By MARC BERMAN


March 12, 2006 -- KNICK NOTES
CHARLOTTE - Larry Brown admitted it's no picnic managing the roster of high-salaried players. The Knicks' 17-44 record proves it.

The Knicks' league-high payroll never looked so out of place than last night, when they battled Charlotte for the rights for NBA's worst record - a dubious distinction the Knicks came away with after their 116-109 loss.

The Bobcats, in their second year, have a $33 million payroll. The Knicks' payroll is $92M higher - at $125M.

"When you have guys making a lot of money, they expect to play," Brown said before the game. "So, that's different. I don't worry about what guys make. You worry about the contribution they make to your team. Guys making a lot of money, doesn't always equate to wins. And I don't think I've ever been asked to play guys because they're getting paid a lot. You play the guys you think can help you win some games."

Brown said he's never before coached a team with a high payroll.

"This team's mentality is different than any I've ever coached," Brown said. "That's for sure. But we're losing games, so, that can be expected. When you're on a team that loses games, everybody thinks they should be playing. Young players generally sit on the bench and wait their turn. This is just a whole different ballgame right now."

Because of trade rules, Brown acknowledged it's difficult to make deals for much-needed, lower-salaried role players - with the contracts they have.

"The way trades are made, you've got to match salaries," Brown said. "Sometimes, when you have long-term contracts for a lot of money, it's difficult to make changes as quickly as maybe you'd like or as quickly as you deem necessary. We want to worry about that when the season's over. Obviously, with our record, you're going to have to look to make some changes. I'm sure Isiah [team president Thomas] is carefully looking at that."




- Anyone else tired of LB coming up with new excuses after every loss? Just shut up and coach Larry....

memo to Larry: you are wasting your breath -- isiah is going to bring in more high-priced players with longer contracts

Posted by BRIGGS:

What does LB have to do with losing? I still dont get it? Im sure everyone here has gone down to a local Y and just jumped on a team with 4 guys youve never seen and were able to win 5-6 games in a row. Yes, a coach has some bearing on the game--but players win the games. Is everything justified by saying LB scks? At some point with all of the blowouts, the losses to crp teams, the wide open 3s, our Cs pulling down 3 rebounds, selfish play, uninspired play--when you make all of this money heck if you make 50 grand playing basketball in Turkey dont you have some frikin pride?

Like any fan I will always have hope. I have optomism for next year, but this business plan of taking on huge long term contracts and giving away picks like they were growing on tres[and then justifying it with 16 wins] and then taking some low round 1s back for HUGE HUGE sums of $


is the madness going to stop? My gosh, didnt it look like Charlotte was a clear superior team and WE HAD EVERYONE and they were missing two huge cogs!

LB--sorry I dont buy it--its the frikin spoiled arse players.

LB played david Lee as he performed. In basketball you get PT on performance. Weve had a lot of different line ups because guys werent getting it done--what else can you do??????

whar a load of BS. Its the coaches job to motivate them. Also how can we win without Marbury being Starbury?

I've never seen a coach rip his players in any sport like Larry is with the Knicks. How he thinks that will get them to play for him is beyond me. Its his job to keep these guys motivated and his job alone. He's trying to make them play against their strengths, for what? Just to make a point?

Good Job Larry, I get it, you're stubborn. Now retire.

Posted by JohnWallace44:

I've never seen a coach rip his players in any sport like Larry is with the Knicks. How he thinks that will get them to play for him is beyond me. Its his job to keep these guys motivated and his job alone. He's trying to make them play against their strengths, for what? Just to make a point?

Good Job Larry, I get it, you're stubborn. Now retire.

Agree. Steph says crazy things at times, but I'm sorry, I blame Larry more than anyone else for this whole mess. To be honest, I actually like Steph saying that he's gonna go back to playing like his old self. At this point, **** it - I wish he made this determination 70 games ago... His old self is driving hard to the bucket and scoring the ball - period. And oh yeah, he'll get 8-10 dimes along the way without even trying. That's elite PG status bottom ****ing line, whether you like the dude or not. So what the flying **** is wrong with that Larry? Huh? And Steph doesn't have a right to be confused? Shit LB, you got everyone confused around these parts my friend. I liken the way LB handles Steph to a guy who just rolls out of a showroom with a brand new ****ing Ferarri, brings it home, then decides for no particular reason that he's just got to go out to the garage, pop the hood and start ****ing with the engine - an hour later he's got the entire engine apart in 10 billion pieces. Ask youselves, why on Earth would anyone do that? Exactly....

Everyone calls Steph selfish, a malcontent, a sore loser, not a leader - you name it, and although I hate the terrible body language and the sulking as much as anyone and, yes, some of the stuff he comes out with from time to time is indeed questionable (in particular I hated his comment, "it's not my job to make guys better" on SAS's TV show and the rediculous and embarrassing behind-the-scenes fighting with Q-Rich after, first, the poor guy's brother gets ****ing murdered AND then even after Q shows time and time again that he's one of the few on this team who's always willing to play good D and rebound Steph STILL has the balls to go at him - give the guy a ****ing break Steph, jeeeez), the bottom line is HE'S AS FRUSTRATED AND EMBARRASSED AS ANYONE! Guys deal with things in different ways man. Some guys are rah-rah, loud, happy-go-lucky, towel wavers, etc. Some guys just aren't. But I never once thought Steph didn't care. This is the guy's home town for Christ's sake. He grew up here. Of course he's cares. During our 6-game winning streak Steph was playing awesome ball and was one of the best cheerleaders when he was on the bench. Remember our big win in Sacremento way back? Big win for Larry right? Who was the first one there after the win with a huge smile on his face pating Larry on the back - it was Steph. Same thing before the game on LB's big night back in Detroit. Sorry, but I'm not ready to just put all the blame on Steph, vilify the guy and run him out of town. Nah. Too easy. The Knicks or any other team ABSOLUTELY CAN win with Stephon Marbury running the show, playing the way he's cabable of playing. No doubt in my mind.

The biggest problem that has not been corrected even though most of us have been screaming about it for weeks and weeks is that LB has shown absolutely NO CONSISTENCY, ZERO!, ZILTCH!, NADA!, in how he handles ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING from his game to game rotation to how he talks about his team/players in the media. He says he's got to do a better job coaching then doesn't. He says he's going to try to get his rotation down to a workable 9, 10 guys then goes out and plays all 12 guys in the FUCKING FIRST QUARTER in the very next game! He tells Isiah to go out and get Qyntel Woods, a guy nobody around here was willing to take a chance on, including Isiah, then never really gives him a good, consistent run when he gets here. He says he's got to play the rookies more then doesn't. He screams at Nate Robinson after every mistake the poor kid ever made undoubtedly demoralizing the kid in the process.

Bottom line is that his players are confused and completely lack confidence and focus and you know what, in my book it's on him!!! The proof is in the pudding my friends. For example, just looking over the latest box score because I didn't see the last game, it looked like there was a David Lee sighting! 24 minutes, I'd bet my left nut he played pretty good defense (think he even had 2 blocks) and tada! what do you know, a productive game! A double/double! Now you all know right now that this poor kid probably won't even dress for the next one and if by chance he does get into a game, he'll get 2-4 minutes. It's the type of thing that I'm talking about and just makes me feel numb inside. Not anger anymore. No bewilderment. Just plain old numb. If we're all gonna start pointing fingers and we're gonna point some fingers at Steph, that's fine, but it's LB who should be taking the brunt of the blame in my book.

Posted by Finestrg:

Posted by JohnWallace44:

I've never seen a coach rip his players in any sport like Larry is with the Knicks. How he thinks that will get them to play for him is beyond me. Its his job to keep these guys motivated and his job alone. He's trying to make them play against their strengths, for what? Just to make a point?

Good Job Larry, I get it, you're stubborn. Now retire.

Agree. Steph says crazy things at times, but I'm sorry, I blame Larry more than anyone else for this whole mess. To be honest, I actually like Steph saying that he's gonna go back to playing like his old self. At this point, **** it - I wish he made this determination 70 games ago... His old self is driving hard to the bucket and scoring the ball - period. And oh yeah, he'll get 8-10 dimes along the way without even trying. That's elite PG status bottom ****ing line, whether you like the dude or not. So what the flying **** is wrong with that Larry? Huh? And Steph doesn't have a right to be confused? Shit LB, you got everyone confused around these parts my friend. I liken the way LB handles Steph to a guy who just rolls out of a showroom with a brand new ****ing Ferarri, brings it home, then decides for no particular reason that he's just got to go out to the garage, pop the hood and start ****ing with the engine - an hour later he's got the entire engine apart in 10 billion pieces. Ask youselves, why on Earth would anyone do that? Exactly....

Everyone calls Steph selfish, a malcontent, a sore loser, not a leader - you name it, and although I hate the terrible body language and the sulking as much as anyone and, yes, some of the stuff he comes out with from time to time is indeed questionable (in particular I hated his comment, "it's not my job to make guys better" on SAS's TV show and the rediculous and embarrassing behind-the-scenes fighting with Q-Rich after, first, the poor guy's brother gets ****ing murdered AND then even after Q shows time and time again that he's one of the few on this team who's always willing to play good D and rebound Steph STILL has the balls to go at him - give the guy a ****ing break Steph, jeeeez), the bottom line is HE'S AS FRUSTRATED AND EMBARRASSED AS ANYONE! Guys deal with things in different ways man. Some guys are rah-rah, loud, happy-go-lucky, towel wavers, etc. Some guys just aren't. But I never once thought Steph didn't care. This is the guy's home town for Christ's sake. He grew up here. Of course he's cares. During our 6-game winning streak Steph was playing awesome ball and was one of the best cheerleaders when he was on the bench. Remember our big win in Sacremento way back? Big win for Larry right? Who was the first one there after the win with a huge smile on his face pating Larry on the back - it was Steph. Same thing before the game on LB's big night back in Detroit. Sorry, but I'm not ready to just put all the blame on Steph, vilify the guy and run him out of town. Nah. Too easy. The Knicks or any other team ABSOLUTELY CAN win with Stephon Marbury running the show, playing the way he's cabable of playing. No doubt in my mind.

The biggest problem that has not been corrected even though most of us have been screaming about it for weeks and weeks is that LB has shown absolutely NO CONSISTENCY, ZERO!, ZILTCH!, NADA!, in how he handles ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING from his game to game rotation to how he talks about his team/players in the media. He says he's got to do a better job coaching then doesn't. He says he's going to try to get his rotation down to a workable 9, 10 guys then goes out and plays all 12 guys in the FUCKING FIRST QUARTER in the very next game! He tells Isiah to go out and get Qyntel Woods, a guy nobody around here was willing to take a chance on, including Isiah, then never really gives him a good, consistent run when he gets here. He says he's got to play the rookies more then doesn't. He screams at Nate Robinson after every mistake the poor kid ever made undoubtedly demoralizing the kid in the process.

Bottom line is that his players are confused and completely lack confidence and focus and you know what, in my book it's on him!!! The proof is in the pudding my friends. For example, just looking over the latest box score because I didn't see the last game, it looked like there was a David Lee sighting! 24 minutes, I'd bet my left nut he played pretty good defense (think he even had 2 blocks) and tada! what do you know, a productive game! A double/double! Now you all know right now that this poor kid probably won't even dress for the next one and if by chance he does get into a game, he'll get 2-4 minutes. It's the type of thing that I'm talking about and just makes me feel numb inside. Not anger anymore. No bewilderment. Just plain old numb. If we're all gonna start pointing fingers and we're gonna point some fingers at Steph, that's fine, but it's LB who should be taking the brunt of the blame in my book.

That post was right on the money, Finestrg. You make a good case for Larry to catch a significant portion of the blame for this mess. The media is constantly trying to jump on Steph, as are some of the impressionable minds that read those articles.
I agree with the way you broke it down.

Posted by Finestrg:

Posted by JohnWallace44:

I've never seen a coach rip his players in any sport like Larry is with the Knicks. How he thinks that will get them to play for him is beyond me. Its his job to keep these guys motivated and his job alone. He's trying to make them play against their strengths, for what? Just to make a point?

Good Job Larry, I get it, you're stubborn. Now retire.

Agree. Steph says crazy things at times, but I'm sorry, I blame Larry more than anyone else for this whole mess. To be honest, I actually like Steph saying that he's gonna go back to playing like his old self. At this point, **** it - I wish he made this determination 70 games ago... His old self is driving hard to the bucket and scoring the ball - period. And oh yeah, he'll get 8-10 dimes along the way without even trying. That's elite PG status bottom ****ing line, whether you like the dude or not. So what the flying **** is wrong with that Larry? Huh? And Steph doesn't have a right to be confused? Shit LB, you got everyone confused around these parts my friend. I liken the way LB handles Steph to a guy who just rolls out of a showroom with a brand new ****ing Ferarri, brings it home, then decides for no particular reason that he's just got to go out to the garage, pop the hood and start ****ing with the engine - an hour later he's got the entire engine apart in 10 billion pieces. Ask youselves, why on Earth would anyone do that? Exactly....

Everyone calls Steph selfish, a malcontent, a sore loser, not a leader - you name it, and although I hate the terrible body language and the sulking as much as anyone and, yes, some of the stuff he comes out with from time to time is indeed questionable (in particular I hated his comment, "it's not my job to make guys better" on SAS's TV show and the rediculous and embarrassing behind-the-scenes fighting with Q-Rich after, first, the poor guy's brother gets ****ing murdered AND then even after Q shows time and time again that he's one of the few on this team who's always willing to play good D and rebound Steph STILL has the balls to go at him - give the guy a ****ing break Steph, jeeeez), the bottom line is HE'S AS FRUSTRATED AND EMBARRASSED AS ANYONE! Guys deal with things in different ways man. Some guys are rah-rah, loud, happy-go-lucky, towel wavers, etc. Some guys just aren't. But I never once thought Steph didn't care. This is the guy's home town for Christ's sake. He grew up here. Of course he's cares. During our 6-game winning streak Steph was playing awesome ball and was one of the best cheerleaders when he was on the bench. Remember our big win in Sacremento way back? Big win for Larry right? Who was the first one there after the win with a huge smile on his face pating Larry on the back - it was Steph. Same thing before the game on LB's big night back in Detroit. Sorry, but I'm not ready to just put all the blame on Steph, vilify the guy and run him out of town. Nah. Too easy. The Knicks or any other team ABSOLUTELY CAN win with Stephon Marbury running the show, playing the way he's cabable of playing. No doubt in my mind.

The biggest problem that has not been corrected even though most of us have been screaming about it for weeks and weeks is that LB has shown absolutely NO CONSISTENCY, ZERO!, ZILTCH!, NADA!, in how he handles ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING from his game to game rotation to how he talks about his team/players in the media. He says he's got to do a better job coaching then doesn't. He says he's going to try to get his rotation down to a workable 9, 10 guys then goes out and plays all 12 guys in the FUCKING FIRST QUARTER in the very next game! He tells Isiah to go out and get Qyntel Woods, a guy nobody around here was willing to take a chance on, including Isiah, then never really gives him a good, consistent run when he gets here. He says he's got to play the rookies more then doesn't. He screams at Nate Robinson after every mistake the poor kid ever made undoubtedly demoralizing the kid in the process.

Bottom line is that his players are confused and completely lack confidence and focus and you know what, in my book it's on him!!! The proof is in the pudding my friends. For example, just looking over the latest box score because I didn't see the last game, it looked like there was a David Lee sighting! 24 minutes, I'd bet my left nut he played pretty good defense (think he even had 2 blocks) and tada! what do you know, a productive game! A double/double! Now you all know right now that this poor kid probably won't even dress for the next one and if by chance he does get into a game, he'll get 2-4 minutes. It's the type of thing that I'm talking about and just makes me feel numb inside. Not anger anymore. No bewilderment. Just plain old numb. If we're all gonna start pointing fingers and we're gonna point some fingers at Steph, that's fine, but it's LB who should be taking the brunt of the blame in my book.

just for this post alone....this thread should be sticky

i think Jackie's getting more & more playing time these days thanks to Jerome James' obvious lack of any semblence of basketball talent... LB seems to be committed now to make Jackie into their backup C, which is at least encouraging... hopefully he wakes up about David Lee too, but it seems he's fallen in love w/Malik Rose... i'm not sure Q Woods will ever find a role here as long as we have Jalen on the roster.

Posted by Allanfan20:

The reason David Lee lost playing time is b/c Q Woods came in and started playing real good, and eventually took his playing time. Then Rose came in, and there wasn't enough room for everyone, but if David Lee doesn't get any minutes tonight, it will be sad. However, I am 100% confident that he WILL get those minutes, b/c Larry DOES give minutes to players who had good previous games. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Lee starts tonight.

Even with Rose, there's no valid reason David Lee should ever get DNP-CDs. Rose is not going to play all 48 minutes at the 3 and Lee can play the 4 too.

It is not a coach's job to motivate his players. This is a fallacy created by people who either never coached or need excuses for why THEY NEVER PLAY HARD. I have played a thousand games in my life and not one time did I need a coach to make a speech or say the right thing to get me to play hard. That's like saying it's the coach's job to get you to try to score in the right basket. Or it's the coach's job to motivate a QB to throw to his receivers and not the DB's. "If the coach doesn't make a good half time speech I'm going to throw the ball into the stands". Give me a break. Certain things are a given. You should play hard every night with or without a coach. ANYTHING ELSE IS JUST A NONSENSE EXCUSE MADE UP BY LAZY PEOPLE.

[Edited by - bippity10 on 03-13-2006 5:14 PM]

Posted by Bippity10:

Eventually David will be getting 30 minutes a night and you will forget all about this year.

I have no doubt about that.

My only question is which franchise will he be getting those minutes from?

(hint - it won't rhyme with chicks)