<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <h3>Colangelo To The Rescue?</h3> Tony Ronzone, the Pistons' director of basketball operations and chief international scout, knows a guy who could rescue the New York Knicks.</p> </p> "Jerry Colangelo," Ronzone said.</p> Colangelo, who built the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks into championship-caliber franchises, is presently building Team USA back to gold medal status. Ronzone was hired by Colangelo as an assistant coach and scout for the Tournament of Americas championship last summer.</p> "I think that (cleaning up the mess that is the Knicks) is the kind of challenge Jerry loves," Ronzone said. -- <font color="#000000">Detroit News</font></p> Related News ...</p> </p> [*]A friend of Stephon Marbury's now claims Isiah Thomas told Marbury during their argument that if he didn't like his demotion to the bench, he can leave town. If the accusation is true that Thomas was the first to raise the subject of Marbury leaving the team, it's no wonder owner James Dolan was thought to be angry at the Knicks coach/president for his bungling of the Marbury crisis. It is no wonder Thomas had told confidants he felt Dolan might fire him on the West Coast trip.</p> Amidst mounting speculation Thomas could be fired after their 0-4 West Coast trip and his mishandling of Marbury, The Post reported exclusively Sunday that <font color="#000000">Dolan has no plans of firing Thomas</font> this month, that he is not coaching on a game-to-game basis.</p> If Thomas continues to lose hold of his team and is dismissed in January, the Knicks likely would keep senior VP of basketball operations Glen Grunwald as the team's GM/president and promote assistant Herb Williams to head coach. -- <font color="#000000">New York Post</font></p> </p> [*]"We believe in Isiah," Nate Robinson said. "He's not the one out there playing, it's us. So it starts with us. He gives us a game plan, we've got to go out and execute. That's something we're still learning how to do." A year ago, when Thomas' job status was being publicly debated, it was his players who rallied around him. Though there might have been some splintering this past week as a result of the Marbury controversy, the group remains intact. And as long as it remains that way, Thomas will remain in place. -- <font color="#000000">Newsday</font></p> </p> [*]Thomas is so confident he's on solid ground, he revealed he might soon make another lineup change, inserting David Lee at starting small forward to team with Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph up front. He also said that Mardy Collins will continue to start, although the results from the shakeup at point guard have only served to shake Marbury's confidence. Through all the losing and turmoil, the players say they're still unified.</p> "We're not arguing in the locker room after the game and saying, 'I hate you, I hate you,'" Lee said. "We're together right now. We're pushing in the same direction. We just have to push a little harder." -- <font color="#000000">New York Daily News</font></p></div> </p>
