Great piece, both this one and the one from two years ago regarding the Ewing deal. Great comprehensive breakdown and analysis of how the Knicks became a dumpster fire for so long. Yet for all the foibles of Scott Layden, and the impusliveness of Isiah Thomas, you never touch on the obvious motivating reason for all of these bad moves, and that's the edict given to the front office by Jimmy Dolan that rebuilding wasn't allowed. The reason for this is simple, the Knicks have the highest prices in the league, and their financial structure is such that they need to get into the playoffs to make a profit, and if they can get to the 2nd round they clean up, so Jimmy never wanted to take the financial hit, and also Jimmy is legitimately a fan, so he saw things through rose colored glasses, and always thought he was just 1 player away, when he wasn't.
That's why I always compare the Knicks of the last 20 years to the Yankees of the 80s. When most people think of the Steinbrenner, they remeber the 70s with Reggie, and the soap opera with Billy, and then they think about the Jeter dynasty years, but people forget that in the 80s, George was every bit as lothed as Jim Dolan. There were alot of "$ell the team George" t-shirts and such at that time. That said, now that I mention it people used to burn their tickets outside of Giants Stadium demanding the Mara family sell the team too in the 80s as well.
Much like the Knicks this century, Goerge always thought we were one player away, when we weren't, and squandered most of Don Matrtingly's career finishing 2nd always getting fleeced on trades, and always overpaying for free agents on the downslope of a career. It took George getting banned for paying for dirt on Dave Winfield, the Howie Spira affair, and the wise management of Gene "the Stick" Michael, who rebuilt the entire organization from the ground up while George was banished, which laid the foundation for the Jeter, Posada, Pettite, and Bernie teams.
Fortunately, Jimmy Dolan isn't a criminal, and maybe he has finally accepted the lesson he refused to accept with the Ewing trade, and then kept doubling down on the same thing over and over. Sometimes you have to take a step back, in order to take two steps forward.
Hopefully Jimmy has finally learned that lesson, and the fact that he didn't interceede and overrule his front office and give up the store for Donovan Mitchell, which I feel was the entire strategy of Danny Ainge, is a temendous development.
Now the Knicks have several key pieces 25 and younger, including what I feel is at least 1 core piece in RJ Barrett. They have their cap in great shape, so the flexibility is there, and they are flush with picks. they are poisistioned to make their centerpiece deal when the opprotunity presents itself.
They've positioned themselves where they are now at the front end of a window of opprotunity which should span about a decade. Dare I say perhaps maybe a little dynasty of their own?
I'd sure like to see it. I'm 53, and I've been waiting my whole life for it.
i wasn't old enough to be cognizant of the Yanks in the 80's but i know the history and why its such an apt comp. Even Dolan hiring Leon (who I fully believe would have overpaid for Mitchell had Utah picked up the phone one last time) over Masai fits this bill. Hopefully they'll wind up better for it despite what I suspect their true intentions were.
Great piece, both this one and the one from two years ago regarding the Ewing deal. Great comprehensive breakdown and analysis of how the Knicks became a dumpster fire for so long. Yet for all the foibles of Scott Layden, and the impusliveness of Isiah Thomas, you never touch on the obvious motivating reason for all of these bad moves, and that's the edict given to the front office by Jimmy Dolan that rebuilding wasn't allowed. The reason for this is simple, the Knicks have the highest prices in the league, and their financial structure is such that they need to get into the playoffs to make a profit, and if they can get to the 2nd round they clean up, so Jimmy never wanted to take the financial hit, and also Jimmy is legitimately a fan, so he saw things through rose colored glasses, and always thought he was just 1 player away, when he wasn't.
That's why I always compare the Knicks of the last 20 years to the Yankees of the 80s. When most people think of the Steinbrenner, they remeber the 70s with Reggie, and the soap opera with Billy, and then they think about the Jeter dynasty years, but people forget that in the 80s, George was every bit as lothed as Jim Dolan. There were alot of "$ell the team George" t-shirts and such at that time. That said, now that I mention it people used to burn their tickets outside of Giants Stadium demanding the Mara family sell the team too in the 80s as well.
Much like the Knicks this century, Goerge always thought we were one player away, when we weren't, and squandered most of Don Matrtingly's career finishing 2nd always getting fleeced on trades, and always overpaying for free agents on the downslope of a career. It took George getting banned for paying for dirt on Dave Winfield, the Howie Spira affair, and the wise management of Gene "the Stick" Michael, who rebuilt the entire organization from the ground up while George was banished, which laid the foundation for the Jeter, Posada, Pettite, and Bernie teams.
Fortunately, Jimmy Dolan isn't a criminal, and maybe he has finally accepted the lesson he refused to accept with the Ewing trade, and then kept doubling down on the same thing over and over. Sometimes you have to take a step back, in order to take two steps forward.
Hopefully Jimmy has finally learned that lesson, and the fact that he didn't interceede and overrule his front office and give up the store for Donovan Mitchell, which I feel was the entire strategy of Danny Ainge, is a temendous development.
Now the Knicks have several key pieces 25 and younger, including what I feel is at least 1 core piece in RJ Barrett. They have their cap in great shape, so the flexibility is there, and they are flush with picks. they are poisistioned to make their centerpiece deal when the opprotunity presents itself.
They've positioned themselves where they are now at the front end of a window of opprotunity which should span about a decade. Dare I say perhaps maybe a little dynasty of their own?
I'd sure like to see it. I'm 53, and I've been waiting my whole life for it.
i wasn't old enough to be cognizant of the Yanks in the 80's but i know the history and why its such an apt comp. Even Dolan hiring Leon (who I fully believe would have overpaid for Mitchell had Utah picked up the phone one last time) over Masai fits this bill. Hopefully they'll wind up better for it despite what I suspect their true intentions were.