Isiah to Lenny: "You're fired."

Now, who knows if this is for real or the Post is just declaring Gephardt with this story, but clearly the time has come to take a long look at what Lenny is doing with this team. Without a doubt, he deserves all the reverance due to the winningest coach of all-time, but surely the coach who has lost more games than anyone else alive cannot be beyond reproach. It seems that Isiah--like the rest of us--is not pleased with being a .500 team after 32 games. While it is clear that the Knicks are not world-beaters (and by "world" Imean any serious contender in the Western conference and/or the Miami Heat), but they have too much talent to be this mediocre

• Steph has learned how to balance his innate ability to score at will with his equally devastating--and too oft underused--ability to spread the ball around the floor.
• Nazr Mohammed is having a career year and looks more like the player he was at Kentucky.
• Kurt Thomas seems to be the only forward in the game who read the fine print in the rule book that says a mid-range jump shot counts for as many points as a dunk
• Tim Thomas has been.......mmm....getting much better, and anyway, you get the point.

Clearly, no one seems to be arguing that when the Knicks struggle that it is for lack of talent. All of their losses have two things in common: they can't rebound and they can't get a stop when they need one. For a Knicks team, these are virtually the only two unforgivable sins. This franchise, when it's been successful--has been defined by hustle and heart; whether it was Ewing and Oakley or Reed and DeBusschere, the New York Knicks always tried harder and dug deeper.
Rebounding and defense are the hallmarks of effort. The coach of a team that is not giving their all (especially if that team happens to play in NY or NJ) is a man not long for his job. In order to protect his job, Lenny Wilkens must inspire his players to protect the basket, to protect the paint, and most importantly to protect the pride that belongs to the city whose name is emblazoned across their chests.

We'll see how it goes Saturday, against the surging Cavs.....