Those of us who are fans of the Peanuts gang certainly remember growing up watching the Halloween program entitled, It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, where a pathetic Linus character waits in what he believes to be a chosen pumpkin patch for a fictional Great Pumpkin to rise and shower the kids with toys on Halloween night. Of course, the Great Pumpkin never actually shows up. This scenario is not unlike what we’ve witnessed in the 21st century from the NBA’s New York Knicks, who annually choose to forego conventional methods of building a roster to make a run at the league’s top established players via free agency, only to come up mostly empty. Almost twenty years after dealing away their last true franchise player, Patrick Ewing, the Knicks and their fans are still waiting for their version of The Great Pumpkin.
Wait, What Happened To The Rebuild?
As predicted, the New York Knickerbockers’ early season pledge of a proper rebuild via improved scouting, solid drafts and player development lasted less than a full season. Their risky February 1 trade sending previously projected franchise cornerstone Kristaps Porzingis and others to the Dallas Mavericks for Dennis Smith, Jr. and some expiring contracts, sent a clear message that they’re now all in on 2019 free agency this July. It also continues a nearly two-decade long trend of shunning the work of building a roster and going for the quick fix via either trade or free agency.
They now have the cap space to go after–but not necessarily sign–two top free agents in July of 2019. Like Linus, the Knicks are clinging to hopes that their favored pumpkin patch–New York City in this case–will be enough to lure a couple of top players here this summer. At this point no one knows what will happen, but history is not on the Knicks’ side. Star players have largely spent the last twenty years running from the place while in their prime basketball years unless they’re overpaid, though we’ve seen a few re-emerge in their late thirties.
The Knicks believe they’ll be an attractive free agent destination in 2019 and perhaps this is the year they hit their target(s), but which free agents are they realistically talking about? After dealing Porzingis they’ve essentially painted themselves into a corner where even if they sign multiple players, it will mean little if one of them isn’t named Kevin Durant.
But Why Did They Make This Trade Now?
Many theories have been presented, mostly involving alleged trade requests from Kristaps Porzingis. That may have been the major factor, but the Brooklyn Nets may have been another. On December 6th, both the Knicks and the Nets had won eight of their first 26 games and were sinking fast in the Eastern Conference. In the nearly two months up to the day of the trade, the Knicks had won but two games and lost 22, while the Nets won 20 of their next 27, were in playoff position and receiving league-wide praise for their player development program. This probably didn’t sit well with the Knicks’ owner.
This is just a theory, but keep in mind that the last time the Nets made a huge headline splash was on June 27, 2013, when they acquired Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics in exchange for a boatload of unprotected first-round picks. Not knowing at the time that the deal would be a disaster the Nets would spend the next six years trying to recover from and trying to recapture headline and press conference supremacy, exactly two weeks later on July 10, 2013, the Knicks said, “Hold my beer” and traded multiple draft picks–including a first-rounder–and players to the Toronto Raptors for Andrea Bargnani, a seven-footer and top overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft who played in 71 mostly uneventful games for the Knicks over two seasons. Just a few weeks earlier, the Raptors GM stated publicly that Bargnani would be waived if there were no trades available.
And he got a first-round pick out of it.
They Have To Hit Their Target One Day, Don’t They?
So here we go again. We all remember 2010 when Knicks’ coach Mike D’Antoni found himself with a rebuilding gig as the team moved in on guys with expiring deals like Tracy McGrady while dealing away guys attached to longer deals like Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford in an attempt to clear cap space for Lebron James. No question they had to do this or they would have had some explaining to do to their loyal fan base, but they swung and missed as James joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. They signed Amar’e Stoudemire as a consolation prize, then traded their remaining assets for Carmelo Anthony six months later and the two never meshed. There have been plenty of Linus moments for this franchise as wishing upon a star didn’t begin in 2010 for the Knicks, nor did it end there.
2002: “Chris Webber Is Definitely Coming To The Knicks!”
Amazingly, some Knicks’ fans thought Chris Webber, who became a favorite during his Fab Five days at the University of Michigan and whose Sacramento Kings squad was coming off a 61-win season during the 2001-02 season, was going to leave that situation and come to play for the Knicks, who were coming off a 30-win season.
The reason? He was close friends with Latrell Sprewell, who was still a member of the Knicks. There was little chance of Webber leaving millions of dollars on the table AND a better team to come to New York to play with his friend on a team hogtied by salary cap issues and coming off a 30-win season. Webber eventually re-signed with Sacramento for $122 million.
2007: “Great News! Kobe Bryant Wants to Be Traded!”
Rumors fly around all the time, but whenever a top player joins the disgruntled list, hopeful fans will wonder why the Knicks can’t put together a deal to bring him to New York, and headlines fan the flames by suggesting the trade demand is “great news for the Knicks.” But the Knicks had roster deficiencies and were in the salary cap doldrums for the better part of a decade after trading Patrick Ewing away, so making deals for top players in their prime was not an option.
Later, during the final year of Bryant’s contract, a handful of Knicks’ fans were convinced he’d forego millions of dollars and come to New York to play for about $5 million per year, which was all the Knicks could offer at the time due to cap mismanagement.
2017: “Kyrie Irving Is Disgruntled! He’s Coming To NYC!”
We’ve heard this twice. When Irving demanded a trade from Cleveland, once again it was considered “great news for the Knicks” as fans started constructing deals of their own, and you know how that works. It’s going to be a bit one-sided in their team’s favor. (“How about Ron Baker, a couple of second-round picks and cash for Kyrie?”) Meanwhile, the Cavs were likely demanding that any trade proposal for Kyrie involving the Knicks had to START with Porzingis.
Now whenever Irving waffles about his July 2019 free agency intentions or has cross words for teammates on national television, once again the assumption is that he’s coming to NY, especially since he’s from the area.
Getting The Fans’ Hopes Up
Other star players who have been linked to the Knicks via rumors or hope but never arose from the pumpkin patch include Steve Nash (2012/signed with Lakers), Paul Gasol (2014), Marc Gasol (2015/re-signed with Memphis), Russell Westbrook (2017/re-signed with Oklahoma City) and Lebron James again (2018/signed with Lakers), and more.
Additionally, when a top player comes to New York City with his current squad to face the Knicks during the final year of his contract, someone from the local media will always ask the player if he enjoys playing at Madison Square Garden. And there’s probably sincerity in the kind words the player uses to describe the experience. Of course, the unwitting player will find his name in tabloid headlines the next day: “Rising Free Agent X Loves New York.”
This only adds to the optimism/expectation that the player is coming to the Knicks, and to the disappointment when the player signs elsewhere or stays put, as is usually the case.
Location, Location, Reputation
But players will usually opt for the situation where they can make the most money–re-signing with their original team is the best bet if the player is about to become a free agent–and have the best chance of winning. Warm weather and beaches certainly don’t hurt, nor does stable ownership. Potential free agents will look at the Knicks and wonder why Porzingis was so eager to leave–if that’s actually the case–and why there’s so much instability in the coach’s box and at the management level.
Calling Sally Brown
Perhaps if there were more Knicks’ fans like Sally Brown, Charlie Brown’s little sister who waited all night with Linus for the emergence of The Great Pumpkin (which turned out to be an empty-handed Snoopy) only to watch the other kids walk away with all the candy, but managed to vent her frustrations with a classic meltdown directed towards Linus (“YOU OWE ME RESTITUTION!!”), perhaps we’d see change. But these are different times.
Don’t Bother Unpacking
Knicks fans have spent at least the last four NBA seasons hoping their squad would lose as many games as possible–and the team has obliged– to position themselves for a higher draft pick and, hopefully, a better player coming out of college. Unfortunately, the odds of such a player spending more than a few seasons in a Knicks’ uniform are slim.
The last Knicks’ first-round pick to hang around past his rookie contract was Charlie Ward (remember him?). Now Porzingis, drafted in 2015, is already gone. The Knicks’ 2013 pick, Tim Hardaway, Jr. has been traded away by the team TWICE. Even after the Porzingis trade, the Knicks still have some young talent on the roster like Mitchell Robinson, Kevin Knox, Dennis Smith, Jr. and Frank Ntilikina should they choose to develop him. But local fans should probably not get too attached to any of these guys, each of whom would be better off renting than buying as they’ll certainly be used as the bait once the next disgruntled star player goes public with trade demands.
Amidst all the change, this appears to be the only constant.
Photo by James Wheeler on Unsplash
