State of the Knicks

“Hope is a good thing…maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” – Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

Wasn’t planning on writing an article today, but based on today’s news in Knicks Land, I think today’s subject warrants the discussion. But first some context…

For the better part of the last 20 years when text chains became a “thing”, I’ve had one chain that has survived on my cell phone since it’s inception – that’s the thread with my 3 friends who have been part of the Knicks brotherhood from day one. I’ve been friends with my buddies Rick and Rich since the mid 90’s and I can say whole heartedly that our friendship was absolutely forged out of our love for the Knicks. We’d be at parties together and while other guys were chasing girls, we’d disappear into some corner debating whether we should be starting Charlie Ward or Chris Childs. And when Rich’s brother Tim followed suit, it only became natural he was added to the chain.

In addition to our incessant texting during every single game, we’ve also texted each other more hypothetical situations than one could imagine.  Some have been based in reality, some were based in a false hope of things that would never come to fruition…

The remnants of the Scott Layden era

The hope that Stephon Marbury would lead us back to relevance

Suffering through the Isiah Thomas and Phil Jackson eras, complete with the worst coaching carousel ever…

When we cleared out cap space with the hopes of landing LeBron…

…And getting Amare Stoudemire instead, knowing we had limited time with his bad knees…

The hope that maybe Carmelo Anthony would be our next savior…

LINSANITY!

Kevin Knox dominating the Vegas Summer League

Okay, maybe this Frank Ntlikina kid will be our point guard of the future…

Kristaps Porzingis will be the unicorn of the future!

Almost getting Zion Williamson…

Being a Knicks fan has been a sports blessing and a curse…the highs have been unbelievable. When I was a kid in the 90’s, we were always contenders for the most part. And even if Michael Jordan and those thorn-in-the-side Bulls were too much to overcome, there was always a sense of optimism each offseason. But after the 1999 season the Knicks decided to move on from the Ernie Grunfeld and Dave Checketts lead front office. That lead to hiring Scott Layden who lead the Knicks into an absolute abyss for two decades. Since then the lows have been very low.

I can remember a game my buddy and I went to where we lost to the Sacramento Kings 124-86. Our starting lineup that night?

Langston Galloway

Cleanthony Early

Andra Bargnani

Tim Hardaway Jr.

Lou Amundson

Also seeing action for the Knicks that night? Alexey Shved, Shane Larkin, Jason Smith, Lance Thomas, Cole Aldrich, Quincy Acy, and Travis Wear.

Unless you’re a diehard basketball fan, with the exception of one or two names on that list, if I told you these were the names of the next Chippendales line up in Reno, Nevada, you’d probably have a tough time knowing whether I was lying or not.

But our text chain not only survived, but thrived during this entire era. Some combination of us went to multiple games losing almost all of them – we watched the likes of guys like Rodney Hood and Jae Crowder and David West have the best games of their lives, but still, we held on to the hope that one day it would get better…it had to get better right? Finally after a disastrous 17-65 season in 2019 where we finished 15th in the Eastern Conference, and a 21-45 season in 2020, Steve Mills and David Fizdale were shown the door and Leon Rose was brought in as President of the New York Knicks. One of his most important moves would be finding a coach who could get the franchise on track and build what many teams hope for but have difficulty achieving – a winning culture.

Bring in Tom Thibodeau. A coach who had achieved levels of success with the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves, but wore through his welcome with certain players who didn’t appreciate his hard nose, grind it out, work until you can’t work anymore then work again mindset. His players who liked him, loved him. His players who didn’t like him…well, you know. He was a steady, if not boring hire, and there definitely was some risk involved.

It was a roll of the dice, but something magical began to take hold that 2021 season – the players bought in. Julius Randle had the best season of his career and became an MVP candidate. Young players like RJ Barrett, Mitchell Robinson, Immanuel Quickley and Obi Toppin showed glimpses of talent, and veterans like Alec Burks and Reggie Bullock helped stabilize the franchise.

I remember going to one of the first games in the Garden when it opened back up to fans after the pandemic. My wife and I had the time of our lives, watching us pull out a thrilling 133-129 victory in overtime, something that I was definitely not accustomed to. She took a video of me dancing and singing on the MSG scoreboard to Go NY, Go NY Go! – it was one of the best moments as a Knicks fan I ever experienced. That game would be the first of a 9 game winning streak that would get us into the playoffs. Sure, we’d lose in the first round, but after so many years of failing to have any success, my friends and I couldn’t be happier. We had a future, we had hope, we had something we hadn’t had in years – success.

The 2022 season didn’t have the same success, but it was clear that the team was playing hard and developing, we just needed some reinforcements. Cue the additions of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Isaiah Hartenstein. Brunson and Hart brought with them a winning culture from their Villanova days and Hartenstein was finally given the opportunities that he hadn’t received on the Clippers. Brunson became a star, the star the Knicks had always longed for – a point guard whose work ethic embodied the spirit of the city.  The 2023 Knicks turned the corner, not only finishing 5th in the conference, but winning their first round series against the Cavaliers. Additions of Donte DiVincenzo and OG Anunoby would be the centerpieces of an incredible 2024 season – With Thibs working his coaching magic, the Knicks went 50-32 finishing 2nd in the Eastern Conference. They once again won in the first round against the Philadelphia 76ers, and lost in the conference semifinals 4-3 against the Indiana Pacers which can absolutely be attributed to the fact that they were dealing with debilitating injuries to not just some, but most of their key players.

Expectations were going to be high going into this past season no matter what, but the team would be getting a healthy Julius Randle and OG Anunoby back, and would look to find ways to build around their hard-working core of players. And then two major dominos fell –

The Knicks would trade Julius Randle and playoff hero Donte DiVincenzo and a first round pick for Minnesota center Karl-Anthony Towns.

The second move would be acquiring Mikal Bridges from the Nets for FIVE (gag) first round draft picks.

Between these moves and losing Isaiah Hartenstein, it became clear that this past season would look very different than the year prior. And it did. The Knicks finished with a 51 win season and made it all the way to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals – further than they had made it in 25 years, however something just felt different to me and my buddies who have watched every game year in and year out.

The Knicks were scoring at will but the trademark, hard-nosed D that the fans grew up on was gone. Brunson and Towns became a turnstile against pick and rolls, and Thibs inability (aka stubbornness) to change his lineups throughout the regular season proved to be the Knicks downfall in the postseason.

Back to that text chain – I can’t think of another year where my friends and I butted heads or were more conflicted on all things Knicks. Most seasons even if we had differing opinions on how we needed to improve, there was a consensus on WHAT we needed to improve. This year we bickered about lineup changes, the impact of Karl-Anthony Towns, coaching decisions, roster alignment, you name it. In the days since we’ve lost, we’ve floated around a bunch of ideas – trading for depth, changing the starting lineups, trading KAT for Durant or Giannis, and firing the coach. As I looked back at our texts throughout the postseason especially, there was one subject that came up multiple times where most of us had alignment – and that was our frustration with Thibs.

Today he was let go, and I wish I could give you definitive reaction on whether or not it was the right move or not but to be honest, much like this entire past year, I just don’t know. There are two ways of looking at it…

Before Thibs, the Knicks hadn’t made the playoffs in 7 years and had a.309 winning percentage, the worst in the NBA. With Thibs, the Knicks had a .565 winning percentage and made the playoffs 4 out of 5 years.

But I think to something that my friend Rick (who I almost always disagree with on most things Knicks) said the other day that summed up my thoughts perfectly:

“The thing is he never experimented with lineups during the year. Never. Bridges played more than 4 full basketball games worth of minutes than any other player in the league other than Hart, and you can’t tell me that doesn’t have impact later in the year. It’s the same story every year. He refused to pull Elfrid Payton, he buried Burks last year until he had no choice, then Burks won them a playoff game and was the scoring punch they needed. The margins are so tiny at this level, and it is just demonstrating that while he will always raise the floor of a team, he lowers the ceiling.”

That last sentence especially is something I just keep coming back to. And for the first time in a couple years, the Knicks will have that uncertainty going into the offseason that we haven’t had in a long time. This may very well be a case of be careful what you wish for, because whoever comes in next will have very big shoes to fill. Thibs was a basketball lifer, who literally isn’t married because basketball always has come first. But a change had to be made, running it back with the same cast of characters was going to represent a potential step backwards, not forward. That I do feel confident about.

The text chain will survive, as will our Knicks fandom. Our sarcasm, ball busting, disagreements and jubilation will continue for years to come. We’ve been through Fizdale, Eddy Curry, Charles Oakley getting banned, Derek Fisher and Jeff Hornacek, Reggie, MJ Pat Riley leaving and most recently Tyrese. We’re battle tested, we’re probably clinically insane for loving this team, but we’ll be ready for whatever comes next.

In the meantime, thank you Thibs – the past couple years reminded us of why we’ve always hung onto hope. And for that, we’ll always be grateful.