Congrats Amar'e
A former Knick entered the Hall this weekend. Plus, a coach departs and we get to the next entrant on the Knicks 100.
Good morning! I hope everyone is enjoying the dog days of summer. As usual, the NBA news cycle never sleeps…
News & Notes
🏀 Congrats to Amar’e Stoudemire, Mike D’Antoni and Doc Rivers on their entry into the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend!
We’ll be getting to Amar’e shortly on the Knicks 100, so I’ll save my more extended thoughts for then, but in short, when he was at his best, there aren’t five players I’ve ever seen in a Knick uniform that were better. Congrats to him and the rest of the inductees.
🏀 Jordan Brink, the man behind New York’s incredible success rate on challenges over the last several years, has taken a job with the Chicago Bulls as an Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development. It’ll be a tough loss for the coaching staff, but congrats to Jordan on the promotion.
The Knicks 100: No. 55 - Donte DiVincenzo
When I was on stage with Deuce McBride at Fanatics Fest earlier this summer and I asked him which former Knick texted him first after winning the NBA title, it didn’t surprise me that his answer was Donte DiVincenzo1.
Donte, as much as any player I’ve ever watched in person, struck me as someone born to be a Knick. He’s not from the area2 like Mark Jackson or Jose Alvarado and his game doesn’t evince signs of a classic NYC street baller, but that’s not what mattered to those who watched him. DiVincenzo was destined to wear NEW YORK across his chest because he has moxie seeping out of his pores, with more than enough big game performances on his resume to back it up. Pound for pound, he’s as tough as any 90’s Knick ever was.
I might be a little biased on that last point because I was in the building when Donte gave Myles Turner the business after throwing down a put-back slam to send the Garden into pandemonium two years ago, but that was far from the only example. Show me a Goliath, and I’ll show you DiVincenzo waiting with a slingshot and a balled up fist. Victor Wembanyama would never have gotten away with his shenanigans if Donte was still here for the 2026 finals.
Alas, they expected one of us the the wreckage, brother.
It seems that for the fire to rise, the man who was destined to remain a Knick for life had to be sent to Minnesota after just 94 games in New York. But what a 94 games they were, broken down into acts that were not only memorable, but built neatly on the one proceeding it:
Act 1: Coming off the bench for 18 of his first 20 games, DiVincenzo established himself as a key member of the rotation.
Act 2: Moving into the starting five in place of Quentin Grimes, DiVincenzo fit like a glove, eventually solidifying an unstoppable five-man unit following the OG trade.
Act 3: After Randle and Anunoby went down, DiVincenzo played the third most minutes in the league over his final 35 games3, scoring over 20 a night and hitting more threes than anyone besides Steph Curry.
Act 4: DiVincenzo had a postseason for the ages, hitting one of the most iconic shots in Knicks history, playing 48 minutes in a closeout game, and giving the Pacers everything they could handle for seven games.
His final game as a Knick - 39 points on 21 shots - is among the best Game 7 performances in NBA history that came in a loss. Everything he had was left out on the court.
His story is eerily reminiscent of the only other man in the conversation for the greatest one-season Knick in history, who just so happens to lead the next four players on our list:
Xavier McDaniel only had season as Patrick Ewing’s enforcer, but boy was it a good one. The image of him going forehead to forehead with Michael Jordan will always define his tenure. It may not have been wise of him to upset the GOAT, but it solidified the X-Man as someone who fit right into the culture Pat Riley was trying to build. Unfortunately, due to circumstances that are still somewhat mysterious, the Knicks apparently never made him an offer to return for a second season.
Thankfully, in the one season we got, McDaniel more than left his mark. He started all 82 games for a 51-win team and wasn’t far behind Ewing as New York’s top postseason performer before falling to the Bulls in seven games. Perhaps most detrimentally, his departure necessitated the trade that sent out Mark Jackson for Doc Rivers and new starting small forward Charles Smith.
DiVo and McDaniel round out a motley crew that leads up to our top 50. Spencer Haywood is the second hall-of-famer to appear on the list, although as has been a theme for much of the franchise’s history, the Knicks missed out on his best days. They were about a .500 team over his three and a half seasons and made the second round one time. For as much as the McAdoo/Haywood duo stood in such stark contrast to the beautiful basketball played less than a decade earlier, Haywood was good for 17 & 9 a night and is still a top-50 scorer and top-40 rebounder in Knicks history.
J.R. Smith might be the ideal spiritual successor to Haywood in more ways than one, and unlike Haywood, was able to ply his trade for a winner. Of course, for as much as Smith’s 6th Man of the Year campaign was a big part of the success of #KnicksTape, his inconsistency over the years was also a reason why that house of cards eventually toppled. His suspension and subsequent underproduction in the 2013 playoffs is the biggest reason he’s not higher, but he provided far more positive memories than negative ones. May the baddies forever strive for that sacred pipe.
The last exclusion from the top 50 is also one of the last players on the list to never appear in a playoff game for the Knicks, and that’s David Lee. Some advanced stats paint Lee as a borderline top-20 Knick ever, and he got an All-Star nod for his trouble before moving on to Golden State. Only Dwight Howard amassed more double doubles than Lee over the last two seasons he spent in New York. No one who watched him during his half decade here ever thought he was part of the problem, even if his tricky positional fit made it equally unclear if he’d ever be part of a champion. This seems like the right spot to put him.
NEXT UP: From face of the franchise to matching salary, one of the most divisive Knicks of the Leon Rose era is next up at 50.
🏀
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Actually, Donte was his first thought, but he followed it up by saying it might have been Evan Fournier as well. Fournier - spoiler alert - isn’t making this list, but he was a better Knick than he’s given credit for, and by all accounts a very good teammate.
Donte was born in Newark, Delaware
He trailed only DeMar DeRozan and his teammate Josh Hart.
It’s ironic that Donte and X were united in this column because they are two players I always regretted/was unhappy to see leave the Knicks. And like with X, I will root for the Knicks to reacquire Donte until the day he retires.
And I still don’t understand why the Knicks didn’t resign X. It weakened their team to lose him and it went along with the criticism of the Checketts/Grunfeld regime that they could never put enough good players around Patrick in his prime to win a title.
Certainly Congrats to Amare for his HOF induction, but I just wish reporters would report the entire truth & not just selective items. I kept reading that Amare was the only player who had the balls to come to New York when others turned Knicks offers down. And although I appreciate Amare's time as a Knick, he came solely because they blew him out of the water with an offer he could not refuse. Knicks management needed to save face after being embarrassed by Lebron & signing Amare was their only way to do it!