While the Knicks are enjoying a drizzly off day in Portland, we can discuss the poll I’ve purposely left up for the last couple of weeks.

It was close, but 53 percent of you are truly hoping for things to get worse in order to secure a high lottery pick. Wow. Do the fans have more patience that this organization wants to give them credit for? A high pick will not guarantee a turnaround.

Does anybody remember Michael Olowokandi?

Jerry Sloan was talking on MSG last night about the importance of picking up playoff experience, but he’s got a young team on the verge. I’m not sure the Knicks have reached that stage. And that’s why this debate is so interesting.

Thoughts?

• Eddy Curry and Quentin Richardson are both still a little weak from the flu and are listed as questionable for tomorrow in Portland.

• Zach Randolph has apparently been answering questions about his new team and old teammates the entire road trip. We’ll get a full dose in tomorrow’s papers.

What do you say?

I suppose it would be fair to question the lack of execution. Take care of the ball and sink a couple free throws and the outcome might be different.

On the upside, it’s not a stretch to say the Knicks are finally developing an identity. The chemistry is a little off, but they seem to be trying.

Is that enough?

Getting far enough under the cap to chase a name for the marquee is going to require putting up with more games like this for the next couple of seasons.

Can you deal with more games like the first three of this road trip?

• Renaldo Balkman probably deserved the suspension. Throwing an elbow in the open court that far away from the basket was silly. He is the kind of play fans fall in love with, but the wannabe stopper needs to start getting better.

• No peeking. When the last time the Knicks won a road game against a Western Conference opponent?

• Zach Randolph is heading back to Portland to use the visitor’s locker room for the first time. He ought to check in with Stephon Marbury first, and get some advice on how to answer probing questions about the sudden improvement of a former team that decided to move in a new direction.

When you get a second, look over the rosters for the junior varsity game being played in New Orleans on All-Star weekend.

See any Knicks?

If you like the roster currently in place, that’s probably not a problem. Young players don’t usually get much time on veteran teams. If you don’t like the roster currently in place, it’s a pretty strong indictment. A team that has won just 23 and 33 games in the last two seasons probably should have at least one representative in this game.

ROOKIE TEAM

•  Mike Conley (Memphis)


• Kevin Durant (Seattle)


• Jeff Green (Seattle)


• Al Horford (Atlanta)


• Jamario Moon (Toronto)


• Juan Carloss Navarro (Memphis)


• Luis Scola (Houston)


• Sean Williams (New Jersey)


• Yi Jianlian (Milwaukee)

• LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland)


• Andrea Bargnani (Toronto)


• Ronnie Brewer (Utah)


• Jordan Farmar (Los Angeles Lakers)


• Rudy Gay (Memphis)


• Daniel Gibson (Cleveland)


• Paul Millsap (Utah)


• Rajon Rondo (Boston)


• Brandon Roy (Portland)

Did anybody happen to catch Eddy Curry blow a defensive assignment in the second quarter and give Kwame Brown a walk-up dunk?

As he strolled into the ensuing timeout, Isiah Thomas was glaring and several teammates were calling the big man out. Accountability. We haven’t seen a lot of that so far this season.

Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson deserved an earful, as well, for the shots they launched in the last five minutes that brought the offense to a complete standstill. Each time they had the ball in the last five minutes, the Knicks moved their feet like they were playing defense.

You can laugh. That’s a joke.

• Based on the body language, the Knicks are going to need to pull out two wins in the next three games to prevent further damage to some already fragile psyches. It’s awfully difficult to play that hard without getting some positive results.

• Nate Robinson, Renaldo Balkman, Eddy Curry, David Lee and Jared Jeffries were on the floor. Kobe Bryant was taking a breather. And the Knicks were still playing zone. Why? That lineup has to play man-to-man.

It will be interesting to see whether Kobe Bryant is upset at the Knicks for not recognizing him last month at MSG when he became the youngest player to reach 20,000 career points.

For the good of the game, it might’ve been worth a mention on the scoreboard.

Isiah Thomas was right yesterday, Bryant needs to walk away with an MVP award. This seems to be a good season to make up for others where he might’ve been overlooked.

There’s nothing like watching a grumpy superstar at work.

Did you see where Thomas finally acknowledged the Knicks don’t have a superstar on the roster? Maybe he is slowly coming to grips with reality. Probably not.

Anyway …

The clock is ticking on Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Dirk Nowitzki, and the Knicks are working feverishly to finally get under the cap. Thomas is dying to be a player on the open market.

So pretend you can have any one player off that list. Who are you taking? What components already in place do you hang on to?

Anybody who’s a regular out here in cyberspace has come across those little NBA game previews with the mug shots of the starting five.

Just for kicks, lets do a side-by-side of the Knicks and Lakers.

And lets go with the lineup Isiah Thomas believed was going to force a couple of bad match ups for opponents, using only past history to judge the advantage.

Point guard
NYK: Stephon Marbury
LAL: Derek Fisher
Advantage: Knicks

Shooting guard
NYK: Jamal Crawford
LAL: Kobe Bryant
Advantage: Lakers

Center
NYK: Eddy Curry
LAL: Andrew Bynum
Advantage: Knicks

Power forward
NYK: Zach Randolph
LAL: Lamar Odom
Advantage: Knicks

Small forward
NYK: Quentin Richardson
LAL: Luke Walton
Advantage: Knicks

Let’s get those fingers moving. While the Knicks are better at four positions, they come into tomorrow’s game with a 14-29 record. Go figure. And what about the Lakers? They’re a surprising 27-15 and looking to add talent.

• Fred Jones practiced today and is expect to play tomorrow. He’ll probably be part of the contingent of defenders chasing Bryant around. Quentin Richardson and Jared Jeffries will get a crack as well.

• What’s anybody thinking about that zone defense you’ve seen the last two games. I’m thinking it’s a way to rest Jamal Crawford, who clearly saves energy for offense.

In every NBA huddle, there’s a gaggle of assistants toting clipboards.

And not a shot chart among them.

I know, it’s a complete waste of time against every team in the league except the Golden State Warriors, who always seem to provide open looks in the shadow of the rim.

Go find the shot chart.

They keep them on the internet, for some reason. In the first half, the lane was peppered with makes. It was a roadmap for success. In the second half, the perimeter was peppered with misses.

Oops.

Nobody ever accused the Knicks of playing with intelligence.

• Does anybody else have a problem with Andris Biedrins getting an NBA-high 25 rebounds while Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph sat on the bench?

• Let’s hope they don’t label it a moral victory, but the level of effort from everyone involved at least made the game entertaining. I can’t think of too many games that were fun to sit back and watch this season.

• Did you see David Lee commit a foul in the first quarter and give up the ball without a word of complaint? He’s learning. Lee will earn more 50-50 calls by staying quiet.

So is this perhaps the most important stretch of the season?

A lot depends on how things break in the standings around the Knicks, who might be able to go 2-3 on this West Coast swing and make up ground in a whacky playoff race. The question is, where do they get two wins?

They do have a good history in Utah and Seattle. Of course, those games are closing out back-to-back sets. It’s never easy.

• Does anybody want to make a run at Damon Stoudamire? Boston is apparently interested. Toronto is looking. Phoenix might want to make an offer. And the Knicks? Isiah Thomas keeps saying he’s going with the players he’s got in the locker room.

Put your hands down and step away from the confetti.

It was only the Sixers.

We heard every cliche in the book afterward in the locker room. So let’s just say it was a noteworthy win only because the Knicks have not done a good job dispatching beatable opponents this season.

“In the past, these are the kinds of games we kind of laid down early,” Eddy Curry said.

At some point in the coming weeks, Philadelphia is going to fall past the Knicks and hold a fire sale.

There is one simple point Isiah Thomas made afterward I kind of agree with, making certain everyone gets to play along seems to result in a better effort. I don’t see anybody suffering statistically because of the more unselfish play.

“We’re playing with a lot more trust,� he said. “We have good shot distribution. Everybody feels a part of the game. Everyone gets to touch the basketball. When you get to touch it and maybe make a basket, on the other end defensively, you play a little better.�

• My spies tell me Larry Brown was nowhere in sight.

• Did you see the nifty touch pass Zach Randolph sent down to David Lee for a dunk in the last minute of the third quarter? “They’ve asked him when he gets double-teamed to try to be a little more unselfish and he’s done a good job with that,” Lee said. “He’s such a good scorer, he can usually score against two guys. That’s what’s tough for him sometimes, is he knows he can pretty much score at will. I haven’t seen anyone this year who can stop him.”

• Quentin Richardson played eight minutes in the fourth quarter without taking a shot. He was simply in the game to harass Andre Iguodala. It’s been a rough season for Richardson, but he really does only care about winning.

• I’m beginning to wonder if Nets coach Lawrence Franks is going to start catching real heat. Or maybe Rod Thorn will find a playoff contender will to deal for an oversized contract and start over.

The starting lineup will be shuffled tonight against Philadelphia because Fred Jones is out with the flu.

Surprise. Surprise.

Mardy Collins is back in the starting lineup. We’ll see how that goes. Back in November when Stephon Marbury went home in a huff, Collins was thrown right into the mix.

And then he got parked on the end of the bench.

There’s no sense upsetting the rotation, but the Knicks need to know what Collins is capable of contributing. We know he’s a role player. The question remains, is Collins a 20-minute-a-night backup or a 20-minute-a-month body?