One consequence of the Knicks’ win over the Chicago Bulls Saturday afternoon is that it will quiet the frenzied calls for Isiah Thomas’s dismissal as coach and team president. Of course, the calls will likely return if the Knicks don’t get on the winning track during the relatively easy schedule they face in December, or if they fall hard against their tough slate in January.

This begs the question of what could happen in the aftermath. Many pundits have bandied about the names of former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy as a possible replacement on the bench, and NBA legend Jerry West as a successor in the team’s front office.

Both are extreme long shots, though. In his two coaching stints, Van Gundy has shown a strong preference for veteran players and defensive teams. But the Knicks are the antithesis of that model. They are young, and it’s easy to imagine Van Gundy tearing out what little hair he has left on his scalp from watching the lazy defense played by center Eddy Curry and forward Zach Randolph. West has often voiced his displeasure with the high-pressure scrutiny of the press in New York.

The most likely scenario in the event of a Thomas dismissal is that longtime assistant coach of the Knicks, Herb Williams, would take over on the bench, and the senior vice president of basketball operations, Glen Grunwald, would take over team president duties. Both would likely assume their new positions with the term “interim” on their job titles — but each would have the balance of the season to make their gigs permanent. What would they do, and how? Each has a track record that gives clues.

Williams has been here before. Nearly three years ago, when Lenny Wilkens resigned, Williams coached the final 43 games of the 2004–05 season and put up with frequent rumors that then-Pistons coach Larry Brown would leave the defending NBA champions and come to Madison Square Garden. That Williams returned to an assistant’s role when Brown — in one of the stranger moves of an unusual career — actually left the two-time finalists to join the basketball circus at Madison Square Garden, has reinforced the notion that Williams is little more than a solid organizational soldier. But his track record from that half-season in 2004–05 suggests that he is much more than that.

Williams took over a team that featured a backcourt of Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford, forwards Kurt and Tim Thomas, and a fifth spot in the starting lineup that moved among a motley crew that included Nazr Mohammed, Michael Sweetney, Trevor Ariza, and even the “Junkyard Dog,” Jerome Williams. The team’s record under Williams, 16–27, doesn’t seem so bad considering that lineup (the bench included the where-are-they-now likes of Vin Baker and Jamison Brewer). Plus, the team went on two difficult West coast road trips.

It’s not reflected in the win–loss record, but Williams improved the Knicks. His offensive designs made them more potent. After he took over, the Knicks shot better, made more threes, and were on the free throw line more often. The biggest beneficiaries of the new design were the forward and center positions. The team spread the floor more efficiently, allowing the interior players more freedom from double teams. Overall, the Knicks averaged 96.3 points per game before Williams, and 99 after he took over the reins. The point increase came from a more efficient offense, not an increase in tempo. In addition, Williams wasn’t afraid to play the team’s youngest members. Sweetney, Ariza, Brewer, and a young pivotman named Jackie Butler all got increased playing time.

Grunwald was a teammate of Thomas’s from their 1981 championship team at Indiana University. He also worked with Thomas in Toronto where he was general manager of the Raptors from 1998–2004. During that time, he drafted well and wasn’t afraid to wheel and deal. He took forward Antawn Jamison in 1998 and traded him for guard Vince Carter on draft day. The following year, he took forward Jonathan Bender and moved him on draft day for pivotman Antonio Davis. Carter and Davis were cornerstones of the Raptors’ playoff teams earlier this decade. With lower draft picks, Grunwald chose swingman Morris Peterson, who became another key player during Toronto’s rise. With his final pick in Canada, he took Chris Bosh, the centerpiece of the Raptors team that won the division last season.

Although Grunwald drafted well, a veteran presence stood out in his rosters in Toronto. Guards Mark Jackson, Tyrone Corbin, Mugsy Bogues, Chris Childs, and Dell Curry, as well as forward Charles Oakley, saw time in the Raptors’ rotation long after they exhausted their prospects with other teams. Notably, however, none of these vets had toxic contracts. The Knicks have a very young roster, and a likely high draft pick coming up. Grunwald would likely move some of the Knicks’ young players to acquire veterans, plus he would make good use of the draft pick.

The calls for Thomas’s dismissal are a result of frustration with the team’s mediocre play. Frustration usually doesn’t make a good motivator for positive change. But if the Dolans make a change and look in-house for short-term replacements, then the team would probably enjoy a slight bump in the quality of the play, and perhaps a long-term gain as well. The great irony is that in keeping Williams and hiring Grunwald, Thomas may have greased his own skid toward the exit.

mjohnson@nysun.com