NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Greenburgh, N.Y. – I made the trip to the MSG Training Center today hoping to find some balanced reasoning in the hurricane of speculation about Isiah Thomas’ job.

I finally found some while listening to the radio on the way home.

Jeff Van Gundy was on 1050 ESPN Radio a while ago and brought some sanity to the topic. His thoughts are particularly relevant given that he coached the Knicks and his name is being floated as a possible replacement for Isiah if he gets fired. (While we’re at it, how about we float Larry Brown’s name, too?)

“You’ve been around New York long enough to know when the rumors start flying that they have very little validity,” Van Gundy said to co-host Patrick McEnroe.

“I do believe right now that everybody around the Knicks and New York have to just calm down and see where they can go from here,” Van Gundy said. “When they were 2-1, everybody was beating the drum that they’ve turned the corner. An NBA season is so fragile.

“They lose at home to Orlando, and lose a game they’d like to have back to Miami, and they’re 2-3 and that’s where the Marbury fiasco started. They lost to two tough teams, to the Clippers and the Kings. It’s just such a fragile existence, the NBA is, and they’ve got to right the ship. They’ve got to do it soon, but I think it would be very hasty to pull the plug on the season so soon into the season.”

Asked if he would consider coming back to the Knicks if Isiah is getting fired, Van Gundy said, “I don’t think he is, contrary to popular belief. What they need to do is win a game. If they can find a way to win a game against Chicago tomorrow, everything will settle down a little bit.”

Van Gundy, now an NBA analyst for ESPN, criticized Thomas for poorly handling Stephon Marbury’s benching. But he also said something I agree wholeheartedly with: Thomas isn’t getting the public support he should be getting from his boss, James Dolan.

“When I was in New York, what I really liked was that my bosses were Dave Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld,” Van Gundy said. “They made changes. They traded players and they fired coaches. But you always had their wholehearted support until they were ready to make a change.

“Right now, I think it’s important that whoever’s in that position gets the same support,” he said. “It’s Isiah now. Before that it was Lenny Wilkens, Don Chaney, Larry Brown. And I just think at times that support for that position has not been as strong as it needs to be, to let everyone know who’s in charge and that we’re riding along with that coach.”

Great point. Where was Dolan today when Thomas stood in front of the media horde again and expressed his opinion that he doesn’t expect to be fired this season? Why would Dolan leave Thomas by himself to make the case that he shouldn’t be fired; isn’t that Dolan’s job?

Another interesting point from the Van Gundy interview. I loved how he took Pistons reserve Flip Murray to task for piling on the Knicks with his quote the other night that they “looked like they didn’t want to compete.”

“Let me start with Flip Murray,” Van Gundy said. “How about this? Don’t hide behind Tayshaun Prince, Chauncey Billups and those guys that led them to a blowout and then you come out and kill the Knicks. Now if Chauncey Billups wants to kill the Knicks, if Tayshaun Prince, if Rasheed Wallace, Rip Hamilton, if they want to kill the Knicks, that’s one thing, But for Flip Murray to take that pot shot at other NBA players, I think is uncalled for.”

As promised, answers to questions, if not your prayers. For those who emailed, I am omitting your last name and email addresses to protect your privacy. For those who posted, nice work on short notice.

When we do these in the future, let’s limit the questions to the comments section of the blog. This allows me to avoid checking my work email, and also keeps all of your questions together in one place so I don’t miss anybody.

Here goes …

Dear Mr. Berger,

Alec

Alec,

You make an excellent point about how the Knicks have always brought together fans who oppose each other in baseball, football and hockey and united us. It’s one of the reasons why there’s no place like New York and the Garden for a basketball fans when the Knicks are good.

We’ve been waiting, and waiting, and waiting … to no avail. Just read Alan’s story in today’s paper in which he spoke with Charles Oakley. All you need to know is this quote from Oak: “I don’t see no leaders. Just bad karma.” Bad karma and no class, as in how about saluting one of your all-time greats by showing him on the scoreboard? Petty.

Anyway, I am not going to urge anyone to stop going to games. First of all, most of you who go probably have already bought your tickets. Secondly, you’ll be adding yourselves to the list of losers if you deprive yourselves of your rights as sports fans to go root for your team – good or bad, cheer or chant. Keep going to the games and express yourselves. It’s the only way for you to be heard.

XXX

You guys (media) need to stop campaigning to get Isiah fired. You wonder why players and coaches alike don’t trust you and start giving you one word answers in interviews. You guys like to use the power of persuasion. You figure if you write enough articles and alternatives that it will happen. First it’s Jerry Colangelo or Kiki, now its Donnie Walsh. You guys have it in for him and will do anything to get him fired. How are the Nets doing over there? You guys don’t write much about their poor start. I hear nothing about Lawrence Frank or Rod Thorn being under the gun. Why? Is it because they are white or they are the JV team in the area. They are a better team than the Knicks and yet they suck. Vince Carter missed games but so has Zach Randolph so don’t go there.

Why don’t you write a story about the alternatives that the Knicks had before Isiah. Write a story about what the alternatives would have been had he not added to the salary cap. Would it have been much different? Would Tim Duncan have signed with them and left the Spurs if they had cap space. Would Kobe have came and played with God knows who 2 summers ago?? Be intelligent write real articles.
-- Kareem

Kareem,

Nice hook shot back in the day, but you have me lumped in with the wrong people. I have never written that Isiah should be fired. I don’t think he should be fired – not now, it’s too early in the season for all that mess. Tell me this: How does this situation get better if Isiah is gone, Marbury is allowed to stand victorious in the test of wills with his coach, and his teammates are stuck with him and not the coach they deep down want to play for? How will it get better to hamstring the organization’s ability to make any meaningful trades between now and February by dumping Isiah, promoting Herb Williams, and giving Glen Grunwald the interim GM title? Do you think anyone will be lining up to be traded to a team where they don’t know who the coach or GM will be six months from now?

You and I are on the same page, Kareem. You just don’t realize it. If the Nets weren’t such a non-entity to my readership, I would be ripping them a lot harder than I rip the Knicks. Frankly, they deserve it more for the reasons you bring up. The only reason I wrote about Donnie Walsh’s interest in the Knicks job was that it’s news, and my job at the end of the day is to deliver information to you. So I picked up the phone, called someone who would know how Donnie feels about this, and reported what he said. That’s my job.

I may not be intelligent, but I try to keep it real in the articles …

XXX
Marbury's family member passed away that is why he left early too.

Very Truly Yours,

Jordan

Jordan,

Thanks for pointing this out. It allows me to share how this situation went down because it’s something I feel badly about.

I have always made a rule never to criticize an athlete for failing to speak to the media. Although deep down I feel it is the pro athlete’s responsibility to communicate with the fans who pay his salary, I also realize that fans don’t care about the plight of the sports writer. They care about information on their teams, and athletes who blow off interviews are doing fans a disservice. But again, fans don’t care about this, so I usually leave it alone.

After the tumult of last week, I made an exception to the rule. I felt that Marbury should have been there to face the music on hometown soil just like his coach had to do. So I ripped him for displaying lack of leadership because he ran out of the practice facility as soon as reporters were allowed in.

No one told the media that Marbury bolted because he had a death in the family. Most people who were at practice that day, including the team’s P.R. people who are supposed to supply the media with information so our reporting can be accurate, didn’t know about the death until the next morning. At that point, it was too late to do anything about my unfortunate decision to criticize Marbury without knowing all the facts.

Marbury deserves criticism for plenty of stuff, including the lack of leadership he showed by abandoning his teammates and the coach who has gone out of his way to support him. But he didn’t deserve to be ripped for leaving as soon as practice ended to be with his grieving mother, who it turns out has lost eight siblings in the last five years.

So after Marbury spoke at shootaround Tuesday, I pulled him aside and apologized. I told him I didn’t know the facts and that I was owning up to my mistake. To his credit, he accepted it and we moved on. That doesn’t change the fact that I think he’s the wrong point guard for this team and he – not Isiah – should go. But that’s my opinion based on facts, and I am entitled to my opinion. Anyway, there’s the whole story.

XXX
Ken,

In 1999 when I left New York for the Sacramento region the Knicks were ugly and the Kings were on the rise. The tables have turned worse for both franchises. Your idea for reviving the Shareef, Thomas deal along with Artest and Bibby is worth talking about. Petrie needs to clean house and build the future around Garcia and Martin starting today. The Knicks need to do the same with one twist. Take Bibby, Artest and Shareef at no cost plus keep Marbury. Bibby is a punk and this town will throw a parade to the airport when he leaves.

Change the name of the Knicks in to the "NY Rehab Center for the Insane". Check Isaiah in with Dolan along with the rest of the head cases. Convince Mr.. Bill Bradley to give up politics and return basketball to the pride and joy it once was. Red Holtzman must be rolling over in his grave.

Jeff

Love your points, Jeff. A three-team deal between the Knicks, Cavs, and Kings makes perfect sense. But Marbury has to be included in the deal. His value to the Kings is simply the fact that he will give them a $21 million contract that comes off the books in two years, allowing them to pursue a major free agent. I worked out the rough outline of a deal that would send Marbury to the Kings and David Lee to the Cavs, who would also get Bibby from the Kings. Sac would get a signed-and-traded Anderson Varejao, but someone would have to throw in some first-round picks and cash to make up for the headache of either living with Marbury for a year-and-a-half or buying him out. The Knicks would get Ron Artest, and would have to take back the bad contracts of Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Kenny Thomas. They’d immediately buy out Thomas, but might actually be able to use Shareef as a big man off the bench. Not to get too complicated, but since Varejao would be a base-year compensation guy after signing a new deal in the $7 million-per-year range, Larry Hughes probably would have to be included in the deal as well to make the math work. But all the elements are in place for a trade that would make sense to all three teams.

XXX
FYI: There will be bagels on Wed, 11/21 and Friday 11/23.

thanks...kim

Oops, sorry. I accidentally included an email from the Newsday office, informing the staff when bagels will be served. Just another way to mock the reporters who don’t work in the office and thus don’t get any bagels … We move on …
XXX

I’m the guy you were talking about, I guess, when you said something like, “You don’t care what kind of person is on the Knicks, you just want them to be able to score, rebound, play defense, etc” Er, wrong.
And I’m also the guy who read your column when you guaranteed that the Anuchka Brown sex harassment case would never go to trial.
You’re Newsday’s answer to Mitch Lawrence and Peter Vecsey?
-- Robert

Thanks for paying such close attention, Robert. Please learn how to spell the plaintiff’s name. But allow me to remind you that anyone with half a brain was saying – and is still saying, for obvious reasons – that the Garden should have settled the case. They are paying the price on a daily basis for not doing so. It was a huge mistake. So I can’t accept blame for saying that should have happened. Clearly, it should have. And I won’t comment about my competitors publicly.
XXX

Ken:

I read your articles all the time. The problem as I see it is not "just" Isiah (do not get me wrong, you get Francis then trade him, you get Rose then do a buyout instead of trading his expiring contract, you get Jerome James who played 10 good games, you get Jeffries who cannot shoot, you get a point guard Marbury, that is a 2 in a 1 body, you get Crawford who plays worse D then Marbury if that is possible, and you get Curry who at his size, rebounds like Earl Boykins- so yes, he needs to be fired) but Jimmy Dolan will not hire anyone who has complete control of the roster- as you stated Colangelo, head of USA Basketball, and former Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe.

Dolan probably told Isiah not to trade Rose's expiring contract but to buy him out. Therefore, Dolan needs to realize that his basketball input is as bad as George Bush making a decision for the country by praying to Jesus. All jokes aside, until Dolan lets go and allows a basketball mind to do their thing- maybe Jerry West, etc., it will not make a difference if Isiah is there or not.

Great job on your articles.

Very Truly Yours,

Jordan

Thanks again, Jordan. Excellent points.
XXX

Ken: Please explain a couple of things to me:

In your columns, you repeatedly insist that Stephon Marbury is tradable. How can that be possible? What team in the NBA wants an underperforming player who's owed $42 million over the next two years? Whose actions since the end of last season have portrayed him as a mental basket case? Who, in his career, has alienated teammates on four teams and driven coaches to near suicide?

Ken, please read the other beat reporters covering the Knicks. To a man, they have quoted sources around the league who have said that this man is untradable.

The second thing: Why do you keep assigning Isiah Thomas any kind of competence as a coach and team president? When he has never showed any such competence up to this point in his career? As president of the Knicks, he has drafted players who would be marginal performers on other teams, and has assembled a team of scorers who have no idea how to play a team concept. As a coach, his record speaks for itself.

Ken, you and the Dolans have got to stop listening to Isiah's con job. Please wake up. DAVE

Dave,

At least two thirds of all NBA trades are made for contract reasons as opposed to talent reasons. Bad trades are made all the time. Bad players with bad contracts are traded all the time. It’s all about timing. Marbury’s contract for $21 million next season is an expiring contract, and at that amount of money it will be one of the most sought-after assets in the NBA. When you can wipe $21 million off your cap, a team in reasonably good cap position to begin with can use that to make a run at a major free agent. We’ve been over this: the summer of 2009 and 2010 will be two of the biggest free-agent summers in NBA history. It’s a shame that the Knicks won’t be able to take advantage of Marbury’s expiring contract to go after free agents themselves. At their current pace, they will never be close enough to being under the cap to get the same benefit out of Marbury’s expiring contract that a team that’s been responsible with its cap will. So why not maximize that asset now – or, if they can live with him long enough, at the trade deadline – so they can at least get a decent player back?

As far as debating Isiah: I can’t argue with your point about his record as a coach. I think he’s done a decent job in the draft with lower-level picks; the Knicks have traded away all their high picks, so we haven’t seen what he can do with first-rounders, but in the past (Marcus Camby, Damon Stoudamire), he hasn’t embarrassed himself. My whole point is that I think it’s too early in the season to take a team that most unbiased observers predicted had enough talent to make the playoffs and blow up the locker room by firing the coach. Your points on Isiah’s mastery over Dolan is well taken, but I think I’ve been fair to him.
XXX

Posted by david | November 21, 2007 15:19
Ken, love your column, and thanks for all the good Knicks coverage. My question . . . .It is clear that the Knicks have decided that Marbury is the main problem with the franchise. Do you think that they will trade him this season? And if so, what kind of a deal do you think they could make?

David,

Thanks for reading the column and the blog, and more importantly, for posting your question here. Since there are no useful point guards available, I think the deal they should pursue is the one referenced above for Artest. He would be an instant difference-maker who could provide the two things they need desperately: perimeter shooting and defense. Not to mention a ruthless drive to win, and even more importantly, an unwillingness to accept losing.
XXX

Posted by Jc In Palm Harbor, FL | November 21, 2007 15:57
I just want to get your opinion on this. After next year when Marbury, Francis, and Rose contracts are off the books and with a young core of Curry, Randolph, Robinson, Lee, and Balkman among others the future isn't so ugly. They set themselves up to being under the cap for the first time in almost a century and with Wade and maybe Lebron being available and the new messiah. What do you think? The worst thing for them to do would be to trade marbury for another bad contract. Keep the 21 million off the books. We as Knick fans have seen some crappy teams with high payrolls I could take another year or 2 to know the future is better. Jc


JC,

Thanks for checking in from the Sunshine State. Are you a transplanted LIer? Anyway, the only problem with your argument – which would’ve been a fine plan, by the way, for the reasons you cite – is the fact that the Knicks abandoned that approach when they traded for Zach Randolph. They added his monstrous salary that goes out several years, which was a departure from the stated objecting to gradually get under the cap in time to go after some of the free agents you mention. Hey, maybe they can adopt your plan in another decade or so.
XXX

Posted by EdL | November 21, 2007 16:03
As I look at this team, it occurs to me that even their good players - David Lee, possibly Balkman (based on his starting stint late last year), possibly Randolph (giving him the benefit of the doubt that his pout in the second half against the Warriors was just a one-off) - are not great. It is this settling for second best all the time that has run the franchise down so badly. The fact that they also pay top dollar for it just makes it worse.

EdL,

Well put. Not much I can add to that. Other than the fact that when you are immensely capped-out, as the Knicks have been forever, the only way to get better is to a) pay the piper and accept losing for several years while you get under the cap and build through the draft until you have room for a big free agent, or b) trade for players other teams don’t want, like Marbury, Curry, and Randolph. They have chosen the latter.
XXX

Posted by Bob | November 21, 2007 16:15
Why in the world would the Knicks even consider taking back terrible contracts in order to get Marbury off the books now. If they did that then Isiah is the biggest idiot in the game. Is it my imagination or is Eddie Curry heavier than last year. Why won't he
even try to play defense? Doesn't he realize that he would be more effective if he weighed 25 pounds 30 okay 50 pounds less?

Bob,

No team in the league has the financial ability to burn money like the Knicks do, so if they have to burn a little more to save themselves from their current situation by taking back some bad money to get Artest, so be it. As for Curry, I honestly don’t know if he’s heavier. He’s definitely more lethargic and less assertive than he was last year, and I think you make a good point that he’d be a more effective player if he were in better condition. Now you go tell him that.
XXX

Posted by NYKat | November 21, 2007 16:35
While other beat writers absolve Marbury of blame and focus their wrath on Isiah, I think you've pinpointed the main problem. I loved your article on Thomas not trusting Marbury. His comments about nothing good coming out of Isiah's decision making are unbelievable considering the lengths Zeke has gone to defend him. The kid is a disaster and he destroys everything he touches with his selfishness. Isiah is a fool to keep riding with him. it will lead to his professional demise.


NYKat,

Thanks for noticing. I have nothing against Marbury personally, because I don’t know him personally. But I can see that from a basketball standpoint, he is the problem. That is why Isiah benched him. It was well-deserved.
XXX

Posted by ronron | November 21, 2007 16:50
wake up folks, stop trying to run the knicks as if you all could do better, you can , why not stop hating and give them some time to jell, I'm not saying they are the best any one can put on the court , but there is worst out there, stop blaming steph & zeke for the problems of the knicks, they might contribute to them, but trust me were better with them than without them

If this is the Ron Ron who currently resides in Sacramento, we need you. Come home quick.

The recent string of catastrophes with the Knicks has resulted in a flood of emails. Some of you think I'm out of my mind, others say I'm uninformed, some think I actually know what I'm doing. Whatever the case, thanks for reading.

I'm going to respond to the emails in a blog post by the end of the day. I won't reveal anyone's last name -- only first names -- in case you want to remain anonymous. If anyone else has anything to add, any questions you want me to answer, or insults you want to hurl my way, post them in the comments on this blog ASAP. I'll respond before tipoff tonight.

Greenburgh, N.Y. – On the ninth day, he got his job back.

In another strange twist to the Stephon Marbury-Isiah Thomas rift, Thomas gave Marbury his starting point guard job back for tonight’s game against Golden State at the Garden.

“I just think he needed a reminder,” Thomas said after shootaround at the MSG Training Center. “I don’t think that it’s something that he doesn’t know how to do. He definitely knows how to play the position. He has great skill, he has great talent and we needed to remind him of what we need and expect from that position for us to be successful.”

The move isn’t necessarily permanent, but Thomas clearly is hitching himself even more firmly to Marbury.

“I think the things that he’ll deliver for us from a team aspect is exactly what we need,” Thomas said. “And if he’s not delivering those things again, then the bench awaits him. But it’s not just him. It’s every member of our team who doesn’t do it .”

Marbury, informed a week ago Monday on the team charter to Phoenix that he was losing his starting job, fled the team and returned to New York. He returned to the team for the last three games of the Knicks’ 0-4 West Coast trip, coming off the bench at shooting guard in each game.

Marbury said all the right things, except that he admitted “nothing good” came out of his benching.

“We were 2-3 when everything started, and we haven’t won a game since,” Marbury.

When asked about Marbury’s assertion that nothing positive came out of the tumultuous week sparked by his benching, Thomas asked the team’s P.R. representative if Marbury had said that. “Yes,” the P.R. man answered.

“OK, I have to make sure,” Thomas said. “I don’t know. I think as a player, you never want to be benched and you always want to play.”

The cynic would propose that Marbury’s reinsertion into the lineup was contrived to take the focus off a report in the New York Daily News that Thomas threw the team off the practice court Monday due to lack of focus and hustle. Thomas denied the report, as did Marbury a third person who was in attendance.

“No, I didn’t throw the players off the court,” Thomas said.

That’s an old trick of Thomas’ college coach, Bob Knight, who used to kick players out of practice all the time and also would bolt practice with the assistant coaches and leave the players to figure it out on their own. Thomas said he didn’t do that, either, and the person who witnessed the two-hour practice said the players were on the court the entire time.

Thomas did say he kicked the entire team off the practice floor “a couple of times” last season, but that now is not the right time for that.

“We haven’t thrown ‘em out this year yet, but maybe down the road,” Thomas said.

Marbury also addressed his absence from media interviews Monday after practice. It turns out he bolted the facility quickly after practice because his aunt – the grandmother of cousin Sebastian Telfair – passed away. Her funeral is scheduled for Wednesday, and there’s a chance Marbury will miss the trip to Detroit.

No other lineup changes. Should be an interesting night, to say the least.

Greenburgh, N.Y. -- In this world of the 24-hour news cycle, there is no time for transcribing notes. Stephon Marbury will be back in the starting lineup tonight against Golden State. More updates and quotes to come ...

Greenburgh, N.Y. -- Stephon Marbury was nowhere to be found on the Knicks' practice floor when reporters were allowed in, and Isiah Thomas said, "We'll see," when asked if his demoted point guard would return to the starting lineup against Golden State.

Either way, the Knicks were in full-blown circle-the-wagons mode Monday, in the midst of a six-game losing streak including an 0-4 West Coast road trip.

Asked to describe the level of support for Isiah, Jamal Crawford said, "It’s very strong. He’s very loyal in bringing all of us here and we’re all very loyal to him."

Was there any fallout from Thomas' decision to play Marbury in L.A. after he'd abandoned the team?

"Everything we’ll keep in house, but we’re not thinking about that," Crawford said. "That was a week ago, and now we just move on and try to play basketball."

Locker room turmoil? Nope.

"We’re good, we’re good," Crawford said. "There’s no turmoil. Teammates get into it on every team. We haven’t had that here but we’ve got to continue to work hard."

Crawford and Nate Robinson were the only players who spoke with reporters. Marbury, the focus of a tumultuous week, was not on the practice floor when reporters arrived. Team public relations officials said he did, in fact, practice.

"We’re a play or two away from having a winning record," Thomas, who twice gave the one-word answer "no" when asked if he's worried about his job security.

Suffice it to say it'll be an interesting night at the Garden tomorrow against Golden State.

"If they boo, if they cheer, they’re coming out to support us," Crawford said. "So we’ll be there trying to play hard."

Watching a totally uninspired and overmatched Nets team getting pushed around the court on a Friday night gives yours truly time to catch up on his reading. And as you know from reading this blog and looking at the list of my favorite sites, Newsday is a big fan of Gilbert Arenas and an even bigger fan of his blog.

His latest entry is vintage Gilbert. First, he explains that he's got a new catch phrase after he shoots. Hibachi is out; NACHOOOOOOOOOOOO is in. "Serving chips and dip," Gilbert explains.

Buried at the end of the entry is Gilbert having a few laughs at Stephon Marbury's expense:

Back to the Stephon Marbury laughter again, huh? I think everyone loves laughing right now. It’s comedy to me. It’s not like, “Uh oh, here come the Knicks again…” It’s just laughter to me.

It’s just funny to me. I don’t mean to pick at the man, but it’s funny to me.

That's why we love Gilbert.

Not sure how many of you read NBA blogs on a Friday night, but I, for one, write one.

Since Alan is dealing with Team Turmoil in Sac-Town, I'm checking out the Magic and Nets with a few hundred of my best friends at the IZOD Center. OK, there are a few thousand here, but there are plenty of empty seats, as is the norm.

The 4-4 Nets, still without Vince Carter, are getting smacked by Orlando. It's 38-27 with 2:56 left in the second quarter, and the Nets are lucky Dwight Howard picked up two quick fouls, because they had no chance against him when he was on the floor. The Nets are shooting a robust 25 percent from the floor.

The lack of buzz in the building (aside from the piped in noise) makes me wonder: Are there still any Nets fans out there on Long Island? Because there aren't many left in Jersey, evidently.

(This is not the IZOD Center, but it could be.)

Shaq, D-Wade, Hotseat Riley and the 1-7 Heat come in Saturday night for some more fun. According to an email I received from BetUs.com, only two coaches in the league have stronger betting odds to be fired first this season than Riley (4-1): Eddie Jordan (5-2), and the winner by unanimous decision, Isiah Thomas (3-2).

Not sure how many of you read NBA blogs on a Friday night, but I, for one, write one.

Since Alan is dealing with Team Turmoil in Sac-Town, I'm checking out the Magic and Nets with a few hundred of my best friends at the IZOD Center. OK, there are a few thousand here, but there are plenty of empty seats, as is the norm.

The 4-4 Nets, still without Vince Carter, are getting smacked by Orlando. It's 38-27 with 2:56 left in the second quarter, and the Nets are lucky Dwight Howard picked up two quick fouls, because they had no chance against him when he was on the floor. The Nets are shooting a robust 25 percent from the floor.

The lack of buzz in the building (aside from the piped in noise) makes me wonder: Are there still any Nets fans out there on Long Island? Because there aren't many left in Jersey, evidently.

(This is not the IZOD Center, but it could be.)

Shaq, D-Wade, Hotseat Riley and the 1-7 Heat come in Saturday night for some more fun. According to an email I received from BetUs.com, only two coaches in the league have stronger betting odds to be fired first this season than Riley (4-1): Eddie Jordan (5-2), and the winner by unanimous decision, Isiah Thomas (3-2).

While poor Alan Hahn huddles in his Sacramento hotel room wondering how things went so bad so quickly, I thought I would bring something interesting to your attention.

It's an analysis according to the Wages of Wins philosophy, and basically, it provides the statistical backing for what everyone in the NBA already knew: Marbury has been a marginally productive player for much of his career and below average for at least two years. Check it out, it's a good read.

Meanwhile, check out Alan's latest blog entry in which he refers to a damning report on Yahoo.com. Basically, it states that Isiah dispatched Jamal Crawford to conduct a poll among his teammates as to whether Marbury should play Wednesday night in L.A. The vote was a unanimous "no," and yet Isiah played him anyway. Aforementioned teammates apparently are not happy about it. Uh, oh.

Harrison, N.Y. - Just made my second trip of the day past Stephon Marbury's mansion in the Westchester County suburbs. No Marbury sightings, which seems to fit the rumors/theories that he's on his way to L.A. to rejoin the team.

I can't vouch for that from this vantage point, i .e. typing this blog entry from the side of the road near casa de Marbury. But I can tell you that his fleet of shiny SUVs has been quite active throughout the day.

The silver Range Rover registered to Marbury - the one he drives to and from practice - was in and out several times this morning. The tinted glass really spoiled the pics one of the tabloid photogs took. I don't think Steph was in there, in any event.

When this dustup with Isiah blows over, the two of them - who are virtually neighbors - might want to petition the town board to widen the streets. There was barely room for the monster trucks to get past all the reporters' jalopies parked on the side of the road.

A little after 1 p.m., an officer in a Harrison police squad car drove by and informed me that Marbury wasn't home, and that we would all be locked up if we didn't leave. I headed home to pick up my 3-year-old son from school, explaining to him that one of the players on the basketball team was missing, and that it was my job to try to find him.

"The blue team or the white team?" the inquisitive Jason B. asked.

Since the Knicks are on the road, I told him blue.

No reporters or jalopies were present at Marbury's house moments ago, so I can only assume they've been locked up or they've abandoned their search for the day.

Now I have to go break the news to Jason that I couldn't find the missing player. As Neil Best would say, sigh.

Alan is taking a well-deserved night off, as are Zach Randolph and Dwyane Wade. Isiah said before the game he's going to let Z-Bo take as much time as he needs to grieve for the loss of his grandmother. They'll need him on the West Coast trip, ASAP.

Love David Lee, but you can see early in this game why he doesn't start. His man, Udonis Haslem, is 5-for-6 for 10 points and six rebounds. David may be able to crash the window with the best of them, but D ain't his thing.

Caught up with Penny Hardaway before the game. Penny, if you haven't noticed, is making his second consecutive start after not starting a game since the 2004 Nets-Knicks playoff series.

Interestingly, Penny said the only reason he's back playing is because he was able to get exploratory surgery on his troublesome left knee once he was traded to the Magic and they waived him. It's not exactly another indictment of the Knicks' medical staff -- Penny said a bone spur that was found in the exploratory procedure hadn't shown up on any MRIs when he was in New York -- but he's happy to have gotten it cleared up.

Some of his comments:

On his knee: "I didn’t want to have another surgery while I was on a team, because that would have just been terrible on me. I was trying to get well through rehab. It just didn’t work. Once I got waived by Orlando, which I knew was going to happen, I was on my own and I could do whatever I wanted. If I wanted to have an exploratory surgery and it didn’t work and there was nothing wrong, I would’ve just had to retire. I would have been forced out by the pain. But luckily for me they found something and they took it out and I’ve been feeling good ever since."

On the Knicks' tumultuous offseason: "It’s just been a tough situation for the organization, bringing a lot of guys in with high contracts, the situation that happened with Isiah. It’s just a tough time for the organization right now."

On his time with the Knicks: "I wasn’t healthy. I wasn’t feeling well. I was just trying to give what I had when I was out there on the floor. The last couple of years here were so tough that I couldn’t even get on the floor. I knew in my mind that something was wrong, I just couldn’t put a finger on it because the MRI wouldn’t show anything."

On this being the best he's felt since: "When I first went to Phoenix. I couldn’t run the past five years with that bone spur back there. Now I have normal motion. I can go out there and sprint without any pain. I can run, I can jump, I can do anything that I want to do. It just happens now that I’m 36 years old, but without any pain, I still have enough talent where I can compete out there on the floor."

On whether he has any hard feelings toward the Knicks: "Everything was on me. Isiah was great to me, he really was. I just couldn’t play. I was injured and there was nothing that he could do with my talent or with me on the floor. I don’t have anything negative against the Knicks organization. I just wish that I would have been healthy when I was here."

Heat by 11, 33-22, with 7:12 left in the second. Isiah just got teched up. Feel free to check in with your thoughts.

Isiah Thomas was asked after Tuesday night’s 119-112 victory over the Nuggets if it’s possible to have a rivalry with a team in another conference.

Thomas smiled – the first time I’ve seen him really smile in a long time – and said, “Yeah. When you go to the Finals.”

Let’s not get carried away. This was a good home win that Isiah really needed, and it showed how effective the Knicks can be with their dual big men playing aggressively and intelligently in the post, with the versatile Renaldo Balkman clamping down on the opponent’s best wing player, and with smart guard play.

Brandon Tierney, a loyal Newsday.com reader and occasional contributor to Alan Hahn’s Fixer Nation, said it best on 1050 last night as I was driving home from the Garden: The Knicks don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt yet. They have to put together a few performances like Tuesday night’s before we can say they’ve turned the corner at all.

But you have to admit, it was a good start.

You may remember Adrian Wojnarowski from his days as a columnist with the Bergen Record. Woj is now working the national NBA beat at Yahoo! Sports, and is worth a read. Especially his latest column, in which he basically points out that Isiah wants to kick George Karl’s ___.

In case you’re on a strange schedule – like, the schedule of an NBA writer – you can watch all the NBA highlights on your computer at Yahoo. Check this link.

I love the fact that the Bulls are 0-4. Nah, nobody was distracted by those Kobe rumors, were they?

Peja Stojakovic is alive. He dropped 36 on the Lakers Tuesday night, and it wasn’t even the most impressive line of the night. Chris Paul scored 19 and dished out 21 assists in New Orleans’ 118-104 victory at the Lakers. Twenty-one assists, people! The Hornets are an interesting team. Too bad they are stranded in New Orleans, where they’re struggling to draw 10,000 per home game even after being away in Oklahoma City for two years.

I love Chad Ford’s analysis on ESPN.com in which he makes the case that Kobe’s trade value isn’t nearly as high as the Lakers would like to believe. A few of the reasons, for which Ford provides empirical evidence: Though he’s only 29, Kobe has logged more minutes than some players who are in their mid 30s; he’s not the most efficient or effective player in the NBA based on the best statistical models available to analyze such things; he’s not a leader or a winner; and Kobe makes too much money.

Ford’s best line: “If LeBron were to suddenly be available in a trade, does anyone believe that after six months the Cavs would still be waiting to receive a serious offer? Or 10 serious offers?”

Lastly, Newsday’s Katie Strang hung out with Alan and I at the Garden last night and did a little one-on-one interview with Alan that is supposed to be posted on Newsday.com at some point today. I can’t wait. Funny, Katie never asked to interview me.

Just got back from the Nuggets’ shootaround at the Garden, where George Karl couldn’t hide his disdain for Isiah Thomas no matter how hard he tried.

It’s going to be an interesting tilt tonight to say the last. In case you haven’t heard, it’s Denver’s first game in the Garden since the brawl between the teams last December. Let’s get right to the Nuggets’ comments, which should be plenty to carry you to tipoff.

Karl was asked how offended he was by Thomas’ assertion after the game that Karl shouldn’t have left his starters on the floor in a 19-point game with less than two minutes left. (Considering he called Thomas a “jerk” and a “jackass” the day after the game, I couldn’t imagine this line of questioning would go well.)

“I’m not going to even justify an answer, because we were in a state of the season where we were blowing leads,” Karl said. “The history of that team at the moment, we had blown leads, three or four leads – an 11-point lead to Atlanta, at home with eight minutes to go in the game. Even in the stretch of the game, we had blown a lead in that game.

“You have to remember, there was a three- or four-minute stretch where neither team scored. And once we scored, once we got another basket or another two baskets, I was going to sit my guys. But there was a lull in the game. And to project to the public that I was running up the score is, it’s not worthy of my comment.”

I asked George if he’d spoken with Isiah since the incident. (Since they hate each other, I couldn’t imagine he would say yes.)

“No,” Karl said.

Did he plan to talk with the Knicks’ coach before the tip tonight? Karl shook his head. How will he react when he sees Isiah on the floor during warm-ups?

“I will be exactly what I tell my team,” Karl said. “I will be professional.”

In case you want to relive the ugly episode, check out this video link.

Carmelo Anthony, who got a 15-game suspension and a severely damaged reputation for sucker-punching Mardy Collins during the melee, said he’s going to have to deal with the memory every time he comes to New York for the rest of his career.

‘Melo didn’t want to dredge up the comments Isiah made to him that precipitated the brawl. Moments before J.R. Smith drove for a layup that resulted in Collins’ flagrant foul in a 19-point game with 1:15 left, Thomas told Anthony, “Don’t go to the basket right now. Wouldn’t be a good idea.” Anthony said he spoke with Isiah in Las Vegas this summer during the Olympic qualifying tournament, but wouldn’t go into what was said.

“We spoke man-to-man, but there wasn’t any conversation about why he did what he did or what happened or anything like that,” Anthony said.

Smith, who is coming off a three-game suspension from the Nuggets for unrelated off-court transgressions, filled in the blanks.

“After [Anthony] hit Mardy and we were running back, I said, ‘Man, what happened?’” said Smith, sitting about 30 feet from where the whole mess transpired. “And he said, ‘Isiah told him to do that.’”

Asked what Thomas told Anthony, Smith said, “He told him, ‘Don’t go to the basket. Y’all better not go to the basket.’ He probably sent the dogs out there to do that, but that’s how Isiah is. He grew up with the ‘Bad Boys’ playing in Detroit, so he’s a real old-school type of dude. I ain’t got no grief toward him or anything. If that’s the way he is, that’s the way he is. Certain people go about their business certain ways.”

Anthony knows all eyes will be on him and the Nuggets tonight, including those of commissioner David Stern and league disciplinarian Stu Jackson. What happens if there’s another hard foul?

“How will we react?” Anthony said. “Man, look: We wouldn’t react, I’ll tell you that. We’re going to go pick our teammate up and go finish the game. We won’t react like we did last year, I can tell you that.”

Smith, who will return from Karl’s suspension tonight but won’t start, said the team will handle tonight’s game “the same way we always handle it. Go in, get our win, and get out of here.”

Should be an interesting night.

I know many of you care more about Sunday's home opener than Isiah Thomas' news conference with Al Sharpton, so here are few observations to keep you going until tipoff:

As Alan pointed out in his story and blog, the Knicks got killed again Friday night by their inability to defend perimeter shooters, particularly in drive-and-kick situations. If they don't get this fixed, it is going to be their downfall again.

It barely took 3 1-2 quarters for Thomas to put Stephon Marbury on notice that he will go to the bench for long stretches if he doesn't get it together. On Friday night, Steph's lapses were at the defensive end. But the Knicks also need some intelligent guard play at the offensive end from him, and that means finding a way to balance when to drive, when to pass, and how to find high-percentage shots. One thing I like about how Isiah coaches is that, despite the controversy swirling around him, it doesn't affect who plays. He could easily force Marbury on the game because he brought him here, but Thomas has consistently sent the message that the best players will play, no matter who you are or where you came from.

Having said all that, I still don't see who is the best point guard to run the offense consistently. I love Nate in open-floor situations when the Knicks play small and try to run the floor. But I'm not convinced the little guy can make the right decisions and steady the team when it really needs a bucket in the halfcourt set. Jamal Crawford? He's not the answer in those situations, either.

As for Isiah, I'll have an interesting take on things in Sunday's paper. Suffice it to say that I believe Thomas shouldn't be the only one taking the heat over this harassment verdict. Will be back Sunday night with the pre-game buzz and anything else you need to know.