NBA Insider with Ken Berger

Greenburgh, N.Y. – Two weeks ago tomorrow, Isiah Thomas was asked what he as the Knicks’ president would do about the coach. The team he assembled was 7-17, having lost eight of 11 games, and was fresh off its fifth 20-point loss of the season.

“That’s a better question in a couple of weeks and not today,” Thomas said on Dec. 18. “But in a couple of weeks, it would be a fair question.”

Why in a couple of weeks?

“Because I said so,” Thomas said. “We’ll see if we can come out of this. If we can’t come out of this, then those are fair questions.”

After practice at the MSG Training Center today, I reminded Thomas that tomorrow is the two-week mark since he made those comments and asked him to update us on his situation.

“We’ll keep moving in this direction,” he said.

“But you said two weeks ago that it would be a fair question in two weeks,” I replied.

“It’s fair,” Thomas said. “We’ll keep moving in this direction.”

“What direction is that?” asked the Post’s uber-backup, Dan Martin, who deserves props for posing the question of the day.

“Me as the coach,” Thomas said.

Isiah gave no updated timetable on evaluating his performance, so apparently that’s it. The Knicks must have “come out of this” in the past two weeks, having lost four of five games in that span to fall to 8-21 entering Wednesday night’s game against the Sacramento Kings.

News? You want some news to ring in the New Year? Stephon Marbury practiced and is “possible” for Wednesday night. Under team orders, Marbury won’t speak to the media until after the first game he plays after returning from an extended bereavement leave.

Jamal Crawford did some shooting and ball handling with a protective glove on his bruised right hand and declared himself “definite” for Sacramento.

At the end of his last media briefing of 2007, Thomas was asked if Jerome James had passed his physical yet as he apparently attempts to return to action.

“Jerome on New Year’s Eve,” Thomas said with a smile. “That’s a bad question.”

With that, Thomas walked into the trainer’s room. Happy New Year!

Orlando, Fla. -- Isiah Thomas still wouldn't divulge his new starting lineup before the game tonight, but Zach Randolph did. That's because he's not in it, and he's not happy about it.

Here is your starting five for the first game of the rest of your lives:

C -- Eddy Curry
PF -- David Lee
SF -- Jared Jeffries
SG -- Quentin Richardson
PG -- Jamal Crawford

Will try to check in with a few more thoughts before tip. But Randolph's reaction to the benching, which was announced to the players during the morning stretch at shootaround, was awfully telling.

Asked if he would try to play his way back into the starting lineup, Randolph shook his head and said, "Shoot. I ain't played my way out of it."

Orlando, Fla. – And the lineup changes are … oh, never mind.

The Knicks walked into Amway Arena this morning apparently unaware of Isiah Thomas’ plans for the starting lineup tonight against the Magic. Thomas said there will be changes, but wouldn’t say what they’ll be.

“We’ll make a change,” Thomas said. “You’ll see at game time.”

After an uncomfortable give-and-take with reporters about what those changes might entail, Thomas allowed some news to slip out. Not only did he acknowledge for the first time that Stephon Marbury has filed a grievance over being docked one game’s pay for leaving the team in Phoenix on Nov. 13, but he stated that the organization is fighting the former starting point guard on that grievance.

“Our position is as it is,” Thomas said.

“As what?” I asked.

“It’s a fine,” he said.

Asked if there has been any reconsideration on the Knicks’ part with respect to the docked pay, Thomas said, “No.”

The Knicks docked Marbury one game check, which would be 1/110th of his $20-million-plus salary, or $182,812.50. Though Thomas said Marbury is “nowhere near” an unexcused absence during his current leave related to his father’s death on Dec. 2, the grievance and Marbury’s fragile relationship with Thomas points to there being much more than bereavement going on here. Marbury didn’t travel with the team to Orlando and his status remains a mystery.

Thomas said he spoke with Marbury “two or three days ago” and added, “We are expecting him back at some point in time.”

As for the lineup changes, Thomas said his decision wouldn’t be altered by the fact that the Knicks haven’t had a full practice with the new lineup.

“All these guys have played together before and they’re familiar with each other,” Thomas said.

At the center of the change is expected to be struggling center Eddy Curry, who sat slumped over at his locker this morning with a sweatshirt hood pulled over his head. Curry said he wasn’t sick or down, but he looked like he would rather be anywhere in the world other than the visiting locker room at Amway Arena.

“I ain’t heard nothing,” Curry said. “What’d he tell y’all?”

Informed that Thomas said there would be changes but wouldn’t specify, Curry said, “I’m not even thinking about it. If it happens, then I’ll take it from there. But right now I’m not even thinking about it.”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, who also has contemplated lineup changes with his team having lost seven of nine, scoffed at Thomas’ attempt at secrecy.

“I don’t think them catching us by surprise on a roster move will have much to do with anything,” Van Gundy said.

Some news from the Magic: forward Hedo Turkoglu, who hurt his left ankle Sunday against Boston, participated fully in the shootaround and is expected to start tonight.

After staying quiet about his desire to be traded since the beginning of the season, Kobe Bryant opened up today and confirmed for the first time that the Knicks were on the short list of teams he asked to be traded to this past summer.

“They were, yeah,” Bryant told a small group of reporters when asked if the Knicks were among the teams for which he’d agree to waive his no-trade clause. After the Knicks and Bulls, Bryant said it was the Mavericks and Suns, marking the first time he has publicly disclosed the list.

Bryant made the revelation after the Lakers practiced today at an Upper East Side health club in preparation for tomorrow’s game against the Knicks.

Even more intriguing, Bryant said that no teams have been taken off the list, which his agent, Rob Pelinka, formally submitted to Lakers G.M. Mitch Kupchak after Bryant publicly asked to be traded on May 30.

Asked if he removed the Knicks from consideration because of the uncertainty and turmoil churning inside Madison Square Garden, Bryant said, “No, I just kind of pushed everything to the back burner and stopped thinking about trades.

“It wasn’t something where I was scratching teams off or anything like that. I just stopped thinking about it because once the season got under way, my focus had to be here. It couldn’t be split, because I’d be doing a disservice to my teammates.”

Asked if the list is still on the backburner and if his formal trade request is still on the table, Bryant said, “Call Mitch Kupchak and see what he thinks about that. I don’t get into that. … It’s all what Mitch wants to do, really. Mitch and Dr. [Jerry] Buss. It’s all on them. They can either trade me or not trade me. It’s completely their decision.”

As the only player in the NBA with a complete no-trade clause, Bryant can veto any deal. He can also pressure the Lakers to move him because he can opt out of his contract after the 2008-09 season.

And while he is surprised that the Knicks have spiraled so rapidly into disaster, he wouldn’t rule out a trade to New York if it were presented to him.

“I would look at it as just another challenge to prove that you can win,” Bryant said. “That’s how I would approach it. I wouldn’t be down about it. I’d just work that much harder to try to prove that if we do work hard, we can win ballgames.

“Every storm passes,” said Bryant, who then was asked if the chaos surrounding the Knicks and their embattled coach, Isiah Thomas, would frighten him.
“I don’t scare too easily,” he said.

Bryant said he is “very happy” as a Laker, but wouldn’t discuss whether he’s accepted the fact that he’ll remain with the team through the February trade deadline and beyond.

“I just focus on each game, man,” Bryant said. “That’s all I do. Since training camp, we all said that we weren’t going to address the situation and we weren’t going to talk about it, and I’m going to continue to live up to my end of the bargain.”

When I gave Bryant a chance to say definitively that he no longer wants to be traded, Bryant took a pass.

“That’s your opinion,” he said. “Say what you want to say. I’m not going to address it. I’m not going to address the situation. I’m here to focus on our team and focus on one thing and one thing only and that’s the New York Knicks.”

Evidently, in more ways than one.

At one point, Bryant had some fun with a reporter who asked flat-out if he would agree to a trade to the Knicks if the Lakers presented one to him.

“If a Martian came to me and said, ‘You could go to Mars tomorrow,’ I probably wouldn’t entertain it because Mars is a little too far for me,” Bryant said. “I don’t get into hypotheticals.”

Reminding Bryant of his statement back in May that he probably would OK a deal to another planet in the solar system, I asked him, “What about Pluto?”

“Pluto?” he said. “Jupiter maybe.”

Yes, Kobe’s world never stops spinning.

The Knicks declined to comment today on their role in the Bryant saga. The team has been aware since the summer that New York was among Bryant’s chosen destinations, but talks have never advanced beyond the exploratory stage.

Philadelphia – Made the unfortunate decision to venture down the Jersey Turnpike to get a glimpse of Kobe Bryant two days before his only appearance of the season at Madison Square Garden.

Well, it was unfortunate while braving abysmal traffic on the Major Deegan, but well worth the trip once I got here for the Lakers-Sixers game.

Having worked as the Associated Press sports writer in Philly prior to joining Newsday in 2000, I found it to be a truly unique sports city. There’s no place like it. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that my visit coincides with the Sixers honoring the 1983 NBA championship team that featured Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Andrew Toney, Mo Cheeks, and Bobby Jones.

Plus, the mental calisthenics involved in interviewing Phil Jackson never get old. I asked him before the game to address the strongly held belief around the league that his decision to finally sign a two-year extension that had been on the table for months must have been related in some way to his belief about whether Kobe will remain a Laker beyond this season or not.

“Fie on them,” Jackson said.

Huh?

“You know: Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum,” Dr. Phil said. “Fie on them.”

I told Phil I hadn’t brought my Olde English dictionary with me, and he laughed.

“So you’re saying it was unrelated to Kobe’s situation?” I said.

“It was related to my relationship with Jeanie Buss, most of all,” Phil said.

After a pause, I said, “So why’d you wait so long?”

Phil smiled. The Laker writers laughed, taking pleasure in the fact that I’d cornered Big Chief Triangle. He knew it, too, but he’s a good sport.

“It had everything to do with my physical well-being,” he said.

Kobe entered the game 39 points shy of becoming the 31st player in NBA history to score 20,000 points, and he scored nine in the first quarter. With two weeks to do it, he’s a lock to become the youngest player in NBA history to score that many points, eclipsing Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.

In the second game of a back-to-back on the road, my guess is he’ll save a few points for Sunday so he can do it at the Garden.

Speaking of which, I asked Kobe if he was going to be extra careful on his follow-through tonight, so as to avoid missing Sunday’s game. It took him a moment to realize I was referring to the smack to Manu Ginobili’s face last season, which resulted in a one-game suspension that canceled his one appearance of the season at MSG.

“Imagine that?” Kobe said. “I’d be so pissed.”

I would love it if, after a string of lousy columns that exhibit no grit, thirst, will, heart, or effort, my incompetence would be noticed to such a degree that readers would rally outside the Newsday office in Melville with a giant pink slip bearing my name.

Probably not going to happen. Why not? Well, first, I’d like to think that at the very least I put in the effort – more effort than the Knicks often do. But second, nobody would waste their time attending such an event because there would be no media outlets there to cover it.

Not even my own.

Sigh.

Gotta love this anti-Isiah culture, which has morphed into a contest to see how many fans can siphon 15 minutes of fame out of a giant trough of misery. And given that there are often more reporters than regular citizens at fan protests like the one held outside MSG on Wednesday, in this case I will assign the requisite blame for the people who created such phenomena.

The media.

To an extent, it’s our fault. We feed the beast, and then the beast demands to be shown on the 11 o’clock news and in the newspapers. The TV networks make a star out of that guy in Boston who threw his Knicks jersey during the infamous 45-point loss to the Celtics, and then one of the local newspapers gives him just what he wanted – more attention.

Jason Silverstein gets his little Styrofoam sign taken away, and instead of the coverage reflecting the true importance of such an incident – the Garden’s paranoia and apparent violation of free speech rights – the media turns the fan into a celebrity.

Do me a favor: No more emails from fans or P.R. agencies promoting fans who intend to protest, rally, shout, or otherwise express themselves about the Knicks. Get your 15 minutes from somebody else.

Honestly, do you think it might be a sign that we’ve all gone off the rails when one of the dominant papers in the city publishes a “Fire Isiah” poster and instructs fans to hold it up at games? Shameless self-promotion knows no boundaries, and all of us connected to this ugly situation play a part in it.

I’m not tooting Newsday’s horn here, but I like how Alan covers the team. He gives you insight about who’s moving the ball, who’s setting honest screens, who’s digging in and doing the dirty work – and who isn’t. If I were in your shoes, that’s what I’d want to read about – not attention-starved people out to make a name for themselves.

I don’t think the result Wednesday night says anything in the big picture other than this: 1) the Knicks managed to do what their coach said for once, and 2) they ran into an abysmal one-man team that played with less heart than the Knicks have lately.

We need to see more of this, consistent effort and commitment, before we can come close to saying that there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. If you are playing for your coach, you have to do it more than once for it to mean something.

If you are really a fan of this team, you should be rooting for more of what happened Wednesday night. You should be hoping for consistent effort and desire to flow from players who have given much too little of it for much of this awful season.

If that happens, the opportunity will re-emerge for Isiah to make a trade before the deadline that will improve the team and address its most glaring areas of weakness – a defensive-minded post player and either a ball-moving point guard or dangerous perimeter shooter.

If anyone wants to print up a big petition asking for those things, I might actually sign it.

Chicago – Fairly uneventful shootaround at the United Center today – much more uneventful than my United flight here. But more on that later.

Isiah Thomas said he is not changing the starting lineup, which means that struggling Eddy Curry will be announced with the starters tonight against the team that traded him. Unless Quentin Richardson (game-time decision with a strained knee tendon) can’t go, it’ll be the usual starting five, less Stephon Marbury.

Why? Here’s what the coach said:

“We’ll do some things differently strategically,” Thomas said. “But in terms of lineup changes, we’re not going to change the lineup. Eddy’s struggling a little bit now, but I’m confident that he’ll come out of it. The shots he’s missing and the shots that he’s getting, they’re great looks. Any time you can get a shot four, five feet from the basket consistently, his history proves that he’s going to knock those shots down.

“Defensively, we’ve got to help him and we’ve got to do some things better for him. Maybe look at playing a little bit more zone, helping him out in some different situations. There’s some things physically that he can’t do and my job as a coach is to find some ways to try to help him so we can keep him out on the floor.”

Sounds like it’ll be another quick-hook night for Eddy, although that’s not what Eddy says.

“I’m just not able to make shots right now,” Curry said, talking through the fat lip he got from Josh Howard Monday night. “I think that at some point a lot of players go through that and you’ve just got to work your way through it. Eventually, I’ll make baskets. I’m not worried about this being just a horrible season for me. I’m just having a rough stretch right now. And we’re losing, so it’s really kind of magnifying it. But I don’t think this will last forever. I think I’m going to work through it tonight. I look at every game as an opportunity to kind of turn things around.”

Q-Rich said he did most of the drills in shootaround but was wearing a bulky brace on his right knee.

The daily Stephon Marbury update provided no news, except that Thomas couldn’t even say for sure that Marbury would be back Monday night against the Pacers. Steph’s indefinite leave of absence while grieving the loss of his father has gotten to the point where I thought it was time to ask Thomas if Marbury was considering not coming back at all. Remember his comments this past summer, when he said during his Starbury sneaker tour that his life was bigger than basketball? Makes you wonder if coming back and playing in the building where his father fell ill will be too much for him to bear.

“I haven’t gotten that,” Thomas said. “That would be a question you can ask him when you see him.”

If we ever see him again.

XXX

Now for a travel story. As you are aware, the N.Y.C. area was hit by a debilitating snow, sleet, and ice storm on Thursday. Having volunteered to give Alan a breather, I decided to head to LaGuardia five hours before my scheduled 5 p.m. flight in hopes of flying stand-by on an earlier flight. Almost eleven hours later, I finally landed in Chicago.

I don’t usually fly United, and I’m not into giving plugs. But I thought they handled the situation extremely well. There was one dude manning the P.A. mic who brought some levity to the situation, interspersing some humor into his announcements. I could tell that some travelers didn’t appreciate it, but I did.

“We strongly advise that you rebook for tomorrow,” he said at one point. “So get on your cell phones, your blueberries, your Blackberries, your huckleberries, and call the 800 number to rebook.”

I thought that was funny.

Finally, the only reason I made it out at all yesterday was due to a gate agent – I believe her name was Janet – who appreciated the fact that I was being patient. A tip for travelers: Don’t get agitated with the gate agents. They have the stand-by list at their fingertips and can put you at the top of the list or the bottom – or off completely – at their sole discretion.

Just as I was about to pack it in around 6 o’clock, after failing to make it off two stand-by lists and having three flights canceled, I heard my name called. It was for a flight I wasn’t booked on, nor was I on the stand-by list. It was one of the only flights that left LaGuardia for Chicago after about 11:30 a.m. yesterday.

By this time, Janet was long gone, probably digging her car out and heading home on treacherous roads. Anyway, thanks. It was nice to encounter some competence for once.

Oh, one more thing. Check out Sam Smith’s column today in the Chicago Tribune. A few slaps on the back for his pal, Isiah. He also takes some shots at New York and New Yorkers.

Thomas, echoing Frank Sinatra, often says New York is a tough place to make it. In sports it's a borderline hysterical place. My favorite line about New York sports is the definition of a dynasty: When a family in China rules for hundreds of years, or a New York team has a three-game winning streak.

Thomas is losing, and how dare anyone do that to New Yorkers, who deserve better. I agree. If you must live your life in a miserable, overpopulated city with crumbling infrastructure—and do you know what they charge for a pastrami sandwich?—don't you deserve more sporting satisfaction than anyone else?

I like Sam a lot, but have to take issue with his preference for Chicago. (Smoking in restaurants? Can we evolve?) Plus, I like expensive pastrami sandwiches.

Now, the details:

Madison Square Garden and chairman James Dolan agreed to pay fired executive Anucha Browne Sanders $11.5 million today in a settlement of the sexual harassment verdict rendered against them.

The amount of the punitive damages awarded by the jury was $11.6 million, but there had been a compensatory damages hearing scheduled for this Thursday. Depending on what the judge decided, that amount could have been $1 million-$2 million on top of the punitive damages, according to legal sources.

Here are the statements from the various parties who had statements after the settlement was announced tonight:

In a statement read before tonight’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, Isiah Thomas said, “As I have said before, I am completely innocent. This decision doesn’t change that. However, it is in the best interests of Madison Square Garden to move forward, and I fully support it.”

MSG’s Statement: “We don’t feel any less strongly than we did throughout the entire episode. The outcome was a travesty of justice and we vehemently disagree with the jury’s decision, however, at the strong request of Commissioner Stern and in the interest of focusing on basketball, we can all agree that it is time for us to move on and put this issue behind us.”

Anucha Browne Sanders’ statement: “I am extremely pleased that we have reached a settlement. The jury’s verdict in this case sent a powerful and enduring message that harassment and retaliation at Madison Square Garden will not be tolerated. It is my hope that all women will be able to work in an environment that is free of discrimination and harassment, and that any woman who stands up for her rights will be taken seriously by her employer rather than retaliated against. I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the jury in my case, my lawyers, as well as my family and friends who supported me throughout this struggle. It has been a long journey, but I believe that justice has been done.”

Details are just coming in, but Madison Square Garden has reached a financial settlement with former executive Anucha Browne Sanders in her sexual harassment lawsuit, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The word is coming less than two hours before tipoff of the Knicks' game against the Dallas Mavericks tonight. More to come as details become available.

Greenburgh, N.Y. -- Stephon Marbury was excused from shootaround this morning, meaning he won't play tonight against the Dallas Mavericks because he needs more time to deal with the death of his father.

Marbury rejoined the team for the disastrous back-to-back losses to Philadelphia, returning to the lineup only one day after his father, Don Sr.'s funeral. Steph pulled himself at halftime of Friday night's game in Philly and also was ineffective in a 24-minute stint during Saturday night's 105-77 blowout loss.

In two games since rejoining the team, Marbury is 2-for-7 with eight points and five assists.

"I don't think he'll be playing tonight," Isiah Thomas said. "Again, we'll give him as much time as he needs. It's a tough thing for him to overcome right now and he's fighting his way through it."

Presumably, Thomas will go with the same starting lineup he used during Marbury's absence tonight against the Mavericks, who already have eight losses after going 67-15 last season. Dallas has lost three of its last four on the road, but have won 10 of 11 at the Garden.

Poor, tortured Knicks fans. You wake up after a second straight blowout loss to the 76ers, your team’s ninth double-digit result among its 13 losses, and you read in Newsday that Jim Dolan told Isiah Thomas after the game that his job is safe.

We feel your pain.

I suspected everything was just swell in Knick-land when I peered down a hallway under the stands and saw Thomas and Dolan emerging from their post-game meeting. Dolan was smiling and even had a big laugh before rubbing Thomas’ coat sleeve as the two parted ways.

Within the hour, I was told by a high-ranking Garden official that Dolan informed Thomas in that meeting that he’s still behind him, and that he is “not making any changes whatsoever.”

It is now up to the players to bail Thomas out of this. With back-to-back no-shows against one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, they’ve made no effort to do so thus far.

Labeling anyone, including the Knicks, “one of the worst teams in the East,” really isn’t saying much. If you can believe this, 12 teams in the conference already have at least 10 losses. The NBA could disband half the teams in the conference and then it would have some compelling basketball to watch.

I stand by my premise that while firing Isiah now from both his jobs would be wildly popular, it wouldn’t solve anything. If Dolan runs the white flag up the pole now, then the Knicks are guaranteed to be just another Eastern Conference bottom-feeder playing out the string until the roster and front office are completely dismantled next summer. Then, the new guys are only going to start their own five-year plan.

In short, there won’t be any reason for Howard Stern to attend another Knicks game until he’s in the final year of his five-year, $500 million contract with Sirius.

I saw a stat on TNT the other night that blew me away: Which NBA team has the most first-round picks on its roster? You guessed it, the Knicks – with 12. Twelve! They have talent. The talent needs to start showing up and not only taking direction from the coach, but playing with a sense of urgency and desperation if they hope to have a real chance to turn this mess around.

The problem with Dolan’s blind loyalty is this: If the players keep laying down for Isiah, if they don’t run the offensive sets he’s installed, don’t hustle back on defense, don’t play with passion, don’t play unselfishly, don’t exhibit some semblance of togetherness as a team, then the players are eventually going to force Dolan to fire Isiah.

The worst part of that is, I truly believe Isiah has some chips to work with to improve the team as we get closer to the trade deadline. But despite Dolan’s assurances, Thomas will never make it to the trade deadline if the team keeps playing like this.

In come the Mavericks Monday night, the beginning of what could be a brutal stretch of eight home games in the next 11. I suppose Dolan won’t need earplugs, because he doesn’t hear you.

I just hope the players do. The season started 19 games ago, fellas. Time to stop embarrassing yourselves.

Jason Kidd's headache is gone.

The Nets' point guard will play tonight against the Houston Rockets, ending his controversial one-day absence due to a migraine that was widely reported to have been a made-up excuse.

Kidd did not speak at the team's shootaround at the Nets' practice facility and wasn't on the floor during the media access time this morning. But coach Lawrence Frank said, "Yes," when asked if Kidd would be back in the lineup tonight.

Meanwhile, Kidd's teammates still seem confused by the mini-controversy, which has raised serious questions about Kidd's desire to remain in New Jersey.

Asked for his take on Kidd's absence from Wednesday night's game against the Knicks, reports that he sat out as a way to force the Nets to trade him or extend his contract, and Kidd's vehement denials of the reports, Richard Jefferson said, "I don't know what the take is. He said he had a headache, he had a migraine, and that's what happened. ... As long as I've been here, I've never known him to be a liar or a person that's not a competitor."

Jason Kidd and the Nets are in full damage control mode. Their star point guard didn’t show up for the game, and rumors and reports are swirling about whether he had permission to miss the game or not.

Who to the Nets think they are, the Knicks? Is Kidd trying to kiss New Jersey good-bye?

Kidd went on WFAN today to deny reports that he concocted a migraine headache excuse to miss the game against the Knicks last night. Kidd reportedly wasn’t ill, but rather sat out the game to send a message to Nets management that he is upset with the direction of the team and its decision to turn down his request for a contract extension.

“I was sick last night,” Kidd said. “I can’t believe that we’re having this conversation because I was sick.”

Kidd, 34, said he spoke with trainer Tim Walsh after the game in Cleveland Tuesday night and told him he wasn’t feeling well. He checked in with Walsh and coach Lawrence Frank again yesterday afternoon and told them, “I don’t think I can help.”

“I would never disrespect the game, first of all, by not playing, because the game has been so good to me, and my teammates, too,” Kidd said. “If I can help my teammates I would go out there and put the uniform on.”

Kidd said Nets president Rod Thorn and his agent, Jeff Schwartz, have been discussing a contract extension. Some reports have placed Kidd’s request at $24 million for an additional season on top of the two years he has left; other indications point to the number being half that.

Either way, Kidd said the team has not said no yet and that there is no deadline for the extension to be granted.

“Everybody has their version of them saying no and that I’ve asked for a lot of money,” Kidd said. “It’s just a business, and that’s what I’ve asked Rod and Jeff to do is to work out and extension and that’s what they’re hopefully going to come to.

“I would love to finish my career as a Net,” he said. “If there was a time for me to be upset, it would have been last year when they dangled me out there to be traded.”

Something doesn’t add up here. Maybe all of this has to do with Kidd’s comments before a recent West Coast trip when he expressed his frustrations about another slow start. And when it comes to Kidd’s angry reaction to interpretations of his comments to Sports Illustrated that he’d like to play with LeBron James, maybe the truth hurts.

Maybe he’s still angry after being dangled at the trading deadline last season. Kidd reportedly would still like to be traded to either Dallas, Cleveland, or the Lakers.

The Nets were off today, so we’ll have more on the Kidd saga tomorrow before they face the Rockets. No word yet on whether Kidd’s migraine will bee cleared up by then.

Congratulations to Bob Glauber for the record traffic numbers achieved by his NFL blog, which Newsday’s Web people announced today. As my father used to say, in the pre-Metrocard days, “That and a token will get you on the subway!”

I received some interesting feedback on the Stephon Marbury column I wrote Sunday night. Most of it was positive, but there were some negative vibes, too. Since I criticize people for a living, I can take criticism. I just thought I’d share both sides and get your thoughts.

In an email with the subject line “Read This When You Stop Weeping,” Robert wrote as follows:

“Who wrote this article, Suzyn Waldman? Stephan Marbury lost his mentor, his aunt and his father all in one month?? Ohmigod, I can't control my tears. Gimme a break! People get hit with loss all the time. I feel bad for the guy but control yourself, for crying out loud. This article reads like it was written by a high school kid.”

One thing’s for sure: Newsday’s NBA blog isn’t going to set any records for spelling …

I can see where someone like Robert might have thought I’d lost my gumption and cut Marbury too much slack in the column. No, on second thought, I can’t. While everyone else in New York has been blaming Isiah Thomas for everything that is wrong with the Knicks, I’ve been pointing the finger at the real problem for weeks: Marbury. I make no apologies for that. From a basketball standpoint, I stand by my reasoning.

In fact, I was so confident in my opinion that Marbury’s play has been dragging the Knicks down more than Isiah’s coaching that I went about writing another scathing Marbury column Sunday night. Ian O’Connor of the Bergen Record and I spoke with Magic Johnson at halftime, and after getting Magic’s thoughts on what the Knicks need from their point guard, I was never more convinced that Marbury wasn’t providing it and probably never would.

So I went to town on Marbury in my column – fairly, respectfully, but harshly. I thought what I wrote was well-deserved … until …

Until 10 minutes before I was supposed to send it, when word began to spread in the media work room at the Garden that Marbury’s father had passed away during the game.

I called Jeff Weinberg at the Newsday office and pleaded with him for a little time to completely rewrite my column. There would be plenty of days to pick apart Marbury’s play, plenty of days to quote Magic and Steve Nash about what a point guard really should be. This was clearly not one of those days, even if I’d already written the !@%$@ thing and was supposed to be sending it to the office for editing in 10 minutes.

Jeff, being the cool ferry captain that he is, agreed to extend my deadline … by 15 minutes. So what you read in Monday’s paper was written pretty much off the top of my head in approximately 20 minutes. (Or, in the interest of full disclosure, 30 minutes, given that I sent 10 minutes late.)

I am not looking for any sympathy, nor trying to justify what I wrote. Just giving you the background. I thought it would have been in incredibly bad taste to trot out another Marbury rip job that night. Fortunately for me, our paper doesn’t suffer the same early deadline problem that some of our competitors do, or that’s exactly what you would’ve read in most editions of Monday’s paper.

Now, go back to reading Glauber’s blog. Tell him I said hi.