Worst Decade Ever

Very nice piece. I actually think the Knicks downfall started with that Alan Houston contract. It set the tone for irresponsible spending and an owner who knew nothing about basketball getting himself involved with player decisions (this also led to the Sprewell and Camby trades; the McDyess disaster, Van Gundy’s firing, etc.).

Other than Dolan there is still one player here who must go for this team to wash the stink of the past decade. And it is not Jarred Jeffries whose contract I hate more than anything that surrounds this team.

Once Eddy Curry goes I truly believe the curse will be lifted.

yeah, again, I don’t view the mcdyess situation as that much of a “disaster”…if he stayed healthy they would have won 45-50 games and been in the playoffs for a few years then spree prob would have stayed.

the downfall obviously started by getting nothing but salaries back for ewing, signing eisley and anderson to terrible contracts and maintaining that they will always be over the cap.

Yes the houston contract hurt, but trading for penny hardaway’s contract tuned out to be a “disaster” too. Bigger than McDyess…dude’s still in the league.

K4L….I think it started with the Ewing trade which eventually led to the “knee jerk” (no pun H20) reaction to signing Houston….

Nice piece indeed…goodbye and good riddance the first decade of the century!

Please don’t ever remind me of the double-zero decade Knix or Isiah. Pass me the lime green Kool Aid with the memory eraser chaser. And bring in Dancing Harry to exorcise the curse.

A last fond farewell to my hero Dave DeBusschere (1940-2003). R.I.P Dave.

DTR

Um…Happy New Year?

“I don’t view the mcdyess situation as that much of a “disaster”…if he stayed healthy they would have won 45-50 games”

The fact that he never “stayed healthy” is what made it a “disaster” or a disastrous trade. He is still in the league, but he never paid dividends for the Knicks, definitely not at the cost of Number 2 and Number 7 1st round draft pick.

That was a bad trade from the door.

I do agree with Tommy however that the downward spiral began with the Ewing trade and the Utah Jazz East project that Layden started.

Nice piece. I have been reading this blog for the past couple of months, but never want to comment because this blog is filled with too many negative commentators. Although the piece was clearly describing the past decade as a bad one, at least it ended with giving us knick fans reason to think positively about the future.

Nice piece DEE!

Isiah proved that ya CAN trade ANYONE! He also proved that he is blind too! After years of trading faces, telling us how we will win rings, re-introducing the concept of of Big Ball-Small ball just praying for a miracle, when I hear the title “losing Isiah”, it surely brings a smile to my face!

Now we have D’Antoni, another fraud that wll bring us rings that he couldn’t win with much better talent in PHX. Matter of fact, he couldn’t get his team out of the western conference.

So for me, as it pertains to our Knicks, it was Isiah/D’Antonti, the RINGLESS BROTHERS CIRCUS!

yes in hindsight it was a bad trade…not worse than the marbury trade, or the ewing trade, probably equal to the francis trade.

point is there were worse moments than that thus i don’t categorize it as a “disaster”

when you look back at the decade and all the bad moments, that one doesn’t rank on top for me.

John Maloney – Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

I cannot disagree with anything you wrote. If you really look back at the beginning of this decade and analyze everything that happened up through now, you see that this decade was an EPIC failure.

Much as I liked Alan Houston, his argument for his big dough was he was the best two guard in the league at that time and truth be told he wasnt the best 2 on the team with Sprewell there. It was just too much money, they coulda of coddled Patrick with an extension and eased him out the door. Thus the Patrick trade and the curse began, that my take on it.

I also think Frye was never really given a chance after returning from injury and plus Zeke is a terrible Xs and Os coach. Lampe never given a chance and a scapegaot for Zeke to move what he caught eating penuts at halftime or something.

The Fred Weiss HUGE disaster, going after an injured McDyess, the Jazz infusion (Eisley and Anderson).

I read somewhere that Zeke was forced to make something happen ASAP thats how we ended up with Steph and Penny. I disagree it was just Zeke had no plan or how to build a team or manage salary cap money.

Jalen was about done when he got in MSG, bringing in Stevie Franchise the exact type of guard Steph was EXACT . Losing the young high flying Ariza, remember the beautiful dunk he did on Ben Wallace

After dispatching Mutumbo, we supposely found our center in Snacks who played his tail off in the one playoff series which was smoke and mirrors but as usual Zeke was fooled and he gets paid BIG. Ok then why give up the farm for another unproven center with an ailment in Eddy Curry and the loss of picks behind that move were astronomical.

Imagine if we still had Trev and Channing (both have gotten better) but as the Beatles say Imagine, so let focus on the 2010 and hopefully a brighter future, maybe a franchise point guard, also the courting of THE KING, I just want a team to play for the chip before 2012. Happy New Years my fellow Knickfans may our team prosper in the future

When you say that there are disasters “Bigger than McDyess…dude’s still in the league.”, just remember that Camby and Nene/Amar’e are also “still in the league”.

there is no such thing as a curse on the KNICKS,just BAD MANAGEMENT.BESIDE THE 2 CHAMPIONSHIPS with Willis Reed,and the 90′s Ewing years,the Knicks have basicly sucked.They certainly have been bad more than they have been good.How they couldve traded Ewing instead of letting his contract run out is something that ancient scholars are still deliberating over.but ,as i said before NO CURSE,JUST BAD MANAGEMENT.And when Donnie genius puts us over the cap again ,with this free agent shopping spree coming up,as soon as one of the “ALL-STARS” that he signs ,hurts himself real bad,we once again will have no players but a huge payroll.another reason why he shouldnt put all his eggs in one basket

weren’t you going to submit some sort of written piece ?

That’s your response? lol

Once I get a good block of time, I am. It’s coming.

I’m actually trying to (in my head) narrow it down to what I am going to write it on. I’m leaning towards Mr. “hitting shots” himself.

Response to what?

My take is that the mcdyess trade ranks below the ewing and marbury deals as worst of the decade.

Tommy is right. Marbury and Ewing deals were much worse than McDyess.

One caveat…. if the McDyess deal never went down, perhaps we never would have gotten Marbury…. hhmmm…

Anyway, TD is right. And as bad as the Ewing deal was (and it was bad), the Marbury deal might take the cake.

It is very interesting to see how one bad trade has led to the next over this past decade. Knicks deal Camby and Nene for McDyess (hindsight says its an awful deal). Then Knicks deal McDyess (and picks, etc.) for Marbury (who disgraced this city) and Penny. Penny was then traded to Orlando for Francis, who was a bust and simply enlongated the pain. Francis was then traded for Zach Randolph, who was a good player for the Knicks, but whose contract would have interfered with 2010. Randolph was then traded for Mobley (who never played for us) and Tim Thomas, who was then later dealt for Larry Hughes.

With Walsh at the helm, it appears that the timeline will stop after this season. AMEN!

the thing about the McDyess deal was that he was coming off a busted knee that took over two years for him to recover from (and multiple operations)

For a player that relied (at the time) on explosion that is a clear what the f@#$ moment..

Ewing should have been handled differently.. but if you remember he was being phased out for Camby and speed ball and was looking for a new contract.. and didnt want to come off the bench.. or accept a reduced role as a “proud warrior”//

Agree whole heartedly that the aughts were the worst decade ever.. great piece by the author..

yo TD.. great meeting u last nite.. look forward to more optimism in 2010 when i get my #6 game jersey..

Nice piece TD … my opinion? McDyess trade, hands down, the worst thing that happened to the Knicks this decade. Part of my reasoning is that Donnie will be looking at both Camby and Amare as FAs next summer and that’s how many years AFTER the McDyess fiasco??? I know Nene was the pick that was traded that year not Amare, but Nene is who Denver wanted so the Knicks chose him. And if Nene was available next summer, Donnie would be looking at him too !

PS, off the topic a bit but I found Darko’s comments about everybody in the NBA being “liars” interesting. Most interesting is that Darko said it himself (no agent or mis-quoting involved). And the since his latest NBA affiliation is the Knicks, he must be calling Father Mike & Donnie B-Ball liars ! So, are his comments “detremental” enough to the league for a fine from Stern like the garbage he’s trying to pull on Nate? The commish can do better in this deal, currecy wise, by fining Darko in Euros rather than dollars … see link to story below:
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/63726/20091230/darko_the_nba_is_full_of_liars/

Yeah I heard about that. Darko is essentially a contract at this point. He never got a fair shake this season, despite the “high hopes” for him. The Knicks front court was very crowded coming into this season and players like Curry / Darko / and Hill did not make the cut.

But Chris, aren’t his comments more negative than those from Nate’s agent? I mean he’s blasting the whole league and with D’ant & Donnie beiong his latest bosses, he’s definitely blasting them … why no fine from the Stern one? Is he on the “bash N8 but look the other way when someone else screws up” bandwagon too? I know D’ant has a double standard when it comes to Nate, but the commish too?

Get Tim Donaghy in here to investigate !!!

Side note. Just heard on ESPN Radio The Herd LeBron is releasing a new sneaker. It’s ORANGE AND BLUE with I LOVE NY engraved on it. HMMMMMM…………

I didn’t really have a problem with the Ewing trade. I’m a huge Ewing fan but his time had come. Even Hakeem the Dream got traded from Houston, Clyde the Glide from Portland, and Charles Barkley (well many times). I also never forgave Ewing for not pulling a Willis Reed and playing in the 1999-2000 finals. What I did hate was what the team got back for Ewing. It made no sense with the roster we already had in place.

It is only fitting that the summer of 2010 will be the first after a decade of pathetic basketball in the Mecca. What we do this summer will certainely set the table for the rest of the decade.

Let’s go Jets!!!!!!

isn’t a decade every 10 years?

isn’t the end of the decade 2010?

anyways for the last 9 years the knicks have been bad but not as bad
after camby an spree

The Ewing trade was the worst, and I’ll tell you why. It absolutely handicapped them salary-cap wise for years. It demonstrated a clear misunderstanding of how to run a team in the age of the salary cap. The Knicks weren’t the only ones to screw this up but this was the beginning of the end.

If Ewing had played his last year out, the Knicks likely would not have signed him, and a lot of money would have come off the cap. In fact, they may have been able to be under the cap. But they traded him, getting back contracts that extended years into the future. And these contracts were for mediocre players that were paid more than they were worth. That whole Glen Rice/Travis Knight / Shandon Anderson / Howard Eisley team was just truly bad news.

I agree with Tommy that the McDyess trade was largely bad luck. At the time, if you remember, Camby could NOT stay healthy. He was hurt all the time, and frankly, I’m shocked that he’s still playing because it seemed like injuries would force him out of the league within a couple of years. Camby was my favorite Knick, and I remember thinking this was a pretty decent trade. But it sure turned out terribly.

Another crappy thing that happened this decade was that Allan Houston, who really was a pretty good player, had to retire prematurely due to knee problems. After he got microfracture surgery on one knee, he came back, then started having the same ‘no cartiledge’ problem with the other knee. But instead of getting the microfracture surgery on that knee as well, he decided to put his faith in God and that was the end of Houston.

Most of Isiah’s trades were ill-fated attempts to fix that mess, with a fascination with players that had begun to show they were not living up to their hype. Isiah thought, ‘Hey, maybe the hype is still true’. That was true when it came to coaches, too.

It was a decade of bad management and bad luck, which kept hitting us again and again. BAM! Bad management. WHAM! Bad luck. BAM! Bad management again. WHAM! More bad luck. Some talented players came through here in the last ten years, but never could come close to flourishing under the twin assault.

But it all started with that Ewing trade.

I can’t believe that I actually agree with everything everybody is saying today.

As for the worse trade…Marbury’s trade is the worst.

Curry’s is right up there as well.

The Ewing trade sucked.

As did the Camby trade.

Wow…how many bad trades can one team have?

2000 – 1

2001 – 2

2002 – 3

2003 – 4

2004 – 5

2005 – 6

2006 – 7

2007 – 8

2008 – 9

2009 – 10

A decade = 10 years.

2010 starts a new decade.

Math 101.

No shots.

Yeah here’s to the next decade. And what a better way to start than losing to the worst team in the league. Haha, just kidding. Ewing trade was definitely the worst, but Mcdyess was close even though I liked it at the time. I remember I was at his first game back and it was terrible. Everybody was so excited and then on literally like the 1st play he got stuffed by the rim on an alleyoop attempt. Horrible, right out the window with the rest of our franchise saviors like H20, Marbury, and Curry. Well, happy new year to everyone.

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The organization is going for the record of bad trades and bad drafts for an NBA team.

On second thought, they probably have that record already, so they may just be trying to make sure it is far enough out of reach that no other organization will attempt to break it.

I dont know man, its awfully close between us and the Clippers. Its going to come down to the wire.

Why wasn’t I invited?! Haha, just kidding.

The Ewing trade was terrible. I was so disappointed not only with him, but more with the organization. Definitely ONE of the worst decisions (there are plenty to choose from) the Knicks, as a franchise, has ever made. You’ll get no argument from me there, whether it was the worst or not, I think is debatable. There is just too much fodder to choose from in that department.

I just don’t see how anyone can argue that the McDyess trade was not a “disastrous” one.

Maybe I was alone in my thought that the former 2nd overall pick in the draft (in Marcus Camby) and a LOTTERY pick (7th overall) was too much for a player coming back from knee problems and hadn’t even played in order to see how effective he would be returning from said injury.

The fact that I was right in my own personal feelings about that trade probably makes me feel more justified in labeling it a horrible move.

If I had thought it was a good move at the time maybe I would be taking more of a “hindsight is 20/20″ stance much in the way Tommy is.

God bless those Clippers man, they have the 2nd fiddle (Lakers) in their favor though. We don’t, but to save face, we can always point to them!

Good job ds2488! Thanks!

Happy New Year!

You too HaS. Those lucky clippers go unnoticed because of the Lakers. We are not so lucky. Haha.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/11948/lebrons-new-shoes-say-i-love-new-york

i hated the McDyess trade when it happened..

No fronting.no hindsight.

Actually there was no year zero. Common calanders go directly from 1 BC to 1 AD. So the first decade was year 1 to year 11.
This decade ends at the end of 2010 not the end of 2009 and 2011 starts the new decade.
I’m not sure which course in school taught that
no shots

2011 starts a new decade
u don’t start counting at 0

thats good u know to count hydro