New York Knicks: Can Zion Williamson save New York City basketball?
By Ed Stein
So how did NYC basketball get to the sorry state it’s in now?
On the amateur end, the rest of the world caught up. Top notch high school talent isn’t recruited like it was before. Travel teams and AAU basketball are the new fertile college recruiting ground as well as internationally. At one point you could argue that the PSAL Basketball Championships were as important to New York as the High School Football Championships are in Texas. Its importance has fallen by the wayside.
St. John’s has struggled to find consistency since Carneseca hung up his sweater in 1992. The Johnnies have had eight winning conference seasons since Brian Mahoney became head coach for the 1992-93 season. More importantly, they have advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament once in that time. That appearance was 20 seasons ago when the Johnnies went to a Regional Final under Mike Jarvis in 1999.
On the pro level, it’s worse. The Nets had to gut their team as part of their admission to the NBA in 1976. Then they moved to New Jersey which seemed to further alienate them from the minds of local basketball fans. There hasn’t been much to root for over the past 43 years. The New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets have won 50 games once and advanced past the conference semi-finals twice.
The Knickerbockers haven’t been much better. In this century they have made the playoffs five times and never advanced past the Eastern Conference Semis. Adding insult to injury, they have lost 50 games in a season ten times, including their current five-season streak and won 40 or more games three times.