Knicks Knation

The New York Daily News -- my newspaper of choice for all things Knicks (and Nets, and Yankees, Jets... etc.) has launched a new Knicks blog, written by beat writer Frank Isola. Check out his first post, which offers a succinct and unique insider's perspective on the decline and fall of the Larry Brown era.

It's easy, at this point, to look at the Dolan/Thomas/Brown relationship as doomed from the start, and to explain last year's 23-win season as the product of a brutal power struggle between coach and GM. The problem is, Knick fans want someone to blame.

Some blame Brown, and have wildly optimistic views on the 2006-07 season.

Some blame Thomas, and can't wait for the axe to fall.

Some, like our MySpace buddy Sell the Knicks, lay all the blame at Jim Dolan's feet.

Me? I look at it this way:

Let's say you own a fish tank. You see five really pretty fish at the pet store, buy them, and put them in your tank. One by one, they die... one of them is a salt-water fish, and you have a fresh water tank. One of them is a predator. One of them needs higher water temperature. The one thing they have in common is that they're totally incompatible.

So who's to blame?

Not the fish. The nimrod who put 'em all in the same tank.

So if you want an explanation of the Three Mile Island caliber 23-win meltdown of the Knicks, riddle me this: who made the decision to hire Larry Brown to coach Stephon Marbury just weeks after Brown tried to have Marbury cut from the Olympic team?