nypost:It's being banished to Limbo that's buggin' out Brown more than anything. Because not a single superior has told him not to believe what he's read in the papers regarding his inescapable eviction, he knows his days are numbered.
It's also making Brown crazier than usual that he isn't being loved unconditionally by his bosses. He never has handled the most minor rejection from players and the media all that well, and this conspiratorial cold shoulder by the organization's hierarchy far out-distances any of that.
Does Thomas deserve to be fired for creating a capsized, 23-win monstrosity and a polluted atmosphere throughout the Garden where paranoia and job insecurity run amuck?
As Shaquille O'Neal would say, "Don't even ask such a dumb question!"
But Brown deserves worse punishment for demonstrating abject disloyalty to the person responsible for furnishing him with his "dream job" and establishing him as the highest-paid coach ($55 million for five years) in NBA history.
From almost the split second training camp opened in Charleston, S.C., Brown complained about the roster Thomas had provided. Almost the first words out of his mouth once the season began were pot-shots taken at Stephon Marbury.
It's not as if Brown was clueless about the roster he inherited. It's not as if he thought the players remotely resembled the championship-caliber ones he guided to the NBA Finals two straight seasons in Detroit. It's not as if he could fake surprise when his Knicks didn't perform like the regal role players he assembled in Philly to surround Allen Iverson.
The more Brown sounded off, the more misfits Thomas added to his puzzling puzzle.
In four decades of scrutiny, I've found Brown can be remarkably loyal and disloyal, as well as neurotically generous and disingenuous. In most cases, I'm convinced he can't help himself from acting one way or the other.
Only this time, before the Knicks pay him X amount to vanish, he's going to pay big time, too, for throwing Thomas on the third rail. Though one might suspect the blather coming from Brown's newly repaired bladder might be mollified once he's cut ($40 million) or the two sides cut a deal ($25 million?).
There's certainly no rush to see Brown stop squirming. Thomas has been waiting all year to get even. It's not as if the Knicks have to worry about hiring someone before another team does. Brown's replacement is the team president. Thomas is banking on Brown blinking before the other available jobs get taken and leave him with nothing.
Personally, I have my fingers crossed the Knicks and Brown remain an item - and not just because I'm a hopeless romantic. To me, Camp Cablevision and Brown are the perfect pairing: The former is stealing money from its customers while the latter is stealing money from the former.
