Many New York Knickerbocker fans are longing for the years when their hometown team was an annual NBA contender, and played an intimidating and physical form of ball, that shook the foundations of the Association and put fear into opponents who dared to set foot inside Madison Square Garden.
OK. I went a bit overboard, but tell me that I’m wrong when I say that the Knicks need to change it up a bit and take it back to the early 90‘s, when players like Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks, and Anthony Mason would leave opponents bruised, and even sometimes bloodied, on the way to the hoop?
Speaking of “Mase”, Anthony Mason has been a special assistant coach this pre-season for the Knicks. Although there’s no official word as of yet, many speculate that Mason is hoping to land a full-time coaching gig with the Knicks, once the regular season rolls around.
Although he admittedly was hardly a role model during his playing days, now at age 43, Mason could prove to be a great influence on current star Amare Stoudemire, who himself has a been known to show a nasty streak. While I’m not sure how Mason’s physical style of play would fit into Coach D’Antoni’s uptempo offensive system, Mason definitely knows a thing or two about defense, as he was once one of the more feared defenders in the entire league.
Anthony Mason was the poster child for perseverance as an NBA player as he took the hard route just to get to the Association, as he first had a decent career at Tennessee State University, before being drafted by Portland, and subsequentially cut before the season began. After toiling in Turkey, Venezuela, the CBA and USBL, he had brief stints with the NJ Nets and Denver Nuggets in ’89-’90, before Pat Riley gave him a shot with the Knicks in 1991.
Although only listed at 6’7, Mason used his muscular, stocky frame as a point forward and defensive enforcer with the Knicks from ’91-’96, earning the NBA’s 1995 Sixth Man of the Year Award. After the Knicks couldn’t get past the Chicago Bulls in the mid 90’s, Mason was sent to the then Charlotte Hornets for 4 seasons(‘96-’2000), where he was finally recognized for his all-around offensive and outstanding defensive play in garnering nods on the All NBA 3rd Team and All Defensive Team squads in 1997. He then was re-united with Pat Riley, then the coach of the Miami Heat(‘00-’01), where he earned his only All Star selection in 2001. He then finished off his career with the Milwaukee Bucks from ’01-’03.
He was in the Charles Barkley mold as a fleet-footed undersized(in height anyway) power forward, who was an immovable object on the court. He had an amazing ability at nearly 300 lbs to be able to at times run the point, drive to the rim, and inflict an amazing amount of punishment on both sides of the ball. Mason was definitely one of the more underrated players of his generation.
After retirement, Mason hasn’t been heard from outside of being a cheerleader for his two sons, Anthony Mason Jr, a former star at St. Johns University, who was recently cut by the Heat, and his younger son Antoine, who has committed to Niagara University.
In my opinion, I think it would be a good move to bring “Mase” back to the organization. He was an excellent defensive player and would undoubtedly help breathe some sort of life back into an ailing fan base, which yearns for a contender. Let’s just hope that he doesn’t convince coach D’Antoni to go back to shaving new phrases and players numbers into their heads!
Check out “Mase” during his prime, circa ‘96-’02:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
