News from the New York Post has ex-Knicks coach Don Cheaney re-surfacing in Cleveland as an assistant coach to Paul Silas.

The Cavaliers have an assistant coaching position open firing Bob Donewald yesterday, and while the official search is yet to begin Silas is said to be looking for a veteran assistant.

If you think that Rasheed Wallace is a lock to stay in Detroit once his contract expires this summer you are wrong.

The Pistons are still the front runners for the All-Star forward's services according to Wallace's agent William Strickland, but he also added that Wallace is not ruling out any potential suitors either, including the Knicks.  New York was his team of preference before being traded from Atlanta to Detroit.

"I've been very straightforward with him and he knows every one of his options," Strickland said. "But right now, it's too premature to discuss free agency."

Although Houston has decided against surgery, a decision will not be made until he consults with team doctors. Isiah Thomas and Coach Wilkins would like that decision to come sooner than later.

"You just want to know as quickly as possible. If anything is required we'll handle it early as opposed to handling it late," Thomas said. "Right now we're pretty sure with what we're dealing with. But if anything is done - and I say 'if' - it won't be one of those situations where it's done in September. We'll try to find out early and get it done so that we have the whole summer to continue and rehab it."

Isiah Thomas and his star point guard Stephon Marbury will be spending quite a bit of time this summer, starting with attending some playoff games together as they attempt to figure out how to get to the next level.

In regards to Marbury being compared to certain guards such as Jason Kidd, Isiah replies:

"'All the guys you're being compared to right now, none of them wears a ring. You can't settle for being even or close to. You've got to find a way to push past."

The New York Knicks made major strides this season, but with the likes of Cleveland, Orlando, Philadelphia and Toronto all expected to improve next season some of the teams who made the Playoffs this year may have to make way.

If the Knicks don't want to be one of these teams they need to improve also, but with no first round pick, some aweful contracts and the health of some players a concern they need Isiah Thomas to be at his best.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News writes that some of the potential targets of Thomas this offseason could be Rasheed Wallace, Kobe Bryant, Antoine Walker, Chris Webber, Antawn Walker, Marcus Camby, Erick Dampier, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Jamal Crawford, Tracy McGrady and Al Harrington.

The New York Knicks may have ended with four losses from four attempts against the New Jersey Nets, but as Stephen A. Smith of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes at least they, unlike the Sixers (or most other teams for that matter) were there.

Too often a team will be stuck in the middle of mediocrity, standing pact with the same, underachieving players while at the same time pleading for patience by their fans.  Rebuilding usually means a long, painful trip of futility.  That was before Isiah Thomas took over the helm of the Knicks in December, transforming a frustrating team stuck in the middle of no where into a team confident of making some noise in the playoffs in four short months.

Taking over in December Thomas was anything but gun shy, making deal after deal to the point where even the most faithful Knick fan were nervous.  Thomas took risk after risk, replacing the coach and most of his team to reignite interest in his team.  Wins often do this.

"When Steve and [MSG chairman] James L. Dolan made the call for me to come, I knew what challenges were ahead, but I couldn't turn it down," Thomas said. "I knew the salary-cap situation. The players that were on this roster. The losing, the lessening fan support, the feeling that this was a franchise heading down the wrong path. I knew I had to be creative to turn this thing around.

"In life, there are always reasons for why something can't work. But there are always reasons why something can. Most times, people who fail in life are usually the ones who seem as if they're scouring the earth to find obstacles instead of the solutions to overcoming them. I don't. That doesn't mean I'll always succeed."

He may not always succeed, but that does not mean that he will ever stop trying to achieve his ultimate goal, which is to bring a championship to the City of New York.  He is far from done yet.

Will Thomas go after Kobe Bryant, or come calling for Iverson? Will he try to maneuver a three-way deal for either, or just go after Tracy McGrady?

"I'm going to do something, I can tell you that," Thomas said, defiantly. "We're after a championship. That should be everybody's goal."

Well, the series that included flagrant fouls, protests, near-fights and angry words ended last night with another Nets win.  

Tim Thomas, the center of half of those attributes, was finally able to dress for the first time since he was the victim of a hard foul in Game 1 but that would be as far as he could get, not being able to step onto the Madison Garden floor to help his teammates in battle.

The Nets were able to laugh off most of the talk that surfaced from the Knicks and laid claim to being the superior team for the third consecutive year.

"That's what it proves," forward Kenyon Martin said. "They played an excellent series. But we've been saying it for three years now, we want to prove who the No. 1 team in the area is. We helped that cause today."

The Nets had no answer for Martin or for Jason Kidd, who played a pivitol defensive role on Knicks superstar Stephon Marbury down the stretch.

"Well, with all the talk, throughout the year, they were going to catch us, they were the better team, they wanted to play us in the playoffs," said Kidd. "Well, like I said, sometimes it's fool's gold. Sometimes you wish for something that you want and in reality you don't want it. But they got what they needed."

Tim Thomas is still hoping to be able to play in Game 4 as the Knicks fight for survival, but after being not able to practice Saturday his status is doubtful at best.

Thomas, who has missed games 2 and 3 after taking a hard foul from Nets center Jason Collins in Game 1, is suffering from back spasms and a sore left ankle.

"My whole right side is locked up," said Thomas.

"Nothing's changed," Thomas said. "It's frustrating. I tried to give it a go today."