Everyone has that one friend that's failing at life. This is meant in the most honest and concerned way possible, because it's very likely that you have this kind of friend, or you may even be that person. The friend is someone down on their luck, meeting disaster at their every turn. It's like their guardian angel went rogue and decided to steer them into one terrible situation after another.
I can fully admit that for me, that friend is the New York Knicks. Instead of shaking my head and saying “Aw shucks” when something goes awry for them, I feel the twist of a dagger piercing my flesh when they make another decision that shows how deeply dysfunctional they are. The pain of daggers is figurative, of course, but the dysfunction is all too real, and to start this story from the beginning would turn it into a depressing and tumultuous rant. Let's not do that.
Remember, this isn’t a team that was predestined to fail this season, but the foundation it sits on is teetering on the edge of an abyss. Let’s look at some moves they've made that might better illustrate what I’m talking about.
The Knicks traded for Andrea Bargnani this offseason in exchange for Steve Novak, Marcus Camby, Quentin Richardson and three draft picks, including two second-rounders. The trade was met with extreme skepticism by bloggers, writers, and NBA analysts who cackled at the stupidity of the Knicks management for agreeing to a trade with Masai Ujiri, who was voted the NBA's executive of the year last season.
After crunching the numbers, you can claim that Bargnani didn’t make sense for a variety of reasons, especially in exchange for an asset that's more prized than ever. Others claimed that the former number one pick had the talent, but lost confidence in himself after the fans in Toronto turned on him. In just six games this season, we've seen Bargnani show his ability to hit the mid-range jump shot, nailing 53.1 percent of his shots outside of the paint. His defense and play when positioned at power forward tell another story about his inability to create spacing, but that's neither here nor there.
The question is, why would James Dolan “reassign” his general manager to a new position before the players he brought in had a chance to prove their worth?
Glenn Grunwald was “fired” on September 26th, moving to an advisory role on the team. The man replacing Grunwald, Steve Mills, served as the Sports Business President of Madison Square Garden from 2003 to 2008. Calling that time period 'rough' is a lot like your grandparents calling the 1930's 'depressing'. The firestorm of awfulness during that time was largely thanks to Isiah Thomas, but overseeing it all was Mills, who didn’t seem to make any effort to stop Thomas from running the franchise into the ground.
Let’s regroup and figure out what happened:
- Grunwald, a general manager known for his craftiness and ability to find affordable talent, is fired
-He is fired AFTER the offseason is over (and all of New York's moves have been made) but before NBA training camp opens
-A guy that was in the Knicks management during the worst stretch in franchise history replaces him
That actually happened before the season even started. If you want to make the “attempt” of figuring out what really happened, here's my conspiracy theory.
-Dolan used Grunwald to assemble a roster that had a good chance of winning now while still maintaining enough cap space to add another star player during the summer of 2015.
-Steve Mills is part of the CAA, which is why he might be the “hand shaker” who can help convince Carmelo Anthony to stay in New York.
-Both of these general managers display skills that complement each other, leading some to believe that Allan Houston will take over in a couple of seasons after studying Mills on the job.
The murkiness of Dolan’s demands can be found in an ESPN article by Ian Begley:
Due largely to salary-cap restrictions, the Knicks had a quiet offseason relative to those teams. They added 7-foot sharpshooter Andrea Bargnani, re-signed reigning Sixth Man Award winner J.R. Smith and signed free agents Metta World Peace and Beno Udrih.
Based on those offseason moves, many NBA pundits predict that the Knicks will finish no higher than fifth in the East.
That's why, according to sources, Dolan's expectations left some staffers in the meeting with an uneasy feeling….
According to sources with knowledge of the team's thinking, Dolan directed the front office to keep younger players with the final roster spots so that they can develop within the organization.
Some members of the team's hierarchy had hoped to keep veteran players in the last three roster spots, particularly if the expectation is for the Knicks to win now.
The questions continued in training camp, when the team chose to keep Chris Smith as the 15th man on the roster instead of a big man like Ike Diogu or Jeremy Tyler. Questions of “nepotism” arose from bloggers and NBA writers, who criticized the team for selecting a player who didn't seem good enough for a roster spot, especially with seven other guards already there.
Conspiracy theorists claimed that J.R. Smith may have reached some underhanded agreement with the team to secure a roster spot for his brother. That got too ridiculous for most to handle, but the anger in fans bubbled over when Tyson Chandler fractured his leg, leaving him sidelined for 4-6 weeks. The Knicks currently have one player listed as a center on the active roster, and he's played a total of ten minutes this season. Most feel that a defensive minded, rebounding big would be a huge help to the Knicks over the next few weeks, and in the midst of the chaos Chris Smith continues to keep the bench warm.
Misusing players in rotations, allowing inadequate players to stay on the roster, handing the keys of the franchise to incompetent personnel, and firing those who don't deserve the pink slip are issues that Knicks fans should be able to put in the rear-view mirror. None of those can be compared to Dolan’s fit after the Knicks 1-2 start.
Frank Isola reported that Dolan had an outburst that was directed at the Knicks city dancers, who have been reduced to glorified t-shirt dispensers.
An owner who yells and cries because of the results of three games clearly isn’t fit to be in a position of power for a major organization. After performing with his band at the Cutting Room in Manhattan, Dolan promised that the Knicks would win on Wednesday, but that wasn't much relief for fans growing tired of the back-room chaos.
This doesn’t spell doom for the 2013-14 New York Knicks. They may tread water until Chandler returns and end up settling for a middling playoff berth. Mike Woodson may realize the importance of spacing, rotations, and getting Pablo Prigioni to switch on screens before the season is over.
Still, you shouldn't feel comfortable with the Knicks' current plan (whatever that is). For those looking forward to the possibility of a “2015 Shopping Spree”, I commend you. I’ll be the one watching my troubled friend’s every step, hoping he can find a way to pull himself together.
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