The Knicks’ season ended long ago, but fear not, the circus is still in town. The club’s sad, drifting coaching saga continues this week, with general manager Isiah Thomas and lame-duck coach Larry Brown scheduled to meet up at the Disney Wide World of Sports on Tuesday for the NBA’s annual predraft camp. It’s a fitting locale, because if there ever was a Mickey Mouse organization, it’s this one.

The Knicks’ descent has been so swift and so complete that it makes one hark back to the good ol’ days when Scott Layden was running things. First Isiah Thomas came in as an alleged savior and made a mind-blowing series of trades and free agent signings, creating a roster with perhaps the least value per dollar in the history of sports. Then Larry Brown came in as the next savior and nearly outdid Isiah, changing lineups seemingly at random while attacking players in the press and alienating the entire team in the process.

The future is as bleak as the past. Thomas traded the second overall pick in the 2006 draft for the right to overpay Eddy Curry, a slothful center with a heart ailment. The Knicks’ first-round pick next year will likely disappear as a result of the same trade.

On the court, the Knicks won 23 games despite the league’s most expensive roster and barely outpacing an expansion Charlotte team with a quarter of the payroll. With that as the backdrop, it makes this spring’s events even more amazing. Somehow, the club has managed to become an even greater embarrassment in the off-season than it was during the campaign.

It all starts with the Knicks’ apparent decision to fire Brown. I say “apparent” only because the Knicks’ season ended two months ago and they still haven’t gotten around to actually firing him. Thomas has met with Brown on several occasions, and even had him putting potential draftees through workouts, yet has said nada about his coach’s tenuous tenure. Don’t expect him to offer much more when the two are at the Orlando meat market.

On top of it all, Brown’s replacement is rumored to be none other than Thomas. This makes sense on one level – who else would agree to coach this team? – but no doubt will make conversation between Brown and Thomas a bit awkward this week. Thomas won’t talk to the press about it, and the Knicks have bent over backwards to prevent Brown from talking about it either, even shooing reporters away from the team’s training facility. That’s led to the surreal sight of Brown getting out of his car just before reaching Knicks headquarters and chatting with reporters along the side of a road the past few days.

Alas, we’ve only identified two of the performers in the three-ring circus. By now, it’s become clear that the Knicks’ biggest problem isn’t Brown or Thomas. It lies in ring no. 3 – where you’ll find the man who hired the other two bozos, and who is working on his third mangled coach firing in as many tries.

Allow me to introduce you to James Dolan. He’s effectively the owner of the Knicks – they’re technically owned by Cablevision, of which Dolan is the president and CEO. As such, he was the one who got snake-charmed by Thomas, and signed off on bringing in a crotchety, veteran-loving coach to work on a rebuilding job.

Dolan is the real problem. Here’s a truth, both in sports and any other business: Everything starts at the top. Good organizations have smart people in charge, and vice versa. Yes, once in a while a dingbat can get lucky in the draft lottery and look good for a few years, but the cream generally rises pretty quickly.

Just look at today’s best teams and you can see how much they mirror the ownership. In the East, the low-key, fraternal Pistons have a low-key, fraternal owner. Out West, the Spurs are cool, efficient, and businesslike because their management is cool, efficient, and business-like. Likewise, the Mavericks are hyper, competitive, and experimental because owner Mark Cuban is hyper, competitive, and experimental.

So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the Knicks are dysfunctional, incompetent, and rudderless, does it?

You want incompetent? Dolan hired Thomas because he didn’t do his homework by talking to other teams (like Toronto, let’s say, or any of the owners in the CBA). As a result, he got bamboozled by a well-dressed guy with a nice smile who didn’t know what he was doing.

You want dysfunctional? His freezeout of Brown is part of a short-sighted effort to grind concessions on the terms of a buyout – not realizing his behavior is likely to make future coaching candidates scratch the Knicks from their list. This is especially true given his history – Dolan previously let Don Chaney and Lenny Wilkens twist in the wind for an inhumanly long time.

You want rudderless? He’s the one who since the season ended hasn’t talked to Brown, or to the press, or seemingly to anyone.

You could say the Knicks are a laughingstock today because of the mistakes made by Thomas and Brown, and it would be easy to make the case. I could take up most of today’s paper reciting all the irrational and foolish moves they’ve made in the past 12 months.

But that misses the point. Before they could screw up one of the league’s premier franchises, somebody had to give them the opportunity. That same somebody had to sign off on all their subsequent moves, no matter how glaringly stupid. So if you’re looking for somewhere to point the finger, you’ll have to aim higher on the MSG chart.

So I have some bad news, Knicks fans. I’m afraid as long as Dolan is in the center ring, this circus will remain in town long after Brown and Thomas are gone.

Mr. Hollinger is the author of the 2005-06 Pro Basketball Forecast. He can be reached at jhollinger@nysun.com.