He told us from the moment it happened. The best player the Knicks had drafted in decades told us, hours after being shipped to Dallas in a surprising move (even by the Knick’s standards) the now infamous words, “Stay Woke.” Most of us responded as all sports fans do when a fan favorite player suddenly wants out. “New York forever!” “I BLEED Orange and Blue!” “KP is a snake!” I admit, I said all of this, and usually I don’t write these articles in first person, because the contents of my articles I want the reader to absorb. This time, I decided to speak as myself: an angry, frustrated, diehard Knick fan, and admit to one Kristaps Porzingis, that he was right, and more importantly, that I’m sorry.
Adrian Worjnarowski, the all seeing eye of the NBA, who is as accurate with his news as the sky is always blue, reported today the Knicks “forced Kristaps Porzingis out of New York.” According to Ramona Shelburne’s and Woj’s report, The Unicorn had no intention of leaving until a week be fore the trade with Dallas, when he caught wind that the team was shopping him, most notably in a deal that would’ve landed Anthony Davis with the Knicks in late December. One of Porzingis’s brother received this news through the grapevine, which lead to the now infamous ten minute meeting, hours before the trade happened. At the time, as with news in this day in age, information came so fast and swift, our fan base couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Then again, it’s the Knicks, so none of us were surprised.
In the months following the trade, the Knicks have lost out on star free agents, put together a sloppy roster, and once again, fired a head coach. They also lead us to believe that they took the moral high road and that Porzingis, no longer wanted to be in New York. Every year we fall into the same trap. We convince ourselves that this year will be different, and that we are destined to be great, or at the very least make the playoffs. Time and time again, we get let down, and the season is already practically over before New Year’s Eve. So why is this seemingly never ending cycle constantly swallowing this franchise whole? You’re all Knicks fans, you already know the answer.
The two headed monster comprised of owner James Dolan and President of basketball operations, Steve Mills are the root source of the dumpster fire that is the New York Knicks. In an article written by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne (with contributions from Woj) there are numerous examples in which both Dolan and Mills disrupted the Knicks plans. The article specifically mentions that Dolan forced the Knicks to add additional assets for Carmelo Anthony and Andrea Bargnani, and shot down the initially agreed upon trade for point guard, Kyle Lowery, who is now an all-star and NBA champion. Most recently, Mills gave now ex-coach David Fizdale an impossible task of molding a team with nine new players together, while additionally developing the younger players already on the roster. Not enough minutes exist in an NBA game for those two things to coincide. In the end, most of those offseason signings will likely all be traded before the trade deadline, and the Knicks will be back in contention for another top 5 pick in the draft. In fact, draft picks are the only thing that have stopped me from jumping into the Hudson River, knowing that the Knicks have all of their picks, and will likely get first round compensation for some of the veteran players they do trade.
These stories are now a trend and happen every year, but at least this year, the Knicks don’t have a Christmas Day game, so my holiday spirit won’t be destroyed before noon. However, it’s utterly embarrassing to be a Knicks fan right now. When the Porzingis trade happened, my spoiled Boston Celtics fans took pity on me and said they wouldn’t blame me if I decided to route for another team. Unfortunately, like you all, I bleed orange and blue. Other fans may not be as quick as I am to give the Unicorn an apology, but I am not one of those people. For someone who loves this team, and loves basketball, it’s disheartening to watch this team play, knowing that something is usually going to go wrong. I wish I could give you all some words of encouragement, putting faith into our younger players and hoping they develop into a team we can be proud of. But until Mills and Dolan are no longer in the front office, it seems the Knicks issues will just never go away. So in the words of a once praised player who gave us a glimmer of hope, I echo his words to you. Stay Woke.
Watch the latest Episode of our Weekly Podcast The Knick of Time Show below.
