I can still remember the sleepless nights I experienced as a 10-year-old after the 1970-71 New York Knicks lost Game Seven of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden to the Baltimore Bullets. The Knicks had the final possession with a chance to tie the game. The ball ended up in the hands of Bill Bradley, whose baseline jumper was tipped by Wes Unseld and fell well short of the basket as time expired. I remember my father laughing hysterically at my sardonic impersonation of Wes Unseld’s celebration on the court, his arms outstretched in the victory “V” while his patented scowl remained. As someone who risked his life as a child to catch a peek of the 12:00 AM tape-delayed Game Seven of the Finals against the Lakers the previous year, I wasn’t ready for that ending. As painful as that childhood sports moment was, the past two decades have revealed something even more distressing as an adult: despite their residence in the largest city and media market in the United States, the New York Knicks are a small-market team.
IT WASN’T ALWAYS THIS WAY
The Knicks last won the NBA Championship in 1973. Their last Finals appearance was in 1999. They’ve won one playoff series in the 21st century, now nearly 20 percent done. The Knicks have won 46 games over the last two seasons combined; 13 NBA teams won 46 or more games during the 2019-20 regular season. They’ve won 17 of 82 regular-season games twice in the last six seasons and averaged 25 wins over the last five.
This latest extended stretch of basketball barrenness—which coincided with the end of the Patrick Ewing era and the salary cap-killing deal that stamped it—came on the heels of a stretch which saw the Knicks qualify for the post-season 14 consecutive years (1988-2001), including two Finals appearances and a 60-win regular season. The Knicks fielded strong, physical, defensive-minded teams back then, but their inability to find a reliable scorer to complement Ewing, as well as the depth of Eastern Conference competition during the Michael Jordan era, prevented the Knicks from finishing the job.
Still, fans in the area could relate to the gritty, lunch pail style of play, and some of the complementary players on those squads remain local heroes to this day despite being unable to bring a championship to New York City..
Knicks’ fans under the age of 55 haven’t experienced a championship and missed out on the best stretch of basketball in their history, and the limited video available doesn’t do that version of the team any justice. Outside of Linsanity—which lasted for a few weeks—the team has provided very few memories for its fans under the age of 30.
WHAT THE JULY 2019 FREE AGENCY PERIOD TELLS US
This week the Knicks are getting destroyed in all areas of the media due to their inability to land marquee 2019 free agents they were clearly gunning for AND watching those same players sign with the Brooklyn Nets, who are making a bid to become the unruly neighbor.
It may be too early to kill the Knicks for missing out on their targets; the next few years will determine whether they dodged a bullet by missing out on the opportunity to sign an injured player—and another oft-injured one—to max contracts. Should both pan out in Brooklyn, then we’ve only seen a smidgeon of the abuse the Knicks will have to endure.
But the July 2019 free agency period is merely a continuation of a pattern that has seen the Knicks resemble a small-market team where the ability to attract the franchise-changing free agent is concerned. On those rare occasions when the Knicks have money to spend on free agents, they’ve been spurned by almost every big name in the sport, despite their location and status. The small-market teams don’t worry about such things, yet in 2019 smaller market teams like the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers were bringing in players on at least the same level as the Knicks’ signees.
There are plenty of well-documented reasons why a basketball franchise in the largest market playing in a famous arena with a passionate fan base never seems to get their first choice. Perhaps the team’s enthusiasm to sign its first choice was tempered by the recent injury, but after dealing away its rising star—also injured—to clear cap space, they were going for it at the time.
THE DEFINITION OF CRAZY
In light of the short contracts of the recently-added players, there is already talk of the team strategically limiting the years on the new contracts to enable the pursuit of yet another top player in 2021. No doubt the short memories will kick in, and in some circles the Knicks will once again be considered mortal locks to sign the player that summer, setting fans up for another round of disappointments.
Even though the Knicks have been less eager to toss in first-round round picks in deals lately, it’s still difficult for a long-time observer to buy the chatter about the Knicks finally making a commitment to developing young players, especially after sending their best one away just five months ago.
But for now the Knicks may want to take this method of team-building more seriously, as the sample size is large enough to conclude that the top free agents have no interest in coming to play for the Knicks, and what was once known as the basketball Mecca is no longer considered such by this generation’s superstars. Players a notch or two below will come to New York if they’re paid more than the market suggests, but building a championship contender requires more.
MIGHT AS WELL BE IN BOISE, IDAHO
There have been successful small-market franchises who understand they cannot compete with the big boys for the top free agents and build their rosters and utilize their cap space accordingly. The Knicks are there, but either they don’t understand it or refuse to accept it. The New York Knicks are a small-market team still playing the role of a large-market team while operating in the country’s biggest market. They would be wise to emulate their successful counterparts of similar status until they’re once again in a position to make efficient use of the advantages they’re currently wasting.
Photo by Alden Skeie on Unsplash
