Next up for New York: the Knicks raise the 2008 NBA championship banner at Madison Square Garden ... and then you wake up.
As much as the city's beloved Giants made many a Big Apple dweller believe that anything was possible, the truth of the matter is that the dismal Knicks are far from giving their loyal fans that glory.
What happened? How can one of the most proud and historic franchises in NBA history, in the biggest sports market in the world, become the absolute mockery of professional sports?
As the Knicks sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Division boasting the league's third-worst record at 14-34, NBA fans, analysts and experts are incessantly asking themselves this very question, and trying to figure out when this disgrace will end.
The Knicks are currently on their fourth losing streak of six games or more after losing last week to the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trailblazers and Golden State Warriors, among others. After making the playoffs every year from 1988 to 2001, the Knicks are on their way toward their seventh straight season with a losing record. The Knicks have had the first- or second-highest payroll in the NBA in every year since 2000 and in those ensuing seven seasons have managed two playoff berths and one winning season.
With Isiah Thomas's arrival in December 2003, the Knicks embarked on a path toward destruction. Thomas' accomplishments include but aren't limited to: firing but paying Larry Brown $28 million for coaching the Knicks to a 23-59 record in 2005-2006; acquiring high-priced but only mildly talented players in Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Jerome James, Malik Rose and Zach Randolph; and trading a first-round pick - which turned out to be second overall in 2006 - for "stud" center Eddy Curry.
The results of these accomplishments have been nothing short of horrific - the above players are being paid a combined $56 million this season and two of them are injured. And that first-round draft pick? The Knicks could have drafted star center LaMarcus Aldridge or All-Star guard Brandon Roy.
It is clear that the Knicks are simply a team with no identity and no goals. They have no team leader, no team chemistry and certainly no team respect. Isiah Thomas smugly shrugs off the reality of his failures and continues running the franchise into a seemingly bottomless pit.
While the Knicks are running a shameful franchise at the moment, teams like the New Orleans Hornets, Warriors and Trailblazers are the antithesis of New York, rising to the NBA's elite despite being located in three of the smallest markets in the country. These teams have managed to achieve great chemistry on their rosters, something that the Knicks simply do not have.
The light at the end of the tunnel for the Knicks shines from a far, far distance - around the end of the 2012 season when all of their current players' contracts are due to expire. They can then rebuild, find young and talented players with energy and most of all, build a team with character, identity and chemistry.
Right now, the Knicks are the laughingstock of the NBA and a disgrace to the city of New York. Maybe next year with a high pick in the draft, the Knicks can take Georgetown senior Patrick Ewing, Jr. and hope for the same results his father produced for the Knicks for so many years in the '80s and '90s. In either case, a complete overhaul of the franchise is necessary to restore the glory that once was.
