s playing behind Brian Griese. You want to keep getting better, and the best people play, and that’s why you open up the process every year and you want competition. You look at it and you put the best people out there that can win the basketball game.”

I asked Isiah if he’s more open to tinkering with his starting five than he was at this point last season, because it sure seemed that way to me as I listened to him before the game.

“No, I was pretty open-minded last year and I’m pretty open-minded this year,” he said. “I would say the only difference is, you’ve got to reward people for getting better and working harder. Everybody deserves a fair shot and a fair look. This process is about taking the best nine or 10 guys that you can go and win games with.”

There might be nothing more to this than tinkering. Look at George Karl in Denver, giving looks to J.R. Smith, Chucky Atkins, and Yakhouba Diawara at shooting guard, and Avery Johnson in Dallas toying with the idea of starting Jerry Stackhouse over Jason Terry. But giving Marbury a night off certainly is noteworthy, considering the obvious fact that Isiah certainly needs to find more chemistry in a starting five than the group that got run off the court in Boston last night. Stay tuned.

I’m sure my man Alan Hahn is all over this, but for the record: Thomas acknowledged that Jerome James does, in fact, have something more than tendinitis in his knee. He has loose particles from a previous surgery and may very well need another operation. Asked if Jerome would be able to play this season, Thomas said, “That I don’t know.”

No surprise here, but Thomas also admitted that “slim” is a fair characterization of Allan Houston’s chances of making the team. Houston didn’t dress tonight, with Thomas saying he didn’t think it was fair to put him out there in a back-to-back. Allan, we hardly knew ye.
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Care for an update on the Nets? Point guard Jason Kidd wasn’t at the arena because he opted for an epidural pain shot in his strained lower back and needs to stay immobile for a while. He’s expected to return to practice sometime next week. It’s got to be a concern when your 34-year-old point guard is down for the count in the preseason with a balky back, but coach Lawrence Frank said the injury is not believed to be as serious as what he experienced last season. We’ll see. The ancient Darrell Armstrong is getting the start at point.

This also meant that Kidd didn’t have to answer any questions about allegations from a woman who claims he groped her at a Manhattan night club earlier this month. Kidd’s spokesman, Scott Miranda, is calling the allegations “a complete fabrication.”

Oh, and Nenad Krstic is starting and will get his first game action since tearing his ACL last December.