Aside from writing fluff pieces, having a strange Marbury fascination and generally writing tabloid fodder, Mark Berman is just a poor quality writer.
Frank Isola is a joke- he's always "broke" stories that ended up being completely false. He basically wanted Ewing out of town. He's burned so many bridges with the organization that he has no sources and his articles are no almost all opinion since he'll never break a story.
Alan Hahn is a good writer, who actually seems to enjoy covering the team. His articles are a good read, but are unfortunately buried in Newsday which no one reads.
Howard Beck is a good no frills writer. I've always liked the NY Times coverage of the Knicks, with the exception of Selena Roberts who is a completely worthless journalist.
In terms of blogs, Knickerblogger is the best, though he's now opened it up to more writers who are hit or miss. He's not a news blogger, but his analysis is always on point. Poasting and Toasting is pretty good as well. I like Tommy Dee as a poster and he seems like a nice guy from the couple of events where I've met him, but I think his site gets too focused on trying to break stories and pass along rumors and that can end up being annoying.