I am a New York Knicks fan! There I said it, loud and proud got damn it. See there are two different types of Knicks fans, those like me who proudly wear our fandom on our sleeve. And there are others whom whisper so they aren’t attacked by “Knick dickriders”. Oh and believe me do we have some “dickriders”. DickRider, a word with quite a few definitions in the New York City Lingo Dictionary (Totally just made that up). But in regards to this topic, I shall define it as, “One who finds pleasure in making unnecessary comments (usually negative), regarding a person, place or thing”. People like that have made it extremely difficult to show public affection to the Knickerbockers. They love to mention how bad we’ve been for the last 19 years (New Yorkers say we when referring to their favorite team). Our lack of playoff wins, numerous terrible contracts and trades (looking at you Isaiah Thomas and James Dolan), the negativity surrounding the front office and players, not to our mere four winning seasons since the turn of the 21st century has made the franchise a punchline for too many for far too long. If you’re like me, you’re a millennial who hasn’t witnessed your favorite team achieve the success you’d like to see. The losing gets so bad that you’ve found yourself just begging to make it to the playoffs. If you’re a bit of an older Knicks fan you can clearly remember the glory days of Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston before the injuries. You can remember those battles with Jordan’s Bulls and Miller’s Pacers. You can say that you’ve seen the New York Knicks win an Eastern Conference Championship and play in the NBA Finals (two if you were old enough to remember the 1994 run). Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case in almost two decades worth of basketball. Referring back to the aforementioned terrible contracts and trades, the feeble-minded owner of the organization, James Dolan, has CONSTANTLY put the Knicks in a position to fail. In no chronological order; we have the combined $90 Million being paid to Eddy Curry and Jerome James, the trade for Andrea Bargnani, the trade for a washed up Steve Francis, signing Joakim Noah to a four year, $72 Million contract, trading damn near every fucking talented basketball player we had for Carmelo Anthony when we just could have waited until 2011 free agency and surrounded him with a team that could have challenged the “Heatles”. The list sadly goes on and on. The Knicks have always attempted to “Win Now” instead of organically growing within and developing players. Hasty signings have come to bite us in the ass on too many occasions. Trading away picks for players who haven’t panned out was what the Knicks sadly became known for. We thought good times were a coming when Phil Jackson took over as President of Basketball Operations. “We’re definitely going to becoming a winner now that the most winningest coach in NBA history is running the show right?” WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! All Phil did was talk shit about his players and feud with Melo for the better part of two years. He was seen as a crazy ass old man rather than the genius basketball mind he constantly showed as head coach for two different dynasties. In the three seasons he was in charge, the Knicks put up a record of 80-166, not seeing a second of playoff action in that duration. He was thankfully let go in 2017 and despite the sour taste he left in New York, he did get one thing right. That one thing stands at 7 foot 3 inches tall and hails from Latvia. Kristaps Porzingis, the unknown European prospect who was booed mercilessly by just about every Knick fan when drafted by the Knicks and Jackson in 2014, is now the franchise player we’ve been hoping for. He is what an athletic, defensive minded Dirk Nowitzki would look like. Even though he’s currently nursing a torn ACL, it doesn’t take away from the majestic aura that surrounds the “Unicorn”. KP has shown growth every season, with his most recent resulting in an All Star bid, though he didn’t get a chance to play due to his injury putting him on the shelf. We haven’t had an All Star big that was drafted by the organization since the legendary number 33 (Sorry 2009-10’s version of David Lee). He showed he can be the primary scorer of an offense in the Post-Melo Era. We have French guard, Frank Ntilikina who was drafted in 2017 on our roster and he has tremendous upside. Our latest lottery pick, Kentucky’s Kevin Knox, also booed during his draft selection wowed fans and critics alike during the 2018 NBA summer league. We have a young nucleus that a winner can be built around. We will have an immense amount of cap space come the Free Agency Period of 2019. The 2019 pool can potentially include big names such as Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Marc Gasol, Khris Middleton and more. It’s been a while since Madison Square Garden has looked this attractive to the outside world. Under the leadership of president Steve Mills, G.M. Scott Perry and head coach David Fizdale, the Knicks don’t seem as toxic as we’ve gotten so used to seeing. Things are actually starting to look up. We could be back in playoff contention as early as 2020 and that my friend is something to smile about. Here’s to hoping a new decade brings new fortune for the New York Knicks. Here’s to a Decade of success, a decade of winning. Be on the lookout, because before you know it, the Knicks will no longer be a punch line.
– Written By Elie Fortune. Contributor to DTS.
