NBA Insider with Ken Berger

As you obviously know by now, James Dolan moves like a glacier when it comes to deciding whether to fire a coach or general manager – doubly slow when one person hold both titles.

One thing I can tell you for sure is that the Knicks have come to a much swifter conclusion when it comes to their roster. Isiah Thomas must have misspoken recently when he said of his players, “They’re all untouchable.” He meant to say, “They all have to go.”

In checking around the league today after the latest round of reports about Thomas’ future, I learned from an NBA team executive that the Knicks are pretty much willing to make every player on their roster available before next month’s trade deadline.

“I think they would move everybody,” the exec said. “I don’t think they like their team very much.”

What’s to like?

The usual denials came out of the Garden today, with Barry Watkins, MSG’s vice president of public relations, shooting down two published reports – one that Dolan is leaning toward firing Thomas during the season, and another that Thomas has talked about quitting his job as coach to concentrate on being the Knicks’ president.

Thomas, of course, vehemently denied that he will step down, calling the report “lies” after practice at the MSG Training Center. That jives with what a source close to Thomas told me today: “He’s not walking away from either situation. He’s not walking away from anything. He won’t do it.”

The key is whether Dolan or his henchman, MSG Sports president Steve Mills, actually have contacted replacements in advance of Thomas’ possible dismissal. That hasn’t occurred with at least two of the most sensible candidates to run the Knicks; league sources said today that the team has not reached out to Donnie Walsh of the Indiana Pacers or Kiki Vandeweghe, recently hired as a consultant to Nets president Rod Thorn.

This is the tactic that Mills employed when Thomas’ predecessor, Scott Layden, was fired in December, 2003. For two or three days prior to Layden’s dismissal, Mills kicked the tires around the league and assembled a list of potential replacements before Dolan finally agreed to throw Layden overboard.

Watkins said today of Thomas’ status, “There’s nothing new to report.” At least not until Sunday, when the Knicks most assuredly will fall to 9-27 with a loss to the Pistons (27-9), who are only four games behind the Celtics for the best record in the East.

The Knicks don’t have the worst record in the East – yet. They’ll have to settle for biggest embarrassment.