There’s been so little to cheer for so long, Knicks fans can’t help but clamor for the way things used to be at Madison Square Garden.

And now the organization has an opportunity to make some changes.

Maybe it’s a good time for Patrick Ewing to return to New York and help out regardless of who Donnie Walsh picks to coach. There’s no room for anybody else on the sideline, though. What the Knicks need more than a reminder of how good it used to be is an experienced staff.

Mark Jackson and Tom Thibodeau better show up having already made contact with an NBA lifer they believe in. And the rest of the staff needs to be a mix of former players who can pass along the knowledge required to develop talented individuals  and longtime assistants who enjoy sitting in front of a television screen digesting scout tapes.

I know there’s a lot of people around the Knicks who’ve expressed a desire to help. There’s an equal number of people around the Knicks who’ve expressed criticism.

Let them show up for training camp.

Look at how many former Yankees show up in Florida to help out. There’s no reason why the new coach shouldn’t let Clyde Frazier get on the court and run a defensive clinic down in Charleston this fall. It would be good to have Charles Oakley show up to bang with the bigs, just to give them a taste of the old rules. A good talk from John Starks on the art of maintaining intensity would be helpful. Let the players get a look at the way Allan Houston sets up the same way for every jumper.

And when the season tips off, everybody steps back.

Let the new coach develop a strong voice, and let the people hired to formulate a game plan and teach individual skills do their jobs.