BROWN DEALT FOR FRANCIS TO FORCE ME OUT

STEPHON: BROWN DEALT FOR FRANCIS TO FORCE ME OUT
By MARC BERMAN
GET THE POINT: Stephon Marbury says former Knick coach Larry Brown
(left) pushed for Isiah Thomas to trade for...
October 7, 2006 -- CHARLESTON, S.C. - Stephon Marbury dropped another
bomb on Larry Brown yesterday, saying he believes the former Knicks
coach pushed for the Steve Francis trade as a way to phase Marbury
out.

Knicks president/coach Isiah Thomas did not deny the allegation. When
the trade was made, in February, Brown said he thought a
Marbury-Francis backcourt could be this Knicks era's answer to Walt
Frazier-Earl Monroe.

"I think Steve Francis was brought here to play the point-guard
position last year," Marbury said. "I don't think he was brought in to
be a 1-2 punch. I don't know if it was to be shifted to shooting guard
or [for me] to be sit down. He didn't come here for us to be a 1-2
punch. I know it wasn't meant for it to be a 1-2 punch and have this
dynamic backcourt."

The Francis trade is being held against Brown during the legal
contract dispute between the coach and the Knicks, as one of the final
straws of Brown's erratic behavior. Brown pushed for the trade, which
added significantly to the club's payroll. Within a week, however,
Francis was in Brown's doghouse.

Thomas sounded yesterday like he made the deal only to please the
coach. For the first time, Thomas also acknowledged the pitfalls of
trying to mesh the two undersized point guards into a starting
combination, especially on the defensive end. Thomas would not answer
the question of whether he would have made the trade - in which he
sent prized draft pick Trevor Ariza to Orlando - on his own volition.

"My job is to make it work and it's a tough spot," Thomas said. "I
could find a way to make them both look good. Whatever faults or
negative things they can't do or don't do, my job is to put all that
in the closet and not let you open that closet door. When your mom
made you clean the room and you throw everything in the closet and
stand by the closet door, saying the room is clean. Whatever sins and
faults they have, my job is to keep it in the closet and not let it
show on the MSG floor."

Marbury gave no legitimacy to Brown's sincerity about "Frazier-Monroe"
comparisons.

"I didn't listen to anything he said last year after he lied the first
time," Marbury said. "Everything was up in the air. After he lied the
first time, I pretty much didn't look at [him] the same way."

Marbury would not specify what lie he was referring to, but it might
have been when Brown told the media in November that Marbury came to
him begging to play shooting guard.

Thomas contended Brown told him last February he wanted Francis to
pair with Marbury. Thomas refuses to refer to Brown by name.

"Dead honestly, I don't know," Thomas said about Marbury's latest
claim. "What the intent was and what the coach was thinking at the
time day to day I can't honestly tell you.

Brown has told confidants he stopped using Francis regularly because
he felt he was out of shape.

Francis said he's ready to be a better defender this season than ever
before - an edict from Thomas.

"Different things are being asked of me at this point of my career,"
Francis said. "To play harder defense constantly, that's the toughest
thing. Not too many guards in this league are asked to play defense
and score for 48 minutes."

*

Thomas said his playbook is the same one he drafted as Pacers coach
from 2000-2003 and none of Brown's plays have been retained . . . The
Knicks are expected to break camp today, a day early. That would mean
their five-day Charleston stay was four days shorter than Brown's
nine-day marathon in 2005.

marc.berman.TakeThisOut@nypost.com

And in one fell swoop MotherTheresaBury goes back to being
FootPermanentlyLodgedInMouthBury. Granted he took the lead from Isiah
to basically tell Francis that nobody wanted him here, 'cept for LB, of
course, and that he's merely an asset but there's no reason he had to
go into this as the team's best player. Again, what a terrible teammate
Marbury is.

And this:

> "I didn't listen to anything he said last year after he lied the first
> time," Marbury said. "Everything was up in the air. After he lied the
> first time, I pretty much didn't look at [him] the same way."

Is unbelievable.

So basically he's admitting that from whatever the "first time" was he
didn't buy into Brown's system... wouldn't listen to the guy. Didn't
listen to a word he said?! HE'S ADMITTING THAT HE QUIT ON THE TEAM IN
(probably) AT LEAST NOVEMBER!

Anyone else remember back in December? last year when Isiah went on
record saying that if Marbury didn't get his act together and get on
the same page as Brown he'd be shipped out? Now Marbury has essentially
revealed that Thomas lied to Brown. He, as many suspected, held the
unflexed hard juice cards all along. Ironically, this admission might
work to help Brown who has to be using the argument right now that he
was set up to fail from the start.