My Knicks History: Part 2

There was still some hope for the Knicks at the turn of the century. Allan Houston's knees hadn't completely quit on him. Kurt Thomas proved himself to be a decent big man. Things weren't great but they weren't horrible either.

Then enter Isiah Thomas. I remember when they announced his hiring I was excited. We finally had a guy that would make New York attractive to play in again. Someone who knew the game and the types of players it would take to succeed. So I thought.

I was happy about the Marbury trade. We got Penny a seasoned vet (little did we know he wouldn't play very much). It seemed like Isaih was bringing in quality players. So what their contracts were huge, he was trying to win immediately.

The thing is the Knicks never started winning and Isiah got bringing players with these huge contracts. So the Knicks didn't win immediately and they were setting themselves up to never win.

Then Isiah made the move that was supposed to turn around the franchise. He got the big name coach New York needed. He got Larry Brown to come home. Brown a proven coach in the league, still fresh off winning his first championship in Detroit. Sure him and Marbury had some disagreements during the Olympics but they would work all that out.

With all that said, half way through the season the Knicks are tied for the most losses in the league. I never expected them to amazing in Brown's first year, but there are stretches where they look down right terrible (I think they have lost their last ten or something). On the other hand, there was a six game winning streak to start the new year where they looked like they could make some noise.

The Knicks have three rookies who look like they could be the core of a good team in the future. Isiah has said he doesn't want to give up Channing Frye, Nate Robinson, or David Lee, but you never know with him. I thought Trevor Ariza was a good young player that could play a couple of different positions and be valuable. Alas, that brings us to today, Ariza is no longer a Knickerbocker and Steve Francis is.

That's right Steve Francis is a Knick. Yes Stephon Marbury is still a Knick. So yes the Knicks now have the same exact player at their two starting guard spots (not to mention we just picked up Jalen Rose too). Plus with Francis comes like four years and forty million of guaranteed money against the salary cap.

Isiah gave the Magic Ariza and Hardaway (who has an expiring contract) for Francis. I thought he was supposed to cutting salary and getting ready to make a push for any of the big name free agents that are gonna be around this summer. Isiah apparently thinks differently.

That's the thing: no one knows what the hell he is doing. Since hearing about this trade I haven't heard anybody say a good thing about it. Unless they are talking about it from the Magic's perspective.

I started this two part rant by saying that I've been a Knick fan for my entire life. There has never been a time when I haven't been proud to be a Knick fan. All throughout my life people have heckled me for being a Knick fan and I haven't waivered.

That's what makes this so hard. It took a force from the inside to make me start questioning whether I need to jump ship. Isiah has made it so the Knicks won't get any real cap relief come the summer and he's traded away draft picks for players like Quentin Richardson and his bad back. There is no light at the end of the tunnel that is Isiah Thomas and it's too late to turn back and take the detour.