NC Freshman Rayshawn Terry bangs one against Gardner-Webb...

Who’s the best centre in the NBA right now? Well, no less than Marcus Camby who had 21 rebounds and his 21 points for his eighth double-double of the season and fourth 20-20 game of his career as the Nuggets drilled the Grizzlies 99-83 on Sunday night to move above .500 for the first time this season. Camby has topped 20 points five times this month after doing it just four times last season.

Heisman shoe-in: USC tailback Reggie Bush went for 294 rushing yards, 68 receiving yards, and 151 yards in kick returns accounting for 513 all-purpose yards -- the second-most ever in a Division I-A game as USC best Fresno State on Saturday…513 yards in ONE GAME is ridiculous, but it’s not even the record, which is held by Emmett White of Utah State, who covered 578 yards against New Mexico State in November 2000, and is the only other player in major-college history to gain more than 435 yards in a game.

I missed the highlight, but apparently Darko Milicic and Dikembe Mutombo got into a little shoving match on Friday night…someone asked Rasheed Wallace about it and he said: "I’m telling you, Darko is a Serbian gangster. Darko’s got some bodies back there (in Serbia-Montenegro). He can go psycho on guys."

1-9…finally the Raptors beat somebody…although this time it’s the first-place Miami Heat 107-94 Sunday afternoon to end the losing streak…Chris Bosh had a season-high 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Mike James had 25. Even cranky old Jalen Rose got into it going 5-11 from the floor and 11-13 from the line for 22 points…as for the Bab Robcock watch, the draftpicks went like this:

Rafael Aruajo - 1-2 from the floor and 0-2 from the line for 2 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls…
Joey Graham - 1-6 from the floor and 1-2 from the line for 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls…
Charlie V - 4-11 from the floor and 0-1 from the line for 8 points, 12 rebounds(!), 1 turnover, 3 fouls and 1 block
Jose Maria Olazabal - 3-4 from the floor and 2-3 from the line, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul…

Quotes after the game:

"The mood always lightens after a win. People are nicer, the food tastes better, practice is a lot more fun," Bosh said.

"I'm happy for those guys. Being the coach is one thing, but when you have to go out there in front of 19,000 people and prove yourself every night, the way the season started, that's where the focal point is," Toronto coach Sam Mitchell said. "I get mine after the game, but during the game, those guys have to out there and be the focal point and hear the cheers and the boos."

"They wanted to win a lot more than we did," Miami coach Stan Van Gundy said. "They had a lot more resolve to try to get the job done down the stretch and we were hoping we would win, we were hoping some shots went in but we didn't dig down and make any possession tough on them at the end."

"We knew they were going to make a run, but we didn't know we were going to go cold like we did and not execute," Miami's Gary Payton said. "We were really executing well until the end, then we stopped playing defense and let them do what they wanted."

And by the way, the Raptors assigned forward Pape Sow to the Arkansas RimRockers of the NBA Development League.

1) Stephen Canella of Si.com stating the obvious, that Spree is an idiot:

Last call - Salary, playing demands keep Sprewell at home

The dollar amounts have changed, but the rhetoric is still the same from the Latrell Sprewell camp a year after the shooting guard turned down a three-year, $21 million contract extension offer from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nearly a month into the season, Sprewell, who infamously explained his rejection of Minnesota's overture by saying he had "a family to feed," is unemployed and, according to his agent, willing to sit out the season rather than play for the NBA veteran's minimum of $1.1 million. "Anyone who thinks he should play for that, that's absurd," Sprewell's representative, Bob Gist, told SI.com this week. "He might as well retire." "Latrell doesn't need the money that badly. To go from being offered $7 million to taking $1 million, that would be a slap in the face." Gist said he considers the offer rejected last year a fair one. "The Timberwolves' offer was close to a [fair] valuation," he said. (Sprewell averaged 12.8 points and 2.2 assists in 80 games for the T'wolves in 2004-05.) "If you look at his stats, I think $7 million - $10 million [per year] is what veterans like him are commanding." Gist said the Detroit Pistons, L.A. Lakers and Denver Nuggets have expressed interest in signing Sprewell since NBA training camps opened in October, but none was a good match for his client. Salary cap inflexibility hampered the Lakers, and Sprewell balked at Detroit's intention to use him as a sixth man off the bench. "Denver had a strong interest," Gist said. "I'm not sure who dropped the ball there, my client or the Nuggets." Gist also said he doesn't believe Sprewell is being blackballed because teams feel he carries too much baggage to sign. "Any G.M. that tells you that, he's not real bright on the facts," said Gist. "I can understand fans saying that. But people in the industry, who have accesss to information about what kind of guy Latrell really is, that's irresponsible." Truth be told, there is no incentive for Sprewell to sign right now. Because the $1 million veteran's exception is not prorated, Sprewell could sign for that exception and receive the full $1 million whether it is tomorrow or it is March. The best bet for Sprewell now is to stay in shape and wait for a contender to make a major trade or suffer a major injury that will open a hole at shooting guard or small forward that he can fill. That also would allow Sprwell to be received as a savior, and he might find upward room to negotiate a more appealing contract. For now, though, Gist said Sprewell is working out at home in Milwaukee, and is prepared to stay there for a while. "I think he can wait the season out," said the agent. "He doesn't need the money, not where he can play for a million dollars."

2) Bill Walton with a long NBA stream of consciousness-type article for ESPN.com:

One year ago, the world as we knew it changed forever. On a terrifying fall night in Michigan some NBA players beat up the fans during the game. I was there. And while those scary moments were easily the lowest point in my now 31 years in the NBA, hopefully and thankfully the ugly aftermath, stigma and stain appears to be easing. Although I am more than bit concerned that Ron Artest and some of the other perpetrators are somehow falling into the trap that they are now the victims. And couldn't some of the national magazines find a more appropriate cover story for the season's tip-off than Ron Artest's return? Poor Larry Bird. Does this mean that Artest is now the leading candidate for Comeback Player of the Year. Is there anybody else out there old enough to remember when self-inflicted damage was not a mitigating factor in delusional downward spirals. I was just wondering if when Jermaine O'Neal said the other night after his Pacers lay-down against Charlotte that they didn't deserve to get paid that day ... if anyone, like maybe the Pacers controller, ever followed up on that. Why do people like Paul Pierce -- playing for a losing team -- continue to denigrate the talent, work and effort of a World Champion the likes of Tayshaun Prince? Did Vladimir Radmanovic seek career and financial counseling from Latrell Sprewell when he turned down a huge contract extension from his own Seattle Sonics? .Last time I looked, Sprewell had been reduced to speaking through his agent about how much he liked the Atlanta Hawks and how nice it would be to provide veteran leadership to a young and upcoming team. I'm not sure that Vlade Divac's problems with the Serbian Draft Board will have the same cultural, historical and social impact that Muhammad Ali had when our Selective Service called him in 1967. If LeBron James' teammate Zydrunas Ilgauskas is having issues with insomnia, imagine what the guys who have to play against LeBron are going through. While LeBron's Cavaliers are winning games and making new friends ... who have they played to this point and when can we start expecting them to play well against the league's top teams? At the end of this line for Cleveland will their $150 million spent for LeBron's new front-line foot-soldiers, be the right stuff or will the Cavs be pushing the league office for a re-do of last summer's one-time amnesty mulligan? Allen Iverson has his team leading their division and he's still the NBA's top scorer, are the bottom feeders in the Atlantic already out of playoff contention ? Andre Iguodala is the best #9 pick since Amare Stoudemire, but he still has a ways to go before linking up to other recent No. 9s like Tracy McGrady and Dirk Nowitzki. The Chicago Bulls were the darlings of entire league last season. This year they are afterthoughts in their own division where the way things stand right now, the Bulls will be lucky to hold onto last place. The guys who I thought coming into the season had the best chance to unseat Steve Nash as the NBA's MVP were Shaq and Tracy McGrady. They're both hurt and their teams have no chance without them. The two factors that usually tear championship level teams apart, money and bad health, have already taken their toll on last year's Phoenix Suns. What was Joe Johnson thinking? Did he even bother to check with Stephen Jackson before he did this? When was the last time that consecutive league MVP's teams failed to make the playoffs the following year? How often and when do Atlanta and Toronto play each other? I'm old enough to remember when the NBA expanded rapidly in the late 1960s and early '70's and the league played an unbalanced schedule with the expansion teams just playing each other all the time ... avoiding the real teams. Can the Knicks get in on this scheme? With teams like the Knicks and Sonics off to disappointing starts we are beginning to hear the predictable whining from the players about not knowing their roles. How about keeping it simple and real ... something that everybody can understand; like making all your shots, keeping your man from making his and winning all the games. The finger pointing has started in Minnesota. Maybe it's just me but doesn't this always happen wherever Sprewell and Michael Olowokandi show up? The Detroit Pistons sure seem to be paying a lot more attention to the regular season this year ... athough they still do not appear to have solved their lack of playmakers or game-breakers off the bench from a year ago. With Erick Dampier being outplayed and outworked by DeSagana Diop in Dallas, I guess Erick can only be thankful that he doesn't put much stock in what Jermaine O'Neal says about earning your day's pay ... or that he doesn't play for Utah's Larry Miller and Jerry Sloan. How nice for the Milwaukee Bucks to be able to bring versatile and rugged Andrew Bogut off the bench when needed. I'm also old enough to remember that when the Lakers and Knicks play each other there should be better story lines than two old coaches going back to work. What is it going to take for Gregg Popovich to get the credit and recognition he deserves? For those of you still in denial that executive leadership at the top is worth anything, please take a look at what the Memphis Grizzlies are doing under Michael Heisley, Jerry West and Mike Fratello. And if you're still having trouble connecting the dots---ask yourself about the correlation between success in the NBA standings and supreme point guard play built on the broad shoulders of powerful inside presence. Kobe Bryant is a different player and person this year and for that we can all be eternally grateful. As we can be, as well, for the vision, patience and sense of humanity of David Stern who taught us all once again with his leniency after the mayhem and madness of Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal exactly one year ago that, indeed, FORGIVENESS WILL SET US FREE.

3) Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune thinks Garnett is trying to find a way out of Minny:

Garnett seeking exit strategy

Sometimes I feel like I'm in that old British spy spoof TV series, "The Avengers," playing the dapper John Steed. I've been begging the Tribune to use a column picture with a bowler hat. The shows begin with a horrific event, like the Bulls' current road trip, and an appeal to Steed's partner, "Mrs. Peel, we're needed." Yes, I gave the Bulls three weeks. Now it seems I may be needed. And, no, Kevin Garnett isn't going to be my answer, even though it seems clear to everyone except Minnesota management that Garnett's condemnation of general manager Kevin McHale and upper management last week was a cry for help. Garnett essentially accused McHale of trying to coach from his desk and being too lazy to complete the job. It's the harshest criticism one can make of a GM. "I think Kevin McHale, in his heart, wanted to coach," Garnett said. "He wanted to coach, but he didn't want the responsibility of being a coach. He wanted to come in and say, `Hey, you two run pick-and-roll, you duck in on the weak side, you be ready to shoot.' He wanted to do that, but he didn't want to manage those guys. He didn't want to manage those egos." Of course, Garnett also forgets how he said he'd never learned so much just a week into McHale's coaching stint last season after Flip Saunders' firing. Ah, but that was then. The belief around the NBA is Garnett doesn't want to provoke one of those Shaquille O'Neal/Alonzo Mourning/Charles Barkley-type embarrassing public episodes, so he won't demand a trade. But he's hoping the Timberwolves will come to him and say they're looking to rebuild and ask where can they trade him to make him happy after all he's done for the franchise. Garnett isn't going to want to come to a developing Bulls team--even if he can save airfare attending Farragut High reunions. I've suggested a Garnett-Dirk Nowitzki deal, but perhaps a better one would be with Indiana for Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley. The Pacers seem to miss Reggie Miller's quiet leadership. As Austin Croshere said last week after a loss to the Hornets: "This team needs to step up and find some leadership. It's not coaching, it's effort and taking responsibility for what's happening on the court." No names were mentioned, but insiders knew it was aimed at O'Neal, regarded as a bigger talker than worker. Without prompting, O'Neal answered the comments not specifically aimed at him. "It's unfair for it to be said we need to step up and find leadership," O'Neal said. "I'm the one that's been calling guys in the summer, during the season, trying to keep guys motivated. We shouldn't be questioning the leadership. We should have been questioning why we got beat amongst each other." Another option is that the Timberwolves could try to rebuild around Garnett. There would be a gentle irony in a trade with the Knicks for Stephon Marbury, who predictably has been at odds with Larry Brown. Marbury forced his way out of Minnesota after saying he couldn't play with Garnett knowing Garnett always would make more money. Wally Szczerbiak has been dying to return to his native New York. Add point guard Marko Jaric and the package would match up. This should occupy my time this season like trading Eddy Curry did last year. What about Bulls? Yes, the Bulls. I'm working on that too. So here's the deal. There have been rumors the Bulls want to make a run at the Kings' Peja Stojakovic, a free agent after this season. Stojakovic is a good shooter, which the Bulls need, but he'll be 29 next season. That's not a good age to be giving a shooter a long-term deal. The Bulls need post play and a big defensive guard. One GM said he has heard the Bulls remain interested in Atlanta's Al Harrington, a post-up frontcourt player who also can rebound. He was the player the Bulls tried to get by trading for Phoenix's No. 1 draft pick in 2004. But the Pacers pulled back on the deal and the Bulls selected Luol Deng. Harrington is with the hopeless Hawks and says he'll leave as a free agent after this season. Atlanta needs a point guard, given that Tyron Lue plays there now. So how about Chris Duhon and an expiring contract, like Eric Piatkowski's? Otherwise, the Hawks could lose Harrington for nothing. And Kirk Hinrich could return to his natural position, point guard. In the other part of the deal, how about making a run at Golden State's Mickael Pietrus to play with Hinrich? It would cost the Warriors a fortune in luxury tax to re-sign Pietrus after they re-signed Mike Dunleavy. The Bulls looked hard at Pietrus before drafting Hinrich, and he's the kind of big, defensive shooting guard they need. Certainly, either the Bulls' or Knicks' No. 1 picks the Bulls own will be in the lottery. Wouldn't one help the Warriors' pursuit for a big man with another expiring contract thrown in? It's after this that Steed and Mrs. Peel usually clink champagne glasses. Where's John Paxson? What vintage does he have around? Struggling ex-Huskies - Former Connecticut stars Ben Gordon of the Bulls and Emeka Okafor of the Bobcats, who battled for last season's rookie-of-the-year award, are both in sophomore slumps, shooting under 40 percent and behind last season's averages. Third-place finisher Dwight Howard of the Magic, meanwhile, became the youngest player ever with a 20-20 game and is averaging 15.7 points and 12.7 rebounds (second in the NBA) and shooting 51 percent. "Obviously you garner respect, and life's about living up to expectations," Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. "The difficulty is living up to it." . . . The Celtics are expected to try to revoke the contract of Chicagoan Tony Allen with about $2 million remaining if he is convicted in an alleged fight last summer. . . . It doesn't look like Shaquille O'Neal will be ready when the Heat is in Chicago on Dec. 13. The `D' in Philly - The 76ers have been a surprise after an 0-3 start. It was thought their fate would rest with the Allen Iverson-Chris Webber duo--combining for more than 50 points per game, a league best--but the key has been a new defensive stopper, Andre Iguodala. In successive games last week, he held Kobe Bryant to 7-for-27 shooting, Sam Cassell to 1-for-10 and Jalen Rose scoreless for the first time in more than 500 games. Iguodala, picked ninth after Toronto bust Rafael Araujo, also ranks among the league leaders in steals, three-point shooting and field-goal percentage. New York stories - Jazz owner Larry Miller, during his team's poor effort against the Knicks last week, stood by the bench in the second half and stared angrily at the players. It probably didn't help his mood that expensive free agent Carlos Boozer is out until at least January and that attendance that night was the lowest in arena history. . . . George Karl's dream job too? The Denver coach told New York media last week, "I would love to coach the Knicks someday. I don't know if that's in my future, my desire, or not." It wasn't Phil Jackson's. He said one reason he didn't seriously consider the Knicks this season was the "snakes and nastiness and innuendoes" of the New York sports media. . . .Channing Frye is having a good rookie start with the Knicks. Frye has scored at least 20 points in each of the last three games. . . . It's unclear when it will be senior day, but Brown stuck by tradition by starting Trevor Ariza and Matt Barnes on recent road trips to their hometowns. . . . Brown has been typically critical of his players. Naming no one in particular (Marbury?), Brown said of his team, "If it is about one person, I think he should run track." Last shots - Good for Minnesota coach Dwane Casey. After rookie Rashad McCants was ejected for taunting after dunks, Casey said: "I told him he will not play in a Minnesota Timberwolves uniform if he wants to be in theatrics." . . . Wonderful piece on Marvin "Bad News" Barnes last week on Bob Costas' HBO show. Barnes talked about using cocaine while on the bench in Boston. So, no, nowadays isn't the worst players ever have been. Barnes, once homeless, is rehabbed and working in the community now. . . . Former Purdue coach Gene Keady is working with the Raptors and could become an assistant. . . . Big men getting buried on their teams and becoming available include Kelvin Cato and Jerome James. Erick Dampier responded with a big game as Dallas dealt the Pistons their first loss Saturday night. Also moving to the bench have been Jim Jackson in Phoenix and Voshon Lenard in Denver. . . . Illinois' Luther Head, getting the full-fledged rookie treatment in Houston, is being made to sing at team parties. Said Tracy McGrady: "He doesn't complain. If we say, `Luther, go jump off a bridge,' he'll say, `Right now?'" . . . Vlade Divac was excused from Serbian military service back home. The government said he'd done his time in other ways, plus there was a fear that his flopping would result in too many costly ambulance runs.

4) Phil Miller of the Salt Lake Tribune with a great read on what it’s like to play for Jerry Sloan:

Humphries sent to bench again

Another day, another lesson for Kris Humphries. The Jazz's second-year forward checked into the game at the start of the second quarter Saturday against Memphis. So he was obviously shocked when Robert Whaley subbed in for him just 2 1/2 minutes later. As Humphries approached the bench, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan stopped him with a blunt message. "I can't put you out there," Sloan said as Humphries passed by, "if you're not going to compete." The problem, the coach said afterward, was Humphries' passivity under the Grizzlies' basket. Memphis collected four offensive rebounds in the 150 seconds Humphries played, including one on a missed free throw. The last Memphis possession was too much for Sloan to take. "The ball went on the rim and he didn't go after it," Sloan said. So back to the bench Humphries went. "I don't want a confrontation every time" Humphries does something wrong, the coach said. "But how are you going to make a living in this league? Shoot every time you touch it? I say you can make a living in this league if you defend, rebound, run the floor, do some of those things." Humphries played just three more minutes in the game, the Jazz's fifth straight loss, and ironically did not attempt a shot. Still, Sloan repeated his complaint about the offense-minded second-year player: He cares about scoring above all else. "I don't have a problem with a guy shooting, but every time you touch it?" Sloan said. "He's got to learn to pass. Once you do that, your teammates accept you a lot more. It makes the game easier for you." Still, Sloan remains optimistic that his lessons are gradually sinking in. "He's young," the coach said. "He's working hard." Despite two more losses, Sloan was encouraged by the Jazz's efforts against Phoenix and Memphis. He believes the team is beginning to trust his one-for-all philosophy. "We have a tendency to rely on 'me,' " meaning each individual player for himself, the coach said. "But the last couple of days, we've relied on each other. . . . We've already proven we cannot win playing 'me,' with that attitude." The trick will be to maintain and grow trust in the Jazz's playbook even in the face of defeats. The truth is, not many teams could win with three starters on the inactive list, particularly playing the road-heavy schedule handed to the Jazz early in the season. "We can do it if we keep working, every single day," Sloan said. "We are improving. We've improved [since] the start of the season." Briefly…Greg Ostertag's seven blocked shots Saturday were the most he has had in a game since March 28, 2004 against Denver. . . . The Jazz leave immediately after tonight's game for Seattle, where they play the Sonics on Tuesday. . . . It's early, but the Jazz's 69.1 percent free-throw percentage would be the worst in franchise history.

5) Bill Simmons of ESPN.com’s Page 2 thinks that Marbury and Brown are hellbound:

You could make a solid case that Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love were the worst celebrity couple ever. He was a self-loathing, introspective genius with a serious drug problem, she was a manipulative, out-of-control lunatic with a serious drug problem, and they loved making each other miserable and doing drugs together. In retrospect, only one thing would have made them more combustible: If Kurt loved the Red Sox and Courtney loved the Yankees. Now he's dead and she's a Category 7 train wreck. There were no winners. For whatever reason, I was thinking about them Friday as I toggled the Knicks-Warriors game with the Baseball Furies-Warriors brawl on Spike TV. Still winless at the time, trailing by two with 12 seconds to play, the Knicks had blown a double-digit lead but still had a chance to force overtime. They set up a play for Jamal Crawford, who careened into the paint and was quickly stripped by Baron Davis. Game over. They didn't even get off a shot. The cameras quickly cut to Larry Brown, who was already moving toward the locker room, walking as briskly as possible on surgically repaired hips, never once glancing back to the floor. Poor Larry looked like a murder suspect bolting a crime scene. And that's when I was reminded of Kurt and Courtney. In the history of sports, there may not have been a worse match than Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas. It's going to end badly. Either Larry's quitting, or Isiah's getting fired, and it's going to happen sooner than you think. Even in these first two weeks, you can see Larry distancing himself from the guys on the floor, and as Peter Vescey pointed out in Sunday's New York Post, many of Brown's postgame quotes carry the same underlying theme: "Hey, whaddya want from me? I didn't pick these guys." Although the Knicks salvaged their road swing with ugly victories over Sacramento and Utah, this still seems like a match made in hell. On the one hand, you have Brown, a certain Hall of Famer, one of the most memorable basketball coaches ever. Whether it was in Carolina (1972-74), Denver (1975-79), New Jersey (1982-83), Kansas (1984-88), San Antonio (1989-92), Los Angeles (1992-93), Indiana (1994-97), Philadelphia (1998-2003) or Detroit (2003-05), in every case -- repeat: every case -- Brown's teams always improved dramatically, and he always departed just as dramatically for reasons far less justifiable than "I can't believe I'm working for Isiah Thomas." Will we ever see another basketball coach leave nine straight cities with winning records? Heck, will we ever see someone coach that many teams again? He's been like a cross between Norman Dale and Larry King. When Brown finagled his way to New York, many "experts" assumed that his mere presence would transform the Knicks into a playoff team. Even the wise guys in Vegas bought into the hype, setting their over/under at a preposterous 39½. Of course, when enough people wagered on the "over" that the number never budged, it didn't seem so preposterous. The Brown backers seemed to forget four things: 1. He's 65 years old. 2. He's working with Isiah Thomas. 3. The team has six new players, a new coaching system and no cohesive presence (like Steve Nash in Phoenix). 4. If Brown has a weakness -- well, other than his predilection to sabotage happy situations by angling for other jobs, almost like a playboy who mistreats a girlfriend so she'll dump him (and he won't have to dump her and feel bad) -- it has been his inability to connect with younger players. Just ask Jalen Rose and Travis Best in Indiana, Larry Hughes and Tim Thomas in Philly, the Darko All-Stars in Detroit or even Carmelo, LeBron, Amare and Wade in Athens. Brown gets frustrated easily and tends to stick with older, more reliable (and less talented) players who know their roles and play hard. Which is fine. Unfortunately, none of those guys play for the 2005-06 Knicks ... with the exception of Antonio Davis (who was finished two years ago) and Malik Rose (who no longer possesses any recognizable basketball skills). If anything, it's a Bizarro Larry Brown Roster. Consider the following elements... He has three shoot-first point guards: Stephon Marbury (who legitimately doesn't enjoy making his teammates better); Jamal Crawford (an absolute gunner in every respect); and Nate Robinson (a 5-foot-7 ball hog). You can't play any of these guys together. Well, you could. You're just going to lose more than you win. He has two overpaid and undersized power forwards who can't rebound: Malik Rose and Maurice Taylor. In fact, there isn't a single guy on the team who can grab a big rebound in traffic other than rookie David Lee, whom Brown refuses to play because, well, he's a rookie, and Larry Brown doesn't play rookies. By the way, this team has three of them. He has two overpaid centers who can't rebound or block shots: Eddy Curry and Jerome James. Amazingly, the James Era is already over -- Brown is routinely DNP-ing him. There wasn't even a honeymoon period with this one, just straight to the divorce. Unprecedented. Meanwhile, Curry has a mysterious heart problem that scared the Bulls enough that they practically gave him away. Good times all around. He has two overpaid swingmen with back/knee problems who stink defensively and can't do anything other than shoot: Quentin Richardson and Penny Hardaway. In fact, other than Trevor Ariza, he doesn't have a single player on his roster at the one, two and three positions who can guard anyone. Here's the weird thing: Despite overwhelming evidence that this should be a run-and-gun team, Brown has emphasized defense over everything else, almost like a football coach trying to play smashmouth football with a subpar offensive line and small running backs. After the Utah game, Davis credited the team's stellar defense and added, "We don't have a choice. Larry won't let you play if you don't work on D." Yikes. In a way, it's admirable. For instance, here in Los Angeles, Phil Jackson is calmly sitting on the bench watching Kobe take 45 shots a game for a gawd-awful Lakers team, perfectly willing to taint his coaching legacy for a giant paycheck and the chance to replace Doug Christie as the most whipped person in the NBA. Either Jackson doesn't give a crap, or Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak quietly promised him that Kobe would be gone by February. It's one or the other. At least Brown looks like he cares. He's just stuck with the Bizarro Larry Brown team. Now here's where it gets fascinating. Sooner rather than later, Larry is going to want to dump some of these guys. (Reportedly, it's already happened with Marbury, who suspiciously landed in a slew of trade rumors last weekend, well ahead of the Vegas over-under of Dec. 15.) But Isiah brought them in -- not just some of them ... all of them. Now he faces the remarkable situation of overhauling a team that he just spent the last two years overhauling. Even stranger, nobody seems that surprised. Or horrified. Or confused. It's like Isiah has some sort of built-in immunity from NBA fans here, almost like how dyslexic kids get extra time to take the SATs. And this was the case from day one. When the Knicks gave Isiah the car keys on Dec. 22, 2003, the common reaction seemed to be, "Um ... what?" Knicks fans should have been rejoicing at the glorious demise of the Scott Layden Era; instead, some worried that Isiah was a downgrade, almost like Van Halen finally dumping Sammy Hagar as its lead singer, only to hire Gary Cherone. After all, Isiah failed with Toronto, drove the CBA into the ground and coached an underachieving Pacers team that thrived as soon as he left. When they hired him, I remember thinking (and writing) that he was the worst possible guy for the job, someone who would undoubtedly make a series of grandiose short-term moves that would destroy the long-term future of the franchise. And that's precisely what happened. Looking back, Isiah's performance has been nothing short of incredible -- not a single player remains from that 12/22/03 roster. Has an NBA GM ever suffered from roster ADD before? The panic moves started with the shortsighted Marbury/Penny trade, which happened only three weeks after Isiah assumed control. (Note: I laid out the reasons why the deal was a mistake in an April 2004 column, explaining, "if this was a Texas Hold 'Em Tournament, Isiah had just gone 'all-in' after two hands.") He added three killer contracts for guys who played the exact same position (Rose, Jerome Williams and Maurice Taylor). He gave away his only center last February (Nazr Mohammed), then spent $30 million last summer on someone who was infinitely worse (James). He spent $55 million on a shoot-first point guard (Crawford) when he already had one, then traded for another shoot-first guard (Richardson) one year later. He inexplicably signed Vin Baker and Eddie Robinson, two of the most troubled guys in the league. On and on it went ... you couldn't fit every shaky Isiah move into a single top-10 list. Curiously, one of the league's great winners had forgotten what made an NBA team win. Imagine what the 1989 Pistons would have done to this 2005 Knicks team. Who would have guarded Isiah? Who would have guarded Joe Dumars? Who would have kept Dennis Rodman, John Salley and Bill Laimbeer off the boards? Heck, who would have contained Fennis Dembo in garbage time? For whatever reason, Isiah never considered any of this -- he just kept stockpiling perceived "assets" like he was building a fantasy team, with no real thought given to the salary cap, the luxury tax or the impossibility of moving these bloated contracts if they didn't work out. He was throwing Charles Dolan's money around like a drunk college kid playing Monopoly. What did I land on, North Carolina Avenue? Well, I don't have any greens, and the other two are gone, and I need to save money for houses ... screw it, I'll buy it! What does this have to do with Larry Brown? Everything. He's stuck trying to coach this mess. Eventually, it's going to drive him crazy that Isiah assembled this group. He's going to start pushing Isiah's buttons like only Larry can, demanding that they trade Marbury or Crawford, benching Isiah's favorite rookies, belittling Isiah's abilities to NBA friends and hoping the poisonous words get back to him. Nobody burns a bridge like Larry Brown -- just ask Dumars and the Detroit players, who are practically having a contest after every victory to see who can make the most "we're having so much more fun this season, it's fun to just play basketball with a coach that trusts us" comments. The thing is, Larry Brown doesn't lose. Just look at his record. And since this can't be his fault, he'll make it clear where the blame lies. Just in case you forgot. Three questions remain: 1. Why did Brown take this job in the first place? The answer lies in pages 201-209 of a classic book called "Wait Till Next Year," which recounts a year in New York sports through the perspectives of a reporter (Mike Lupica) and a fan (William Goldman). In this particular chapter, Lupica describes how Brown (a New York native) desperately wanted to coach the '87-88 Knicks ... only they passed him over for Rick Pitino. Seventeen years later, you can still feel his pain. Looking at a "Rick's The Pick" headline in the New York Post, Brown even wonders aloud, "Lemme ask you something, if that kid from Austin Peay makes the one-and-one (in the second round of the 1987 NCAA Tournament against Pitino's Providence team), does Pitino even get offered the job?" Clearly, he had some unfinished business with the Knicks. Even if it meant dealing with Isiah Thomas for a season or two. Eventually, he'll force a power struggle, and if you think the Dolans are picking the GM with Roster ADD over the Hall of Fame coach with the $60 million contract, you're kidding yourself. 2. Is there any possible way that Brown can pull together this particular Knicks team? Not this season. And here's where his stubbornness comes in. From what I've seen, their best chance to compete looks like this: Marbury and Richardson at the guards, Ariza and Frye at the forwards, Curry at center, Crawford in the Vinnie Johnson role, with Davis, Robinson and Rose spotting the starters, and Lee as the energy guy. Playing as hard as possible, with a set rotation and everyone knowing their roles, that's a 40-win team. Maybe. But Brown doesn't work that way -- he'll yank guys around, bench people for three games because of one defensive lapse, bury the rookies, give too many minutes to stiffs like Davis and Rose, and so on. Once December rolls around, when teams start panicking and players like Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Jalen Rose, Zach Randolph, Vlad Radmanovic, Jamaal Tinsley, Antoine Walker, Mike Miller, Wally Szczerbiak, Earl Watson and maybe even Steve Francis become available, Brown will push Isiah to acquire one or more of them (and let's just say that you won't have to twist Isiah's arm).And that's why the Isiah-Larry marriage seems doomed, because you have two notoriously impatient guys itching to fix a flawed roster that wasn't headed anywhere to begin with. In Philly, at least Brown had Allen Iverson. In Indiana, he started out with Reggie Miller, Rik Smits and the Davises. In Detroit, Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince were in place when he arrived. In New York? Nothing. There isn't a single blue-chipper on this roster other than Marbury, who has never made the second round of the playoffs and has a contract that makes him impossible to trade. Would you want to coach these guys? Me neither. 3. What did the Knicks' fans do to deserve this mess? You never think of the Knicks' fans as tortured or maligned, but few franchises have had a more star-crossed run over the past 30 years. After their title in 1973, they watched the spirit of the Bradley-Reed-Frazier dynasty desecrated by big-money imports like Spencer Haywood and Bob McAdoo. They were tantalized by the Micheal Ray Richardson era (cut short by drugs) and the Bernard King era (cut short by a blown ACL), two of the most memorable players of that era. They hit rock-bottom for a few months before the '85 lottery yielded Patrick Ewing, but even the Ewing era took a few frustrating years to get going. Everything peaked with those Riley teams in the mid-'90s (ugly as hell but strangely effective), as they endured some of the toughest defeats of that decade without getting over the hump. During the partial-lockout season in '99, Latrell Sprewell, Marcus Camby and Allan Houston improbably carried them to the Finals. But that was that. They haven't been relevant since. Here's a secret: I actually like Knicks fans -- not the bandwagon ones, but the die-hards, the ones who fell in love with the team for the right reasons, the ones who practically get choked up talking about Sugar Ray and Bernard and defend those Ewing teams to the death, the ones whose faces light up when you make a John Gianelli joke or ask them what those things were on Ken "The Animal" Bannister's face. Knicks fans know their hoops. They give a crap. Many of them were weaned on those Bradley-Frazier teams, or the Richardson/King teams, or even the Ewing teams, so they were lucky enough to see Madison Square Garden come alive at a young age. And that's one of those sports fan experiences that stays with you and makes you want to keep coming back. In fact, with Boston Garden and every other classic arena gone, MSG is the only relevant place left to watch an NBA game. The Knicks' fans know it, too. You never think of New York as a basketball city, but that's what it is. No sports team in the past 35 years meant more to New York than those Bradley-Frazier teams. Larry Brown understands this. That's why he came back. That's why he had to come back. And if you think he's letting Isiah Thomas screw up his dream job for more than a few months, you're crazy. In the words of Kurt Cobain, "No thought was put into this ... I always knew it would come to this."