It's quite possible that no other team is looking forward to starting the new NBA season more then Isiah Thomas and the New York Knicks. The sexual harassment trial and the fallout from it has worn Isiah Thomas down to the point where he hardly smiles anymore and gives short vague answers in response to the media's questions. The team has had a year together under Isiah’s system but has had to readjust again this year due to the addition of Zach Randolph. Many question how the tandem of Eddy Curry and Randolph is going to work. Both are considered low post players who are explosive offensively but neither passes the ball well and both are very bad on the defensive side of the ball. It's up to Isiah to figure out how to get the most out of both of them. Several media members are predicting Isiah won't last the season and the Knicks will miss the playoffs once again. Only Sports Illustrated has the Knicks making the playoffs this year. I thought I would look through the Knicks' schedule and give my prediction on how well they will fare and whether they are good enough for the playoffs.

Last year the Knicks started off slow and eventually recovered to play slightly above .500 but then injuries decimated the team and caused them to fall well below .500. To get a better idea of how many games this team can win, we need to look at the games on a month-by-month basis. If you look at November, the schedule looks favorable for the Knicks to get off to a good start. They play 8 games at home and 7 on the road. Looking at their opponents, I see them going 9-6 in the month of November. More specifically, I see them starting off 4-1, going 2-2 on their West coast trip, and then finishing up the month 3-3 against some good playoff caliber teams. The game of the month in my eyes will be the Nov. 29th game with Boston on national television. This would be a great statement game for the Knicks if they could come out and play well and beat the revamped Celtics.

In December, they play 9 games at home and only 5 on the road. They have some tough games at the beginning of the month and I see them coming out of those games with a 2-4 record. Their next 8 are mainly against teams in the East and I see them going 6-2 to finish the month at 8-6. The game to look at in this month will be the first game with New Jersey on the road on Dec. 5th. New Jersey has owned the Knicks since Jason Kidd has been in town and this would be a huge boost for the Knick players if they could go on the road early in the season and beat the Nets.

In January, the schedule gets a little tougher. The Knicks have 7 games at home and 9 on the road. This will be the month that makes or breaks this team in my opinion. With a tough Midwest road trip and some tough games at home, I see them starting out the month at 3-4. After that, I feel like this is where the team will hit their stride and will begin to gel as a team. They will finish up the month going 6-3 and a record of 9-7 for January. The Knicks will play 6 games in 9 days from Jan. 13-21. They will play Boston on Jan. 21st to wrap up that string of games. Again, if they can find a way to win this game, it would be a great building block for the second half of the season. In February, they play 5 games at home and 8 on the road. I do see them struggling a little bit this month with the tough January and rust from the All-Star break. I think they will finish 6-7 for the month of February with back-to-back games with Toronto on the 22nd and 24th being the big games of the month.

In March, the schedule has them playing 8 games at home and 7 on the road. I see them going 7-8 during this month as things starting getting a little tighter and teams in the East will be playing tougher. On March 7th, the Knicks will host Detroit in what could be a good test for the Knicks to see where they stand with one of the top teams in the East. In the month of April, with 4 games at home and 5 on the road, the Knicks should be able to finish the month with a 5-4 record as they try to hold on to a playoff spot. I hate to keep bringing Boston up, but the next to last game of the season with them on April 14th could be huge. A win in that game could set the tone going into the playoffs and give the Knicks that extra push to make some noise.

If you add up the records for each month, you will see that the Knicks would finish at 44-38 for the season. This is about what I expected from this team before looking at the schedule on a monthly basis like this. With a 44-38 record, that should be good enough for a 7 seed in the playoffs. If the Knicks can do this and grab a spot in the playoffs, maybe then Isiah can smile again and get some of his critics off his back...for a little while anyway.

First I apologize guys, I have been away some time. I haven't had much time these days to write. I had been thinking about writing a few times but never got around to it. But after another amazing game by the Knicks, I couldn't hold back any longer. Its probably too soon to get into what this triple overtime win over the East leading Pistons could mean for the Knicks, but it's an hour later while I write this and I still can't believe the Knicks pulled this win out. I know there are alot of Knick haters and Isiah haters out there and they don't want to hear me gush about how good the Knicks have looked lately. Whether you are a hater or just a pessimistic Knick fan, everyone should agree that this team is at least exciting to watch. Just that alone should give Knick fans hope as we haven't had a team to get behind really since they made that magical run in the playoffs in 1999. There are so many good things to like about this victory that I'm not sure where to begin.

 In my 20 years as a Knick fan, I honestly can't remember feeling this way about a Knick team. Sure the teams of the 90's were great and will always be the teams that I became a die hard Knick fan with. But with those teams, after Pat Riley arrived, there was a certain expectation of the team for many years. While there was some great moments during that time, because they never won the championship, fans came away stilll a little disappointed. Knick fans have gone through a tough period these last 5 years as the team has slowly and painfully become the laughing stock of the league. There was momentary excitement when Isiah came aboard and traded for Stephon Marbury right away. That team rebounded after the trade to make the playoffs but never really stood a chance against a superior New Jersey team. Since that time, most fans and the media especially have aimed their frustration at IsiahThomas and 11 days ago that frustration boiled over.

With the Knicks reaching rock bottom with the brawl with the Nuggets, the NY media and other journalists bashed the Knicks and Isiah for becoming such a disgrace. It likely reached its pinnacle with the front page image on the Post of Isiah and his "donkey ears", in reference to George Karl's comments the day after the brawl in which he called Isiah among other things, a "####". Did Isiah resign or complain about the treatment he was receiving? Did the team fold or start pointing fingers? No, they did not. Instead they have taken Knick fans on a wild ride for a week and a half that has seen them beat 3 of the top teams in the league going 4-1 in 5 games. 3 of those 5 games went into overtime with the Knicks seemingly out of everyone of them, only to persevere and find the will and a way to win the game. The fact that this team has found a way to win these games should speak volumes about what kind of coach Isiah is for this team. Would they have won these type of games last year. Absolutely not. Isiah has molded this team into A TEAM. You can see it in these last few games. You can see it on the court, in the huddle, on the bench. Many times while watching the games, I have noticed little things about the players and their body language that suggests to me that this group is becoming a tight nit team. During timeouts, players are talking strategy to each other, players have their arms draped around each other often times around Isiah too. You see players laughing and cheering their fellow teammates on the floor.

Every time the media tries to divide the team with negative stories, the team seems to ignore it all and battle on. Just yesterday, a couple of articles spun Francis's absence from practice as a disinterested player trying to get out of practicing and trying to poison the team . That seems like a reasonable assessment given Francis' past but if you watched the game Wednesday night, you saw a hobbled Francis giving it his all and cheering on his teammates while on the bench. Maybe Francis is more mature now or maybe Isiah has gotten Francis, along with everyone else, to buy into the team concept or maybe the public bashing Isiah has received lately has made this group of players really go with a "us against the world" mentality. Whatever it may be, it is clear to me that Isiah has already done more with this group of players then Larry Brown done all of last season. Stephon Marbury is playing great basketball now AND fitting in to the schemes that Isiah has put into place. Eddy Curry has become a lethal low post presence and the central focus of the Knicks offense. David Lee is an automatic double double every night. Channing Frye has gotten his stroke back and is becoming a valuable 3rd or 4th go to guy. Jamal Crawford has become equally important with his instant offense and knack to hit the big shot at the end of the game. The other players are all finding their places and meshing with the others to make a very nice rotation of solid players. I admit, optimism is high right now after this great win, but the Knicks these last 11 days have been showing New York City and the league that they are not as bad as many thought and may finally be on the right path.

Well, that didn't take long. About three weeks ago, Knick fans were finally put out of their misery when the regular season ended. We all waited with anticipation to see what Marbury had to say at his exit interview about this train wreck of a season. He had promised two weeks before that he was going to let everyone know what he thought of Larry Brown. Instead, Marbury revealed to everyone that Brown had made him a better man. Wow. Did we miss something? I think we did and now we are hearing the full story. Reports out of New York Sunday morning had the Knicks on the verge of buying out Larry Brown's remaining four years. Apparently, management realized in order for Brown to be happy, they would have to change over half of their roster or risk having the same problems next year. It doesn't appear that it will be easy to move many of the players, so management likely decided that buying out Brown was the easiest route to take.

There is also speculation that Isiah Thomas would be his successor. I find this interesting as maybe Dolan has had it with Isiah too and this is his last chance to prove his worth to Dolan. Larry Brown is a great coach but I don't think he is able to adapt to the players he has, they have to adapt to him. With several young players and veteran players with ridiculous contracts, it would be difficult to get Brown the players he needs. Dolan and Isiah have done a terrible job up until this point, but if Isiah takes over for Brown, the Knicks will improve. Isiah has proven to be a horrendous executive, but he had a very underrated coaching stint at Indiana for three years with a collective record of 131-115. He took over at a time when Indiana had lost in the finals the previous year and the team was entering a transition period. They lost Rik Smits and traded Dale Davis for a young Jermaine O' Neal. During this time, the Pacers acquired Ron Artest as well. They made the playoffs and improved each year. O' Neal and Artest blossomed under Isiah and became all-star players. Isiah was replaced once Larry Bird decided to come back as president in 2003. If it was anyone but Bird, Isiah may still be there today. The next season the Pacers won 61 games under Rick Carlisle and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. You could argue that Isiah built that team and Carlisle simply inherited a good team that was ready to take the next step.

Unfortunately, I don't believe Dolan would be making this move for that reason. I won't give him that much credit. He is likely giving Thomas one last chance to right the ship. It might just work. Thomas has acquired most of the players on the roster because he felt he knew them and thought they could succeed in New York. If he comes down to the bench, the players will work harder and play harder for him because they know he is the reason they are there. He is younger and very close to many of the players, so they would likely be able to relate to him better then Brown. He would be comfortable with giving Frye and Lee big minutes unlike Brown. He would be comfortable with Marbury being Starbury again. Whether thats good for the team or not remains to be seen. History has proven that its not.

With the ending contracts of Jalen Rose and Maurice Taylor, two first round picks, and Steve Francis as trade bait, the Knicks need to acquire a good shooting forward and rugged rebounder to go alongside Eddy Curry. A shot blocking center would be beneficial as well. Al Harrington, Reggie Evans, Kenyon Martin and Theo Ratliff are a few players that would fill these needs. If they can accomplish these tasks this summer, Thomas would be in a position to significantly improve the team's record from this season. I say give Brown his money and let the Isiah watch begin.