GREENBURGH, New York, April 12, 2007 -- For probably the first time in history, the Knicks had more coaches and trainers (9) than players (8) out on the floor during practice at the team’s Madison Square Garden Training Center.

Luckily -- if you can use the word during such a calamitous run of injuries -- there is a silver lining in the very dark cloud of this “it could have been so much better” playoff race. Coach Isiah Thomas has been forced to use his pair of youthful rookies for inordinate minutes and, for the most part, Renaldo Balkman and Mardy Collins came through in a fashion that bodes extremely well for the team’s long-term future.

“I think they’ve had a great season, both those guys,” said the Knicks coach. “I never had them in a game when I walked away feeling disappointed in the way they’ve played or in the energy they’ve given to the team. They have been great defensively -- and when they’ve been called upon to do some things offensively, while they haven’t always risen the challenge, their effort has been there. While, over the last two minutes of close games, you ask them to score the ball for you, they haven’t always been able to do it. But on the defensive side of the ball, they’ve actually won some games for us.”

Indeed Collins -- the bigger surprise in that he’s barely left the bench until his recent run -- has ranged between very fine and downright dominating on defense. “He is very long, very mature, a big, big guard,” forward Channing Frye explained. “And he’s been taught very well. Coach (John) Chaney had those guys play some serious in-your-shirt defense at Temple.”

“I love the way Mardy’s been playing,” smiled Frye. “He is coming out there with such confidence. We’ve been telling him he is getting in a whole season in 10 games. I‘ve seen him practice every day, so I am not that surprised by his success. It’s crazy. Just think about the situation: Mardy is a guard so, on this roster, he’s been sitting behind Stephon (Marbury), Steve (Francis), and Jamal (Crawford), and Quentin (Richardson) and so on. That’s why he hasn’t been out there in games. But, during practice, I saw him play extremely well -- and do it against those guys -- all the time.”

Balkman’s recent rise has only been less surprising due to the fact that, in spite of his “deep sleeper” status coming out of the draft, he’s been playing some amazing ball for the Knicks since very early in the season. “Renaldo is like a bar of soap,” said Frye.

“You can’t grab hold of him. He’s just everywhere. That energy…Simply amazing.”

How good can Balkman become once he picks up a jump shot? Frye just rolls his eyes: “The other day, he had, what, 17 (points) and (16) rebounds) -- on lay-ups! If he can do that…You know that’s what they said about Jordan and Kobe, that they didn’t have jump shots when they first came into he league. So just give Renaldo a couple of years to work on that and we’ll see. Who knows? The sky’s the limit.”