Allen Moll is an avid NBA and College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen is a regular columnist for thehoopdoctors.com, Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, and his own blog, Hoops Haven.
What ever happened to the NBA team that is headquartered in the “City That Never Sleeps?” Where is the team that has more than 2,400 wins, 38 playoff appearances, and 2 NBA Titles?……Or the team that has been the home of some of the league’s greatest players like Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Dave DeBusschere, and Patrick Ewing?……Or plays half of their games at what is termed as the mecca of basketball, Madison Square Garden? I’m sure that you get the picture.
The hard truth is that the once proud franchise known as the New York Knickerbockers hasn’t made the postseason since ’04, hasn’t won a playoff series in 9 seasons, and has had only one winning season since the end of the Patrick Ewing era in 2000. Their three playoff appearances in the last decade were: a first round sweep by the NJ Nets(4-0) in ’04, another first round loss to the Raptors(3-2) in ’01, and a Eastern Finals loss to the Pacers(4-2) in 2000. Long gone are the 14 straight seasons of deep playoff runs from ’88 through ’01, where even though the Knicks didn’t win a title, they were annual contenders by making it to the 2nd round of the playoffs or better, 11 times, a mark equalled only by the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference, over that span. Like allot of other teams during that era, the Knicks may have won a title or two if it wasn’t for Jordan, Pippen, and the Bulls.
In the present form, the Knicks can’t be described as anything less than a total disaster. Of course the management tells the fan base to be patient since they are gearing up for the Lebron/Wade/Bosh Sweepstakes of the 2010 offseason. With the franchise dumping salary for one or more of these prized free agents, what happens if all three spurn the club and play across the Hudson or in Brooklyn for the rival Nets, or return to their current teams? Who’s left, Amare, Nowitzki, or Yao Ming? While good players, each will be past their prime, with the exception of Stoudemire, and aren’t worthy of a top dollar offer. Even if they do land one of the franchise players, how can they afford to surround them with the talent to become a playoff team again? The build up will almost certainly never live up the the end result since there are 8-10 NBA franchises stockpiling cash to land 3-5 difference making free agents.
Most of the current roster is devoid of any personality and is filled with misfits and underachievers. Last season’s leading scorer Al Harrington(20.7 ppg) is their leader de facto, along with Larry Hughes(11.2 ppg), both of which have underachieved throughout their 11 year careers. Their best two players, Double-double machine David Lee(16 ppg, 11.7 rebs) and Nate Robinson(17.2 ppg, 4.1 ast) were both treated like red headed stepchildren as free agents, by not being tendered a contract until a week before training camp was to begin. Fans have to hope that European player Dino Gallinari(6.1 ppg in 28 games) and top draft pick Jordan Hill from Arizona develop quickly to go along with 3rd year player, Wilson Chandler, who was a pleasant surprise by averaging 14.4 ppg last season.
Who will play the point is an even bigger dilemma since they already have 3 point guards on the roster in Robinson, Chris Duhon, and rookie Toney Douglas, and have spent all Summer flirting with signing free agent floor generals like Jason Kidd, Ramon Sessions, Jason Williams, and even Allen Iverson. Since the season is already a bust with the franchise admitedly looking forward to ’10, why not play Douglas, who was an extremely talented scoring point guard from Florida State.
The 300 lb. gorilla in the room for the team is the bloated contracts of Jarred Jefferies and Eddy Curry, who played in a total of 59 games and averaged 7.0 ppg, when the Knicks paid more than $15 million combined for their services last season. I thought they would surely unload their two outrageous deals, but apparently their wasn’t any takers. The hope is that both make some sort of contribution so the Knicks can try to unload their contracts worthless hides at the trade deadline, to once again load up on cash for 2010.
I think that Donnie Walsh is forgetting that there are 82 games between now and next offseason. I know that the NBA is a business and that my opinion means virtually nothing to Knicks management but how long will the rabid NY fanbase wait for a contender? Isn’t 6 seasons long enough? Living in the tri-state area, I miss the old Sixers-Knicks rivalries of Barkley and Hersey Hawkins against Ewing , Larry Johnson, John Starks, and Charles Oakley. I have personally been to MSG for games, and the fans are every bit as impatient for a winner as my hometown Philly teams. They want a winner, and quite frankly they deserve one.
