Knick knack for disaster

Isiah again brings in a castoff

The Knicks have the biggest payroll in the NBA, at around $125 million and counting, even if the best they can do is one losing season after another. The Knicks have what is still one of the biggest addresses in all of sports, Madison Square Garden, New York City. They pay Isiah Thomas and Larry Brown more than any general manager/coach combination in history. None of this prevents them from being the biggest single laughingstock in professional sports at this time.

There is no bigger mess anywhere, in any sport, not the Islanders, who will never have this kind of money behind them, not the Colorado Rockies, not the current incarnation of the Florida Marlins, not the Detroit Lions or the Houston Texans or what is left of the San Francisco 49ers. Everything just got messier yesterday when Isiah Thomas, who does everything except carry a sign around that says he and Larry Brown are in this together, made another trade, this one for Steve Francis, the '06 version of Stephon Marbury.

According to Forbes, the Knicks, despite the highest ticket prices in their sport, still can't make money, because of the payroll, because of the $60 million luxury-tax bill on the way. So they will lose at least $50 million this year, unless the Cablevision accountants are more creative with numbers than the Knicks are with the ball.

Now, because everybody there is desperate to win a few games at these prices, Thomas makes the same deal for Francis that he made two years ago for Marbury, the first crucial piece of this "rebuild" that James Dolan, the boss of the Garden, likes to talk about. So Thomas gives us - and his coach - another high-priced, bounced-around modern star who has never been able to co-exist with teammates anywhere for very long.

Then Thomas stands in front of everybody, with this incredibly false front he and Brown have going these days and says the following:

"I would say that right now we're pretty satisfied with where we are."

After two years and two months in the big city, he must be under the delusion that his fan base knows as little about basketball as the owner does. But then even Pat Riley sounded disoriented last night, because Riley was quoted this way:

"I think they've turned the corner."

What corner, the one at the intersection of Nowhere and Desperation?

Before long, Isiah will be talking about Francis' "expiring contract," the way he's been talking about Penny Hardaway's, the one he used to bring Francis to New York. Nobody wants to play with Marbury. Nobody wants to play with Francis. The only apparent difference is that Marbury is completely untradeable and Francis did get moved yesterday. Not only did the Magic get cap room, the way the Suns got cap room when they traded Marbury, but they did something they clearly thought was just as important: Separated Francis and Dwight Howard.

Will Francis make the Knicks better in the short run? Sure. He can score and actually rebound the ball. Sure he is an improvement on Jamal Crawford, Quentin Richardson and Nate Robinson, an improvement on any perimeter player the Knicks had on the roster. But the idea that Francis is part of any long-range vision here, any long-range plan, is for suckers. So is this idea for suckers: that the coach of the Knicks has been begging Isiah Thomas for months to get him somebody exactly like Steve Francis.

At this point in a lost season, Larry Brown will sign off on anything that gives the Knicks a chance to win some games.

"We just want ballplayers," Brown said last night at the Garden.

Isiah Thomas is different. He will say or do anything to save his job. As usual, money is no object. Maybe that is what Thomas means when he says Dolan - the only owner in the NBA who will ever again let Thomas near a job like this - is the best owner in all of sports.

Again and again: There is no plan here. There is just the latest plan, the one with Jalen Rose and Steve Francis (on the books for nearly $50 million after this season) in it, that gets the Knicks to the next plan.

You want to believe that Thomas and Brown are a real team, on the same page, have an actual future together, go right ahead. Congratulations, you are hereby qualified to do James Dolan's job.

You want to believe that there is so much talent in the room that all this losing is more the fault of the coach than the guy who picked the players before the coach got here? Have at it. Larry Brown is making more money than anybody besides Phil Jackson, he came here with his eyes wide open, he's a big boy. This is a hardball city. Brown has to wear a helmet like everybody else.

But you tell me who else on this planet signs Jerome James for $30 million? Who else gives $50 million to Jamal Crawford and trades Kurt Thomas for Quentin Richardson, who can't jump and had a bad back before he got here? Who traded an unprotected lottery pick that might turn out to be the No. 1 pick in whole draft for Eddy Curry? There is no point guard in the house, there is no power forward, and guess what? We may have been a little premature sending Channing Frye to the Hall of Fame.

The Knicks turned no corner last night. The Knicks just keep going around in circles. Now the smart-mouth television guys say they couldn't win the NCAA Tournament. The Knicks lead the league only in salary, and punch lines.

man, lupica sounds angry. i haven't heard him like this. sounds like us when we rant.