GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) -- Forget the health concerns, the 59 losses or the feud with Stephon Marbury: Larry Brown is coming back next season.
That's what Brown and team president Isiah Thomas said Thursday, one day after the New York Knicks completed one of the worst seasons in their history.
As for the rest of the team's high-priced but underachieving roster, changes figure to be coming.
"I am loyal to winning and I am not loyal to any singular individual," Thomas said at the Knicks' practice facility. "I'm going to do what I need to do to make our team better."
He'll have plenty of it after the Knicks went 23-59 in Brown's first season, tying the franchise record for losses. And though the players want the team kept intact so they can make up for it, Thomas knows that isn't realistic.
"When you won 23 games, I think we'll make some changes," he said. "Coach and I haven't sat down and fully decided what changes we'll make, but we'll probably make some changes.
"We have a group that from everything that I've heard today like each other, want to stay together and want to play together and believe that they can get it done. However, I don't know if that will be the case."
Thomas made a number of moves before and during this season, and almost none of them worked. Brown was hired to much fanfare but had one of the worst seasons of his Hall of Fame career; center Eddy Curry didn't show much progress after Thomas acquired him from Chicago during training camp -- using the No. 1 pick that will be a lottery selection -- and Jalen Rose and Steve Francis failed to make much impact after being dealt for during the season.
And while no players may be safe, Brown apparently is. Thomas said he won't fire the coach, and Brown said none of the health issues that sent him to the hospital twice and forced him to miss three games at the end of the season would keep him from the bench.
Concerns about Brown's health were part of the reason the Pistons didn't bring him back after last season. This time, he says they won't be the cause of his latest departure from a team.
"I wasn't in control of that," he said of the Detroit situation. "I want to return here. I want to fulfill my contract and I want to stay involved as long as they'll have me."
Thomas said Brown's job is safe because of his past successes, but there wasn't much to like about this season. The Knicks won 10 fewer games than last season, and Brown criticized some players through the media. It was almost as if things were tougher than the Brooklyn native expected.
"Nobody can train you or make you aware what it's going to be like to coach in New York," Brown said.
Dealing with Marbury was the toughest part. The coach and point guard bickered through the media in March, and Marbury has made it known that playing Brown's way isn't his preference.
Typical of their dysfunctional relationship was Marbury's session with the media Thursday. He said that "Larry Brown made me a better man," but then gave a "No comment" when asked if Brown was the right coach for the team.
Even if Brown and Marbury can work together, there's much more to address. The Knicks committed an NBA-worst 17.7 turnovers per game and surrendered an average of 102 points, a combination that led to plenty of ugly losses.
"For the most part we weren't even in some of the games we lost," Curry said.
Changes won't be easy. The Knicks have plenty of bad contracts that make up the league's highest payroll, and they won't be easy for Thomas to move.
But he will have to come up with something. No matter what the players say about being about to turn things around, 23-59 says differently.
"To sit here and think that we're going to stand pat is kind of silly," Brown said.

LOS ANGELES (AP)
-- UCLA guards Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar both declared for the NBA draft Thursday, but neither will sign with an agent, giving them the option to return to the Bruins for their junior seasons. Afflalo and Farmar plan to hold individual workouts for specific teams that ask, with each player paying his own way to the workout sites. "My goal as a basketball player is to play in the NBA," Farmar said. "I can always come back with a great team. It's a good situation for me to test it and see what people think about me and where I am." UCLA coach Ben Howland said he talked to 17 or 18 NBA general managers, who projected Afflalo and Farmar would be selected late in the first round or early in the second round of the June 28 draft. "Whether they both go this year or come out at the end of next year, they're both going to be in the NBA. That's a given," Howland said at a campus news conference. "I am totally 100 percent behind them, as is our whole UCLA basketball family in their decision to test the waters." Like Farmar, Afflalo said he would return to school if he wasn't assured of being a first-round pick. "If it's not the smartest situation possible, I'm coming back to a great team," he said. Farmar added, "A lot of guys don't have UCLA and the success we had to come back to." The players have until June 18 to withdraw their names from the draft. Afflalo's and Farmar's individual workouts won't begin before May 20, when they will be required to drop one of the three classes they're taking during the spring quarter and become part-time students. The quarter ends in mid-June. At that point, the players will no longer participate in individual workouts with the UCLA team. The duo said they wouldn't participate in the NBA pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., because it doesn't allow players to showcase their individual skills as much as solo workouts do. Afflalo and Farmar were the first two recruits Howland signed when he took over in Westwood three seasons ago. The sophomores led the Bruins to a runner-up finish to Florida in the national championship game April 3 after helping them win the Pac-10 regular-season and tournament titles. "I'm indebted to them forever," Howland said. "They have helped start something we think is very special." Both players said their families and Howland were helping shield them from agent inquiries. Afflalo and Farmar, the Bruins' co-captains, shared the John Wooden Award as the team's most valuable players this season. UCLA finished 32-7, tying a school record for most wins. Losing them would rob the Bruins of their offensive punch. Afflalo was the leading scorer at 15.8 points and Farmar was second at 13.5. He also led the Pac-10 in assists. "If they come back, God bless them, I'll be so happy," Howland said. "If they elect to stay in the NBA and they go in the first round, that'll be great, too."

SAN DIEGO (AP)
-- Julio Franco doesn't intend to slow down any time soon.
Franco became the oldest player in major league history to hit a home run when he connected for a two-run, pinch-hit shot in the eighth inning Thursday night to help the New York Mets rally for a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres.
Franco, 47, drove a 1-0 pitch from reliever Scott Linebrink (1-2) into the home-run porch down the right-field line at Petco Park. That gave the Mets a 3-2 lead and Franco the spot in the record book that had been belonged to Athletics pitcher Jack Quinn, who was 46 years, 357 days old when he homered on June 27, 1930.
Franco already was the oldest player to hit a grand slam, a pinch-hit homer and have a multihomer game.
"That won't be the last home run I hit, and I hope I hit one when I'm 50," said Franco, who has four career pinch-hit homers.
He wasn't joking.
"Why not? They signed me here for two years," said Franco, who turns 48 on Aug. 23. "God gave me the great gift to play the game of baseball, and I want to play until I'm 50. If He gives me two more years, don't you think He's going to give me another one?"
If Franco lasts that long, he'll turn 50 during the 2008 season.
The fan who ended up with the ball gave it to Franco in exchange for a bat. Anticipating a call from the Hall of Fame, Franco said he'd send either the ball or the bat, but not both.
The Mets had as many hits in the six-run eighth as they did in their previous two games, when they were the victims of consecutive three-hitters by the Atlanta Braves.
Franco, in his 29th season in pro ball, signed with the Mets as a free agent on Dec. 9. The oldest player in the majors, his one-out homer came with former Padres player Xavier Nady aboard on a leadoff double.
"Losing those two games in a row, Peavy was throwing a great game," Franco said, referring to Padres ace Jake Peavy, who left with a 2-1 lead after seven. "We lost 2-1 yesterday, and it wouldn't be good to lose 2-1 today. It makes it more of an accomplishment."
Kazuo Matsui hit another notable homer for the Mets. His inside-the-park homer leading off the third made this the third straight year he's homered in his first at-bat of the season. The last player to do that was Ken Griffey Jr. from 1997-99, while with Seattle.
"I'm having difficulty trying to get a grasp of it," Matsui said through an interpreter. "Today was an inside-the-parker. I can't believe it myself."
Matsui was activated from the 15-day disabled list before the game. He opened the season on the DL with a sprained ligament in his right knee.
Matsui hit a fly ball off Peavy that glanced off the glove of retreating right fielder Brian Giles, bounced off a sign on the fence and rolled along the fence toward the right-center gap.
Matsui raced around the bases and arrived at the plate at the same time as the relay throw, but catcher Mike Piazza couldn't hold onto the ball.
It was Matsui's first career inside-the-park homer, and the first by a Mets player since Marlon Anderson did it against the Los Angeles Angels last June 11.
After Franco's homer, the Mets piled it on with Carlos Delgado's two-run homer, his sixth, and RBI singles by Endy Chavez and Cliff Floyd.
As a rookie in 2004, Matsui became the second player in big league history to hit his first home run in his first at-bat while leading off a game to start a season.
San Diego came back in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 2-1 on Dave Roberts' single off Steve Trachsel. Roberts' second straight hit scored Ben Johnson, who had a leadoff single and advanced on Peavy's groundout.
San Diego chased Trachsel in the process of loading the bases with none out in the seventh, but failed to score. Pinch-hitter Eric Young hit into an inning-ending double play off Duaner Sanchez (1-0), the third Mets reliever of the inning.
Peavy was hit on the right shin by a comebacker by Trachsel in the third but stayed in the game. Peavy struck out five in seven innings, allowing four hits and one run. Trachsel allowed two runs and six hits in six innings, struck out three and walked two.
Peavy had X-rays after the game, which didn't show a break. The training staff put a compress on the shin during the game.
Trachsel "was coming to get me," Peavy said. "He hurt me there."
Notes: Mets CF Carlos Beltran returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with a strained right hamstring, but felt discomfort and left the game after the fourth inning. He said he'll have an MRI on Friday. ... Floyd played for the first time since leaving Monday's game against Atlanta with a strained rib cage. ... Piazza faced the Mets for the first time since leaving New York as a free agent in the offseason. He played with the Mets for 7 1/2 seasons. ... Another former Mets player, Padres CF Mike Cameron, began a rehab assignment on Thursday night with Class A Lake Elsinore and could be activated during this four

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Former NBA star Jayson Williams can be retried on a reckless manslaughter charge stemming from the shooting death of a hired driver at the player's estate, an appeals court ruled Friday.
The former New Jersey Nets star had sought to avoid a second trial, contending that it would be double jeopardy.
Williams, 38, has remained free on bail since his April 30, 2004 conviction on four charges stemming from a failed attempt to cover up the 2002 fatal shooting at the mansion he owned.
The jury acquitted Williams of the most serious offense, aggravated manslaughter, but deadlocked on the charge of reckless manslaughter.
Williams spokeswoman Judy Williams said they plan to appeal the ruling.
First Assistant Hunterdon County Prosecutor Steven C. Lember, who tried the case, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The ruling by a unanimous three-judge appeals panel endorsed a series of decisions by the trial judge, state Superior Court Judge Edward M. Coleman, including some that limited what evidence prosecutors can present at a new trial.
Prosecutors said Williams was handling the gun recklessly when it went off and killed Costas "Gus" Christofi, 55. The defense maintained the shooting was purely an accident.