The Knicks are a poorly run franchise. It’s one of the worst things to reconcile with as a sports fan. Granted, I’m not splitting the atom with that take, but it’s important to be self-aware when it comes to most everything in life, and that includes sports fandom. Especially considering how irrational sports fandom is at its core.
The Knicks are 23-33, and 7-20 over their last 27 games. They’ve been in the news seemingly all season for reasons other than being good at basketball. Reasons like: triangles, etymology, breakups, trades, and most recently being the undercard at MSG to a Charles Oakley title bout. The Oakley saga continues to produce aftershocks. Draymond Green (who apparently has a podcast) had the following to say about Knicks owner James Dolan:
“You doing it for me, it’s all good, you doing it against me—you speaking out against my organization—it’s not good anymore? That’s a slave mentality. A slave master mentality. That’s ridiculous.”
Oakley himself has drawn the comparison between James Dolan and Clippers ex-owner Donald Sterling. He didn’t call Dolan a racist, but when you’re out on a boat in open water, there’s nowhere else to go… there’s a certain implication. This is how much Oakley despises Dolan:
“I’d rather go to jail than for this to be (them) saying they did something for me,”
“I’d rather go to jail and just do two or three years for my assault case and come out and be a better person. Don’t give me something now because everything is bad. That’s what’s wrong. We cover stuff up because of money and power. This is a people issue. People see this.”
I don’t know if Knicks fans despise Dolan enough to go to jail for three years to prove a point. But if there was a plea deal put on the table that read:
- you go to jail for 4 years but when you get out James Dolan doesn’t own the Knicks anymore.
I’m sure there would be a substantial number of Knickerbocker faithful who would suddenly be rationalizing in the following way:
- well 4 years is the length of most university programs and college flew by, and all I got out of that was a piece of paper and crippling debt.
Again this sentiment isn’t new. In 2012 die-hard Knicks fan Brian Koppelman wrote an article for Grantland titled: Carmelo Anthony: Joy Wrecker. Although the title would lead you to believe Anthony is the thing Koppelman hates most about the franchise, the final conceit is centered on Dolan’s ineptitude as an owner (that’s not to say he doesn’t have a special disdain for Anthony). This article was written during the year of Linsanity, and that is the shred of hope Koppelman clings to as he stretches out for silver linings.
That article was written in 2012, and when looking at the way the franchise is run (see: James Dolan bullshit), not much has changed. Several key things have changed on the basketball side however. Anthony is four years older, Phil Jackson is the GM, and they drafted Kristaps Porzingis. All of these things are important.
The Knicks played well for five and a half quarters this week, starting on Sunday when they beat the Spurs, current owners of the second best record in the league, and ending at some point during the second quarter of Wednesday’s game in Oklahoma City. The 34 year old Anthony was sparkling in the first quarter, scoring 19 points in the frame. Jackson acquiree Derrick Rose was also playing well, and Porzingis stuffed Steven Adams on a dunk attempt near the beginning of the game, once again showcasing one of the reasons he is the perfect player to build around in the current NBA. The Knicks relinquished a 15 point second-quarter lead by halftime.
Koppelman was recently on Bill Simmons podcast where they discussed the Knicks. At one point Koppelman was pointing out the difference between being a fan of the tortured Red Sox in the late 90s and early 00s, and the 21st century Knicks, saying that there is just no hope when it comes to the Knicks as long as Dolan is the owner. Why then, are Knicks fans surprised or disappointed by this season? By this batshit crazy Charles Oakley story? The answer is Kristaps Porzingis.
Porzingis isn’t just a silver lining like Linsanity (and Linsanity was one of the greatest sports memories from my time in college). Porzingis has flashed such brilliance that he’s made Knicks fans forget that having a terrible owner can’t be overcome. Porzingis’ play casts a big bright spotlight on everything wrong with the Knicks. Watch a game and you’ll see the ball get passed to Melo, and it stops. The ball gets passed to Rose, and it stops. The ball gets passed to Porzingis and you’re much more likely to get a quick touch pass to a wide open Courtney Lee. You know, the style of basketball that works in the modern NBA (This is of course an incredible generalization but, honestly it’s not that far off if you’ve watched any Knicks games this season).
The same spotlight is cast off the court as well, because getting a young player like Porzingis is everything in the NBA. It’s the reason the 76ers decided to not win for multiple seasons. It’s the reason New Yorkers went so crazy when Linsanity was happening. It’s the reason amazing articles like the Bleacher Report piece on Ron Baker put a smile on my face. Knicks fans are desperate for hope, and that’s what Porzingis represents. The problem is James Dolan: Hope Wrecker. In almost every situation, drafting a player like Porzingis means that with a few moves and a year or two of development your team will be making the playoffs for the better part of a decade. At the moment, that doesn’t appear to be the case for the Knicks.
So, what are us Knicks fans to do? Do we just shift our gaze to our permitted second team as suggested by Koppelman in the podcast with Simmons? (Unfortunately I think mine is the Suns because of the Nash years, maybe I can just pretend it was a D’Antoni thing and root for the Rockets). Do we hope the Dolan-Sterling comparison Oakley presented gets some legs and Dolan is forced to sell the team? (hahahahaha if only). Do we stop buying tickets as Redditor u/GenericHero suggests? Do we cling to silver linings like Jeremy Lin and Ron Baker?
Maybe the answer is that we just need to stay painfully self-aware. If we don’t, we could end up thinking we’re still the player we were when we won a National Title at Syracuse, or the one who won an MVP before his knees betrayed him. We could end up thinking we know how to be an NBA general manager at 70 because we were a great coach. We could end up thinking we actually did hit that triple… And while beating back the hope won’t feel very good, at least we’ll know we are being honest with ourselves. It’s a tough ask for sports fans, Knicks fans in particular, but if we can’t tell ourselves the truth, who will?
Lemmen's Nursery 