Q: If David Lee was ever traded, that would be it for me as a Knicks fan. I would just give up, wait for the Nets to move to the BK and pretend my love for the Knicks was never more than a passing fancy. In all seriousness, you don't understand what David Lee means to the fans until you actually get into the Garden and see how the crowd snaps out of its funk when he gets off the bench and runs to the scorer's table. He's like the Fuzzy Britches poster in Andy's cell -- you look at the world around you and you're locked in a tiny cage, getting raped daily, eating bad food with no end in sight. But for a little while each day, you can look at that poster and remember what it was like when life had meaning, and it was all laid out before you. That's what David Lee means to Knicks fans. He's a rose growing in a crap pile.
-- Chris, New York

SG: Out of all the "Don't ever joke that the Knicks should trade David Lee again or I will fly to L.A. and kill you with my bare hands!" e-mails I received last week, this was the best one. By the way, the Knicks need to work that quote into Lee's bio in their media guide next season: "He's a rose growing in a crap pile."

Q: How many postgame press conferences does a coach have to say the phrase "We didn't compete" before he gets fired? The fans have quit on Isiah. I personally did when he traded away Keith Van Horn (the only healthy outside shooter on the team at the time, and the last one they had) for Tim Thomas, and the players obviously have as well. He has quit on the team, and his morose demeanor on the bench -- he spends most of the game sitting in his chair saying nothing to his coaches or players now -- is infuriating to fans such as myself.
-- Jonathan B., Boston

SG: We saw this happen to Rick Pitino in Boston. It's VERY easy to figure out when an NBA team has quit on its coach. You know right away. The players have no energy and no connection to each other. The coach sits there listlessly on the bench and looking like he's undergoing a chemo treatment every game. Guys are arguing in huddles and on the court. The team gets blown out at home a disproportionate amount of time. Everyone sitting in the stands is asking questions about their best guys like, "Wait, is he stoned?" and "You don't think he's shaving points, right?" The coach starts clinging to that "We didn't compete tonight" rhetoric, which sounds like a great excuse until you remember he's the guy who's supposed to get everyone competing. I mean, you know when the wheels come off with an NBA coach.

Here's the interesting thing: Once you pass the point of no return, there's no going back. You're done. On my old Web site, as the Pitino thing was unfolding and I was attending those games -- by the way, it's fantastic that I caught the entire M.L. Carr and Pitino eras and somehow missed the Garnett era -- I was writing that Pitino lost the team during the strike season in '99, nearly two full years before he actually resigned. NBA players are pretty easy to figure out. When they're happy and engaged, you can tell. When they're unhappy and disengaged, you can tell. It's that simple.

Q: What's the most lopsided trade you can make on the Trade Machine? I allowed the Mavericks to trade Juwan Howard and Eric Dampier to the Blazers for Greg Oden, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. This is so fun, Im gonna keep trying!
-- Mitch, Hartford, Conn.

SG: I wish this question arrived two weeks ago, before the deadline passed and many of the bigger contracts became untradeable until the summer. Still, these were the four worst deals I could come up with:

Trade No. 1: Spurs trade Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to the Knicks for Quentin Richardson, Malik Rose, Jared Jeffries, Jerome James and Eddy Curry.

Trade No. 2: Blazers trade Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Martell Webster, Jarrett Jack and the rights to Rudy Fernandez to the Knicks for Quentin Richardson, Jared Jeffries and Jerome James.

Trade No. 3: Lakers trade Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom to Denver for Kenyon Martin, Nene, Steven Hunter and Chucky Atkins.

Trade No. 4: Cleveland trades LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilguaskas to Minnesota for Antoine Walker, Marko Jaric, Mark Madsen and Greg Buckner.

(By the way, that was really more fun than humans should be allowed. I spent a solid hour coming up with those four lopsided deals and, frankly, I might go back for another hour after I finish this column.)

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