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A year ago at this time, the NBA was gathered in Chicago for All-Star weekend and the Knicks, unsurprisingly, were invisible. None of the players came close to being named to the game. There was nobody in the slam-dunk contest, nobody in the 3 point contest.
The only bright light? RJ Barrett played for the world team in the Rising Stars Challenge and scored 27 points. The other side of the coin? His team lost 151-131 against the American team. Another humiliating scorecard in a season filled with them for the rookie.
The newspaper offered no comfort. The Knicks were 17-38, the fifth-worst league record of the 30 teams. They had previously fired a coach (David Fizdale), fired a president (Steve Mills), were days away from officially handing over the keys to the castle to a player agent (Leon Rose) who had never spent a day in an NBA . front office.
Jay Wright of Villanova, who was believed to be a certain target of Rose, had returned a message through intermediaries asking for his thoughts on the job: “Not interested.”
Marc Berman’s ballot in The Post was damning but also difficult to dispute: No Knicks player scored above a C-plus after team focal point Marcus Morris was transferred to the ‘Where is. Julius Randle was awarded a C, and Knicks fans who had recently gotten into the habit of booing him vigorously in the Garden were certainly not going to argue.
An anonymous quote that honestly could have been attributed to one of a thousand different people surfaced on February 17, 2020 and seemed to serve as a reminder of the state of affairs at Penn Plaza: “Dead end, dead franchise – complete work. “
And now it’s February 17, 2021.
And look, the Knicks have a game with the Magic on Wednesday night in Orlando, Fla. With a shot at .500, and it suddenly looks like the most important game the Knicks have played since Carmelo Anthony was about to snap one. in Indianapolis, before Roy Hibbert got his hands on the path (mainly because he did, frankly; and that game happened almost eight years ago).
It’s been a year that looks like five – and in part only because most of us have been frozen in place since March. For the Knicks, the first year under Rose went as you might expect. He brought in his winger, William Wesley, and he started swelling his front office staff right away.
He took his time hiring a coach, but when he did, he made the most universally acclaimed hire around the Knicks since Pat Riley 29 years earlier. There is little mystery in what Tom Thibodeau and top-notch staff (notably Kenny Payne) did – light fires under the players, raise the expectations of tired and battered fans, demand effort, demanding defense, demand real victories, not morals.
The list is still slim, certainly compared to the sport’s elite, but it works well together, especially in a year when the NBA’s middle class has never been so bloated. Randle, of course, is the fulcrum, having spent the long offseason restarting his game and then buying into Thibodeau’s system with the fervor of a religious convert. Barrett is improved. The same goes for Elfrid Payton. Mitchell Robinson was thriving before breaking his hand.
Rose’s additions haven’t all worked out – notably Austin Rivers – but he has more wins than losses. Immanuel Quickley may have been the steal of the draft night (and so far helps tone down the fact that picking Obi Toppin over Tyrese Halburton looks like a short-sample smell). Nerlens Noel was a defensive revelation, Alec Burks a useful asset. The first feedback on Derrick Rose is almost all favorable.
So far, so good.
The next step, whatever this step, will be more delicate. Rose had the wisdom to avoid the offseason temptations of Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul, was fortunate enough to be blown out of the water by the Hornets for Gordon Hayward, but there will have to be a next step. There are preliminary rumors about Washington’s Bradley Beal and Chicago’s Zach LaVine, and it will take time to attract them – which not only costs drawing capital (of which there is a lot that will eventually have to be used to attract a big fish) but also someone like Barrett.
This is when Leon Rose’s work will get really interesting. Barrett became a lightning rod player, mainly because of where he was drafted (third) and who was picked before him (Zion Williamson and Ja Morant) – which is neither fair nor reflecting the fact that ‘he is still only 20 years old. , and has already proven to be a quick learner and eager to be coached. But there will be a cost to make the next jump. It will not be offered.
As Gordon Gekko said: Rose did well. But he must continue to do good. For now, .500 is kind of holy ground for the Knicks, but it won’t be that way forever. His instinct was good. But they must continue to be good. It’s been a good year. The Knicks are winning. Fans embrace the Knicks again. Soon they will want more.
How to get them more, Leon?
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