NEW YORK -- Glen Rice still isn't in shape, hasn't shot well and looks as washed up as Patrick Ewing.

	Latrell Sprewell's game isn't there yet, but would it be better if Glen Rice started as well?

So here's what the Knicks should do:

Start him.

That's right, put Rice in the starting lineup, right alongside Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston.

"You're a part of the lunatic fringe now," was Jeff Van Gundy's reaction upon hearing the call for a starting lineup featuring the Big Three.

Van Gundy has hardly played the three gunners together in the first 11 games. A few seconds here. A couple of minutes there. So he's not about to bench one of his favorite players, Charlie Ward, for Rice. But here's why the Big Three should be out on the floor, from the start of games. It's called, playing to your players' strengths. Even with Rice struggling, that's perimeter offense.

"When you play the Knicks, you've got to worry about stopping Houston and Sprewell, first," said the Clippers' Tyrone Nesby. "That's a lot for any defense to handle."

Now imagine if Rice were on the floor at the same time. The Knicks could put all kinds of pressure on the defense. Any of the three can post up. Van Gundy could isolate Houston or Sprewell on the wings. And once he plays his way into shape and starts shooting like he can, Rice would be the perfect person to station in the corner for when the ball gets rotated around the horn.

So you're giving up defense and rebounding? Big deal. It's not like the Knicks are going to win big playing that old Knick style, anyway. They're 7-4, but their only quality win so far has come against Phoenix.

On the same recent West Coast trip, they couldn't even score 75 points against the Clippers, losing 78-74. When you can't score on the Clips, you might as well pack it in.

Or, mix in a little Rice.

But Van Gundy's approach is the same it's been since he started coaching this team, back in the last part of 1996. Rebounding and defense come first. Scoring ranks somewhere down the line. Van Gundy's explanation is that high-scoring teams that don't play D or pay attention to the boards never get anywhere in the playoffs. True. But since when are Houston, Sprewell and Rice defensive stoppers? He might as well take advantage of their scoring talents.

	Houston

	Rice

But it goes further. Ward, outplayed by Jeff McInnis the other night in L.A., hasn't done much this season but bring up the ball. So it's not like the Knicks would be benching an All-Star. The guy isn't even good enough to get on the All-Star ballot.

"Every time we struggle, it's always the same, Charlie gets the blame," Van Gundy said. "Maybe we should trade him to Siberia."

Such drastic measures aren't necessary. Just sit him and put Rice in the starting lineup and see what happens.

Suns Situation
The Lakers can roll out the Big MVP, Shaquille O'Neal. The Spurs can come at you with the Twin Terrors, Tim Duncan and David Robinson. Portland can go to war with Shawn Kemp and Rasheed Wallace.

The Suns?

	Penny

	Dudley

"We've got a three-headed monster," Penny Hardaway said.

Calling Chris Dudley, Jake Tsakalidis and Daniel Santiago a "monster" probably is stretching it. Is that troika really going to scare anybody, especially in a playoff series?

"I think we'll be OK," Hardaway said. "Out here, you've got to have centers who can play a little bit of defense. It doesn't do you much good to have an offensive center against Shaq or Tim Duncan.You've got to have big guys who can play defense against all the great big men we have in the West. I think Dudley will be better for us than Luc (Longley) was. I think the others can help, too. With those guys and our big guards doubling down, we should be OK."

Still, you hear the Suns involved with Dikembe Mutombo, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year. And guess who was in attendance last Friday in America West Arena to watch the Suns lose to the Knicks? Hawks prez Stan Kasten, who claimed he was in town on "other business." Of course, "other" in this case, could mean scouting the "other" team.

New York is still Mutombo and David Falk's top destination. One GM who talked to the this week said that the Hawks already have come to the conclusion that they are not going to be able to re-sign him, not with Mutombo looking to play for a winner and asking for the maximum. So the bidding should start heating up.

But let's say the Suns stick with their center by committee. Dudley will miss another few weeks with an ankle injury, and hasn't played as many as 1,000 minutes in a season in four years. Tsakalidis and Santiago are raw. So Mutombo looks like a better fit. But Phoenix is leery of the defensive specialist, primarily because of his age. He turns 35 next June. When you look at how Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon have quickly deteriorated after they reached that age, you can see why the Suns might have some reservations about Mutombo.

	Mutombo

Then there's the pricetag. Several months back, the Hawks reportedly asked for several starters, including Jason Kidd, along with Rodney Rogers. The Suns' reply? We're not gutting our team. Atlanta denied trying to hold the Suns up. The Hawks are looking for young, big players, and like everyone else, would love to get Shawn Marion in the deal. But the Suns aren't moving him.

So in the meantime, they're going to go with Dudley, et al.

"Out here, I've got to play against a great big man almost every night," Dudley said. "You don't get a night off."

That could be bad news for the three-headed monster.

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