NJ Star-Ledger: While most people in the NBA are shocked that the Knicks are one of the three worst teams in the league despite adding Eddy Curry, Jalen Rose, Steve Francis and particularly Larry Brown, Ben Wallace is not one of them.
If the Pistons center learned anything from Brown, his coach here for two seasons, it's that he can't win with a team like the Knicks because, Wallace explained, they are cursed from all that one-dimensional talent.
"I think that team has what you'd call a gift and a curse," Wallace said. "They've got so many talented guys who can take over the game, but they don't have a lot of role players, guys who are willing to lay back and rebound and do all the little things that it takes to help win games."
Wallace said that until the Knicks find some role players who play the way Brown demands, they will continue to be bad.
"Everybody on their team can go anywhere and average 20 points," he said. "So, I think until you get some role players around a couple of those good players, they're always going to struggle like that."
It was pointed out that the Knicks don't have a lot of guys like Wallace, who helped Brown and the Pistons win a championship in 2004 with rebounding and defense.
"Guys who know how to win," he added.
Wallace also pointed out that -- regardless of blame -- Brown and Stephon Marbury were battling for authority over the Knicks, which hurt them.
"Larry's fighting for control of the team," he said, "and Steph is fighting for control of the team out there on the floor. When you get two guys who are that much alike, who have a great passion for the game and nobody wants to give an inch to one another, it's going to end up in a fight."
Chauncey Billups, who is Marbury's friend and also loves Brown, said he was surprised at how bad their relationship became, and said it appeared to be beyond repair.
"It's crazy," he said. "It's really sad because Steph is a great player and LB is a great coach, and they should somehow be able to come together and make it happen for that team. But as of right now, it ain't looking so good."
Billups didn't want to take sides, and he acknowledged that the turmoil of the season might have led to Brown's recent poor physical state.
"It's sad, honestly," Billups said. "Nobody wants to see anybody go through that, Larry taking all those losses, now he's stressed out, now he ain't healthy; Steph having the worst year of his career. It's not funny."
Billups, Wallace and all the Pistons expressed their best wishes to Brown, who spent a night in a Cleveland hospital last week with acid reflux, preventing him from coaching here last night. Wallace drew a parallel to Brown's health issues last season with the Pistons, but noted this seemed far worse.
"Oh, yeah, it was pretty much the same thing when he was here, but not to this extent, being taken out on a stretcher and all that," he said. And also said he thinks Brown will be back next year, and things will eventually get much better.
"Coach Brown has been in this league for a long time," he said. "He's been around coaching for a long time. I'm pretty sure he knows how to bounce back from a bad situation. He's one of those guys that always fights his way back to the top."
