It’s hard to imagine how things could get worse for the Knicks and harder still to imagine how they can get better. One day after announcing that he was shortening his bench and changing his starters, Larry Brown could hardly watch as the Knicks went down in flames losing 105-90 to the Magic.
Brown changed his starting lineup, making Trevor Ariza the new small forward and moving Quentin Richardson to shooting guard, but he still used eleven players with Jamal Crawford getting 24 minutes of playing time. Unfortunately, the Knicks couldn’t find anyone who could provide the defensive stops they needed as the Magic shot 49% from the field and scored 33 points in the fourth quarter.
So, it is up to Isiah to fix this mess, but can he? Since taking over as GM, Isiah has done little more than add massive amounts of payroll with questionable trades. He has publicly stated that he will not trade his young players for Ron Artest, but what else does he have to offer in a trade? Other than Channing Frye and maybe Stephon Marbury, the Knicks don’t have a lot to offer in a trade. Presumably, Larry Brown has input on personnel decisions now, but the only certainty with this team is that the 32-year championship drought will continue for the foreseeable future.
Photo by AP/Julie Jacobson via ESPN
