Knicks President Isiah Thomas is entering his first full season at the helm and the good news is that he’s reshaping the roster to resemble the world champion Detroit Pistons. The bad news is that it’s not the current Pistons that Thomas is using as a template, but his “Bad Boys” champs of 1989 and 1990.

As a fan who was weary of the Boston-Los Angeles hegemony of the 1980s, I welcomed the rise of Isiah’s Pistons. Those teams, however, were unique in their construction and their championships appear almost as flukes when judged against the context of NBA history.

Those Piston teams were built around guards; Thomas, Joe Dumars, and Vinnie Johnson were three of the team’s top four scorers during their first title run. The frontline was composed of a posse of role players including James Edwards, Bill Laimbeer, Mark Aguirre, John Salley, and Dennis Rodman. The latter would become a star later on, but in the late 1980’s he was simply a passionate player.

Championship teams are usually built around forwards and centers. Ever since George Mikan’s 1948-49 Lakers defined the modern game, good teams have usually become great only when quality big men are added. Michael Jordan was little more than a human highlight reel until Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant (and later Rodman) came along to make the Bulls into a dynasty. When Magic Johnson shared the floor with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers won titles; Kareem retired and the title run stopped. Larry Bird’s first team lost badly in the Conference Finals, then Boston added Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale and won three titles in six years.

Isiah knows this as well as anyone, which is why the current roster construction of the Knicks is rather mystifying. His two biggest deals, the Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford trades, have used up the Knicks’ most tradeable commodities for two backcourt players. The Knicks’ three guard rotation of Marbury, Crawford, and Allan Houston (presuming he can play) is excellent, but it’s come at a cost of a weak frontcourt.

The motley crew of big men should be New York’s undoing. The Knicks were a mediocre rebounding team last year, and they figure to drop precipitously this season. The center position is particularly dismal now that the team has parted ways with Dikembe Mutombo. Although Deke’s game has declined sharply from his prime years in Denver, he still contributed 6.7 rebounds a game in 23 minutes last season. His role as reserve pivot now belongs to Vin Baker, who grabbed a mere 4.1 rebounds in 18 minutes a game last season.

Since Nazr Mohammed has never played a full season as a starter and Baker turns 33 in a few weeks, it’s a safe bet that starting power forward Kurt Thomas will have to fill in at center a lot. His minutes at power forward will go to Michael Sweetney, which could be a blessing, as the Georgetown product showed promise in his rookie campaign. Sweetney, though, will need to take better care of the ball (three turnovers per 48 minutes in 2003-04) and play better defense (5.5 fouls per 48 last season is a sign that though long, he doesn’t move his feet well).

The small forward spot belongs to Tim Thomas, with rookie Trevor Ariza in reserve. While Thomas can score every now and then, he’s an especially bad defender and his backup is raw. Small forwards all around the league will be looking forward to visiting the Garden. The best Knicks fans can hope for is that the frontcourt provides adequate enough support down low for the guards to be able to shine.

It isn’t as if big men weren’t available in the offseason, either. The right deal would have made Chicago all too happy to send center Eddy Curry along with Crawford. Free agent pivotman Erick Dampier was reportedly telling folks that he was Gotham-bound, but again, Isiah couldn’t close the deal.

The upside is that it may not matter much in the short term. Led by their backcourt, the Knicks should win the new and diminished Atlantic Division and make the playoffs for the second straight year. This may prompt some to hail Thomas’s maneuvering as a collective success. Then again, the Scott Layden/Don Chaney Knicks could have won a division against this year’s Celtics, Sixers, Raptors, and Nets.

The real problem is moving forward. Bigs are harder to find than smalls in today’s NBA, and the Knicks now have $54 million sunk into their five backcourt players – including fourth guard Penny Hardaway and benchwarmer Moochie Norris. They’ll have to be very shrewd and very lucky to add a quality big man to their capped-out payroll.

Meanwhile, each of their divisional opponents already has a young big man developing his game. Isiah has distinguished himself from his predecessor by having a plan, and a bad plan is better than no having discernable plan at all – an apt description of Layden’s tenure.

Thomas’s plan has made the Knicks a playoff team, but they’ll never be a championship contender. Sooner or later this will become clear and things will get ugly again at the Garden.