They've loitered in the league's basement for almost a decade, cycled through coaches like pairs of socks, and have left a pungent, decrepit smell wherever they've played. Littered with semi-high-profiled names with semi-tractor-trailer-sized waists, contracts and execrable attitudes, not only were the New York Knickerbockers going nowhere fast, but they were regressing. After finishing 23-59 last season for the second time in three years, few basketball fans had any doubts about where the team, led by the Voldemort of the NBA?then head coach and President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas and owner James Dolan?ranked in the field of 30. Last April, the team even sparked New York Magazine to publish a seven-page masterpiece entitled "Absolutely, Positively the Worst Team in the History of Professional Sports: A Eulogy for Isiah Thomas's New York Knickerbockers"?best sports article I've read to date. Yet, only three weeks ago, all of this pollution somehow evaporated in a mere six hours, allowing the sun to illuminate Gotham for the first time in recent memory.
I can't be sure if there was inclement weather in Manhattan on November 21 (a date that will hopefully mark what I call "The Turnaround"), but a line from Guns N' Roses' classic hit "November Rain" could have easily summed up Knicks fans' demise: "We've been through this such a long long time/Just tryin' to kill the pain"; and what happened first on that Friday wouldn't help. New President Donnie Walsh pulled the trigger on a trade that would send then-leading scorer Jamal Crawford to the Warriors in exchange for the disgruntled Al Harrington. It followed Knicks tradition: Trade current talent for former talent. The longest-tenured Knick this side of Stephon Marbury was being cut loose, and right when the club was three games over .500 for the first time since the Recount. I was crushed. But I was also missing the big picture.
The next morning, I awoke to read that Walsh had made yet another move during the night, this time sending the other leading scorer Zach Randolph with Mardy Collins to the Clippers for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas. "Great," I thought to myself. "Not only are we trading our next most talented player, but we're reacquiring perhaps my least favorite Knick of all-time (again, this side of Marbury) in Thomas, the same guy who was swapped for Keith Van Horn hours after I had gotten the Ute's customized Knicks jersey in the mail." Was Donnie Walsh just as compulsive and irrational if not more so than Zeke? "No" was the answer that I would soon arrive at.
As we all know by now, those trades will save the Knicks a whopping $27.5 million in cap space, just in time for the summer of 2010, which boasts arguably the most talented free agent class in NBA history, one that could include, but most certainly would not be limited to: Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Rip Hamilton, Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Manu Ginobili, Carlos Boozer, Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, and the main prize, LeBron James (Is this a joke? Are you registering all of these names?); and (depending on how Walsh handles the roster the next two years) the Knicks will have enough money for two of them.
Something as conceivable as this previously had been so inconceivable for so long. Branding the Knicks as "bad" had become as cliché as girls captioning "love her" under Facebook photos of her friends. But now, it's different. It's different because the New York Knicks organization and all of its followers have something they haven't had in nearly a decade: hope. Hope for 2010, but probably more importantly, hope for today. After the trades went down, Head Coach Mike D'Antoni did his best to ensure the world that there was more to these deals than meets the eye: "I really want to dispel the notion that we're just doing it to clear cap space. It's a two-fold thing, and we're going to fight for the playoffs and we're going to have an exciting year this year."
Whether or not he's telling the truth is irrelevant at this point. Both deals and the resulting cap space already have Knicks fans hallucinating championship-caliber teams beginning in 2010 led by a seemingly infinite number of duos like James & Wade, James & Bosh, James & Amare, Wade & Bosh...the list goes on and on. But is it strange that while I'm excited about each one of those prospects, I also really like the team now?
As I write this article, the Knicks are an under-appreciated 10-12, coming off an impressive 121-109 victory against cross-Hudson rivals New Jersey?and they only played with seven players. That's right: seven. This may come as a surprise to some people, but it has been business as usual for D'Antoni ever since "The Turnaround" began.
Harrington, who is quickly becoming my favorite Knick (and not just because of his headband), played all but two minutes Wednesday night, netting 39 and bringing down 13 rebounds. Wilson Chandler played 42 minutes, Quentin Richardson 41 and Chris Duhon 38. There is almost no sign of Isiah's flops Eddy Curry, Jerome James and Marbury, and lethargy is now a thing of the past, even with just seven guys.
But as much as I've enjoyed this year's immediate progress, realistically these Knicks are not a championship team. In fact, they're far from it (again, they play with seven guys). But thanks to Walsh, who will become New York's greatest hero since Aaron Boone stepped up to the plate or Eli Manning got away from the Patriots' defensive line, if he succeeds in landing two of the aforementioned marquee free agents 20 months from now, the Knicks finally appear to have a seemingly bulletproof plan. The only question that remains is how that plan will take shape. More specifically, who will be part of it? There's really no way of knowing. But maybe that's the best way for it to be. So while the Celtics continue to dominate, they should take heed and enjoy the run while it lasts. Because when July of 2010 rolls around, there very well could be a new sheriff in town. So Merry Christmas to us, New York fans. All we have to do now is sit and wait. But fear not, because in the meantime, we can always watch C.C. Sabathia.