With a quarter of a season in the bag, I can think of plenty of things I’d like to say about the Knicks.

For instance, I’d like to say that the hiring of Larry Brown has reinvigorated a moribund Knicks franchise. I’d like to say Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford have got the hang of how to run Brown’s offense. I’d like to say that Brown has figured out which guys he ought to be playing and which ones to sit. I’d like to say that he’s found a way to harness Marbury’s scoring skills or Eddy Curry’s post game or Trevor Ariza’s athleticism to make them better than they’ve ever been.

More than anything, I’d like to say this team is better than it was on opening day.

Unfortunately, I can’t say any of those things. The ugly truth is that the Knicks aren’t very good and don’t seem to be getting any better. The Milwaukee Bucks emphatically delivered that message Monday night, grinding the Knicks to a pulp, 112-92, in front of a dejected Madison Square Garden crowd.

Mind you, this was supposed to be the beginning of the Knicks’ turnaround. After opening the year with 13 of their first 19 games on the road, New York had hoped playing five of the next six at home, with the only road game at lowly Atlanta, would quickly boost the team back toward .500.

Better rethink that premise. If the Knicks can’t handle the Bucks, what’s going to happen when Indiana, San Antonio, and New Jersey come to the Garden in the next two weeks? And at this point, can they even consider the Hawks game a gimme?

All of which points back to perhaps the Knicks’ biggest free-agent disappointment so far: Larry Brown. The new head coach was supposed to get an admittedly mismatched roster to “play the right way,” share the ball, and dramatically improve its lackluster defense.

None of that was in evidence Monday. After 20 games, the point guards who were supposed to benefit so much from Brown’s wisdom still can’t throw an entry pass. “Playing the right way” has evolved into “throwing the ball into Section 107”- New York added 18 miscues to its staggering turnover total Monday night, one that leads the league on a perpossession basis. Rookie guard Nate Robinson had seven of them, while the other guards were equally awful. Marbury, who seems completely stunted in Brown’s system, scored only seven points – and that was seven more than Crawford could muster.

Then there’s the defense – you know, that area of expertise where Brown was going to help so much. It’s not completely his fault, because the roster is getting in his way. Quentin Richardson, for example, has to be the team’s defensive stopper on the wings because Isiah Thomas never thought to consider that the other team has the ball for half the game.

Richardson, a heavy-limbed, bruising guard who is much better helping off the ball than chasing scorers through screens, was torched by the Bucks’ Michael Redd for 31 points on Monday.

But the lack of a wing stopper doesn’t explain the Knicks’ other weaknesses. What about a $100 million frontcourt that couldn’t stop that noted offensive terror Dan Gadzuric from scoring 18 points in 18 minutes? And who were those human traffic cones attempting to keep T.J. Ford out of the paint?

Then there’s the most baffling part of the Brown regime, the rotation – or lack thereof. When Brown was juggling players and roles every hour or so during the first two weeks of the season, we told ourselves it was acceptable – he just needed to figure out who deserved to play and who did not before the team could move forward. A quarter of a season later, however, there seems to be little clarity.

Monday night was vintage Brown – he brought a cold Qyntel Woods into the game late in the third quarter, and to make matters worse, had him guarding the, um, red-hot Mr. Redd. Redd promptly burned him for a couple of easy baskets to help put the game out of reach. For Knicks fans, that maneuver conjured fond memories of the bizarre and costly insertion of Malik Rose at the end of the loss to Golden State in the first week of the season, and had them wondering if there’s been any progress since.

At least going with Woods was an error in the right direction – Brown has to get more minutes for the kids. This is perhaps the biggest challenge for the Knicks’ new coach, because historically he’s paid the rent by going with veteran players. Unfortunately, the Knicks’ vets are pretty much the worst players on the team. Rose, Penny Hardaway, Maurice Taylor, and Antonio Davis have very little left in the tank,and Brown’s use of them has been depriving talented youngsters like Trevor Ariza, David Lee, and Jackie Butler of deserved minutes.

Mind you, I’m not saying Brown should play the young guys as a “developing for the future” thing – I’m saying they’re better players, right now. Ariza makes his share of mistakes, but his athleticism at the defensive end is desperately needed. Lee has been an energizer off the bench in his rare dollops of playing time – does Brown really need to see a veteran mediocrity like Taylor prove he’s still mediocre before Lee gets another turn? And Butler, at the tender age of 20, is a competent post scorer who can ably back up Eddy Curry – unlike the perennially lethargic Jerome James.

The shocking thing about the Knicks’ 6-14 record is that it could be worse. The team has been relatively healthy, for one. For another, think about how bad that record would be if not for the unexpected brilliance of rookie Channing Frye. New York’s sharpshooting forward kept things close for a while Monday and bolstered his Rookie of the Year campaign by schooling no. 1 overall pick Andrew Bogut in their head-to-head matchup, outscoring him 30-4.

Yet that only made the Knicks’ other shortcomings more glaring: Outside of the Frye-Bogut matchup, Milwaukee won by a jaw-dropping 108-62.And one can argue Frye’s play is a bigger credit to Lute Olson’s coaching than it is to Brown’s, especially given the rest of Larry’s body of work this season and his tardiness in moving Frye into the starting lineup.

Perhaps we’re judging too quickly, since history has shown that Brown’s teams often turn the corner in the second half. But those other teams had shown signs of progress by this point, while the Knicks seem to be taking two steps back for every one forward. For all the heat Isiah Thomas has taken over his free-agent moves, nobody criticized the hiring of Brown. Yet so far, it’s turned out to be the biggest disappointment of all.

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