Taking a look at the best and worst moves the New York Knicks have made in the last decade
The New York Knicks have had a historically bad decade in the NBA. They are widely known as the most dysfunctional organization in the league, and perhaps in all of professional sports. There were some bright spots in the last 10 years, but there were a lot more dark times for Knicks fans.
It is difficult to name just one awful thing that happened in the past 10 years, but that is what we are going to look at today. Here is the best thing to happen to the Knicks, and the worst thing to happen to the Knicks in the past decade.
The Best: The 2012-13 NBA Season
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One of Carmelo Anthony‘s best seasons led the New York Knicks to the second seed in the East behind only the LeBron James lead Miami Heat. Anthony led the entire NBA in scoring that year, with a solid 28.7 points a game. This was one of the only seasons Carmelo was not a one-man wrecking crew, as the Knicks had a solid line up around him. Players like Raymond Felton, J.R. Smith, Tyson Chandler, Iman Shumpert, and Amar’e Stoudemire helped shape out the roster to make for one of the most successful Knicks teams of the 2000s.
This season was the last time the Knicks made the playoffs, and they weren’t a team to be taken lightly. Many people had them pegged to meet the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, the Knicks had a very difficult path to the Conference Finals. They took down the Boston Celtics in six games in the opening round of the playoffs. They would go on to meet the Indiana Pacers in the next round.
The Pacers were one of the best teams in the NBA. Lead by Paul George, they were known for playing the right way and were one of the biggest threats to Heat during the LeBron James era. The Knicks would lose to the Pacers in six games, but the series was extremely close. If not for a shoulder injury that bothered Carmelo Anthony for most of the series, the Knicks may have been able to come away with a victory.
A Roy Hibbert block on Carmelo Anthony sealed the deal late in Game 6. If Carmelo finishes that dunk, the Knicks may move on the play the Heat in the next round.
A Carmelo/LeBron Eastern Conference Finals would have been fun for any NBA fan. Those battles were normally extremely tough, and even though the Heat was borderline unstoppable that season, the Knicks would have had a punchers chance. The what-ifs could go on and on for all Knicks fans when it comes to that season. One thing is for sure though, it was by far the most successful season of the decade.
Honorable Mention:
- Firing Phil Jackson
- Signing Carmelo Anthony
- Drafting Kristaps Porzingis
The Worst: Signing Amar’e Stoudemire
Amar’e Stoudemire was one of the most dominant power forwards in the NBA at the time of his signing with the Knicks. Stoudemire was willing to take on a task that no other star in the NBA was willing to do at the time: join the New York Knicks. This made the signing seem like a no brainer at the time. However, what the Knicks did wrong was offering Stoudemire an amount of money that no other team in the league was willing to give him. This should have been a sign to the Knicks that maybe STAT wasn’t worth it.
Stoudemire was a standout star on a very good Phoenix Suns team before he came to the Knicks. The Suns were built perfectly for Stoudemire since they had Steve Nash that was great at getting Stoudemire the ball and ran an offense suited perfectly for his skills. However, the Knicks still had faith that he could help turn around the franchise, and Stoudemire had hope of bringing other stars with him. Rumors started circling that Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Tony Parker were all interested in joining Amar’e in New York. We now know that only one of these came true.
Stoudemire dominated as a member of the Knicks when he first joined, averaging 25 points and eight rebounds a game in his first season in New York. The signing seemed to be going perfectly, as the Knicks traded for Carmelo that same season. The duo of Carmelo and Amar’e seemed good enough to carry the Knicks to the promised land. Then, reality started to sink in.
One of the main reasons the Suns weren’t prepared to offer Stoudemire the amount of money that the Knicks were, is because of Stoudemire’s injury history. His knees and eyes were in bad shape and were a huge question mark on his career. These problems began to arise, and Stoudemire began to become a worse player for the Knicks. During the Knicks best season, Amar’e averaged 14 points and five rebounds. Not bad for a role player, but it wasn’t good enough to match the amount of money he was being paid.
That is what makes this signing one of the worst parts of the decade for the Knicks. Stoudemire wasn’t unbelievable, but he wasn’t bad either. His contract, on the other hand, was awful. His contract caused the Knicks to have their hands tied for the entirety of Carmelo’s time in New York. The Knicks didn’t have the cap room to make the moves that could help Carmelo turn New York into a powerhouse. This signing made it so that Carmelo could never bring a championship to New York. One of the Knicks’ all-time greatest players was handicapped due to a bad signing of a player with an injury history.
Honorable Mention:
- Signing Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Brandon Jennings
- Hiring Phil Jackson
- Trading Kristaps Porzingis