Larry Brown is stealing money. Not literally, of course. Brown, the New York Knicks' first-year coach, is merely accepting the King Kong-sized paychecks that the team agreed -- foolishly, it now appears -- to give him once he wiggled his way out of the Detroit Pistons job last summer and signed a five-year deal for a reported $50 million with New York. But the only thing swelling as quickly as Brown's bank account is the Knicks' loss total. They have dropped 20 of their first 27 games and they actually seem to be getting worse, which is why every direct deposit Brown receives from the Knicks is an absolute heist. We see high-priced athletes flop all the time, but rarely -- no, never -- have we seen a coach being paid as much and performing as poorly. No one expected Brown to turn the Knicks into the Pistons overnight; competing for the last playoff spot would have been a reasonable goal. But New York owner James Dolan surely didn't expect 7-20, either. He's not paying Brown $10 million a year for 7-20. He could have gotten that from former coach Herb Williams for about $9 million less. It's not just that the Knicks are losing, it's how they are losing -- with Brown changing the starting lineup almost nightly and elevating and demoting players from game to game with no apparent rhyme or reason. Brown started Matt Barnes at small forward on opening night, then cut Barnes before the season was 20 games old, replacing him with free agent pickup Qyntel Woods, who was quickly inserted -- briefly, of course, into the starting lineup. Center Jerome James started and played his best game of the season against Seattle, then didn't play at all in the next game, against the Clippers. It's no wonder the Knicks have been wildly unpredictable and disjointed, because they have no consistent rotation of players. The way Brown is yo-yoing guys in and out of the lineup, you would think he was trying to sabotage the team, not improve it. Granted, he needed time to evaluate players, but that's what training camp is for. After one-third of the season he ought to know what his best team is. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ...tton/index.html
