New York Knicks: A look back at the beginning of the fall from grace

Frederic Weis is drafted

Imagine the owner of a large corporation firing their President of Human Resources and before filling the position, going on a hiring spree. That’s obviously a terrible idea. It’s also essentially what the Knicks did following their 1999 Finals appearance.

After Grunfeld was demoted from his General Manager position late in the season the Knicks leadership was not quick to fill the vacancy which was still open when it came time for 1999 draft.

With the 15th pick, they took the injured Frederic Weis. If you follow the link to Weis’ basketball-reference.com profile, you’ll see only international stats. There’s a good reason for that. Weis played in the Spanish ACB League, the Greek League, and the French League but would never play in the NBA.

Instead, Weis’ most notable NBA connection is what came to be known as “le dunk de la mort” or the dunk of death. The connection comes courtesy of Vince Carter who posterized Weis during the 2000 Olympic games. Usually, the word “posterized” inherently carries enough impact to make the point, but take a look at the video.  The bold italics are necessary.

This dunk is so iconic that nearly 20 years later it’s still bankable. Just this week, Nike announced that its new shoe, the AlphaDunk will be available in a colorway called “Dunk of Death.” And the New York Knicks’ failed draft pick will always be the guy on the receiving end.

Yikes.