I finally reached my boiling point as a Knicks fan this week. Since I moved back to New York in early 2008, I've witnessed nothing but awful Knicks basketball as a result of Isiah Thomas's reign of terror. The last two seasons featured countless double-digit losses, lopsided trades and squandered draft picks. There was always a silver-lining, though; the Summer of 2010. Donnie Walsh was supposed to rescue the franchise by clearing up enough cap space to sign two max free agents before the 2010-11 season, ensuring the Knicks would be featuring some combination of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh this fall.
Well, as we know now that didn't happen. The big rewards for Walsh's admittedly shrewed dealings turned out to be Amar'e Stoudemire and Raymond Felton, fan favorite David Lee was shipped off to Golden State for three bench players, and the Knicks all but ensured themselves another half-decade of mediocrity. Before this summer's free agent period, I promised myself and anyone who would listen that if the Knicks weren't rescued by a monster free-agent class this summer, I would finally renounce my fan-ship and pick another NBA team. Even loyalist Bill Simmons declared this "kosher" in this Rules for Being a True Fan column, stating that a fan could switch teams if "the owner of your favorite team treated his fans so egregiously over
the years that you couldn't take it anymore -- you would rather not
follow them at all then support a franchise with this owner in charge." To me, the Dolans had crossed this threshold long ago, and I had grounds to terminate my relationship with the team.
Only one problem: I couldn't do it.
As badly as I want to forget the Knicks and start fresh with a different franchise (The Warriors would be a perfect choice: they're not good yet so it wouldn't be considered bandwagoning, they have my former favorite Knick David Lee on the roster, and they play in the Bay Area where I'll be living starting this fall), I can't bring myself to abandon them. To me, teams are like family; no matter how badly they treat you, you don't give up on them. Even when they continually disappoint you to the point where you doubt if they can be saved, you never give up hope. You find yourself optimistically looking forward to the next season, convincing yourself that the team really has a chance.
Maybe Anthony Randolph will emerge as a top-tier power forward in Mike D'Antoni's system. Landry Fields went to Stanford; he's probably a smart player who could thrive in the NBA. Danilo Gallinari is the second coming of Dirk Nowitzki; he just needs time to develop.
A few days ago I imagined myself spending time this weekend reading up on the Golden State Warriors roster and scouring their schedule for good games to attend at the Oracle Arena this season. Instead, I spent part of this evening watching an encore presentation of the Knicks Las Vegas Summer League game versus Denver, talking myself into Andy Rautins and Marcus Landry becoming solid NBA rotation guys. Giving up on the Knicks was way harder than I thought it would be, so I'm in it for the long haul (and, looking at the 2010-11 roster so far, it might be a really long haul). There will always be that little piece of me that thinks the team is about to turn the corner, and that little piece is stronger than the bulk of me that knows that they won't.
2 comments:
Seriously, what would it take to finally put you over the edge? Would D'Antoni need to make incomprehensible subs with a playoff birth on the line? Would Dolan have to actually come onto the court and snap Stoudemire's ACL? Would Tracy McGrady need to steal your girlfriend? What's the order of magnitude here?
From a sports fan perspective, I think the only thing worse than watching your once championship-caliber team become bottom-feeders for 5+ years is to have your once horrible team manage to FINALLY get a first-ballot hall-of-fame caliber coach and player, sniff a championship and then lose aforementioned coach/player and all hopes forever.
On a similar note, I think any player (see Ricky Rubio) that enters the draft, gets drafted and then fails to sign with their team (after some sort of arbitration process or something), should not be allowed to play in that league for 10 years.
You will look back on the trade with the warriors very favorably in the future. Anthony Randolph is the real deal, and Lee wasn't coming back anyway. If anything, you could make the case that signing Amar'e instead of Lee was like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic...
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