Let’s go, Knicks!
I first got into the New York Knicks in the fall of 2017. I was experiencing a great deal of anxiety at the time, due to Donald Trump’s first presidency, among other things. Basketball provided a welcome distraction when life felt overwhelming. As a kid, I was a fan of the Carolina Panthers, not out of any geographic loyalty to the football squad, but because they were a new franchise and I thought their logo looked cool. That was the last time I’d actively followed a sports team.
In my initial years as a Knicks fan, the squad had zero expectations. In fact, I was rooting for the team to lose, because the worse they did, the better their draft position would be, which improved their long-term prospects. Things started to change when Tom Thibodeau became coach. There were expectations, but they were modest. Every season, New York appeared to exceed them, based on hard work and gritty play. You couldn’t help but admire their pluck.
It was different this year. The front office had made a number of moves, which, taken together, were widely understood to represent an all-in wager. I’m principally talking about trading five first-round picks, among other assets, for Mikal Bridges and exchanging Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, and a first round pick for Karl-Anthony Towns. Expectations were sky high. If the Knicks didn’t significantly improve on their previous campaign, it would be seen as a massive failure.
That’s why this most recent regular season was so frustrating. Just looking at the team’s win-loss record, you would think it was a success. But actually watching the games, you’d know the Knicks struggled against playoff-bound franchises. In fact, New York won exactly zero regular season matches against what were believed to be three best teams in the league: the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. It had the makings of a disaster.
I complained throughout the regular season about the Knicks’ players and front office. I believed Bridges and Towns lacked the toughness of Randle, DiVincenzo and Isaiah Hartenstein, the last of whom also left in the summer. But, above all, I criticized team president Leon Rose’s roster construction. It wasn’t Bridges fault that Rose traded five first-round picks for him. The Los Angeles Lakers acquiring Luka Dončić for a smaller collection of assets only reinforced my view.
However, the Knicks completely reversed this narrative of underperformance with their defeat of Boston, the defending league champions, in the second round of the playoffs. Now they head to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years, where they will face the Indiana Pacers, who beat Cleveland. Even if New York gets swept, which I don’t anticipate, this will have been a major achievement for the organization, considering where they were in 2017.
On the whole, the Knicks organization — both the players and the front office — have forced me to me eat my words. I significantly underestimated what the roster was capable of in the playoffs. So consider this a formal apology. Win or lose, going forward, I’ll wear the organization’s logo with pride while out protesting the second Trump administration. I’m thankful for New York’s success thus far and can’t wait to see what’s to come. Let’s go, Knicks!