Related
During a recent interview, Charles Oakley suggested something that more enlightened NBA fans know by now: Free agent stars are swerving around Madison Square Garden when choosing their next destination.
Dismiss Oakley as a bitter former player if you like, but Andre Iguodala echoed Oakley's sentiments. And we must wonder if, beyond the Knicks' atrocious record this century, if Oakley is the main reason or the main nerve behind this compulsion to avoid Manhattan at all cost?
It's impossible to shake free of that ugly moment two years ago, when Oakley was carried from his seat by MSG's goon squad. Of all the Knicks who were so beloved during those enchanted '90s teams, no one embodied their hard-hat work ethic like Oakley. He had Larry Bird's hops, could barely dunk a basketball and did his business well below the rim. But like Anthony Mason and John Starks, Oakley thrived in the trenches. He was a blue-collar guy on high-priced turf, like a construction worker drilling on Madison Avenue.
If you watch the video again, you'll notice not just the mesmerized fans whipping out their smartphones, but also the players slinking over to the scuffle, watching with either amazement or horror as the army of MSG security guards wrenched Oakley from his seat then pulled him into the bowels of the arena.
Maybe the Knicks, who went 17-65 last year, just don't have the history to attract big-ticket free agents. Maybe this crop of Millennials care most about the wins and losses. Or more likely, they talk to each other, form an ad hoc courtroom off the court, and pass judgement on the Knickerbockers.
The Knicks not only have a long resume of incompetence, but are also well known for being moody over trivial things. They are notoriously ornery to the press, blocking whomever they don't like from media events and banning employees from appearing on certain sports shows. They were just fined $50,000 for barring The Daily News from a conference call.
Perhaps that's why Kevin Durant or Kyrie Irving or Kemba Waker or Jimmy Butler went anywhere but Two Penn Plaza. Kawhi Leonard, currently wearing the crown as the league's preeminent player - and the last star standing in free agency - could walk into The Garden and save the team and the town, but the Knicks aren't even a speck on his map. The NBA Finals MVP is considering the Clippers over the Knicks. Imagine such a sentiment 25 years ago.
Some Knicks fans are leaning on revisionist history, telling us how thrilled they are that KD and Kyrie chose Brooklyn over Manhattan, even if they were drooling over the idea of both stars in Knicks uniforms just a week before. And you could argue that the Nets needed the pair of star players more than the Knicks in order to steal the stage from their Big Apple uncles.
But to deny the fact that the Knicks look awful this summer is the same kind of inverted logic that has kept the Knicks in the NBA dungeon for nearly two decades. Usually a franchise or its fans become tired of being overstepped and overlooked as a cool, fun place where the winning happens. Yet the fun-house distortion that has been Knicks basketball over the years has somehow infected those who work for the team or pray for its success. They still fill the building, while their well-heeled devotees still speak of the Knicks with undue respect.
There's no silver lining in the eternal consolation prize. RJ Barrett is not Zion Williamson. Julius Randle is not Kevin Durant. Taj Gibson is not Kyrie Irving. Bobby Portis is not Kemba Walker. You don't see NBA teams bouncing their former greats like they're bums, all of it on camera and television, in front of fans, the press, and the players - most of whom have a unifying reverence for the former power forward.
We can't say Charles Oakley was the flashpoint of a revolution, but he may be the face of a league-wide revulsion.