NBA Insider with Ken Berger

NBA Commissioner David Stern addressed league owners Thursday in Manhattan about the sexual harassment judgment against Knicks coach Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden, saying he has decided not to take any disciplinary action against them while the matter is under appeal.

Stern called the matter "frustrating" and said it has resulted in a league-wide policy change that will require employees of all 30 teams to participate in workplace sensitivity training. But for now, Thomas and Garden chairman James Dolan have escaped punishment.

However, Stern warned that the matter is under review, and while he wouldn't reveal what course of action he might take, stated, "My powers are very broad if I choose to exercise them."

Dolan attended the Board of Governors meeting at the St. Regis Hotel, but left about 25 minutes before Stern addressed reporters.

Stern also addressed the league's ongoing investigation into gambling activities by referees, which I'll be back in a bit to expand on. Long story short, the league's internal review will not be completed at least until federal authorities close their case against former ref Tim Donaghy. Stern said the probe has found that about half of the 56 refs violated the gambling policy by betting in casinos, but that he has decided not to discipline any of them.

Cablevision shareholders on Wednesday rejected the company’s $10.6 billion bid to go private, a serious blow to the Dolan family’s effort to escape public scrutiny in running the Long Island-based cable company that owns Madison Square Garden, the Knicks, and Rangers.

The company’s three largest outside investors had opposed the privatization bid, which offered shareholders $36.26 per share. Garden chairman James Dolan has made it clear that Cablevision wouldn’t sweeten the offer if shareholders rejected it and said he was prepared to keep the company public if that happened. That means Cablevision will have to remain publicly accountable for financial decisions such as, hypothetically, releasing Jerome James after signing him to a five-year, $29 million contract in 2005.

I was just watching ESPN First Take (yes, I’m the one) before heading to N.J. to check in with the Nets before the season starts.

Why was I watching, you ask? Not to see my pal, Bob Glauber, who is packing his bags to follow the Giants to London. To be honest, I really don’t know why I was watching. But I did note that LZ Granderson of ESPN The Magazine has hopped onto my Kobe-to-the-Knicks bandwagon.

Like me, LZ wasn’t saying that the Knicks are any more than a longshot in the Kobe sweepstakes. He was merely reiterating the points I made in my column in Sunday’s paper – that if Jerry Buss fails to get a comparable superstar for Kobe, the Knicks can give them a busload of players on rookie contracts, at least $30 million in contracts expiring in the next two years, plus two first-round picks – and thus, the assets they will need to make a free-agent run at LeBron or D-Wade in a couple of years.

Dozens of readers commented on the Web version of my column, most of them calling my bluff and calling me crazy. For the record, I spoke with an Eastern Conference GM this week who shares the opinion that I’m nuts. That GM doesn’t think the Lakers will trade Kobe, period, because he thinks it doesn’t make sense to give up the best player in the NBA for anything less than the best player in the NBA. And since Kobe can’t be traded for himself, there will be no trade, the GM said.

Here are a few other interesting items around the league before I make the trek to Jersey to see if J-Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson are ready to be more than so-so in the East:
· Suns GM Steve Kerr was among the hundreds of thousands of San Diego residents forced to evacuate their homes in the face of the horrifying wildfires.
· NBA GMs have weighed in with predictions in their annual preseason survey. The Spurs received 37 percent of the votes as the likely NBA champions, ahead of Phoenix (26 percent), and Dallas (15 percent). Detroit (7 percent) got the most votes among Eastern Conference teams. The GMs picked LeBron James as the league MVP with 30 percent of the votes, followed by Tim Duncan (22 percent), and Kobe Bryant (19 percent). Last year’s MVP, Dirk Nowitzki, didn’t receive a single vote.
· John Hollinger of The New York Sun is back with a sobering assessment of the Knicks’ mismanagement of assets under Isiah Thomas. The latest evidence Hollinger cites is something that Alan Hahn pointed out in Tuesday’s paper – the fact that the Knicks apparently will have to release second-round pick Demetris Nichols Friday after barely giving him a look in preseason.
* Sonics rookie Kevin Durant left a preseason game against Golden State on crutches after spraining his left ankle, but Gary Washburn blogs that he's OK and will likely be back for the regular season opener.
· David Stern will be available Thursday at the Board of Governors meeting in Manhattan, where he is expected to have something to say about fallout from the Tim Donaghy scandal and possible discipline for Thomas and/or James Dolan in the wake of the sexual harassment verdict against them.

So Allan Houston’s comeback ended before it really began. The Knicks announced Saturday that the 36-year is done trying to rejoin his former team.

“While my body, and knees, in particular, feel fine, I know what is required for me to be truly effective in the NBA again, and it involves a timing and progression that would not be fair to Isiah and the Knicks right now,” Houston said in a statement released by the team. “With the season opener less than two weeks away, I think it is best for the team to move on without me.”

Houston was not with the team Saturday at the open practice for fans at Hofstra but will discuss the situation Sunday before practice at the MSG Training Center in Westchester County.

Coach Isiah Thomas said Houston decided before the preseason game against the Nets Thursday that he was going to abandon his comeback. Nobody said anything about that when Houston surprisingly didn’t dress for the game, though. Thomas indicated at the time that Houston was sitting out to avoid playing back-to-back games, and acknowledged that slim was an “accurate” characterization of Houston’s chances to make the team. Houston first said not dressing against the Nets was “their call,” then changed his tune and called it a “mutual agreement.”

For the record, Houston is holding out hope that he can stay in shape and be available if another team with an open roster spot needs him.

I never thought Houston had much of a chance, or that a team in the Knicks’ situation had much use for him. Your thoughts?

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.
…
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.

You poor Fixers are going to have to slum with me today while Alan takes a breather for the weekend …

The Roderick Wilmont era is over. The Knicks released him today after practice, which explains why he was walking around the court shaking hands with everybody. That leaves 19 on the roster. Still bloated, but Isiah said he’s needed the bodies because of all the injuries.

After the media were treated to a lengthy scrimmage viewing on Friday, no such luck today. Only a live play or two followed by the usual free-throw shooting. This way, we were not able to detect whether Allan Houston was still running with a limp.

After Day 2 of his comeback, Houston said he feels good moving around but is still getting used to the pace after two years out of basketball. Though he said he feels “a lot better than I felt two years ago,” it can’t be a good sign that Houston is “happy to get through the day.” This after only two days!

Isiah had some interesting comments about Houston’s chances, but I have no idea what he was talking about. Asked if two weeks would be enough time to evaluate him, Thomas said, “Yeah, I think we’ll know.” The tone of the question suggested that the organization was putting Thomas in a tough spot by giving him limited time to make a judgment on a player of Houston’s stature and popularity, a notion that Thomas rejected.

Then he was asked if he has an opinion of Houston right now, to which Thomas said, “Uhhh, I have a pretty good idea. It’s a good idea.”

“What’s the idea?” I asked (kicking myself for not asking, “What’s the big idea?”)

“It’s good. It’s good,” he said. “He looks good. I have no issues, complaints or concerns at this time.”

You can draw your own conclusions on that one, but Thomas continues to seem less than enthused about Houston’s tryout. Solicited by another reporter obviously working on a Fred Jones story, Thomas continued to say nice things about Jones.

Other tidbits:
· Isiah continued to sidestep questions about Kobe Bryant, saying as far as he knows, Kobe is in camp and happy to be there. He wasn’t touching questions about Jerry Buss’ recent comments about his continued willingness to trade Kobe.
· Jerome James still isn’t scrimmaging and has yet to be medically cleared to play. (No surprise there.)
· Demetris Nichols missed practice for personal reasons, but his absence isn’t expected to be lengthy.
· Thomas praised Wilson Chandler, especially for his work on the defensive end. A pleasant surprise, Thomas said, has been Chandler’s knack for blocking and altering shots.

The Knicks will work again tomorrow at the MSG Training Center, as will yours truly, so stop by for more updates …

David Stern held a news conference in London today before Kevin Garnett and the Celtics played KG’s former team, the T-Wolves, in a preseason game.

Any stunning revelations or updates on the Tim Donaghy situation or fallout from it? Nah.

Stern said he is analyzing interviews that were conducted with all 60 officials and will “have something more to say before the regular season begins.”

“We remain, based upon all of the information we have, of the strong view that Donaghy was an isolated instance of criminal activity,” Stern said.

Stern said some officials revealed “violations” of league rules. Presumably, these are the minor gambling issues – outside of betting on NBA games – that Donaghy was reported to have divulged to federal authorities.

“I told the officials at their meeting, actually, that we won’t be terminating any officials for violations of league rules,” Stern said. “There were some violations but they’re not hanging crimes.”

Stern gave no specifics on how the league intends to improve background checks for referees or enhance the performance review process.

“We’ve got to be quicker in admitting when mistakes have been made by officials and be more transparent when it comes to that, rather than waiting for the public to come to us,” he said. “But I don’t think any more than making reporters personnel files public that we should be having referees’ human resources file being made public.”

As far as fan reaction to the scandal, Stern said, “For the most part, people appreciate the fact that we we’re out front with it, that we’ll be dealing with it in due course before the season begins.”

If you want specifics, you apparently have to buy an NBA franchise. Stern said he plans to “unburden” himself of all the facts he’s uncovered at the owners meeting Oct. 24-25.

Lastly, Stern reiterated his belief that it’s unfair to impugn the integrity of all officials based on Donaghy’s actions.

“It would be like me saying, ‘I understand that Jason Blair lied in his reports in The New York Times, how can I trust you?’” Stern said. “But I don’t say that to media. What I do is, I deal with officials as human beings doing a good job, telling them that we’re going to have to have more transparency with respect to their bad calls. We’re going to have to make sure they’re happier, make sure their work environment is one that they feel well supported and protected, and helping to develop them in their careers.”
***
OK, enough is enough. I just got off the phone a while ago with Allan Houston’s agent, Bill Strickland, who shared some thoughts on why Houston is returning to the Knicks.

While the Nets were in hot pursuit of Houston, the Knicks were the only one of the six teams that worked him out recently that could give Houston a chance to play and practice near his Westchester home. Houston’s fourth child, a daughter, was born last week, and he “just came to the realization that he wanted to stay close to home,” Strickland said.

Houston has been aware all along that there are no guarantees he’ll make the roster. He concluded that the Knicks provided the best opportunity for him to find a niche in terms of providing veteran leadership.

“Isiah made it very clear from the very first time I contacted him about this that Allan would have to compete and perform because Isiah wants to win,” Strickland said. “Allan understand that’s the nature of the beast.

“One of the things that he factored into his thinking was an opportunity to exert or contribute a certain level of veteran leadership to a young ballclub,” Strickland said. “It’s not to denigrate the Knicks in any way. It’s just that he feels they’re a young ballclub and they’re looking for veteran leadership.”

Houston got a one-year deal, but the real mystery is whether it’s guaranteed. Since a roster spot isn’t guaranteed, logic would suggest that the contract isn’t either. But with the Knicks, you never know. They won the Randolph Morris derby, for example, by guaranteeing his two-year deal and not prorated his salary last season. Either way, Houston’s deal would have to be heavily incentive-laden.

If he makes the team, Houston could provide more than a few three-pointers and a little leadership. By reconnecting the Knicks to their successful past, Houston could bring some sanity and positive publicity to what has been a dreadful summer for the Knicks. Your thoughts?

What a surprise! The Rev. Al Sharpton wants someone to apologize. This time, it is Isiah Thomas.

Sharpton says he will protest outside Knicks home games this season if Thomas doesn’t apologize for his comments about calling black women the b-word during his deposition for the sexual harassment trial he just lost.

How about this, instead, Rev. Sharpton? How about you and the Rev. Jesse Jackson apologize for railroading the innocent Duke lacrosse players first, and then you can tell other people what to do?

How about you mind your own business for once and stop trying to use people for no other purpose except to generate publicity for yourself and continue to create the illusion that you are relevant in the arena of ideas?

As usual, Sharpton is jumping into the political debate before he has the facts.

He says he is calling on Thomas to apologize “because of what came out during the deposition … when he said it was all right for black men to call black women ‘bitches,’” according to published reports. “It is inexcusable for any man of any race to call black women or any women ‘bitch.’”

Sharpton went on to say his National Action Network would picket the Garden during Knicks home games unless Thomas apologizes.

UPDATE: After speaking with Thomas by phone Saturday, Sharpton agreed that his National Network Decency Initiative would review the deposition before picketing the Knicks. “He further asserted that there must be one level of standards for all people, and as he held Mr. Imus, hip hop artists and others accountable, Mr. Thomas also had to clarify his position on behalf of all women or there will be further action,” a spokesman said in a statement released on Sharpton’s behalf.

My question to Sharpton, based on that statement, would be this: Is the Rev. Sharpton going to demand that 50 Cent and Justin Timberlake apologize for the lyrics in the following chart-topping song I was subjected to on the radio while driving my 3-year-old home from a birthday party on Saturday? Is he going to demand sanctions against the radio station, Z-100, that plays it every five minutes?

She work it girl, she work the pole
She break it down, she take it low
She fine as hell, she about the dough
She doing her thing out on the floor
Her money money, she makin' makin'
Look at the way she shakin' shakin'
Make you want to touch it, make you want to taste it
Have you lustin' for her, go crazy face it
Now don't stop, get it, get it
The way she shakin' make you want to hit it
Think she double jointed from the way she splitted
Got you're head ___ up from the way she did it
She's so much more than you're used to
She knows just how to move to seduce you
She gone do the right thing and touch the right spot
Dance in you're lap till you're ready to pop

I think I can answer my own question: No, he isn’t.

Alan Hahn is down in Charleston, where people with much better things to do (including him) are instead spending their time chasing another Sharpton non-story. Rev. Al apparently backed off after Isiah explained to him that his deposition testimony was edited in such a way to maximize his embarrassment to the jury. Now Sharpton apparently is going to take aim at the lawyers who spliced the testimony, presumably those representing Anucha Browne Sanders.

Frankly, Isiah should have told Sharpton to mind his own business.

Kevin Mintzer, one of Browne Sanders’ attorneys, is asserting that Thomas’ attorneys made no objections to the portion of the deposition that was played in court. A Garden spokesman had no comment, beyond pointing out that Thomas stated outside the courthouse that it is “always wrong for any man to call a woman a bitch. I didn’t do that, and I would never do that.” He also pointed out that Thomas addressed this matter in his direct testimony from the witness stand, which Sharpton evidently didn’t take the time to read before spouting off and demanding apologies again.

The point is, once again Sharpton is pretending to stick up for a group of people who supposedly have been wronged, when in reality he is just using someone – this time, Isiah Thomas – to give him an excuse to hear himself have a tantrum so he can raise more money for his political agenda. Thankfully, unlike the Duke lacrosse case, no one is in danger of going to jail this time over his irresponsible ambulance chasing.

Alan and I are in the process of finding out what the various attorneys in the case think about this development. My guess is, they’re either bored or laughing.

Thanks to those of you who offered your congratulations on little Z-Berg, who is getting a lot more sleep than I am these days.

After two solid weeks of getting woken up at all hours of the night to feed, diaper, cuddle, and otherwise parent our new addition, I wound up flat on my back for the better part of four days with some sort of infection. I had to do the unthinkable – cancel my trip to Charleston, which promised a couple of good stories, sunshine, delicious food, and several consecutive uninterrupted nights of sleep. Thankfully, Alan has been keeping his Fixers – and presumably himself – well fed during the first few days of camp.

In response to Orange and Blue’s question about what David Stern might do to either Isiah Thomas or Jim Dolan as a result of the verdict in the sexual harassment trial, my firm belief is that he will do nothing. Stern is rarely afraid to discipline anyone with a pulse, but he has long been opposed to getting involved in matters of civil litigation. I expect him to stay as far away from this fiasco as he can. For additional thoughts on this, see my column that will run in Sunday’s paper.

I know most of you are probably sick of hearing about the trial, but I thought this was an interesting tidbit for you. Can anyone guess how much Anucha Browne Sanders will actually receive after paying her lawyers and her income tax bill?

I’ll spoil the suspense and tell you: After paying the presumed standard contingency fee to her attorneys (typically 33 percent), and after satisfying the IRS, Browne Sanders will walk way with about $4.2 million of the $11.6 million in punitive damages awarded by the jury.

If the attorneys get one-third, that means they will receive $3.9 million – almost as much as their client. Considering the legal army they were up against, I have to admit it was well earned. But depending on the arrangement Browne Sanders made with her lawyers, she may also have to pay them for expenses – everything from copies to courier fees.

Assuming a 35 percent federal tax bracket and about 11 percent combined for state and city taxes, the government walks away with about $3.6 million of Browne Sanders’ money – money that may or may not benefit working women, or anyone else for that matter, depending on how the government decides to waste it.

While Browne Sanders does not have to pay tax on the attorney fees, in accordance with a 2004 law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush, Uncle Sam will get his mitts on a sizeable portion of that money anyway because it counts as income to the law firm.

My friend Craig Miller, partner in the D.C. law firm Simeone & Miller, says that before the law was changed, many victims in employment discrimination cases actually wound up owing money once they paid their taxes because attorney fees were considered taxable income.
Either way, the biggest winners are the lawyers and the government – as is usually the case in matters such as this.

U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch is expected to rule next month on Browne Sanders’ request for up to $10 million in compensatory damages. If she receives all she asks for, Browne Sanders will wind up with about $3.6 million of it after paying her lawyers and the IRS.

Nobody should be shedding any tears for Browne Sanders, nor do her financial obligations diminish the unnecessary embarrassment the Garden suffered by insisting to go to trial.

This little math exercise only illustrates how a verdict like this isn’t always the slam dunk it appears to be.

…

Now, something basketball-related. Allan Houston’s wife gave birth Thursday to a baby girl, which explains the delay in his decision on whether to sign with the Knicks or the Nets. A person close to Houston says his decision, and a news conference, are expected in the coming days.
I’m with Alan Hahn on this one. I don’t quite see the benefit of adding Houston to this roster. But I’m not sure the Garden could stand seeing one of the popular former Knicks playing across the river in Jersey. So you never know.

As if my head weren’t spinning enough after two weeks of helping care for the newborn in the Berger household – Z-Berg is the nickname Alan Hahn has given to little Zachary – now I am woozy like Michael Spinks was against Mike Tyson after going a few rounds with Stephon Marbury at Knicks media day.

I spent the entire allotted time sitting at a table with Marbury today at the Knicks’ training center, because unless Kobe Bryant or Ron Artest walked through the door, I felt like Steph was the most compelling story on the eve of training camp.

Part of me is glad I spent so much time with him, because it took the better part of 40 minutes to get Marbury to really open up about the source of his apparent transformation this summer. The Cliff’s Notes version is that he no longer cares what anyone thinks about him, and he has found G-d.

With word that a verdict was imminent in the sexual harassment lawsuit against the Garden and coach Isiah Thomas in Manhattan, Marbury was the only person available at media day who had anything to do with the trial. In fact, he played a starring role in one of the salacious sideshows generated by the proceedings when he was forced to testify about his 2005 tryst with a college-age intern in his truck outside a strip club.

All Marbury kept saying about the matter was a cryptic line – “It shall be well” – which Google tells me is a Biblical reference from Psalm 128: “When thou eatest the labour of thy hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.”

At $20 million this season, Marbury should be able to eat just fine.

Steph’s trademark combative side showed itself, but for the most part he was engaging and willing to talk – on his terms. He called this the “best summer that I’ve ever had,” which seemed like an odd statement considering all the controversy he generated with his bizarre appearance on a local TV show, his stated desire to play in Italy when the final two years of his Knicks contract are up, his defense of Michael Vick, and finally, his testimony at Isiah’s trial.

“I don’t have any concerns at all,” Marbury said of the potential fallout from the messy public trial. “This is something that’s being dealt with and in time it’ll go away. It’s something that’s going on right now.

“You’re talking about a civil lawsuit. Somebody’s trying to make some money and we’re talking about basketball. When you start playing ball, hopefully that’s what people will concentrate on.”

You can read all about the real source of Marbury’s new perspective in tomorrow’s paper. As far as basketball, Marbury predicted that the Knicks would be a better team with the addition of Zach Randolph and the stability of playing for the same coach. He acknowledged that he needed more time to recover from a nagging toe injury than he might’ve needed when he was younger, but vowed defiantly that he is not wearing down.

“Going into training camp, everybody’s mindset is right where it needs to be,” Marbury said.

Alan Hahn was racing to the airport to catch his flight right after media day, so he urged me to tell his loyal Fixers that he’ll post something as soon as he arrives in Charleston. I’ll be joining him later in the week. In the meantime, I’m wondering what Knicks and league stuff is on your mind. As long as I can manage to keep my eyes open, Berger’s blog is open for business again.

Unfortunately, I have to step aside again just when this Isiah trial is getting interesting. Tales of alleged racial and sexual slurs and romps with interns will have to go on without me for a while.

That is because my wife and I are expecting Baby Berger No. 2 any time now, with the offshore odds heavily favoring Sunday as the delivery date, according to a source close to Tim Donaghy.

The timing is good, considering I am able to burn the rest of my vacation time while helping out with the new tot and will be back just in time for the Knicks to open training camp in Charleston. I predict that the Artest speculation will be in a major lull by then, but the Kobe situation – as in, whether or not he shows up at Lakers camp – will bear watching.

I’ll be keeping one eye and ear on that stuff as best I can in between feedings and diaper changings; my home life is a bit more progressive than what we’ve heard about the workplace environment at the Garden thus far in this trial.

My pals Bob Glauber and Judy Battista of the Times keep sending me emails in which they pretend to just be checking in to see how life is treating me. I know they are probing for updates on the baby, and the fact that my name hasn’t been in the paper during one of the most sensational Knicks soap operas in recent memory makes them think something has happened.

Nope, nothing yet. Just waiting.

My wife recently reminded me of my preoccupation with work during times of crisis when she recalled how I was on the phone with Chad Pennington on the morning of July 23, 2004. As I was asking Chad if he wanted contract talks to continue into training camp, Mrs. Berger was doubled over in the early stages of labor. Jason Berger, now 3, was born later that day, but not before I'd send in my 393-word story about Pennington.

Three years later, Mrs. B is about to have another one and No. 10 is dealing with another difficult injury.

I remember typing away in labor and delivery, thinking (but not saying) that having a baby was nothing compared to what I went through writing the Monday Night Miracle on deadline back in 2000.

But I digress.

I hope you can keep the comments going in my absence. I’ll miss the give and take, so like Neil Best, the chances are good that I won’t be able to stay away without posting here and there and thanking you for reading and providing your insight and opinions. Without you, there is no blog. Now I gotta run, because without me, there will be no burp cloths.

P.S. Any readers out there with two younguns? Advice, advice, advice would be appreciated. I am going to need it.

This is not typically my realm, nor the type of stuff you should expect to see on the blog as basketball season draws closer. But I am here to report that the sexual harassment case against Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden has begun at U.S. District Court in Lower Manhattan.

Thankfully, there is a one-hour lunch break in the proceedings, as well as a wirelessly equipped Starbucks in the neighborbood (albeit without air conditioning) for me to give you this update.

U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch and attorneys for each side are interviewing each of 100 potential jurors individually to weed out those with obvious conflicts. Eventually – presumably by the end of the day – an eight-member jury will be chosen and opening arguments will begin.

Only a couple of interesting tidbits so far. First, I liked how blunt the judge was in dismissing a motion by one of Anucha Browne Sanders’ attorneys who was concerned about the monetary value of her settlement offer to the Garden being admissible evidence; i.e. $6 million.

“Let’s just not be naïve about it,” Lynch said. “We’re all here because it’s a lot of money.”

Also, a few interesting names you’re familiar with appeared on a witness list the judge read to potential jurors in open court. It included, in part, two Knicks players (Stephon Marbury and Malik Rose); team doctor Lisa Callahan; assistant coach Brendan Suhr; former scouting director Jeff Nix; community relations executive Karen Buchholz; public relations assistant Kathleen Decker; former media relations executive Joe Favorito; and Petra Pope, director of the Knicks City Dancers.

The possibility of a settlement exists until the first witness takes the stand. It is customary in such cases for the star witness of the plaintiff’s case to take the stand first, so that would be the plaintiff herself, Browne Sanders.

MSG chairman James Dolan, who also is a defendant, was not in court this morning but is expected once testimony begins.

Thomas strolled into the courthouse with a smile and wave to a couple of fans at about 9:10 this morning. Presumably, he’s able to check his cell phone during the lunch break to see if Mitch Kupchak or Geoff Petrie called with a trade proposal.

That’s all for now.

Steve Francis, whose trade to Portland in the Zach Randolph deal got him a $30 million buyout from the Blazers, has signed a two-year deal with the Houston Rockets.

Francis has kept a home in Houston since he joined the Rockets in 1999 and had his best years in the league there. The deal is worth about $6 million, meaning that Francis will wind up about $2 million ahead after having $30 million of the $34 million left on his contract bought out by Portland.

The Rockets have scheduled a news conference for tomorrow to announce the signing. More details to come later.

A little news was lost in all the excitement over Stephon Marbury’s strange proclamation that he wants to play in Italy when his contract us up in two years.

In a blog he is writing this week for the Post – frankly, an uncomfortable forum for an athlete to express his opinions and break news – Marbury wrote today that he would embrace the idea of Ron Artest playing for the Knicks.

“I’ll keep it real and let y’all know I wouldn’t mind playing with Ron Artest,” Marbury wrote. “I think he would be a good fit here in New York. He’s built for it.”

I’ll let Neil Best weigh in on the issue of a newspaper publishing a blog from a prominent athlete it is supposed to be covering objectively. But I have to admit, I’m far more intrigued by Marbury’s endorsement of acquiring Artest than his thoughts on where he plans to retire.

So, apparently, is “islesfan,” who comments on the blog: “Since money isn’t everything, how about you ask the Knicks to let you out of the last 2 years of your contract and you can leave for Italy tomorrow?”

The Italy stuff, I can’t figure out. I can’t figure it out any more than I could figure out Marbury’s strange appearance on “Mike’d Up” recently. The dude has a lot of good in him, a lot of good intentions in his heart. He also obviously has a lot of stuff rattling around in his brain.

Not as much as Alan Hahn does, though. The poor guy can't even go on vacation without his starting point guard popping off on a competing newspaper's web site. How many "welcome to the Knicks beat" moments can one guy stand?

Big story out on Friday that the Knicks received a luxury tax bill from the NBA in the amount of $45.1 million.

What a shock!

It means, of course, that the Knicks were exactly $45,142,002 over the salary cap in 2006-07 for a team that won 33 games. But let’s not treat this as news. It’s not like it’s a big secret that the Knicks are tens of millions over the cap. I predict they will remain tens of millions over the cap until my soon-to-be 3-year-old son replaces Neil Best as Newsday.com’s mobile-web-only sports media watchdog columnist and 24-hour-a-day blogger.

Seriously, Neil has lost his mind. We used to work together on the football beat, and he swore he would never do a stitch of online work if he didn’t get paid extra for it. He also once famously said that the Internet is only a fad. Well, several years later he is getting up in the middle of the night to write blog entries and getting paid diddly squat for it. He is a multimedia, multiplatform machine. And he seems happy.

Neil was a meticulous, obsessive beat writer covering the Giants at a time when the news cycle offered him only one deadline per day. Now, it appears that his life is one, long deadline. His blog is informative, up-to-date, funny, personal, interactive – all the things a blog should be. Check it out here.

But I digress. Nobody remembers – nor will they ever remember – that I was the first Newsday sports beat writer to start a blog back when I was covering the Jets. People talk about Newsday’s glory days of Steve Jacobson, Peter King, Stan Isaacs, Tim Layden, Pat Calabria, et al. Phooey on all those dinosaurs. When the final assessment of the newspaper industry is complete, let it be known that I dragged the newspaper I grew up with into the interactive age of sports coverage.

Boy, do I digress. My point about the Knicks is this: While some find it interesting that only five teams are paying luxury tax, and that the one closest to what the Knicks owe is Dallas at $7.2 million, it’s not really that interesting to me. This is how the Knicks do business: They overpay and overpay and spend Cablevision’s money on a team that has been mediocre at best for years.

Now they have made a sound basketball trade for Zach Randolph, and if they add once more piece, they could be one of the top five or six teams in the East next season. Will anyone be poking fun at their luxury tax bill then? I suppose Cablevision customers and/or shareholders would quibble, but nobody else would.

Come to think of it, this would make an interesting blog topic for Neil.

Short entry this time, or Jeff Weinberg will have me reassigned to the fishing beat for missing deadline:

They just announced the Knicks' trade for Zach Randolph, and it was met with thunderous applause in the Theater at MSG. Stephen A. Smith then shouted quite loudly about it for a few moments, but I couldn't tell if he liked the trade or not.

OK, things have gotten interesting. Since we last spoke, Yi Jianlian and his agent, Dan Fegan, just about crawled under the table about 25 feet from where I am sitting when it was announced that the Milwaukee Bucks picked him No. 6. Yi made it clear he wanted to go to a bigger market with an Asian fan base. Yo, sorry, Yi.

Then it was Corey Brewer to Minnesota, Brandan Wright to Charlotte ... oh, who cares. The Knicks are close to making a trade, so let's not bury the lead.

The talks being wrapped up as we speak have Zach Randolph going from Portland to the Knicks for Channing Frye and Steve Francis. The Knicks also get guard Fred Jones as a throw-in to make the money work.

My first thought on this is that it's a good deal that makes the Knicks better, gets them off the hook for Stevie Franchise's $33.6 million over the next two years, and gives Francis a chance to revive his career out west. In Randolph, the Knicks get a player with some off-court issues -- but one who is an excellent low-post scorer to complement Eddy Curry.

That's it for now. Need time to get ready to cover the Knicks and Blazers in the 2008 NBA Finals.

Greenburgh, N.Y. – Jamal Crawford just got finished speaking with reporters for the first time since he had surgery on his right ankle, and he sounded reasonably optimistic that he could return at some point during a first-round playoff series if the Knicks make it there.

Crawford is in a walking boot and will be on crutches for about another week. Then comes cardio work, and eventually, on-court drills.

He didn’t entirely rule out returning for the last couple of games of the regular season, but that doesn’t appear likely at all given two interesting revelations from the interview at the Knicks’ practice facility: 1) Crawford said the stress fracture in his right ankle could have become a Grant Hill-type injury if it had been detected any later; and 2) He was pretty specific that he’d be iffy for the first game or two of a first-round playoff series, saying he’d have a better chance of coming back at some point after that.

Crawford said he was fine with how the team handled his injury. But his revelation that he felt pain in the ankle for about two months before he was given X-rays and a CT scan will only fuel more questions about the Knicks’ medical staff.

Crawford added that he didn’t tell anyone about the pain for three or four weeks. After that, he said he was told the injury might have been tendinitis.

Channing Frye, who suffered a scratched cornea last night against the Mavericks, allegedly is practicing with protective goggles as we speak. That’s the news for now. Check back a little later for further updates and quotes from Crawford.

UPDATE: My bad for forgetting to update the blog with more stuff on Crawford, as promised. With so many injuries to follow, I feel like they have all transferred to my body. My head hurts. Now I understand why Alan writes about Flava Flav and Mike & the Mad Dog all the time. A blog is maddening to maintain when you're dealing with the Knicks.

Bottom line is this: According to a prominent orthopedic surgeon I spoke with today, the Knicks handled Crawford's injury properly, based on the information I was able to convey to him. The doc says it's reasonable that Crawford could return to play about eight weeks after surgery, which would put him in the middle of a potential first-round playoff series.

Frye is playing tomorrow night, with goggles to protect his scratched right cornea. No Quentin Richardson, and probably no David Lee -- although it looks like Lee could be back Friday night at Cleveland or Monday against Orlando. Stephon Marbury is fine -- relatively speaking -- after sustaining a neck stinger against Dallas and will play against Portland. Eddy Curry's back -- which stiffened up during a two-hour traffic jam on the Major Deegan on Monday -- seemed to have loosened up yesterday.

Unrelated item: Frank Isola of the Daily News apparently is posting on my blog under the name Mitchell. Check it out:

The problem with the NBA are the officials. You have probably the greatest athletes in the world competing, where most games are decided in the last 2-3 minutes. Inevitably, the winner is based on the officiating--who gets the calls and who doesn't during those last few minutes. And, these officials are all jokes, mostly as they are biased, usually as evidenced by the disparity of team records at home and away.
At some point, some sportswriter will be smart enough to point out how silly this great game has become.

Thanks for stopping by, Frank.

On another note, Henry Abbott has made it big. His Truehoop blog debuted at its new home today, ESPN.com. It's a must read if you follow the NBA.

It turns out Dirk Nowitzki went out for sushi yesterday after his marathon, solo practice session at Columbia University. He looked fine at shootaround this morning at the Garden, so the Knicks made their first mistake against the Mavericks.

Couldn’t someone in the MSG reconnaissance department have trailed him and paid the sushi chef to serve Dirk some tainted tuna?

Nowitzki said the sushi was “damn good,” although it must not have been that good because he couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant. Assistant coach Del Harris was pleased with his meal and the surroundings at Kean’s, the old-school steakhouse in Midtown.

None of this will matter tonight at 7:30, when the Mavericks figure to carve up the Knicks like a filet mignon.

Avery Johnson must come from the same poor-mouth school of coaching as Isiah Thomas, because he kept going on and on about how the Mavericks, with the best record in the NBA at 54-11, aren’t the same team without role players Devean George and Greg Buckner. Against the Knicks, they’ll miss Buckner only from the standpoint that he does the best imitation of Johnson on the team.

Phoenix and Dallas both are stumbling a bit since their epic overtime clash last Wednesday night, but don’t expect a letdown from the Mavericks tonight. Nowitzki said he respects the Knicks and hasn’t forgotten the Mavericks’ overtime loss here last January.

“We know the Knicks are a capable team,” Nowitzki said. “They can beat you any given night. They’re a physical team. They go to the glass hard. I guess if we play our game we’ve got a pretty good shot at winning. But for us getting ready for the playoffs, we have to know how to win on the road and we want to come in here, hopefully play well and win.”

I figure the Knicks will make a game of it tonight, because they always seem to play well against teams they have no business beating. It’s the lesser teams – like the Hornets last Friday night – that give them trouble.

But to beat the Mavericks, you have to do two things: 1) Shoot better than 40 percent from the three-point line; and 2) Score 100 or more points. Seven of the Mavericks’ 11 losses have come when the opponent shot at least 40 percent on three-pointers, and they’re 4-6 on the road this season when allowing 100 or more points.

Without Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson, you can forget a big outside shooting night for the Knicks, who have hit the century mark only twice in the last 12 games.

I’ve got to give Alan Hahn props for panning Mike & the Mad Dog in his blog. Driving home from the Dallas shootaround a while ago, when Mike and Dog were handicapping the Knicks’ playoff chances, it sounded like they were reading from Hahn’s blog.

I’ll be looking for Alan’s advance copy of Steve Somers’ transcript for the ride home tonight.

Greenburgh, N.Y. – Welcome to beautiful Westchester, where a sprained ankle needing “days, not weeks” to heal can turn into a 4-to-6 week bone bruise – maybe even a stress fracture – before you know it.

That was the mostly bad news that came out today about David Lee, who not only has a bone bruise in his right leg but also must have incurred serious internal injuries from throwing himself under the bus.

We kid, because we care. But seriously, Lee’s prognosis was proved to be significantly worse after he received a second opinion from Dr. David Porter in Indianapolis yesterday. Lee could miss 3-4 more weeks, putting him dangerously close to missing the rest of the regular season, with what a CT scan proved is “something in between a bad bone bruise and a stress fracture.”

Lee initially was told by the Knicks’ medical staff that the injury he sustained from landing on Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut’s foot on Feb. 23 was a high ankle sprain that would keep him out for “days, not weeks.”

After practice today, Lee spent as much time defending the Knicks’ medical staff and blaming himself for his slow recovery as he did talking about the injury itself.

And unfortunately for the Knicks, who desperately need Lee’s rebounding and energy off the bench to hold onto the eighth playoff spot, the prognosis could get even worse before this is over. Porter, orthopedic consultant to the Indianapolis Colts, Indiana University, and Purdue University, is still reviewing Lee’s MRI results.

“The doctor in Indianapolis said that, in his opinion, it could be as much as 3-4 [more] weeks before I was back seeing action,” Lee said. “Although he’s still looking at the MRI’s today, he saw the CT scan that I had as well as the X-rays, and said that he would classify it as something in between a bad bone bruise and a stress fracture.

“Now don’t hear the stress fracture part and go there. It’s more so that you could possibly be classified somewhere similar to a stress reaction. I don’t believe it’s going to be a full stress fracture – and they’re still looking at the MRI – but it’s more going to be along the lines of a stress reaction, something that is similar to a bad bone bruise, and it’s just going to be time that’s going to heal it.”

Lee said Porter indicated that none of the shooting and conditioning work he’s been doing since the injury have hurt his recovery, that there will be no limitations on what he’ll be able to do once he comes back, and that there’s little risk of re-injuring the leg.

“He said basically from when this happened, it’s a 4-6 week injury and it’s been about 2 1-2 weeks,” Lee said.

He said Dr. Lisa Callahan, the Knicks’ director of player care, “apologized that it’s not going to be healed as quick as we had hoped. I said, ‘If you had told me when I came down on it that it was going to be 4-6 weeks, I would have laughed at you anyway. There was no point in telling me that because I wouldn’t have believed it anyway.”

That is significantly different from what Lee said Saturday in Washington, D.C., when he expressed frustration that the leg wasn’t responding after being told it the recovery process would be “day-to-day.”

“What’s been tough is, so far I think I’ve been continuing to test it every day and irritate it over and over, and I don’t think that has been helping the recovery because it hasn’t gotten much better,” Lee said on Saturday, before the seventh consecutive game he’s missed with the injury. “… If they would have said at the start, ‘I think it’s going to be four weeks or so,’ then we wouldn’t have been in this situation.”

After he said today that the initial prognosis and the one he received from Porter in Indianapolis were “very similar,”
I asked Lee if it was true that a day-to-day high ankle sprain and a 4-to-6 week bone bruise are, in fact, quite different.

“It is completely different,” Lee said. “And part of that, I’m going to put on my shoulders for trying to be optimistic because this is new territory to me. … Some injuries they tell you two months and it’s a couple of days, and some injuries, it goes the opposite way. So I can’t blame them for that.”

Lee did some bike work and jogging today without pain and continued to work on his shooting. He said Porter told him he could start thinking about returning to play once he can stand 10-15 minutes on the treadmill without “significant pain.”

“I mean, I realize that when I come back to play for us this season, I’m probably going to be playing in pain, but I’m not concerned about that,” Lee said. “The thing that I’m concerned about is that the leg is healed and that I can stand going out there and doing the things that I need to do to help this team.”

Washington – Just stopped by Antawn Jamison’s locker to get his take on what the Knicks did to the Wizards tonight, a 90-89 victory on Steve Francis’ buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Despite all the flaws that are magnified to those of us who watch them play every night, Jamison, for one, thinks the Knicks are a lock to make the playoffs and will be a tough out once they get there.

“They’ve got guard play, they’ve got guys that come off the bench and hustle, they’ve got guys who can knock jumpers down when Quentin [Richardson] is healthy, and they’ve got a big man in the post who can control the paint,” Jamison said. “So this team, I feel, definitely is going to make the playoffs, and once they make it, it’s going to be a difficult team to play.”

There was no Gilbert Arenas in the Wizards’ locker room after the game, making a trip to D.C. quite a bit less satisfying for yours truly and others like me with digital tape recorders and an appreciation for all things Gilbert.

But Antonio Daniels, who was dusted by Francis’ behind-the-back dribble that set up the game-winning three-pointer, was at his locker – to his credit. If he’d been wearing a hat, he would’ve taken it off to Francis.

“Hell, the guy hit a 30 footer going full speed,” Daniels said. “What can you do about that? Sometimes, there’s just things that you have to live with. And we have to live with the fact that he hit a 30 footer to win it.
“I was right there,” Daniels said. “I had my hand up, right in his face. If you hit it, more power to you. But the chances of that shot going in, out of 10? Maybe one, maybe two out of 10.”

If the season ended today, the Knicks would be in the playoffs. At 29-34, they’re tied with Orlando and would get in based on holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. Help continues to come pouring in, with the Nets and Indiana both losing tonight.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier, with two games each against Atlantic-leading Toronto, two against Dallas (which has the best record in the league), two against Cleveland (ever heard of LeBron James?) by the end of the month.

As difficult as it has been for the Knicks to get into a playoff position, it will be even more difficult to stay there.

If they do, this game will go down as the turning point. But the way this season has gone, I suspect the real turning point hasn’t happened yet.

Greenburgh, N.Y. – Despite an erroneous post by conspiracy theorist Alan Hahn – the perfect trait for a Knicks beat writer, by the way – I did not make it to Las Vegas. I can only wish that was me in this photo on his blog.

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/blog/

I did stop by the Knicks’ shootaround today to check in with Isiah “Deadline Deal” Thomas to see what he’s thinking with the trade deadline barely more than 48 hours away.

Thomas has been saying all along he doesn’t expect to make a trade – I’ll believe it when I see it – but he made his most definitive statement yet to that effect this morning after practice. All he had to do was make a zero with his thumb and finger when asked to put a percentage on the probability that he’ll make a trade by Thursday at 3 p.m.

“Probably zero,” Thomas said.

I actually misspoke the first time I asked Thomas this question, asking him the probability that he’d make a trade by Wednesday. Later, just to make sure I didn’t give him any unintended wiggle room, I rephrased.

“Is it still zero by Thursday?”

That’s when Thomas gave me the visual to go along with the words.

“The first couple of years we needed to make some moves and we needed to improve and we needed to get better,” Thomas said. “That was part of the job in terms of rebuilding. But I like where we are now. We have a good group, and I think we have not only a good group for the present but I think we have a good group for the future also.”

Don’t misunderstand: If someone comes to Thomas with an unbelievable offer, he’ll do it. So the more accurate percentage probably is 99.9 percent. But if Pau Gasol and Jason Kidd can get traded – and if Kevin Duckworth once got traded at the deadline with a broken leg – then anything is possible. Should be an interesting couple of days.

It figures to be more interesting on the Jersey side of the water, where the Nets will be weighing countless offers for their two All-Stars, Kidd and Vince Carter.

Thomas doesn’t know whether Kidd will get traded – the Lakers continue to be the hot rumor – but he isn’t afraid to say he’d be happy to see the future Hall of Famer leave the division and the metropolitan area.

“I haven’t had a lot of success in beating him,” Thomas said. “He always beat my teams when I was at Indiana and he beats me now. So the less I have to play against him, the better.”

See you back here tonight, when everyone will be wondering if Dwight Howard has a spare sticker to slap on the backboard during one of his dunks.