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.
Man, this list is great. Like walking through a graveyard that somehow makes you happy instead of creeped out. All those headstones. All those memories. Donte's 3 that stabbed Philly in the heart. J.R. clearly is personally responsible for tens of thousands of hair follicles pulled out by the Knicks faithful. And nothing but love for David Lee. I'll reserve judgment, Jonathan, because your logic has been so solid, but it is hard for me to believe there are 50 Knicks greater than DDLee. Onward, brother. This is great reading.
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!
Nowhere in my post did I say he didn't deserve the HOF. What I did say is he became a Knick because their offer blew every other team out of the water & that was the major reason he signed here! You can't blame him for taking advantage of a Knicks management who had shot itself in the foot & was looking for some sort of forgiveness from the fanbase. Amare benefitted financially from those missteps!
Knicks were blowing a lot of players out of the water with insane offers, but none of them took the money. The team was so toxic that they couldn't get anyone to come here. Amare signing here made it possible to get other players to come join him on the knicks and give us that nice little run between 2011-2013. An oasis in a stretch of horrible Knick basketball.
Spencer Haywood was a major disappointment. A prime example of a guy who looks great from afar and is a name player until you see him up close and personal. Heavy is the crown of being the Man. He could always score, but had hands of stone, as well as documented off-court issues. New York and all it has to offer was probably not the best place for him to play. Nice to see him show up as part of Knicks alumni festivities. As we have seen time and time again, a team full of names who can score (whether it is McAdoo, Haywood, Frazier, and Monroe, or LeBron, Maxey, Brown and Embiid) is not necessarily a real TEAM.
Dollar Bill rounded out that starting five. Though it just goes to show that as great as Clyde was, they needed Reed and DeBusschere for that unit to work. (I think Clyde will tell you that himself.)
The Spencer Haywood Knicks were depressing. After the glory of the early 70s it was thin gruel to watch Spencer and Big Bob Mcadoo. Great talents but very much the un-beautiful game. of course, they were great players and Bob would have his destiny play out with the Lakers but this Knicks period sort of presaged the early 2000s.
I came to Knicks basketball in the Haywood-McAdoo era. Lots of pretty counting stats, but I’d rank Donte way above either for the joy he brought me as a Knicks fan, and outsized success in one season on the team.
I realize what I'm going to say is very controversial with Knick fans but I believe if you take the emotion out you may eventually recognize. I also know Jon that you are a big Amare fan and have always thought highly of him while not thinking highly of Melo. I have always believed the total opposite. Amare coming straight out of a small program FL high school into the NBA was never properly Coached, who played NO D and his success came from his raw offensive talent and that he landed in the perfect situation with Nash in Phoenix. The Knicks signing him with No injury protection was a desperate signing that was compounded when they didn't amnesty him. He was the highest paid Knick even after the Melo trade and remained that his entire Knick tenure. The roster decisions made by Walsh/D'Antoni were certainly over-rated and lacked the attention to detail of what is needed to win in the Playoffs. I'm happy for Amare that he made the Hall but sadly he never had much success after the first half of his first season with the Knicks.
On a completely different subject, I think that until last year's playiffs, the Knicks only once in their history (1970) won 16 games in a 19 game stretch.
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.
Man, this list is great. Like walking through a graveyard that somehow makes you happy instead of creeped out. All those headstones. All those memories. Donte's 3 that stabbed Philly in the heart. J.R. clearly is personally responsible for tens of thousands of hair follicles pulled out by the Knicks faithful. And nothing but love for David Lee. I'll reserve judgment, Jonathan, because your logic has been so solid, but it is hard for me to believe there are 50 Knicks greater than DDLee. Onward, brother. This is great reading.
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!
To me BILL he gave us joy at a time when Joy was not really easy while watching the Knicks. Amare deserved the hall.
Nowhere in my post did I say he didn't deserve the HOF. What I did say is he became a Knick because their offer blew every other team out of the water & that was the major reason he signed here! You can't blame him for taking advantage of a Knicks management who had shot itself in the foot & was looking for some sort of forgiveness from the fanbase. Amare benefitted financially from those missteps!
Did not imply that BILL. I think you misread it I just was affirming the idea that he clearly was Hall of Fame material.
Knicks were blowing a lot of players out of the water with insane offers, but none of them took the money. The team was so toxic that they couldn't get anyone to come here. Amare signing here made it possible to get other players to come join him on the knicks and give us that nice little run between 2011-2013. An oasis in a stretch of horrible Knick basketball.
Spencer Haywood was a major disappointment. A prime example of a guy who looks great from afar and is a name player until you see him up close and personal. Heavy is the crown of being the Man. He could always score, but had hands of stone, as well as documented off-court issues. New York and all it has to offer was probably not the best place for him to play. Nice to see him show up as part of Knicks alumni festivities. As we have seen time and time again, a team full of names who can score (whether it is McAdoo, Haywood, Frazier, and Monroe, or LeBron, Maxey, Brown and Embiid) is not necessarily a real TEAM.
Add Amare on the NO D listed!!!
Dollar Bill rounded out that starting five. Though it just goes to show that as great as Clyde was, they needed Reed and DeBusschere for that unit to work. (I think Clyde will tell you that himself.)
The Spencer Haywood Knicks were depressing. After the glory of the early 70s it was thin gruel to watch Spencer and Big Bob Mcadoo. Great talents but very much the un-beautiful game. of course, they were great players and Bob would have his destiny play out with the Lakers but this Knicks period sort of presaged the early 2000s.
I came to Knicks basketball in the Haywood-McAdoo era. Lots of pretty counting stats, but I’d rank Donte way above either for the joy he brought me as a Knicks fan, and outsized success in one season on the team.
I realize what I'm going to say is very controversial with Knick fans but I believe if you take the emotion out you may eventually recognize. I also know Jon that you are a big Amare fan and have always thought highly of him while not thinking highly of Melo. I have always believed the total opposite. Amare coming straight out of a small program FL high school into the NBA was never properly Coached, who played NO D and his success came from his raw offensive talent and that he landed in the perfect situation with Nash in Phoenix. The Knicks signing him with No injury protection was a desperate signing that was compounded when they didn't amnesty him. He was the highest paid Knick even after the Melo trade and remained that his entire Knick tenure. The roster decisions made by Walsh/D'Antoni were certainly over-rated and lacked the attention to detail of what is needed to win in the Playoffs. I'm happy for Amare that he made the Hall but sadly he never had much success after the first half of his first season with the Knicks.
On a completely different subject, I think that until last year's playiffs, the Knicks only once in their history (1970) won 16 games in a 19 game stretch.
James Worthy to the Knicks? Has anyone other than X man talked about that?
Haywood was not over the hill age wise. He was 26 when he joined the Knicks. But his cocaine addiction started during the Knick years.
I hope there’s a way to bring Donte home at some point. Will forever love that dude
Mazel Tov, Amare!