September beckons, bitches. Let’s mailbag.
What would your team look like if you assembled it from the stinky years of the 2000s-2010s?
— Unmitigated Gall
In order to tackle this question, I had to settle on what exactly “2000s-2010s” meant. We talking just the awful aughts, ending with the 2009-10 season? Or the whole stinking two decades of stank? I found myself confronted by a mystery I’d never wanted to solve: who was worse, the 2000s Knicks or the 2010s Knicks?
To really get the stink marinating, I compared two nine-year abominations: the Knick teams from 2002-2010 and from 2014-2022. Combined that’s 18 seasons, 17 below .500, 16 missing the playoffs. eight losses in nine playoff games and a partridge in a pear tree. Before I give you the numbers, what does your gut tell you? Which Knicks feel like they were worse?
From 2002-2010 the Knicks were 279-459; adjusted for 82 games that’s 31-51. The 2014-2022 Knicks went 262-450, a 30-50 pace. The numbers wouldn’t settle this debate. Futility being in the eye of the beholder, I had to dig deep. Was there anything particularly sadder about one batch versus the other? For me, there is.
In 2013-14, New York was coming off a tremendous run the year before, plus three consecutive winning seasons and playoff appearances. Carmelo Anthony had just led the league in scoring while finishing third for MVP. J.R. Smith was top-20 in points, Jason Kidd top-20 in steals and Tyson Chandler top-10 in offensive rebounds, an All-Star and First Team All-Defense.
The writing was on the wall once Kidd retired and James Dolan strong-armed Glenn Grunwald outta town and Andrea Bargnani in, but there was reason to feel good heading into 2014. There was excitement in 2016 for the arrival of Kristaps Porziņģis. In 2019 there was hope — if not conviction — that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Zion Williamson were on their way to save the day.
The 2001-02 Knicks were post-Patrick Ewing and, not coincidentally, not good, failing to win a playoff series in 2001 for the first time since 1991. Jeff Van Gundy left, Marcus Camby and a lottery pick were soon to follow in exchange for the low point of Antonio McDyess’ career, Latrell Sprewell was almost out the door and Isiah Thomas about to walk through it. Gasp. Shudder.
At least the 2010s Knicks had the precedent of the 2000s teams to slightly soften the blow. Watching their initial sinking into stinking, from winning 17 playoff series in 12 years (1989-2000) to winning a single playoff game the next dozen, didn’t merely cause despair. It was a disorienting fall from grace. The 2010s were a bad headache. The 2000s were that plus vertigo.
Without further ado, my ’02-’10 Knick faves:
Frank Williams
Jamal Crawford
David Lee
Kurt Thomas
Michael Doleac
One Saturday late in my sophomore year of college, some friends and I got in on some pickup games on campus. This was the long-gone dark ages, when I was active and thin and a pretty good baller, and that day I was on. The fadeaway couldn’t miss. People were calling me Jordan. It was a very small, insignificant time and place in history, and if you weren’t literally there experiencing it in real time, it makes neither sense nor difference.
So it goes with those of us who swore allegiance to the Frank Williams cult twentysomething years ago — if you weren’t there, it makes zero sense. To be fair, it didn’t make a lotta sense even if you were; Williams, a point guard, shot just 35% from the field and 30% from deep and started only three games over two years in New York. And yet if the Knicks announce tomorrow they’ve signed Williams outta retirement, I’d tell Jalen Brunson thank you for your service, now get thee to the bench. The prophecy must be fulfilled.
Crawford and Lee were that restaurant that used to be open near you that was delightfully, surprisingly good. It had no business being that good, and it closed years ago. But you appreciated it when it was there, and the memories still warm you today. Looking at you, Amy’s Place in Buffalo. R.I.P.
Kurt Thomas I loved because he was a true warrior for righteousness, willing to tangle with anybody and everybody who was in the wrong, no matter who it was. Whether that be a future Hall of Famer.
Or the biggest fish in his own pond, like in 2004 when Thomas told Knick teammate Stephon Marbury, “Everyone in this organization is afraid of you, but I’m not. I’ll beat your ass.”
Thomas joins Ewing — I think — as the only Knicks who’ve impacted winning for the club over a 14-year stretch. A key reserve for the 1999 Knicks, many of us still fondly remember the final game Thomas ever played down the stretch in 2013: the Knicks had lost a season-high four straight games and five of six as they played in Utah without Carmelo. Gutting through 27 minutes, Thomas helped the Knicks snap the losing skid and kickstart a 13-game winning streak, the finishing touch on their best season in 13 years.
I hold a special place in my heart for Dr. Michael Doleac because of December 30, 2002. I was driving from Rochester to New York City and a friend tagged along looking to visit a friend in Pennsylvania. My friend considered himself hilarious for not telling me the drinks he was downing the whole drive down were spiked; by the time I figured out he was drunk, he figured out we were lost. We were “near” enough that his friend came and got him, leaving without leaving me directions to get back toward the city. It was dark out in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, pre-Google maps (the less said about Mapquest, the better).
I spent the drive low on gas, cursing my friend for my being lost in what looked like every horror movie ever and living and dying with the back and forth in WFAN’s broadcast of what ended up a one-point Knick win over the NBA champion Spurs. In arguably his finest hour as a ‘bocker, Doleac scored 16 points (two off his Knick-high) and grabbed eight boards (tying his Knick best) against Tim Duncan and David Robinson. I wanna end this with “This doctor makes house calls,” but the game was in New York. Then again, “This doctor takes patient visits” just doesn’t work at all. Gimme your best Doleac tag line.
[List your] ranking of trades/signings/moves that built the 2026 champion Knicks.
— Jslashnoel
16) Drafting Pacôme Dadiet
15) Signing Jeremy Sochan
14) Drafting Tyler Kolek
13) Signing Mo Diawara
12) Signing Ariel Hukporti
11) Drafting Miles McBride
10) Signing Landry Shamet
9) Drafting Mitchell Robinson
8) Trading for Mikal Bridges
7) Trading for Josh Hart
6) Signing Jalen Brunson’s first contract
5) Trading for Karl-Anthony Towns
4) Trading for OG Anunoby
3) Firing Tom Thibodeau & hiring Mike Brown
2) Signing Jalen Brunson’s second contract
1) Hiring Leon Rose
Clyde and Jalen in the backcourt with Willis, Patrick and Bernard up front. From my admittedly biased perspective, this starting five could match up with any all-time mythical squad the Celtics could put together.
— DeanJose
DeanJose’s five vs. Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, John Havlicek and Paul Pierce — who ya got??
The Wizards traded Angel Reese’s brother Julian “Juju” Reese to the Nuggets, who then released him. While he only played 13 games (10 starts) and 30.9 minutes per game, he put up respectable numbers on a tanking team (11.8 points/10.5 rebounds, including the most offensive rebounds per game since Hakeem Olajuwon at 4.2). He’s a little undersized at 6’9, 230 lbs., but seems like a decent candidate for the third-string center job. Thoughts?
— Stan KGRY
First, if this is Angel Reese stanning for her hermano, I fully understand. And email me. Please. God, please email me, Angel Reese.
Assuming this is really Stan KGRY, my only thoughts are that there are definitely dudes who’ve beaten that Olajuwon number from 1987 — Dennis Rodman did a half-dozen times by himself — and that whatever downgrade there is between Mitch and Drummond, the Knicks are probably looking to make that up with an upgrade over Hukporti. You can’t count on KAT playing heavy minutes for 82 games followed by a two-month title defense, nor do I think they want to count on Drummond being the best next man up that whole time. There is 100% room for Juju Reese to make a home and career in the NBA. I don’t see it this year in New York, though.
That’s all she wrote for the mailbag, and it’s gonna be all she wrote for a while. I’m now writing about the Knicks at OnSI, and no longer at P&T. I’ve left before and returned; this feels less like “Goodbye” than “Later.” I’ll still pop into the comments sometimes, and have a few other pots starting to boil. Email if you want. I’m on Bluesky. I love you all. Not all. But you, reading this now, I love. Yes, you.
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