It’s that time again. Whether you’re heading for Times Square, partying with friends, or sitting at home watching Dick Clark’s one day of work for the year, New Year’s is everyone’s favorite moment to take stock of their lives and make their resolutions for the next 12 months. I’m no exception – for 2006, I want to get in better shape, work through my growing list of deferred home maintenance, and stop denigrating Isiah Thomas’s work so frequently. Well, two out of three wouldn’t be bad.

So it is in the NBA as well. We may not know what every player’s and coach’s resolutions are for the coming season, but in many cases, we know what they ought to be. Thus, I took the liberty of making a few resolutions for them.

KOBE BRYANT: Share the Ball Bryant shot 13-for-37 on Wednesday, and his team lost. He shot 6-for-16 five days earlier and his team won. Connect the dots. Relative to the league, Bryant is on pace to have one of the biggest ball-hogging seasons in history, hoisting an incredible 26 shots per game. He’s taking more than twice as many shots as any other teammate, but is so focused on going one-on-five that he’s only averaging four assists a game. If Phil Jackson thought Kobe was selfish when he wrote his last book, I can’t wait to read his next one.

JEFF MCINNIS: Zip It Okay, the new Net is unhappy about being benched. We get that. But unless he starts stretching defenses by making some shots from outside, or provides at least token resistance on defense, McInnis has zero reason to complain. He should instead quietly work on his jumper before games and wait for Jacque Vaughn to roll an ankle, because his rep as a clubhouse cancer precedes him.

JAMES DOLAN: Admit Defeat The sooner the Knicks acknowledge there are no quick fixes, the sooner they can start the long process of getting healthy. Right now the team isn’t very good and the talent and coaching staff are completely mismatched, but everyone from the owner on down still talks like maybe tomorrow will be the day this team turns the corner. Sorry folks, it’s not happening. It’s time to dump the bad contracts (at this point, are there any good ones?), send Isiah on his way, and sell the fans on the idea that a couple years of pain is worth it if they want a team worthy of their cheers.

CHRIS MULLIN: Get Ron Artest For almost any other team, the potential reward doesn’t justify the risk. But in the case of Mullin, the Warrior’s general manager, it’s quite the opposite. Golden State is already in luxury tax territory, so it can’t easily acquire players of Artest’s caliber. Besides, Mullin already has all his chips on the table with the trade for Baron Davis (more on him in a minute) and the huge contracts he gave Jason Richardson, Troy Murphy, Adonal Foyle, Mike Dunleavy, and Derek Fisher.

Right now he only has an average team to show for his efforts, but replacing the disappointing Dunleavy with a stud like Artest would improve things in a hurry. And with intriguing youngsters like Andris Biedrins, Zarko Cabarkapa, Ike Diogu, and Mickael Pietrus on the bench, the Warriors should be able to meet Indiana’s price.

ALONZO MOURNING: Seriously, Zip It We’d all be rooting for Mourning in his comeback from a kidney transplant if he would just stop doing things to make us hate him. But on the heels of his overwrought fist-pumping routine against the Nets in the playoffs last spring (A lane violation!!! YES!!!), he spent December insinuating that the Nets were running him down in an effort to unload his contract. That left folks in Jersey wondering if the anti-rejection drugs were making him delusional – it was ‘Zo that was insistent on playing so many minutes, not the other way around. Mourning’s comeback is certainly admirable, but his antics since then deserve only scorn.

DANNY FORTSON: Look in the Mirror The Sonics forward is convinced the refs are out to get him, and Seattle’s coaching staff has only encouraged that idea by repeatedly taking his side in his many disputes with the zebras. But it’s not them, Danny, it’s you. Check out Wednesday’s ejection against Minnesota, when Fortson went ballastic because the refs called him for swinging his elbows. As a viewer who watched Fortson commit the violation, not to mention travel twice in the process, it’s hard for me to summon much outrage over the call. Yet Fortson felt the need to go Rasheed on the poor official, drop a visible-to-the-lip-readers F-bomb into the discussion, and earn himself a two-game suspension.

DOC RIVERS: Play Big Al The Celtics are rebuilding behind a young core, and they have one of the best young power forwards in the game in Al Jefferson. It would seem logical, then, for Jefferson to play 30 minutes a game. But that logic has evaded coach Doc Rivers thus far. Jefferson remains stuck behind mediocre big men like Raef LaFrentz and Mark Blount, playing only 17 minutes a game, even though he leads the team in field-goal percentage, is their second best per-minute rebounder, and is basically the team’s only post threat. Go figure.

CHARLIE VILLANUEVA: Get to the Basket This comment applies to nearly every Raptor – perhaps no team in history has been more in love with the jump shot. Villanueva, however, is showing them how much further they can take it. Toronto’s rookie forward has enviable physical skills that should allow him to be a force around the basket, but has been entirely too content to launch one jumper after another. Despite his athleticism, the 6-foot-9-inch Villaneuva averages just one free throw for every five field-goal attempts, one of the league’s poorest rates among frontcourt players. In fact, he’s taking as many 3-pointers per game (2.1) as free throws.

BARON DAVIS: Stop Shooting 3-pointers You’d think a guy with a 32.6% career success rate on 3-pointers and 66.6% rate from the line would get the hint that he’s not a great shooter, but some dreams don’t die easily. Davis’s addiction to the 3-point line shows no sign of abating. Despite his lack of success (he’s only making 29.9%), he’s attempting 6.6 bombs per game, the third-most in the league.

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