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crzymdups
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/sports/basketball/01knicks.html
Knicks Receive a Message From the Top: Shape Up
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: March 1, 2006
MEMPHIS, Feb. 28 — James L. Dolan, the chairman of Madison Square Garden, walked into the visiting locker room Tuesday afternoon. The Knicks were preparing for yet another practice after yet another loss, and Dolan told his players to start improving. Immediately.
Only minutes after the Knicks' president, Isiah Thomas, delivered a similar speech, Dolan made a special point to inform the players and the coaches that Thomas's and Coach Larry Brown's jobs were safe.
Later, after a spirited practice, Brown again questioned the roster Thomas assembled and implied that the players' jobs might not be safe this summer.
If only the Knicks could muster this much drama on the court.
With the Knicks' record at 15-41, the season is already lost, and Brown is already talking about a roster overhaul.
Dolan, who spent more than $120 million for the roster, just wants the Knicks prepared for the Grizzlies on Wednesday night.
"He can't change what has happened," Jalen Rose said, recounting Dolan's speech to the team, "but tomorrow night he wanted us to start being a better team. That's the bottom line."
Dolan is in Memphis on a previously scheduled trip, traveling Monday from San Antonio after watching the Spurs embarrass the Knicks, 121-93. Making an annual trip with the team, he took the three highest-ranking members of the Garden hierarchy with him — the president, Steve Mills; the vice chairman, Hank Ratner; and the senior vice president for communications, Barry Watkins. Dolan is expected to speak to the news media Wednesday afternoon before the Knicks play the Grizzlies.
The message Dolan gave the team Tuesday, in a rare locker room appearance, was a powerful backing of Thomas. Dolan has never wavered in his support of Thomas, including the backing he gave him when the former Knicks marketing executive Anucha Browne Sanders filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him and the Garden in January.
Rose said, "He also acknowledged the fact that you'll probably see and hear a lot of speculation about him possibly making changes with the coach staff or the front office, and he acknowledged that's not going to happen." Many of Thomas's roster moves — he has made 44 since becoming team president in December 2003 — have drawn criticism, especially the recent trades for Rose and Steve Francis. Thomas seemed to be stockpiling guards who are not defensive-minded, even though Brown said at the time that he endorsed the deals.
"You don't bring in players that can't play a style that's comfortable for the coach," Brown said after practice. "Isiah and I understand that. He knows the guys I like — it's not easy to make trades."
With the deadline having passed to make trades, Brown added: "The important thing is to get the most out of these guys and see if they can play the way I feel comfortable coaching — if they want me to coach."
By throwing out such a curious aside, Brown, who still has $40 million and 4 years left on his contract, may be sensing that he is losing his players. But then again, maybe he wants to lose them.
"We got to have guys who are defensive-minded, have a high basketball I.Q., play unselfish and play hard," he said. "The way I look at it, maybe some of them can't do what I ask."
Brown mentioned players with whom he has had success elsewhere — Eric Snow, Bruce Bowen, Nazr Mohammed, Raja Bell and Aaron McKie. Then Brown said he told Thomas he wanted three point guards; four post players who can defend; athletic wing players who can dribble, drive and guard; and two stabilizing veterans. "We got to find out if we have them here or what," Brown said.
Meanwhile, the current Knicks are trying to find themselves, trying not to think about where they may be next season.
Francis plays his third game with the Knicks on Wednesday. He compared Brown's predicament to one Jeff Van Gundy faced when he became coach of the Houston Rockets.
"He had players who were capable, but early on nobody bought into what he was telling us," Francis said of Van Gundy.
"Once we did that, everybody got better as a team."
Francis said that neither Thomas nor Dolan named names in speaking to the team, but they indicated that the players needed to start playing to their potential.
"It's the truth, it's not one person, nobody's having a stellar season on the team," Francis said.
Brown had this reaction to the speeches Thomas and his boss gave Tuesday, saying of Dolan: "He's been real supportive. Isiah's been real supportive. I don't know how they can be, watching us play."
Jerome James, the $30 million center who has been a disappointment because of injury and his play, said he took this message away from the meeting: "The city of New York is a hard-working city, and I think if we came out and gave effort night in and night out, I think they would appreciate it more than if we seemingly gave up."
The Knicks are one defeat from guaranteeing a losing season and are closing in on the franchise's worst record — 21-59 in 1963.
As Brown and James left the Grizzlies' practice gym together, Brown was disgusted by the mess of bottles, tape and towels the team had left.
"We leave the place worse than when we got here," Brown said, a statement that, so far, could apply to the Knicks' season.
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