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New York Knicks: An open letter to James Dolan

By Jonathan Macri

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 12: President and CEO of Cablevision Systems Corporation and Executive Chairman of The Madison Square Garden Company, James Dolan poses backstage at iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2014, hosted by Z100 New York and presented by Goldfish Puffs at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 12: President and CEO of Cablevision Systems Corporation and Executive Chairman of The Madison Square Garden Company, James Dolan poses backstage at iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2014, hosted by Z100 New York and presented by Goldfish Puffs at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for iHeartMedia) /
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An open letter to New York Knicks owner James Dolan from a fan

Dear Mr. Dolan,

Let me start by saying thank you.

Not the type of sarcastic thanks that precedes an evisceration, but a genuine thank you. In a world where billionaire owners count their pennies, you have consistently spared no expense when it comes to the teams you own. Too many franchises are treated strictly as a business. As a result, fans are ones left holding the bag.

Never once have you worried about the bottom line.

This letter is a plea that maybe, for the first time, you should. As a businessman (and a successful one at that) you know better than anyone that the market doesn’t lie. For every dollar going into one pocket, there’s a dollar coming out of someone else’s.

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You also know that the NBA works the same way, except instead of dollars, there are wins.

I’m sure you’ve hears by now that in this millennium, there are only two teams with a worse ratio of wins to losses than the Knicks. One is the Charlotte franchise, which didn’t exist until 2004. The other is the Timberwolves, who play in as unappealing a locale as New York is an enticing one.

Again, the market doesn’t lie. Things haven’t been going very well.

The thing that most New York Knicks fans seem to be mistaken about is that you’ve recognized this better than anyone! You have relieved five separate general managers of their duties over these last 17 seasons. You seem like the type of man who simply doesn’t stand for losing. This is something else that every fan should appreciate even if they don’t.

You’re also the type of man who is fiercely loyal. This is where (and please forgive me for the bold assumption I’m about to make) you’ve run into some problems.

Steve Mills has been by your side for most of the past eighteen years. He’s a great businessman, and it shows…the fan experience at the Garden is consistently one of the best in sports. He’s also something of a basketball man, having played in his youth and being around the league for over three decades now.

Allan Houston, similarly, has been around the game for a while. Not only was he a great Knick, but he’s learned the ropes and bided his time. He knows the city, and knows what it takes to win here, having led the team to its last appearance in the Finals.

But this is 2017.

Mills and Houston know the game at advanced college levels. People running other teams have multiple PHD’s in this stuff. The level of basketball acumen necessary to successfully run an NBA franchise has gone up exponentially over the decade.

You recently saw first hand just how much things have changed.

Phil Jackson may have been an ideal choice to run an organization a decade ago, but as you saw as clearly as anyone, the game has at least somewhat passed him by. There’s no shame for him, or you; everyone was excited when he came aboard. Unfortunately it didn’t work out.

The toughest part was that you were truly hands off and had to witness the debacle of the last few years from afar. All indications are that you plan to stay hands off.

Again, you should be commended. The hardest thing to do is admit one’s own limitations, especially for someone successful in other arenas. You did that, and I think you realize it was the right move.

Now comes the tough part.

Having extricated yourself from the day to day running of the basketball team, you’re totally justified in wanting Steve Mills, Allan Houston, and the rest of your people to at least have a hand in the process. Two heads are better than one, right? And hey – a man’s word is everything, and you’ve kept your word to those who have been with you that their loyalty to the franchise won’t be forgotten.

It’s easy to get lost in these clouds when someone like David Griffin comes along and demands to clean house. He’s an outsider who you’ve never worked with, and his demand was clearly a bit jarring.

But here’s the thing: Griffin, as an outsider, only sees the results that the rest of us have seen for the better part of the last two decades. Eight different franchises have won titles. Four more have made the Finals and 11 others have made the Conference Finals. If the Knicks made it even that far, the city would be in a state of pandemonium.

It hasn’t happened.

If any company kept failing with the same business plan despite CEO after CEO, the market would dictate that it needed to change. The market has spoken loud and clear. The plan needs to be altered.

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    • While it may have been difficult to hear, David Griffin saw what is clear to most outsiders. He demanded a change before taking the job. The next candidate for the job may not take as bold of a stance.

    They should.

    17 years is not a small sample size. For the league’s oldest franchise that also happens to play in the greatest city the world has ever known – one that young men all over the world grow up dreaming of someday playing in – to have experienced a single playoff series victory since George W. Bush took office is almost hard to fathom. I’m sure it has kept you up at night. I can promise you it has kept Knicks fans awake, loss after loss, season after season.

    I don’t mean to belabor the point, but sometimes being on the inside makes it difficult to see the forest for the trees. When the voices of the very people who are preventing the success that all of us – and especially you –  so desperately seek are the same voices you hear day in and day out, change can seem impossible.

    I’m sure they’re good people.

    They no doubt work hard, and have your back in a city full of people looking to stick a knife in it. That doesn’t make them qualified to have any part of making basketball-related decisions in a league where guys like Daryl Morey, RC Buford and Masai Ujiri have teams of people working day and night, poring over spreadsheets and data models, looking to get even the slightest advantage.

    Whoever comes in next, even if they don’t demand full autonomy, give it to them. Let them have at it. It’s the one thing you haven’t tried, at least with someone who’s done the work of team building before.

    As for your people, there’s no doubt plenty of work to be done in and around the Garden that can use competent people on the job. We understand you want to be loyal to them. If they’re truly loyal to you, they’ll see that this is the only choice for the team they’ve dedicated their life to.

    You made the tough decision to step away. They should be able to do the same.

    Before I sign off, in these tough times when it seems like everyone is as down on the Knicks as they have ever been, I feel a word of encouragement is warranted.

    For a decade and a half, the greatest franchise in professional sports was a laughingstock. For most of the 80’s and the first half of the 90’s, the New York Yankees couldn’t get out of their own way. Their owner, George Steinbrenner, was the most derided man in New York.

    By the time he left the franchise to his sons, he was arguably the most loved.

    He stepped back, let really good baseball people make really good baseball decisions, and the rest is history.

    There’s still time.

    If you hire the man who delivers a championship to a city starving for success in the sport that courses through its veins, you will forever be appreciated in a way few could possibly fathom. All you have to do is hire the right guy, hand them the keys, and step away. It’s that easy.

    What won’t be easy is telling those closest to you that they can’t do their job. But every one of us knows the truth in our heart. You won’t be telling them anything they don’t already know.

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    Yes, you’ll be letting a few people down. But you’ll be giving hope to millions in the process.

    We know you can do it. All of New York is counting on you.

    Let’s change the narrative. It’s not too late.

    Sincerely,

    New York Knicks fans everywhere

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