Larry Brown has finished speaking with everyone on the Knicks he had wanted to talk to, and the only thing keeping him from becoming New York's head coach was working out the details of a contract.

That job was in the hands of Brown's longtime agent, 80-year-old Joe Glass, who was asked how close the deal was to getting done.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, it's an eight," Glass said Tuesday.

No formal announcement of Brown's hiring was expected today, making Thursday the most likely day that Brown will sit at a podium alongside team president Isiah Thomas and team owner James Dolan to make things absolutely, positively official.

That scenario, of course, can only happen if there are no snags.

And with the 64-year-old Brown, who has coached seven NBA teams and two college teams, the likelihood of a snag can never be underestimated.

"We're making progress, and we're continuing to talk at this point," Knicks spokesman Joe Favorito said Tuesday.

Brown had dinner Monday night with Thomas and interim coach Herb Williams, a meeting that Brown described as "positive." Brown had been uneasy about the prospect of displacing Williams as coach.

"That was a huge obstacle for me, not for him," Brown said. "It's not at all anymore."

Pressed to say whether he had given the Knicks a definitive answer, Brown wouldn't give a direct reply.

"I wouldn't have met with the owner and with Herb if I didn't think this would move forward," Brown said. "I just can't go any further than that."

Brown's wife, Shelly, had been concerned about her husband's health. Brown missed 17 games last season due to a hip replacement operation that led to a bladder problem, and Brown underwent his third surgery in nine months shortly after the Pistons lost Game 7 of the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs.

Doctors at the Mayo Clinic told Brown he needed rest, and he and his wife have decided he'll get enough of it during the next two months before training camp begins.

Brown's two young children also are enthused about the move to New York.

"No one wants this to drag on," Shelly Brown said. "I know everyone's on the same page."

New York reportedly is willing to offer Brown a five-year contract worth between $50 million and $60 million.

Still unclear is what role Williams would have with the Knicks under Brown, and which of New York's current assistant coaches might remain with the club.

Williams' head coaching contract expires Sunday, but his assistant coaching contract has another year left. The Knicks finished 33-49 last season and missed the playoffs for the third time in four years.

Karl to have surgery

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl is scheduled to undergo prostate cancer surgery in Salt Lake City on Thursday.

Nuggets spokeswoman Teri Washington said that Karl, who was diagnosed with cancer near the end of last season, expects to be released from the hospital on Sunday.

"They caught the cancer early. We're anticipating a full recovery," Washington said. "He's upbeat and positive."

Neither Karl nor Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe immediately returned phone messages.

Blazers sign Monia

The Portland Trail Blazers signed 2004 first-round draft pick Sergei Monia of Russia to a multiyear contract. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward from Saratov, Russia, played last season for CSKA, which won the Russian National Championship and went to the European Final Four.