now that was funny.

watch a few episodes of "The West Wing" and go for president.

By PETER VECSEY

HOOP DU JOUR IT HAS become painfully obvious Home Town Brown had a more cohe sive unit going for him in the summer on the east side of Long Island than Isiah Thomas has assembled for him on the west side of Manhattan.

The Knicks are not only without a victory in two skirmishes coming into today's fortuitous face off with the Baron Davis-less Warriors, they're without rhyme, reason and rotation.

As Brown repeatedly and none too cryptically forewarns, a starting lineup has a way of working itself out. Without uttering a syllable, the same can be said about his team's irregular rotation and, for that matter, an entire undermanned, 15-player roster.

In fact, the Knicks' consecrated coach already began weeding his new Garden only three sterile halves into the season. Channing Frye, buried in Boston, suddenly was turned loose on the Wizards for seven points and nine rebounds in 18 minutes. Why the abrupt about-face regarding the team's top draft pick? And, as long as we're on the same touchy subject, why was David Lee attired in business casual when the season started?

I'm glad I asked.

Considering both rookie pawns distinguished themselves during the preseason, some of you might've found it odd Brown deactivated them at a time when it might make better sense for their adoptive parent/authority figure to be exhaustively encouraging.

Most basketball pedestrians never would've chanced shaking the confidence of Frye and Lee. Then again, most of us, I'm guessing, never coached an NBA and NCAA champion, or are Hall of Fame inductees. In other words, as always, I'm perfectly willing to extend Brown the benefit of any doubt re: roundball subterfuge, especially when it pertains to psychological strategy of this type. Surely there's a method to his madness . . . I think.

Had Brown gone with his rookies or his other younger players from Jump Street. he'd leave himself wide open for compelling criticism from his vets. Despite Jamal Crawford's confusion, Quentin Richardson, Antonio Davis, Jerome James, Maurice Taylor, Malik Rose and yes, even Stephon Marbury either will justify their existence between the lines, or play themselves out of minutes or quite possibly off the team.

This way the coach gave them an opportunity, so it's all on them. Yo, respect; that's what it's all about. If the vets can't get it done according to Brown's scrupulous specs, if they can't be successful individually and directly affect the team's improvement, and do it in a jiffy, then they can't pitch a legitimate bitch when they're replaced, some sooner than later.

Frye isn't the only Knick whose situation radically changed. Looking at the pair of box scores since the season started, you see a wide disparity in minutes among several players, even with the Celtics game going into overtime.

Trevor Ariza's daylight jumped from 17 to 30, Rose 5 to 16, Taylor 22 to 11, Eddy Curry 42 to 16 are the ones that leap off the ledger. Of course, it didn't help that Curry was a foul magnet Friday against Washington, or that Jesse James has been served seven infractions in his whopping 11 minutes.

Silly me, I thought the only things James could pick up that fast were seconds.

Not to say that Brown isn't making progress. He's finished second twice in New York, so already he's exceeded his resume in Athens.

Still, one step in the right direction isn't going to satisfy Next Town Brown for long. If the Knicks don't evolve more than glacially during their upcoming six-game ("Say No," campaign James Dolan) west coast trip he look revert to his glory days in Detroit. You remember: No Darko, no Arroyo, no Delfino, yes Mayo Clinic-o.

Indications are that time already is drawing near. After all, Michael Brown left FEMA, Aaron Brown is leaving CNN and Larry Brown has left every place else.

*

The Nets took some heat about announcing an Opening Night full house. Column castigator Frank Drucker doesn't see a problem "since the team sold out Jersey a couple of seasons ago."

Donald Sterling, owner of my beloved Paper Clips, has to fork over $5 million in plaintiffs' attorneys stemming from a suit claiming he discriminated against black and Latino tenants. To his credit, Sterling claims he didn't sexually harass any of 'em. Shaquille O'Neal is expected to miss 2-4 weeks after spraining his ankle while coming down on Ron Artest's foot. "I was stunned Artest was on the floor, not on the scorer's table," Shaq exclaimed.

As prophesied in this space the other day, the 76ers shall never recover from their opening-night tank job against Milwaukee. Philly followed that one up with a 20-point loss at Detroit and a pathetic 17-point home defeat to Charlotte. Count the OT against the Bucks and the Sixers have been outscored in 11 consecutive "quarters."

Come back, Roy Rubin. All is forgiven.

Memo to Doc (Cry Me a) Rivers: Next time it might be a good idea to contest the inbounds pass. After eyeballing how Tayshaun Princeeffortlessly found a cutting Rip Hamilton, who drained the game-winner at the buzzer, I offer this unsolicited suggestion: Put someone, anyone on the ball. I'd even settle for Mike Dukakis in an oversized helmet on a tank. Thanks for listening.

In case you missed it, Jayson Williams sold his Jersey mansion for a reported $8 million. From what I'm told he had a difficult time driving up the price because he had such a hard time just getting anyone to drive up.