NEW YORK (AP) -- Larry Brown knows the Knicks need new players, even wondering Wednesday if he should be the one coaching them.

Before the Knicks hosted Cleveland, the Hall of Fame coach acknowledged that some players are no longer listening to him as they wind down his dismal first season in New York.

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"I think there are some that probably are tuning us out and I think some that are making progress," Brown said.

Even after their 96-94 victory over the Cavaliers, the Knicks have an NBA-worst 20-54 record despite owning the league's largest payroll. Brown thinks some players have just stopped trying. He felt that was the case again Tuesday night in the Knicks' 105-90 loss at Washington.

"I've been doing this forever, I haven't had trouble with getting guys to respond," he said. "Never. You bang heads for a little while, but eventually they know you care and you want to make them better.

"I've never had a problem before in that regard. You can go and say isolated incident here or there, but I don't think I've ever remembered anybody telling me my teams didn't play hard, didn't try to guard or didn't try to play unselfishly."

Brown publicly feuded with point guard Stephon Marbury and has been critical of rookie Nate Robinson. He pointed out that the Philadelphia Eagles cut ties with Terrell Owens because of his insubordination, and the Knicks may have to do the same with the players that won't work under Brown.

Brown reiterated he won't quit. But if team president Isiah Thomas or owner James Dolan prefer the players over the coach, he knows he could be the one to go.

"It depends on Isiah and Mr. Dolan, what they think of me," he said. "If they don't want to do what you ask them to do and you're going to be the coach, why would you have them around?

"You surround yourself with people that care about doing the right thing and I think that's what we've got to do. If they think I can't do it I understand, but I'm not giving up."

Posted by nyk4ever:

Posted by crzymdups:

what do you think of the job Brown did in the Olympics, out of curiousity? serious question.

I don't think any coach can walk in and coach a team that is not suited for Internation competition. Everyone wants to say that the US fell flat on their face because they should have won gold easily but that really isnt't the case anymore. Basketball has spread across the world and these countries across the world play a more fundamental team game that is condusive to the International style; this is something that the US does not do. If you notice, Jerry Colangelo has decided to change the way that the USA goes about the Olympics by making it more of a long-term committment instead of a bunch of players showing up and going out and not playing together as a team like most of the other countries do. Everyone wants to use the Olympics as their example of how Larry Brown sucks but things have changed, the world has caught up to the USA in basketball.

Posted by holfresh:

Posted by Allanfan20:

If the Knicks fire Brown this Summer, I'll no longer remain a Knicks fan.

Listen, don't give me more than one reason to celebrate...