The whole world's waiting

While most observers had anticipated a resolution to the long-running soap opera that has enveloped Larry Brown and the Pistons Thursday, Brown continued to defy expectations as the team and coach continued to discuss his future in Detroit Friday.

The Pistons have laid out three main concerns in their talks with Brown this week: They want to know if he will be healthy enough to coach a full season (he was sidelined for 17 games by hip-replacement surgery and a subsequent bladder problem, they want him to upgrade his staff in case he suffers further health issues (the Pistons went 9-8 in Brown's absence, costing them homecourt advantage in the final two rounds of the playoffs), and they want assurances (ha!) that he will focus on fulfilling the remaining three years of his Pistons contract paying him $21 million, rather than looking to move to another job.

Brown helped encouraged speculation at various points last season that he would leave to join the Lakers, Knicks and Cavaliers, and he openly admitted to the Pistons that he was helping Cleveland assemble its front-office and coaching staffs. Since the Chicago pre-draft camp in early June it's been well circulated throughout the league that Brown has been trying to secure jobs in Cleveland for three of his current assistant coaches -- Dave Hanners, Phil Ford and Pat Sullivan -- should he leave Detroit. ( Sullivan is regarded as the best assistant of the three, and is seen as future head-coaching material.)

Having made a lifelong habit of impulsively seeking new challenges, Brown has never seemed able to understand -- much less acknowledge -- the damage he caused in Detroit not only by seeking another job but also by helping to manage a divisional rival while his own players were trying to defend their NBA title. But it is a serious issue. Though he won't address the subject of Brown directly, deputy commissioner Russ Granik says that if the NBA had proof that an active coach was helping to manage the affairs of a rival team, it would be viewed as a major violation of the league's tampering rules. Still, Detroit is unlikely to pursue action because Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert's mortgage company happens to be the Pistons' biggest corporate sponsor. While the Pistons have been frustrated by Brown, they have maintained a good relationship with Gilbert

So what should the Knicks do while waiting to find out if Brown will be available to coach them?

The best thing would be to continue moving forward as if incumbent Herb Williams will remain in the position next season. They can't afford to repeat the experience of the Cavaliers, who spent two months in vain waiting for Brown to arrive as their team president, because the Knicks need to assume that Brown won't be coming to New York. Williams has been making an effort toward moving forward by courting Paul Westphal as a potential assistant coach.

Whether Brown stays with Detroit or leaves, there is a good chance that his ever-wandering eye will seek a lucrative administrative position, because he's spent the past year telling friends that he would like to get out of coaching in order to run a team. If he is unable to salvage his relationship in Cleveland and take over as team president of the Cavaliers, don't be surprised if he sidelines himself for several months while seeking another front office over which he can preside.

But if Brown becomes available and decides that he wants to coach the Knicks, they should hire him -- even if the cost is $10 million per year. His misdeeds in Detroit should have no bearing on his future in New York. As a short-term genius, Brown would be the perfect solution to a franchise that lives for the moment. He would instantly transform the Knicks into a playoff team and fill the Garden with energy. People will naturally predict disaster in his relationship with point guard Stephon Marbury, who has made a career of producing All-Star stats without ever winning a playoff series. But Brown has forged productive relationships with every kind of guard from Chauncey Billups to Allen Iverson, and he would find a way to help Marbury succeed in New York

Brown's arrival would help fans to take a new perspective on the Knicks. Eight of their current players are 25 or younger, and they are poised to enter the summer of 2007 with only one max player -- Marbury (albeit at a ridiculous salary that will climb to $20.1 million in '07-08). Team president Isiah Thomas is expected to waive Allan Houston for the amnesty tax relief that was granted in the league's new labor agreement and let the expiring contracts of Penny Hardaway, Tim Thomas and Maurice Taylor come off his cap over the next two years -- unless he can net All-Star talent by trading one of those contracts to a team seeking cap relief.

An obvious target Thomas might take a run at would be Phoenix forward Shawn Marion, whose remaining deal for four years and $63 million could become prohibitive if the Suns retain Joe Johnson and re-sign Amare Stoudemire to max deals. By sending Kurt Thomas to Phoenix last month for Quentin Richardson, Thomas essentially supplied the Suns with Marion's replacement at power forward. If the Suns are intent on wiping Marion off their books, trading him to New York prior to the February deadline for the expiring $14 million contract of Tim Thomas would be a logical move.