I felt that one of larry's strengths was his relationship with the media. Always making his teams the martyrs, the loveable losers, the team the press gets behind because they are so hapless.

Today, i've read nothing but positive reinforcement from the press. Don't get me wrong, there has been the occassional swipe, but that's been mostly from UltimateKnicks.

Seriously, PTI they both defended the knicks, even CNN/SI has seemingly come around...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/chris_mannix/11/10/knicks/


[quote Method to the madness

Knicks early struggles will pay off at season's end

Take a breath, Knicks fans. Take a deep breath, count to 10 and repeat after me, because I'm going to give you the only four words you will ever need to hear.

In Larry we trust.

I understand your frustrations. For the better part of this decade the Knicks have been the floor mat on the NBA hybrid, a joke of a franchise that contending teams routinely stepped on en route to bigger and better things. Madison Square Garden hasn't seen a playoff series in two seasons and hasn't hosted a winner since 2000.

In between fans have seen a once-proud franchise become a watered down version of the Yankees, a reckless-spending conglomerate without the hardware to validate its loose purse string policy. Year after year the front office attempted to buy its way out of the basement with ridiculous acquisitions, beginning with Allan Houston and Howard Eisley (courtesy of Scott Layden) and continuing with Isiah Thomas' acquisitions of Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Jerome James and Penny Hardaway). The results have all been the same: a losing record, for four consecutive seasons.

So there's no cause for optimism, right? Well ...

In Larry we trust.

It's hard to put blind faith in one man and it's even harder when that man has your team sputtering to an 0-4 start while staring into the teeth of a six-game West Coast road trip. But look at his history. Brown has coached eight professional teams in 23 seasons. Setting aside the ready-made contender he inherited in Detroit (as well as his foray in the ABA), Brown has had little success in his opening weeks with each of his new teams. The 1981-82 Nets opened 1-7; the '88-89 Spurs, 2-6, the '92-93 Clippers, 0-3, the '93-94 Pacers, 1-6, and the '97-98 Sixers, 2-6.

All five of those teams, however, improved after Brown arrived. In fact, three made the playoffs in his opening season and the other two in his second year. But until he started working his magic, they stunk. Which is exactly the situation the Knicks are in.

On the court Brown's players are a confused bunch, frequently botching plays as they struggle to learn his system. Players are tentative and nervous, fearful that one missed shot or ugly turnover will earn them a seat on the bench. In Wednesday night's loss in Portland, Crawford, an early target of Brown's ire, passed up several open looks from beyond the 3-point line. Crawford? Passing up a 3? Last year Crawford wouldn't have passed up a shot from the parking lot.

This will be a struggle, and it should be. Brown runs his team like a Marine unit, and this one looks like a bunch of out-of-shape stiffs too lazy to go to Fat Camp. The Knicks and their fans need to brace themselves because it's going to get worse before it gets better, but it will get better. Brown's eight previous NBA teams improved by 8.9 wins in his first season with the club. Think about that. As bad as the Knicks were last season (33 wins), simply by adding Brown to the equation would have put them in a dogfight with Philadelphia (42 wins) for a playoff berth. He's that good.

For argument's sake, let's say the Knicks sink faster than the Titanic on their Western swing. Let's assume they return to New York 0-9, and Stephon Marbury is reciting Allen Iverson's rant on practice almost verbatim. Let's say they go into the All-Star break with 15 or 16 wins. But come April, the bet here is that this team will be fighting for a playoff spot.

This Knicks squad will "get it" because Brown won't let up until they do. Marbury will resign himself into becoming a souped up version of Chauncey Billups and the frontcourt of Eddy Curry, Antonio Davis and Channing Frye will develop into an intimidating presence that frees up the guards to be more aggressive defensively. They will play the right way. Why?

Because in Brown I trust.

/quote]

Here is the image and caption they printed:
[quote
Though the Knicks may get tired of having Larry Brown's voice in their ears all season, it just might reveal the path to the playoffs. /quote]

I think Larry has everybody right where he wants them.

Here comes the run

[Edited by - rvhoss on 11-10-2005 10:57 PM]

[Edited by - rvhoss on 11-10-2005 11:13 PM]

I agree with this article whole-heartedly.

Even though both Larry and Isiah warned us of a rough start, I think we all expected great things. Now, when we actually are off to a rough start, we think that the team is utter garbage. It's the same team that we thought would do so well so let's give it time.

in a word, patience.

a lost concept today when you can just get your instant gratification anywhere, anytime.