Watching the Knicks from a safe distance is actually downright entertaining.

I love the latest soap opera.

Did anybody see this plot twist coming? Stephon Marbury is absolutely charming of late and is quickly becoming a sympathetic figure. That’s why the organization should’ve dealt with this problem before training camp opened. It’s a distraction that could’ve easily been avoided.

I also see a marketing opportunity.

Maybe the Knicks should waive Marbury and sell his seat on the bench to deep-pocketed fans. They could easily get $5,000 a game for the privilege of sitting in the middle of the action.

It’s a lot of money for a ticket, but they could throw in a couple of temporary tattoos and one of those Gatorade towels for cover. After the game Mike D’Antoni could mention how great Joe Fan’s been in a difficult situation. I think it would go over big.

Can’t wait to see who runs over and hugs Larry Brown tonight before the game. He’s got to be giggling uncontrollably at this latest mess.

Back to the Giants, but I’ll be watching tonight.

Stephon Marbury was definitely not expecting to be left in the dust of this remodel.

Even so, he’s playing nice.

“I mean, this is a business and I understand their decision,” Marbury said. “If that’s the way they want to go, I’m fine with that.”

Mike D’Antoni claims he’s playing for the future.

“Obviously, it’s tough,” he said. “There are just certain guys I want to see. It’s a delicate situation. Steph’s been great. It hasn’t been his fault. I know he’s not going to be happy about it and I wouldn’t be either. The team goes on two different tracks, and one is for the future and one is to try to win now.”

Marbury is not part of the future. So will he ask for a trade?

“I’m a New York Knick until otherwise, until my contract runs out,” he said.

Maybe it’s time for a good agent.

There’s a pretty good chance Marbury is going to sit for a long time unless somebody gets hurt. He’s sitting behind Nate Robinson and Mardy Collins right now.

“If this is what it is, I mean, there’s always next year,” he said.

Just keep sending the checks.

Marbury did appreciate the “We want Steph” chants. I don’t know whether they were sarcastic or sympathetic.

“It’s New York,” he said. “I got mad love for New York.”

The whole player introduction sequence was way over the top, with smoke. I liked the video presentation celebrating the great moments in franchise history.

Needless to say, they stopped with Larry Johnson’s dramatic playoff four-point play.

There was a nice montage of the current players looking all serious, then a Go New York Go rap from Q-Tip, which actually had the fans sitting in silence. And when I say loud … Stephon Marbury was sticking his fingers in his ears.

James Dolan is on the baseline. He’s sitting up straight for the moment.

The fans were generally very enthusiastic, but forgot one golden rule. I don’t care who it happens to be, the best player on the visiting team should always get booed the loudest. The fans cheered loudly for Dwyane Wade.

At the other end, Marbury was introduced first with the reserves. Eddy Curry got booed. David Lee was the first starer brought onto the floor, and Mike D’Antoni was introduced last to the loudest ovation.

Here we go.

Jamal Crawford has a head for numbers. He can spit back stat lines from games long gone like nobody I’ve met in this league. And when he’s wrong, it’s never by much. Crawford is also big on setting tangible goals.

The success rate on that front varies.

Crawford is the eternal optimist. He’s played in 532 games without making a playoff appearance, more than any player in the league. Still, there is no dark cloud.

So how are the Knicks going to do this season?

“I’m not going to talk about my expectations because I don’t want to jinx us,” Crawford said with a smile. “We’ll see what happens. I’m upbeat.”

Will the streak end?

“It will finally end,” Crawford said.

We don’t have enough information to rain on his parade, but the Knicks are facing a difficult battle. There’s no way of knowing who’s coming or going in what promises to be another season of change. That instability can be costly. Still, there don’t seem to be too many playoff locks in the Eastern Conference.

Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Orlando are all safe bets.

The picture gets a little blurry after that group, so there is a chance the Knicks will be in the playoff hunt. For the record, I’m saying 36-46 is a good year for this cast. Mike D’Anotni seems to be getting through. Now, we’ll have to wait and see what happens when the first losing streak hits, but the enthusiasm alone has to be worth something in the standings.

It’s your turn. Give me a prediction. Give me a reason to believe.

I parachuted into practice to fill up a notebook for a season preview, and was not surprised to hear all kinds of high expectations.

Naturally, the Knicks expect to win.

Every team in the league is offering similar quotations today, even one that gave up before Thanksgiving and finished with a miserable 23-59 record.

“I think we should make the playoffs,” Wilson Chandler said.

Right.

I believe my follow-up was something along the lines of, “Seriously?”

Chandler, though, made a nice recovery.

“The atmosphere alone gives us 10 more wins,” he said.

It seems the players are going along with Mike D’Antoni, which after last season is critical. The rotation is going to create a little animosity, though.

Eddy Curry is on the outside looking in right now.

D’Antoni confirmed the lumbering big man is not in his circle of friends right now.

“I’m definitely stunned, especially since he didn’t tell me that,” Curry said. “I haven’t talked to him. I’m here with him every day. All he has to do is tell me, let me know what’s up. So I’m definitely stunned to hear that from you guys, but we’ll see what happens.”

We’ll have to wait and see what that does to the attitude.

“Change is different,” Jamal Crawford said. “We still have a lot of the same players, but the way we’re going to play is so different from what we’ve done in the past. That’s not a knock on anybody. It’s just a new offense that everybody embraces. That alone brings hope. When people see change, they can believe in it, kind of like Obama.”

On the news front, Wilson Chandler expects to play against Miami on Wednesday. The sprained knee has survived two days of practice, and there was a lot of contact during today’s scrimmage.

Danilo Gallinari is also ready to play. His conditioning isn’t great, but D’Antoni indicated he may use the rookie depending on how the game plays out. The back isn’t perfect. He is still experiencing some discomfort.

“I just have to live with it,” he said.

I can’t say the news caught me by surprise when I stepped off the plane a little while ago and flipped on the Blackberry.

Patrick Ewing, Jr. was a long shot from the beginning.

He was fun to watch in five-minute doses at the end of meaningless preseason games, but the numbers didn’t work out. Somebody had to go. Here’s the ray of sunshine, Knicks president Donnie Walsh isn’t waffling. He said no buyouts, and to date the man is sticking with the plan. Consistency. It’s something that’s been lacking within the organization for years.

The price we pay is at least one more season with Jerome James.

Really, there was no way Ewing was going to jump in front of David Lee, Wilson Chandler or Danilo Gallinari. They are all NBA ready. He needs a little time in the D-League before he can help anybody, but I’m thinking Ewing is going to be helping somebody before too long.

Walsh isn’t going to be sentimental. He’s thinking like a businessman. Walsh is not attached to anyone, which clears up a lot of the confusion. He’s only thinking in terms of wins and losses.

Does that make this dose of news any easier to deal with? Go ahead, vent.

If you’re looking for something to do tomorrow, there’s a special event in Union Square, NBA Tip-Off ‘08.

They are dropping a regulation court in for the festivities, and there’s a long list of guests who plan to stop by and meet the fans. It’s the kind of stuff the league has to do more of as competition for our dwindling spending money increases.

You can say hello to the likes of David Stern, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spike Lee, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Scottie Pippen, David Lee, Nate Robinson, Malik Rose, Danilo Gallinari, John Starks, Charles Smith and Kenny Walker.

Maybe you can bum a ticket off Spike.

There will be all kinds of activity from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. I don’t have a schedule, but you won’t see the current Knicks players until the afternoon. They have to practice. It’s a good opportunity to pick up some autographs from a fairly impressive list of dignitaries. And there will be other giveaways.

Heading back from Pittsburgh today, and will check in on the Knicks tomorrow. Don’t forget the season opens Wednesday. I haven’t checked on tickets, but every preseason game I watched advertised seats for the opener against Miami.

Anybody going?

After getting a day of rest, the Knicks will be on the practice court tomorrow fine tuning in advance of the opener.

So after watching them in the preseason and seeing the drastic changes Mike D’Antoni has implemented, are you more or less confident?

The adjustment is going to continue right on into the regular season.

Did you notice last night how teammates worked early on to get Jamal Crawford more involved? By itself, the gesture should boost his confidence. And is there any way the Knicks can deny Patrick Ewing Jr. a roster spot? The fans deserve to have a sentimental favorite down on the end of the bench.

I’m officially taking back what I said about Mardy Collins’ inability to hit from long range, at least until he misses one.

Donnie Walsh is likely to be on the phone more than usual this week as teams historically make attempts to improve weaknesses in the lineup before tipping off. That doesn’t mean anything is going to get done.

Lastly, vote in the new poll.

We’re chasing a story involving former Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas. Here’s the latest version from our LoHud.com website:

By Richard Liebson, Jonathan Bandler, Mike Dougherty and Frank Becerra Jr.
The Journal News • October 24, 2008

PURCHASE -Former New York Knicks coach and NBA legend Isiah Thomas has been admitted to White Plains Hospital, a police source confirmed this afternoon.

An ambulance crew went to Thomas’ Purchase home early this morning on what a police radio report indicated was a possible overdose.

Harrison Police Chief David Hall refused to discuss details the case, saying only that his officers did respond to Thomas’ home, but another police source told LoHud.com and The Journal News that Thomas has in fact been admitted to the hospital.

“I’m not going to confirm or deny this,” Hall said. “Were we there? Yes. But I’m not going to tell you who it is. The person in question apparently took too many sleeping pills and was taken to the hospital. That’s all I’m going to say about it.”

The call came in just after midnight. A police dispatcher mentioned a 46-year-old male at the Azalea Circle home. Thomas is 47.

A woman who answered an intercom at his Purchase home today refused to comment on Thomas’ well-being, whereabouts or anything else.

When reached this afternoon, Barry Watkins, vice president of communications for Madison Square Garden, said, “Isiah is fine.”

He declined further comment, saying it was a family matter.

One neighbor in the quiet, upscale Purchase neighborhood, where Thomas purchased a home for $4.075 million in 2004, said she was asleep and heard nothing. Attempts to speak to other neighbors were unsuccessful.

The Knicks, who are now coached by Mike D’Antoni, are scheduled to play the Nets tonight at the Garden in their final preseason game.

Thomas, who was relieved of his duties as team president and coach last April, remains employed by the NBA club as a consultant.

During the four seasons Thomas was in charge, the Knicks never won more than 33 games. He was 56-108 in two seasons as head coach.

Waiting to sign David Lee and Nate Robinson to contract extensions really makes a lot of sense. It’s a move that could end up costing the Knicks more in the long run, but Donnie Walsh needs to see where this might be going before he starts throwing money at the problem.

And it’s nice to see there’s a place for Allan Houston in the front office. This could be a very good experience for anybody who aspires to run a basketball team in the future. Remember, he’s got a strong relationship with James Dolan, so when a position of power comes open somewhere down the road, Houston will appear on the list of candidates.

Here’s where it gets tricky, Walsh already explained his belief that buying out bad contracts is not good business. The patient team president was talking about Stephon Marbury when he offered that up. Walsh might want to make an exception, though, and pay off Jerome James so the Knicks can keep Patrick Ewing Jr. on the roster.

It makes sense to develop young talent, even if they might only become limited role players.

James is owed $12.8 million over the next two seasons. There are cheaper alternatives. Malik Rose has one year left at $7.6 million. It wouldn’t take more than relative pocket change to get Mardy Collins or Anthony Roberson off the roster. The problem is, all three of those players might actually contribute a minute or five along the way.

Do you have the solution?

Who stays? Who goes? You have the floor.