Syfo-Dyas
01-13-2008, 12:04 PM
KNICKS' LOSING WAYS COME AROUND ONCE EVERY GENERATION
BY FILIP BONDY
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
The mudslide of defeats didn't start with James Dolan, Larry Brown or
Isiah Thomas, even if it seems that way now. The Knicks have been
losing big in cycles for four decades and more, going back in time to
the primordial ooze of the early '60s.
Every 20 years or so, the Knicks stumble into a crevice so deep that
it appears nothing will rescue them. The reasons for the decline are
very different, and not always as insufferable as the current crop of
disastrous headlines and scandals. But they are always sticky,
stubborn trenches.
In the '60s, the Knicks didn't have a big man, when the other teams in
their talented division had true giants of the game. The Knicks had
lousy luck with the draft. Four coaches came and went, but little
changed.
Then in the '80s, they suffered from a barrage of injuries under Hubie
Brown, who watched helplessly as stars Bernard King and Bill
Cartwright went down for entire seasons at a time with fractures and
ligament tears and Patrick Ewing missed 53 games his first two
seasons. It wasn't until Rick Pitino's arrival in 1987 that the team
became healthy and respectable again.
Here are the harsh, historic regular-season records - easier to rattle
off than to endure over six-month periods: The Knicks were 27-48 in
1959-60, under Fuzzy Levane and Carl Braun. They were a rock-bottom
21-58 under Braun, in 1960-61; 29-51, 21-59 and 22-58 with Eddie
Donovan from 1961-64, including Wilt Chamberlain's humiliating
100-point game (a 169-147 Knick defeat) on March 2, 1962; then 31-49
in 1964-65 under Harry Gallatin.
Twenty years later, the franchise tanked again under Hubie. Those
brittle Knicks were a model of consistent failure, finishing 24-58,
23-59 and 24-58 from 1984 to 1987.
And now, looking back, the players from those struggling teams want us
to know that they were trying as hard as they could, and are mortified
by the present-day mess at the Garden.
"Yes I am. It's an embarrassment to the league, an embarrassment to
New York City, to pro basketball," says Richie Guerin, the tough guard
nicknamed "The Leatherneck," who played with the Knicks from
1956-1963. "The way they're playing now, and nothing's being done
about it. It's unanimous that nobody understands, not the media or the
fans or the league. It's been going on too long. You need a healthy
New York, Boston and Laker franchise for the league to be successful.
And you need the right type of players, that's where it's going to
start."
When the Knicks were faltering badly in the '60s, their chief alibi
was the competition. The league had only eight teams in 1960, and the
Eastern Division franchises were packed with stars. Big stars. Boston
featured Bill Russell. Philly had Chamberlain. Syracuse had Red Kerr
and Dolph Schayes. The Knicks often faced each of these teams as many
as 13 times a year. They were 1-12 against Boston in 1959-60, and 2-11
versus Philly in 1960-61.
It was a hopeless situation under the basket, so the Knicks kept
trying to get bigger to compete. That just made things worse. Draft
picks such as Ron Shavlik, Tom Stith and Charlie Tyra didn't work out.
The Knicks owned the worst NBA record and should have had the first
pick in the 1961 draft, but then the Chicago Packers entered the
league as an expansion team, were awarded the top pick and drafted
Walt Bellamy - Rookie of the Year, averaging 31.6 points and 19
rebounds.
More bad luck: In 1960, the Knicks owned the third pick. They chose
Darrall Imhoff, behind Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. Everything went
wrong from a player personnel standpoint, but the players showed up
for work
"As best as I can recall, you got enthused every year when the seasons
started," says Guerin, a native New Yorker wintering these days in
West Palm Beach. "You felt the team was improved from the year before.
You saw some positive things. You had hopes you'd make the playoffs.
The unfortunate thing, as it got around Christmas time, you realized
it wasn't going to happen. Guys you thought would be assets, didn't
live up to the hype. Nobody else was added to the team.
"I can honestly say this, though: I lived through six or seven of
those years, and even though it happened, I can't say one person on
the team didn't try his hardest, bust his butt. I honestly don't think
that's happening today with the Knicks during the few games I've seen.
It looks like guys are packing it in."
The fans back then, too, were different than the ones today. These
were working-class people, and many were betting on the games. The
Knicks would play Tuesday night doubleheaders at the old Garden, and
the crowd would mostly worry about the point spread. The Knicks might
be up or down nine points, and the place would still be going crazy
down the stretch, hoping to beat the spread.
"Even though we were criticized, it wasn't so harsh," says Johnny
Green, the 6-6 forward who played with the Knicks from 1959-65. "The
expectations were a little bit different. They didn't expect us to
beat the strong teams. That didn't make losing feel any better, but we
had a little less pressure.
"In our case, the guys were out there playing hard. The fans looked at
that and said, ‘At least they're trying.' Guerin was a hard-nosed
player. I played hard. We figured we might as well leave it out on the
court. That had some merit.
"Then again, back then we had seven, eight newspapers. You writers
like to sell newspapers. And there's a certain amount of negative that
comes in with that."
Green, who now lives on Long Island, feels his own development as a
player was sabotaged a bit by those seasons with the Knicks. Lacking a
big man, coaches would tell him his chief role was rebounding, so he
never developed the jumper that might have made his game more
complete. On another team, he might have been more than just (Jumpin')
Johnny Green.
* * *
The next era of Knick futility really began on the night of March 23,
1985, when Bernard King went down with a torn knee ligament while
chasing Reggie Theus on a fast break during a game at Kemper Arena in
Kansas City. The Knicks were already without Bill Cartwright and Truck
Robinson because of injuries, and this was the final dagger.
King would require two years to recover from this injury, playing only
six more games with the Knicks. Patrick Ewing came aboard in 1985, but
he was too young to carry the team and missed 53 games to injuries
over his first two seasons.
"No question, we had major injuries," says Rory Sparrow, the Knicks'
point guard from 1982-87. "In that process, we got old as a team. Our
problem was we had key players, key scorers who were hurt. We had to
supplement them with guys like Kenny Bannister, Eddie Lee Wilkins, and
Ronnie Cavenall. We had that whole issue of trying to find someone who
was going to score.
"Then once we got those guys healthy, they were too old, or they were
traded. It was a whole host of things that didn't allow us to bounce
back. We filled holes, but they didn't pan out. You're in a tough
situation, where you almost have to blow it all up and start over."
Some deals were made out of desperation, the worst of circumstances.
In November 1986, GM Scotty Stirling acquired fading guard Gerald
Henderson by trading the 1987 draft pick that would eventually go to
the Bulls and become Scottie Pippen.
When the Knicks fell apart at this time, crowds grew thinner and more
irate at the Garden. These teams suffered badly in comparison to the
two championship springs of 1970 and 1973, and even to more recent
accomplishments in 1984.
"The fans were very harsh initially," says Sparrow, who works now as
an administrator with the NBA. "We just got off of a season carrying
Boston to a seventh game, so expectations were high. And when Patrick
came in, they expected him to take us to the next place."
Sparrow remembers how players were trying to do too much, shooting
from outside their range or rotating out of position on defense. That
just made teammates look worse, as if they weren't handling their own
defensive assignments.
The crowds could be fickle, too. On one night, the Knicks handed out
posters of Ewing, who then had a lousy first half. While he was
shooting a free throw, a fan clambered down near the basket and ripped
up a poster right in front of him.
"What's crazy, that same game, Patrick had a great second half, led us
to victory, and the fans were going absolutely nuts," Sparrow says.
"You play to a level of expectations here. Part of this year's issues
is the fans expected the Knicks to grow. Isiah set a goal, more wins
than the prior year. Fans expected the continuation of that, and have
not received that. Then with all the other negative press, it hasn't
helped any of the bonding and team building to get on track.
"I'm very much like Isiah in believing it will happen with the Knicks,
but it's a question of whether he'll be there and if some players will
be there when it does.
"I feel disappointed as a league rep, that one of our premier league
franchises is struggling so badly," Sparrow says. "And the fans miss
the point of home-court advantage. Even though your team is
struggling, not doing as well as you want them to, not representative
of you, the notion that you should boo your own team is a little bit
beyond me."
While the fans jeer the Knicks these days, they should know they
aren't the first ones to lose patience with this franchise. It was
back in 1982, when the Knicks were a nearly respectable 33-49, that
Micheal Ray Richardson declared, "The ship be sinkin'."
This franchise rises and sinks like a slow tide. And when it falls, as
Richardson also said, "the sky's the limit."
BY FILIP BONDY
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
The mudslide of defeats didn't start with James Dolan, Larry Brown or
Isiah Thomas, even if it seems that way now. The Knicks have been
losing big in cycles for four decades and more, going back in time to
the primordial ooze of the early '60s.
Every 20 years or so, the Knicks stumble into a crevice so deep that
it appears nothing will rescue them. The reasons for the decline are
very different, and not always as insufferable as the current crop of
disastrous headlines and scandals. But they are always sticky,
stubborn trenches.
In the '60s, the Knicks didn't have a big man, when the other teams in
their talented division had true giants of the game. The Knicks had
lousy luck with the draft. Four coaches came and went, but little
changed.
Then in the '80s, they suffered from a barrage of injuries under Hubie
Brown, who watched helplessly as stars Bernard King and Bill
Cartwright went down for entire seasons at a time with fractures and
ligament tears and Patrick Ewing missed 53 games his first two
seasons. It wasn't until Rick Pitino's arrival in 1987 that the team
became healthy and respectable again.
Here are the harsh, historic regular-season records - easier to rattle
off than to endure over six-month periods: The Knicks were 27-48 in
1959-60, under Fuzzy Levane and Carl Braun. They were a rock-bottom
21-58 under Braun, in 1960-61; 29-51, 21-59 and 22-58 with Eddie
Donovan from 1961-64, including Wilt Chamberlain's humiliating
100-point game (a 169-147 Knick defeat) on March 2, 1962; then 31-49
in 1964-65 under Harry Gallatin.
Twenty years later, the franchise tanked again under Hubie. Those
brittle Knicks were a model of consistent failure, finishing 24-58,
23-59 and 24-58 from 1984 to 1987.
And now, looking back, the players from those struggling teams want us
to know that they were trying as hard as they could, and are mortified
by the present-day mess at the Garden.
"Yes I am. It's an embarrassment to the league, an embarrassment to
New York City, to pro basketball," says Richie Guerin, the tough guard
nicknamed "The Leatherneck," who played with the Knicks from
1956-1963. "The way they're playing now, and nothing's being done
about it. It's unanimous that nobody understands, not the media or the
fans or the league. It's been going on too long. You need a healthy
New York, Boston and Laker franchise for the league to be successful.
And you need the right type of players, that's where it's going to
start."
When the Knicks were faltering badly in the '60s, their chief alibi
was the competition. The league had only eight teams in 1960, and the
Eastern Division franchises were packed with stars. Big stars. Boston
featured Bill Russell. Philly had Chamberlain. Syracuse had Red Kerr
and Dolph Schayes. The Knicks often faced each of these teams as many
as 13 times a year. They were 1-12 against Boston in 1959-60, and 2-11
versus Philly in 1960-61.
It was a hopeless situation under the basket, so the Knicks kept
trying to get bigger to compete. That just made things worse. Draft
picks such as Ron Shavlik, Tom Stith and Charlie Tyra didn't work out.
The Knicks owned the worst NBA record and should have had the first
pick in the 1961 draft, but then the Chicago Packers entered the
league as an expansion team, were awarded the top pick and drafted
Walt Bellamy - Rookie of the Year, averaging 31.6 points and 19
rebounds.
More bad luck: In 1960, the Knicks owned the third pick. They chose
Darrall Imhoff, behind Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. Everything went
wrong from a player personnel standpoint, but the players showed up
for work
"As best as I can recall, you got enthused every year when the seasons
started," says Guerin, a native New Yorker wintering these days in
West Palm Beach. "You felt the team was improved from the year before.
You saw some positive things. You had hopes you'd make the playoffs.
The unfortunate thing, as it got around Christmas time, you realized
it wasn't going to happen. Guys you thought would be assets, didn't
live up to the hype. Nobody else was added to the team.
"I can honestly say this, though: I lived through six or seven of
those years, and even though it happened, I can't say one person on
the team didn't try his hardest, bust his butt. I honestly don't think
that's happening today with the Knicks during the few games I've seen.
It looks like guys are packing it in."
The fans back then, too, were different than the ones today. These
were working-class people, and many were betting on the games. The
Knicks would play Tuesday night doubleheaders at the old Garden, and
the crowd would mostly worry about the point spread. The Knicks might
be up or down nine points, and the place would still be going crazy
down the stretch, hoping to beat the spread.
"Even though we were criticized, it wasn't so harsh," says Johnny
Green, the 6-6 forward who played with the Knicks from 1959-65. "The
expectations were a little bit different. They didn't expect us to
beat the strong teams. That didn't make losing feel any better, but we
had a little less pressure.
"In our case, the guys were out there playing hard. The fans looked at
that and said, ‘At least they're trying.' Guerin was a hard-nosed
player. I played hard. We figured we might as well leave it out on the
court. That had some merit.
"Then again, back then we had seven, eight newspapers. You writers
like to sell newspapers. And there's a certain amount of negative that
comes in with that."
Green, who now lives on Long Island, feels his own development as a
player was sabotaged a bit by those seasons with the Knicks. Lacking a
big man, coaches would tell him his chief role was rebounding, so he
never developed the jumper that might have made his game more
complete. On another team, he might have been more than just (Jumpin')
Johnny Green.
* * *
The next era of Knick futility really began on the night of March 23,
1985, when Bernard King went down with a torn knee ligament while
chasing Reggie Theus on a fast break during a game at Kemper Arena in
Kansas City. The Knicks were already without Bill Cartwright and Truck
Robinson because of injuries, and this was the final dagger.
King would require two years to recover from this injury, playing only
six more games with the Knicks. Patrick Ewing came aboard in 1985, but
he was too young to carry the team and missed 53 games to injuries
over his first two seasons.
"No question, we had major injuries," says Rory Sparrow, the Knicks'
point guard from 1982-87. "In that process, we got old as a team. Our
problem was we had key players, key scorers who were hurt. We had to
supplement them with guys like Kenny Bannister, Eddie Lee Wilkins, and
Ronnie Cavenall. We had that whole issue of trying to find someone who
was going to score.
"Then once we got those guys healthy, they were too old, or they were
traded. It was a whole host of things that didn't allow us to bounce
back. We filled holes, but they didn't pan out. You're in a tough
situation, where you almost have to blow it all up and start over."
Some deals were made out of desperation, the worst of circumstances.
In November 1986, GM Scotty Stirling acquired fading guard Gerald
Henderson by trading the 1987 draft pick that would eventually go to
the Bulls and become Scottie Pippen.
When the Knicks fell apart at this time, crowds grew thinner and more
irate at the Garden. These teams suffered badly in comparison to the
two championship springs of 1970 and 1973, and even to more recent
accomplishments in 1984.
"The fans were very harsh initially," says Sparrow, who works now as
an administrator with the NBA. "We just got off of a season carrying
Boston to a seventh game, so expectations were high. And when Patrick
came in, they expected him to take us to the next place."
Sparrow remembers how players were trying to do too much, shooting
from outside their range or rotating out of position on defense. That
just made teammates look worse, as if they weren't handling their own
defensive assignments.
The crowds could be fickle, too. On one night, the Knicks handed out
posters of Ewing, who then had a lousy first half. While he was
shooting a free throw, a fan clambered down near the basket and ripped
up a poster right in front of him.
"What's crazy, that same game, Patrick had a great second half, led us
to victory, and the fans were going absolutely nuts," Sparrow says.
"You play to a level of expectations here. Part of this year's issues
is the fans expected the Knicks to grow. Isiah set a goal, more wins
than the prior year. Fans expected the continuation of that, and have
not received that. Then with all the other negative press, it hasn't
helped any of the bonding and team building to get on track.
"I'm very much like Isiah in believing it will happen with the Knicks,
but it's a question of whether he'll be there and if some players will
be there when it does.
"I feel disappointed as a league rep, that one of our premier league
franchises is struggling so badly," Sparrow says. "And the fans miss
the point of home-court advantage. Even though your team is
struggling, not doing as well as you want them to, not representative
of you, the notion that you should boo your own team is a little bit
beyond me."
While the fans jeer the Knicks these days, they should know they
aren't the first ones to lose patience with this franchise. It was
back in 1982, when the Knicks were a nearly respectable 33-49, that
Micheal Ray Richardson declared, "The ship be sinkin'."
This franchise rises and sinks like a slow tide. And when it falls, as
Richardson also said, "the sky's the limit."