The New York Knicks have made the first move toward recovery by replacing Isiah Thomas with Donnie Walsh in the front office and Mike D’Antoni on the bench. D’Antoni has come into a predicament where they have to retool a team filled with bad contracts and players who were unable to work under a vaunted head coach like Larry Brown and a former NBA star in Thomas.

The Knicks also have to compete with the soon to be Brooklyn Nets for fan fare. As diehard as Knicks fans maybe, the club has become a joke in professional basketball and will no longer have a river to act as a barrier to fans switching sides.

The Nets are by far better off than the Knicks. They have a young star point guard in the making in Devon Harris, they have a still dangerous shooting guard in Vince Carter, and they have an ever improving small forward in Richard Jefferson. Rumors place Jefferson on the trading blocks, but until something is actually done, it is safe to assume that Madison Square Garden will have healthy competition from a better team.

The Nets even have an advantage with Jay Z as part of the ownership group. A well-established New Yorker, the rapper may be the key to letting fans know it is Ok to abandon a franchise that has been delinquent for the entire 21st century.

All of the sudden good Knicks tickets may be easy to obtain, and the stars may head over to Brooklyn to be seen on the floor of a playoff team.

This would be a disaster for the NBA. They just broke out of a funk that saw years of miserable ratings for hard to watch NBA Finals with teams like San Antonio competing. This is not to say that good basketball teams should not be celebrated regardless of city, but this past NBA Finals proved that merely having the name recognition from established franchises does wonders to boost interest in the league.

The NBA came back with the Celtics-Lakers series. With all the stars present-Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Kobe Bryant, the biggest seller was the team names. Fans wanted Celtics tickets and Lakers seats to relive the golden age of basketball.

The rivalry kept the games interesting, and, I think, kept the players interested. It is in the best interest of the league and the franchise for D’Antoni and Walsh to strike gold. I only hope the incredibly talented Knicks roster realizes this as well.

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