Eric Snow, a personal favorite of Larry Brown, is drawing the interest of Isiah Thomas and the Knicks at the request of their new coach.

There have been rumors about Golden State, which would be willing to move Derek Fisher, and the Cavs trying to recruit a third team to take Snow, but the Knicks are turned off by Snow's bloated contract.

The Knicks have some big contract of their own, but since those of Tim Thomas and Penny Hardaway will expire following this season, they have become two of the most attractive in the league.

The Knicks remain optimistic that they will sign either free agent James Jones or DeSagana Diop to their $1.8 million exception.

Jones, a 6-foot-8 small forward who completed his second season with the Pacers, is being courted by both San Antonio and Detroit. Even if Jones decides to sign with the Knicks, there is a strong possibility that Indiana will match the offer.

Cleveland, however, cannot match any offer for Diop, a 7-foot center who has been a major disappointment since being selected eighth overall by the Cavs in 2001. But the Knicks believe that Diop can be a valuable backup to Jerome James, particularly at a bargain-basement price. The Mavs are also pursuing Diop.

If the Knicks sign another player, they will have 16 under contract, one more than the league maximum. There are still several moves team president Isiah Thomas can make. The Knicks would like to move Penny Hardaway's expiring contract, even though more teams will come after Hardaway at the trading deadline.

Less than 48 hours after the Knicks used the NBA?s amnesty provision on veteran forward Jerome Williams, the popular ?Junk Yard Dog? announced he was calling it a playing career to pursue other interests. Williams, whose intensity and effort made him a fan favorite throughout the league, played in 587 games over nine seasons, averaging 6.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

?My days as the ?JYD? on the court as an NBA player are over, but I am looking forward to continuing all my offcourt work and keeping a promise to the kids of New York,? Williams said. Williams met with Isiah Thomas Wednesday morning at the team offices in New York and the two discussed options for the veteran forward to keep him involved with the team. In addition to doing some scouting work and learning the business side of basketball, Williams will pick up where he left off with MSG Network in the spring, working on a broadcasting career.

He will also expand his community efforts and the extensive programs of his foundation (which he runs with his brother Johnnie), reaching out to kids of all ages and holding seminars using rap music to extoll the virtues of being a positive role model. ?I made a promise to the kids of New York last spring that I would be back, and I do not want to let them down,? he added. The Williams brothers brought their motivational program to New York late in the season and into the summer, and will continue to run it here as well as in Toronto, Detroit and other cities. Williams is also producing a motivational CD which will be out this fall.

If that will not be enough for the Georgetown graduate, he will continue to grow his Brooklyn-based business ?212 Motoring,? which customizes and details cars.

Williams added that he would not have retired had the amnesty clause not been used, and that he is healthy enough to have received a few offers from teams, which he instructed his agent, Lon Babby, to respectfully decline.

Seems like for New Yorkers, the bark of the JYD may be even louder and more effective in retirement than it was during his nine NBA seasons.

The Post has learned that Isiah Thomas is after James Jones, the Pacers' 6-foot-8 free-agent reserve swingman, whom Thomas drafted in the second round in 2003 and unrestricted free-agent center DeSagana Diop, a 7-foot, 280-pounder who played with the Cavs the last four years.

One of the two free agents may be offered a three-year contract as soon as Tuesday.

Thomas is also reportedly interested in former Wizards' guard Steve Blake.

New York Knickerbockers President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas announced today that forward Jerome Williams has been waived as the designated player for the amnesty provision under the NBA's new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The provision allows a team to release a player and remove his contract amount from the team's salary cap for purposes of calculating the luxury tax. The Knicks will be responsible for the remaining years of Williams'
contract and he is free to sign with another team.

Williams, 6-9, 220-pounds, averaged 4.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 15.3 minutes in 79 games last season for New York. The 32-year-old Washington, D.C.-native has career averages of 6.6 points and 6.4 rebounds in 587 games for four teams.

Allan Houston, whose name became nearly synonymous with a new rule aimed at unloading expensive players, will be spared when the league's so-called amnesty deadline passes tonight.

The Knicks had considered waiving Houston to save about $40 million in luxury taxes on his salary, under a one-time option provided by the new collective bargaining agreement. That provision, adopted in July, has been commonly referred to as the Allan Houston rule.

But in a curious twist, the rule will not claim its namesake as a victim. Instead, the Knicks will waive a spare power forward, and sources say it will be Jerome Williams.

A second person briefed on the discussions, who required anonymity for the same reason, said that Williams was the probable amnesty target. Williams is owed about $19 million over the next three seasons; waiving him would save the Knicks an equal sum in luxury tax payments.

A Knicks spokesman said the team would have no comment until it formally made a move today.

Houston had seemed the most likely target of the amnesty clause. He is 34, has played only 70 games the past two seasons, and has an incurable arthritic condition in his left knee. But Houston is working diligently to strengthen his legs and the Knicks have been encouraged by his progress.

In deference to Houston's contributions, team officials concluded that they should give him every opportunity to make a comeback. Houston has a close relationship with James L. Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman, and a good rapport with the Knicks' new coach, Larry Brown. If healthy, he is still the team's best shooter.

Williams and Rose are members of a crowded power forward rotation, which also includes Mike Sweetney (the probable starter), Maurice Taylor and the rookies David Lee and Channing Frye.

Allan Houston appears safe, The Post has learned.
The Knicks are expected to let Monday's amnesty deadline pass without waiving Houston, a league official said.

The Knicks are talking about waiving one of four other players in order to take advantage of the NBA's one-time provision and reduce their luxury tax liability. Power forwards Malik Rose, Maurice Taylor and, to a lesser extent, Jerome Williams are in danger. Perhaps the best option being reviewed is waiving the contract of Shandon Anderson, bought out last October.

Yesterday, Knicks president Isiah Thomas and newly hired coach Larry Brown huddled at their Westchester practice campus, partly to discuss their amnesty decision.

Cutting Houston would save the club $39.8 million in luxury tax; when the league included the provision in its new collective bargaining agreement, some even referred to the clause as "The Allan Houston Rule."

The club now believes that Houston, once reluctant to retire, will hang them up if he's not close to being ready by the end of October's training camp.

Houston has told Knicks officials he doesn't want to go through the same ordeal of the past two seasons, missing 92 games, and would consider retirement if he's still not healthy after camp.

Houston's sentiment changed the Knicks' position on how best to proceed. A faction within the organization believes the veteran shooting guard's arthritic knees will not heal enough to allow him to play close to an entire season.

The Knicks would prefer that Houston agree to a medical retirement, which would save them much more than just the luxury tax reduction of the amnesty rule. Houston would get every penny but insurance ? not the Knicks ? would pay 75 percent of Houston's $39.8M in salary, minus a 20 percent deductible.

Now that it's clear that Larry Brown wants Stephon Marbury to slide over to the shooting guard position, the Knicks will be on the lookout for a veteran point guard to ease the transition until Nate Robinson is ready.

There are several possibilities, including free agents and a couple of point guards who have played for Brown. One of those is Cleveland's Eric Snow, who is under contract through 2009 and will earn $21 million.

Snow was the man Brown had on the Sixers when he switched Allen Iverson to shooting guard, and is said to be one of Brown's favorites. However, the Cavaliers are in the market for a starting point guard and may not wish to trade Snow, who started 15 games last year for Cleveland and played in 81.

Another trade possibility is the much-traveled Kevin Ollie, who played in only 26 games last year in Philadelphia after playing in all 82 the year before in Cleveland. Ollie's agent, Bill Neff, said his client had been frustrated in Philly under former head coach Jim O'Brien, but is now looking forward to working for new coach Mo Cheeks.

But if the Knicks want to trade for him, Ollie would still be happy. Neff said his client, who will earn about $10 million over the next three years, would relish the opportunity to play for Brown again. Ollie played for Brown in Philadelphia and also for Knicks GM Isiah Thomas in Indiana in 2001-02.

"Kevin loved playing for Larry Brown, and for Isiah," Neff said. "He's committed to the Sixers and he's eager to get a chance with Mo Cheeks. But if something were to happen, he'd be thrilled because he has so much respect for those guys. If the Knicks do end up moving Marbury, it might be a good fit because Kevin can definitely guard taller guards."

Other unrestricted free-agent possibilities include Earl Watson of the Grizzlies, recently released Nick Van Exel of the Trail Blazers, Boston's Gary Payton, Tyronn Lue and chatty Damon Jones of the Heat.

Stephon Marbury made it clear on Wednesday that he never thought he would be traded when the rumors emerged last month and that he was not worried now, either, with Larry Brown aboard.

Marbury suggested that people who bought into the trade talk just wanted to see him fail.

"They want me to go on a bad team so they can continue to drag me," said Marbury, who was presiding over his basketball camp at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. "But it's cool, though. I'm still here, I ain't going nowhere, and I'm still going to play the same way I play."

When he was asked yesterday about the intriguing possibility of moving from point guard to shooting guard, his eyes lit up. He even said that Brown once told him that if he coached him, he would play him at shooting guard.

"It's going to be kind of scary because now I can shoot whenever I want to shoot," Marbury said of the potential shift.