Inability to sign Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving is the epitome of New York Knicks frustration

Sure, they’ve made some decent signings to recover, but the New York Knicks ’ inability to sign Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving is the epitome of this franchise.

When you have to write an apology note to fans for not being able to attract a marquee free agent, it’s generally a bad sign. For months, the New York Knicks were being hyped up by all media outlets as the premiere landing destination for Free Agents Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Now that the Brooklyn Nets have gone on to sign both of them, it not only shifted the power of New York basketball from Manhattan to Brooklyn, it’s also made New York more of a laughing stock than they already were.

When the Knicks were initially rumored to land all of these big name players, I scoffed at the idea. In previous articles, I had mentioned that it wouldn’t make sense for either of those players to leave their respective teams and that they should stay put in Boston and Golden State. Despite me being wrong about that particular prediction, I was right about this. NOBODY, not one big name Free Agent, wants to play for the Knicks, but why? Is it the mecca of basketball, right? NO!!!

Just because you happen to be placed in one of the biggest and greatest cities on the planet and happen to stumble upon cap space does not instantly mean that you are an instant contender to sign the best names. The only thing that should define how attractive a franchise should be the number of titles or the solid state of a front office/organization. The Knicks have neither of those things in abundance. Saying that I will give credit where credit is due, Steve Mills has done an excellent job at pulling in solid draft picks and Free Agents.

Okay, now that the praise is out of the way, let’s get back to it.

With two titles in the history of their franchise, Knicks fans still tend to act like the team has some pull when it comes to landing big guys when they haven’t won anything in the modern era. I mean really, if the Knicks weren’t in New York, would anyone care about them at all? It’s become evident that if someone big wants to play in New York, they’ll end up choosing to play in Brooklyn instead. What’s even more glaring is that the basketball mecca no longer resides in Madison Square Garden, but it lies in the Barclays Center. The reason? The Knicks finally have a competitor.

Since the beginning of these two teams existences, the Knicks had no choice but to be New York’s basketball team. Before the Nets moved to Brooklyn, they were in the ABA; then they were in New Jersey once they got to the NBA. After finally moving to Brooklyn, it was a chance for them to take the city that was clearly up for grabs and they’ve now done that with ease. Since moving to Brooklyn in 2012, the Nets have a record of 242-332. Now, these certainly aren’t gaudy numbers, but comparing it to the Knicks, I would much rather be Sean Marks right about now.

Since 2012, the Knicks have a record of 217-357. I don’t know about you, but that’s not what I expect from the ‘iconic basketball mecca.’ The gaps between those records will only increase as the Nets are only improving and the Knicks while making those signings, will stay stagnant as long as they have James Dolan up top, and that’s the real reason more than anything else. It’s not that nobody wants to play for the Knicks, nobody wants to play for a team owned by this guy.

With Dolan saying that the Knicks weren’t willing to give Durant a Max Contract due to his injury, I was understanding. His future is uncertain, and it’s a gamble to provide him with max dollars. That doesn’t mean I agree with the move. When healthy, many have widely considered Durant the best talent that the NBA has to offer. He’s a versatile 7 Footer with a sniper for a three-point shot and handles like a Point Guard. He’s a career 27 Point Per Game scorer as well as being a league MVP. He’s also risen to a possible Defensive Player of the Year candidate and is an All-Time great. This is the one player that you take a gamble on, even if the probability of him coming back and being the same player is slim.

As if that wasn’t enough pressure put on Dolan to sell the team, DeAndre Jordan (A very close friend of Durant’s) was disrespected when playing for the Knicks whether it was through his contract or his playing time under a guy like Mitchell Robinson. Granted, Robinson was the better Center this year, but if you were trying to land a generational talent, wouldn’t it make sense to treat his friend with respect so that he puts in a good word for your team?

Look, I could go on with a laundry list of reasons why Dolan has ruined this franchise and why he should sell the team, but the bottom line is this. You can’t go out to the media for months on end and rave about how your team is going to land Zion Williamson, Irving, and Durant and then end up with Julius Randle, Bobby Portis, and Taj Gibson. Despite all of those moves ultimately benefiting the team, creating a media storm like that and then not winding up with those marquee players is not a winning mentality and will cost you fans. Instead, you could be like your good friends over at Brooklyn and keep the rumors silent until you know that you have the players.

This truly is the epitome of Knicks basketball, but hey, you can only go up from here am I right? Maybe not, and this team ends up in the lottery for the next five years. I don’t think that’ll happen, but it’s the Knicks, and you can’t put anything past them.