Isiah’s Midterm Grade: C+.

At the halfway point and in their first-game after the All-Star Break, the Knicks knocked out their 24th win of the season against Orlando last night, 100-94, thus eclipsing last year’s woeful 23-59 full-season record under Larry Brown. I haven’t been posting about them much, but thanks to the magic of TiVo I’ve watched a lot of games this year, and there are definitely causes for hope among the Knicks nation, even if there’s not much chance of a serious playoff run, or even a playoff spot, this year. No, I haven’t climbed aboard the Isiah bandwagon, and I think we’d be better if he was gone from the Garden next year. But, in the emergence of Eddy Curry as a semi-consistent offensive force in the post, and the solid play of the second-years — most notably rookie/sophomore game MVP David Lee, who leads the league in shooting percentage and is a prime candidate for six-man of the year, the Knicks have a foundation to build on for the first time in a good long while. Let’s just hope Isiah doesn’t make any more panic trades that lock us in with overpriced underperformers — see Steve Francis, Jerome James, Jalen Rose, Penny Hardaway, Antonio McDyess, Vin Baker, Glenn Rice, Luc Longley, Shandon Anderson, Howard Eisley, all since Patrick left in 2000 — for the next 4-6 years.

St. Francis of Assisti?

As expected, the Knicks have pushed the panic button, acquiring Steve Francis for Trevor Ariza and Penny Hardaway’s contract. Well, we’re not giving up much other than cap flexibility (I like Ariza — he’s a hustle player — but he also makes bad decisions, and hasn’t been gelling under Larry Brown.) Still, how is a backcourt of Marbury and Francis (backed up by Jalen Rose, Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson) going to work? They’re like five iterations of the same offensively talented, defensively deficient player (5.5 if you count Quentin Richardson), and every one of them needs the ball in their hands to be productive. At any rate, there’s a good bet that the Knicks haven’t finished yet, with Crawford for Theo Ratliff or Darius Miles a distinct possibility. “Crawford even polled the team’s beat writers after Wednesday morning’s shootaround to ask them where they believed he would be headed.“

Blockbuster!

Ok, let me apologize again to Isiah Thomas. While I’m a bit concerned about all the draft picks locked up here (to say nothing of losing Macej Lampe and Milos Vujanic, two possible big-time players in the not-so-distant future), the Marbury/Penny for McDyess/Ward/Eisley trade today has to go down as another impressive move by our new GM. Starbury has been a bit of a hit-or-miss head case on his first three teams, but it’s been his dream to play for his hometown Knicks, so hopefully he’ll make the most of it. Penny ain’t what he used to be, but I’d expect him to score points in bunches off the bench every fifth game or so. As for what we gave up, it’s kinda sad that the McDyess experiment never amounted to much…but it already seems clear that it’s going to take at least the rest of the year for him to play to form again. Charlie Ward had a good decade with the Knicks, but he’s been trade bait for so long that I doubt he’s surprised. And the sheer fact that Isaiah found a taker for Howard Eisley and his glutted contract is amazing to me. So all in all, a great trade here for New York, even if we may get burned in the long-run by all the disappearing draft picks and projects. Update: Aldridge weighs in.