"Mike D'Antoni is ready to reinstall Chris Duhon as the Knicks starting point guard, and also wants to make him a quasi-assistant coach as he seeks more input from the players.

The Post has learned Duhon and D'Antoni held an important meeting in their Cleveland hotel Saturday afternoon as the desperate Knicks coach picked his captain's brain on the Knicks' troubles for 30 minutes.

Coincidence or not, Duhon, with the club 0-2 since he went to the pine, is expected to return as the starting point guard tomorrow vs. Sacramento in their last game before the All-Star break. Nate Robinson will return to a reserve role.

"It was typical coach-talking-to-his-captain type talk, trying to see what we could do to get this team back to where we were," Duhon told The Post. "What I see we could do differently, what he and I need to do better. There was a lot of brain-storming trying to find solutions."

Not surprisingly, the communication issue came up, with D'Antoni agreeing he needs to talk to the players more often and get their thoughts -- even during a game.

Players have complained publicly and privately D'Antoni doesn't communicate enough individually to guys and define their roles -- with Larry Hughes, Eddy Curry, Robinson, Al Harrington and Darko Milicic headlining the list."