If it’s true, and Knicks owner James Dolan is considering giving Larry Brown a $40 million buyout on the rest of his contract, and then letting Isiah coach the team… well, that would be a very Knick thing to do.

I mentioned it yesterday on Deadspin, but just to expand on it a little bit, let’s look at it this way. If they buy out Larry Brown, and, in essence, hand him about $45 million for one year of work… that has to be interpreted as the Knicks organization saying, “Hey, we made a terrible mistake here.” Regardless of whether it actually was a mistake or not, a $45 million buyout is a pretty definitive, “Yeah, we fucked up.”

So, they’d admit a giant mistake… and then let the man who made that mistake become the head coach. “Hey, we know you fucked the franchise and cost us about $40 million, so um, hey, how about some more responsibility?” Just bizarre. If they think that Larry Brown continuing to be their head coach is so bad for the franchise, why not consider firing the guy who made the hire?

I think it would be a terrible mistake to buy out Larry Brown right now. I don’t think it’s necessary for the Knicks to admit they made that mistake, because I don’t think it was a mistake. The guy did not just forget how to coach.

Now, I do believe it’s true that the Knicks could have won more games this year if they had someone else coaching. The Knicks could’ve scored a lot more points and caused some match-up problems if they just sent out Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis and let them do whatever they want. But that wouldn’t have been real progress… fool’s gold, they call it. Actually trying to teach them is the harder route. It’s the more difficult way to go, and in the short term, it’s going to make things a little rougher. But it’s also the only way to make any real progress. Breakin’ eggs, makin’ omelettes.

Let him stick it out, bring in some players who want to listen, work, and get better… and Larry Brown will leave the Knicks in better shape than he found them. I don’t have any doubts about that.