Empire Writes Back
Fansided

New York Knicks: James Dolan needs to sell the team now

By Roland Hope IV

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: A general view of the basketball court before fans are admitted to the arena prior to the game between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden on November 20, 2013 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. The Pacers defeated the Knicks 103-96 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: A general view of the basketball court before fans are admitted to the arena prior to the game between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden on November 20, 2013 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. The Pacers defeated the Knicks 103-96 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

For the sake of the fans, it’s time for James Dolan to sell the New York Knicks.

Since taking over as the owner of the New York Knicks 20 years ago, James Dolan has completely changed the outlook of a franchise that was once considered one of the golden teams of the NBA. In the 20 years prior to Dolan taking over the team, the Knicks were a perennial playoff team, appearing in the playoffs 14 times out of the 20 seasons with an incredible streak reaching ten years in a row.

The team legitimately had championship aspirations just about every year in the early 90’s, unfortunately falling short to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen constantly. Well, there was 1994 when they fell one win shy of hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy largely in part to John Starks going 2-18 in game seven (sorry for the reminder Knicks fans). In the 20 seasons under Dolan, the Knicks have gone from a playoff powerhouse to the laughing-stock of the NBA, failing to win over 40 games 15 out of the 20 seasons, resulting in only six playoff appearances.

When looking at the overall tenure of James Dolan as Knicks owner and trying to pinpoint exactly where the team went wrong it becomes very difficult. There are simply too many reasons behind the team’s failure and inability to be the franchise that Knicks fans deserve them to be. The Knicks are responsible for giving out six of the worst contracts in the NBA in the last 20 years:

  • Allan Houston (six years, 100 million)
  • Stephon Marbury (four years, 76 million)
  • Eddy Curry (six years, 56 million)
  • Jerome James (five years, 30 million)
  • Amare Stoudemire (five years, 100 million)
  • Joakim Noah (four years,  72 million)

These players received large deals after suffering injuries that proved these players were on the other side of their prime .

More from Empire Writes Back

The Allan Houston contract for six years 100 million in 2001 was such a poor deal on the Knicks behalf. It strangled the Knicks front office of cap space and flexibility. The NBA came up with a new collective bargaining agreement in 2005 allowing teams to use the “amnesty clause” to free themselves of their biggest financial liability, also known as the “Allan Houston Rule”.

After the Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas experiment failed, Dolan took one step forward hiring Donnie Walsh as President of basketball operations in 2008. That culminated in Walsh instantly getting rid of bad contracts and freeing up close to 30 million in cap space heading into the heralded 2010 free agent class.

After showing promise and making strides in the third season of Walsh making key decisions, the Knicks stood at 6th place in the Eastern Conference. At this point, Dolan overruled Walsh stripping him of full autonomy in a trade deadline deal that resulted in the Knicks being part of a three team deal that included the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets. It was a gutsy move by New York, which ultimately took them two steps back. They went ahead and traded away young talent with team friendly contracts. Four of their top six players were traded, Raymond Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov to Denver in exchange for Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, and Carmelo Anthony.

Not to mention the Knicks traded away their 2014 1st round draft pick to Denver and two 2nd round picks to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Looking back on the trade it’s easy to see how that trade led to the second phase of mediocrity in the Dolan era. They traded away young talent and future 1st round picks in exchange for old veterans and a superstar player that might not possibly fit into their system. What makes matters worse is that besides the Knicks losing in the 1st round to the Boston Celtics with a Carmelo Anthony-Stoudemire led team, the Nuggets went on to reach the playoffs three years in a row with the same talent the Knicks gave up on.

Carmelo Anthony made it very clear prior to the trade his intentions were to play for the New York Knicks, so why didn’t the Knicks just wait three more months? Their impatience destroyed their future aspirations of contending in the Eastern Conference due to their poor management. Had they kept their young talent and draft picks there’s no telling how much better the Knicks would have been with Carmelo Anthony signing with them as a free agent.

Next: Five things for Knicks fans to look forward to

From overspending to bad trades, to spending time with his band “JD & the Straight Shot” during the 2017 NBA draft, it’s evident the Knicks are not a top priority for James Dolan. The NBA isn’t the same when the Knicks aren’t a prominent team. The Lakers and the Celtics have made positive strides to get back to those years, now it’s time for Dolan to sell the team and let someone else right the ship. Give those die-hard Knicks fans something to really cheer for in Madison Square Garden. The NBA deserves it, and more importantly the New York Knicks fans deserve it.

Home/New York Knicks