NBA Trade Talk: New York State Of Decline
You’re going to hear and read a lot of stupid things now that the NBA trade deadline has come and gone.
Many of them will revolve around the New York Knicks.
One of the darndest things I’ve heard in a while was today when I heard a radio talk show host say, “[T]he New York Knicks have everything a top-of-the-line free agent wants.”
Yup, at 19-34 and 7 1/2 games out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference is exactly where LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire want to go.
Why doesn’t anyone who gets paid top dollar to analyze basketball realize how absolutely putrid this franchise is?
The Knicks have not posted an above .500 record since the 2000-01 season where a team led by Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell paced a Jeff Van Gundy coached squad to a 48-34 record. Since firing JVG after a 10-9 start to the 2001-02 campaign, the Knicks are 259-431 with a .375 winning percentage.
The host continued and said, “You can go to New York and win a championship.”
News flash: The Knickerbockers haven’t won a championship trophy since the 1972-73 season and has not been to a NBA Finals since the 1998-99 strike-shortened year. D-Wade already has a ring, and LeBron has already taken a rebuilding team to a title game showdown.
If I’m a free agent looking to get paid and win a championship, I look at New York and laugh. I’d do the dog-and-pony show, chill with Spike Lee and Kate Hudson at a Yankees game, eat some pizza, hit up Flashdancers, be Derek Jeter’s wingman for a weekend and listen to the sales pitch.
Then, I’d say, “Thanks … but no thanks.”
It seems as if the Knickerbockers have spent an eternity awaiting this off-season and have been clearing cap space and stockpiling their accounts hoping to sign a pair of big money free agents. Of the players that will be available only LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh project to be elite, franchise-altering players. Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire headline the Maxwell Smart Missed It By That Much level.
After that, it’s a steep decline.
The Knicks have convinced themselves that they will land at least two of the aforementioned names and add them to their respective rosters for the 2010-11 year.
And when those guys are off the board and New York has no one to give give max contracts except role players, the Knickerbockers’ only selling point will be MSG and the cheesy goodness that is New York Style pizza.
