....can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/15/sports/basketball/15ARAT.html
But I don't really think the comparison is fair to the Nets...
In one year less with the Nets than Layden has had with the Knicks, Rod Thorn has reshaped his team, in performance and attitude. Thorn inherited a worse team that was also in a bad salary-cap fix. He did inherit the first pick of the 2000 draft but smartly ignored the calls to draft a high school player, going for Kenyon Martin, knowing he didn't have years to wait on his return.
He made the bold move, and right to the point the Knicks have forever missed: Stephon Marbury for Jason Kidd. He parlayed one draft pick last spring into three and has stocked his bench with athletic young players making a fraction of what Layden guaranteed the journeymen the Knicks will be stuck with for years.
The Nets have a boat load of high first rounders (Kittles, Kidd, Van Horn, KMart, Jefferson) and they are all healthy. That is the reason why they are doing so well. Getting Kidd was very instrumental, but having those other guys helps alot. The Knicks have not been in the position to draft as high as the Nets for a while...at least before this year. And please...anyone who had the first pick in 2000 would have drafted Martin in a second.