A big chunk of it is committed to point guard Stephon Marbury, a native New Yorker who made three stops before landing back in his home town. Marbury and Brown got along like Shiites and Sunnis, regularly taking verbal bombing runs at each other in the New York tabloids. It would seem that Brown held the high ground in the debate; Marbury had never won a single playoff series for any team he’s played for. But in the end, the guard who refused to follow the orders of a coach who has been called the best there is won. Brown’s out. Marbury stays.

And now Thomas has to show that Marbury, who refers to himself as “Starbury and whose contract and results make him untradable, is the genius he admits to being. The two are made for each other. You’ll have to go a long way – like to another star system – to find two men who have less reason to have the glorified opinions of themselves that they profess.

Marbury thinks he’s the NBA’s best point guard – he’s on record as saying that. He’s also on record as saying that he wouldn’t change a single player on the Knicks, because it is a great team, despite its horrific record.

In truth, the Knicks have too many players with the same skills, no real point guard, no reliable big man, and a lousy attitude. Thomas has done nothing to make them better except to collect players with big salaries other teams are  trying to get rid of. They’re more the league’s toxic waste dump than a basketball team.

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But Thomas put this outfit together. He says it’s a great team. He’s fired the game’s recognized master at getting great results from average talent. And he’s put himself on the bench as the man who can succeed where Larry Brown experienced the first failure of his long and peripatetic career.

Dolan the cable guy has put up with it and supported it. But you have to figure even his patience has a limit. Thomas has gotten away with incompetence in the front office, but he won’t be able to explain away another rotten season on the court, not when he’s the coach.

There’s no choice here. Thomas either turns the Knicks around, or he finds another job. For him, it’s finally time to put up or get out of town.

My money’s on the latter.