the floodgates have opened

ESPN's Marc Stein takes his own shots at Larry Brown here. An excerpt:

Ten extra wins. That's what I thought Larry Brown's coaching would do instantly for the Knicks, no matter who his players were … Disappointing, then, doesn't even begin to describe this nightmarish Year 1 for Larry in his Dream Job. Wearing on his players with negativity, in private and via the media, is a staple of Brown's many stops, but so is immediate improvement. Nothing has happened instantly for these Knicks apart from the deterioration of Brown's relationship with Stephon Marbury -- yes, it's been even faster than expected -- and a nosedive so dramatic that they've unseated the Los Angeles Clippers as the NBA's foremost punching bag.

Stein has an interesting point about where the Knicks should go from here with the GM job, once Zeke gets the inevitable don't-let-the-door-hit-you-on-the-way-out treatment.

History, remember, tells us that Larry's only lasting NBA successes came alongside a management heavyweight to A) mediate the coach's inevitable disputes with players and B) prevent the famously fickle coach from acting on his perpetual trade impulses. Donnie Walsh in Indiana. Pat Croce in Philadelphia. Joe Dumars in Detroit.

Here's a question for you: do Knicks ownership see the big-money Brown signing as a mistake? I would … I mean, "credibility" only goes so far; at some point you have to actually win a few games.