The New York Knicks are sitting pretty at the 3rd spot in the Eastern Conference and we decided now is a good time as any to talk about how the Knicks have turned their franchise around, after years and years of suffering for the Knicks fans. The last time the Knicks won a championship was back in 1973 during the Walt Frazier days and it’s been 52 years since. Since then we have seen countless players come and play for the Knicks but none could deliver a championship to one of the most glorified sports teams across the globe.
In the 90s we saw a great Knicks team with Patrick Ewing leading the pack and despite coming close multiple times, the Knicks just could not get it done. Then in the 2010s we saw Knicks acquire Carmelo Anthony and of course the “Linsanity,” days with Jeremy Lin, however, the Knicks still could not win. While Melo is one of the greatest scorers the game has ever seen, the fact remains that he could never win at the highest of levels.
The Knicks also acquired Kristaps Porzingis in the midst of all this chao, but he was traded away soon after. Then came one of the worst stretches for the Knicks and in 2019 they finished with a 17-65 record putting them at the bottom of the Eastern standings, but the good news was, after you reach the bottom the only way remaining is up.
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So how did the Knicks turn their franchise around? Let’s find out.
In 2020, the Knicks hired head coach Tom Thibodeau and he is know to be one of the best defensive coaches in the NBA. The Knicks would have never changed their ways if James Dolan, the owner of the Knicks, would not have fired Steve Mills. Mills was the president of the Knicks till 2020, until Dolan replaced him with Leon Rose. Rose is a former player agent who represented stars such as Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony and he is one of the main reasons the Knicks are where they are today.
The Knicks acquired Jalen Brunson from the Dallas Mavericks and that was a steal as they signed Brunson to a four-year $104 million deal. Brunson has emerged into one of the best players in the NBA and he is one of the most important reasons as to why the Knicks have started winning again. He initially played for the Dallas Mavericks but reports state that the Mavericks weren’t willing to pay Brunson, and since Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father, was already an assistant coach for the Knicks, it was a no-brainer for Jalen to leave the Mavs and join the Knicks.
The Mavericks have had quite a bit of history of not wanting to give out huge contracts to players and we recently saw what happened with Luka Doncic as well, but that is a topic for another day.
The Knicks managed to acquire Josh Hart who is known to be a tough, gritty player and is also someone who’s willing to do all the dirty work for the team. Then in 2024 the Knicks shocked the NBA world when they went after Mikal Bridges. While he’s not a star player, Bridges is known to be a great on-ball defender and also someone who can put up points on the board.
Another great addition was getting OG Anunoby from the Toronto Raptors, who is also a great defender and helps the knicks with floor spacing. With these three the Knicks suddenly had great perimeter defenders but there was one more piece missing from the puzzle.
The Minnesota Timberwolves went to the Western Conference Finals with KAT as their second best player. Towns helped the Timberwolves achieve great success last season and the Timberwolves’ fans were excited for years to come. However, Minnesota decided to trade Towns away to the Knicks in exchange for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. At first everybody thought the Timberwolves made one of the strangest trades in recent memory but we later found out that the Timberwolves were on a payroll crunch and simply couldn’t afford to keep Towns going forward.
After acquiring Towns, the New York Knicks are sitting at 3rd in the Eastern Conference currently, and even though Brunson has been out of the lineup with an injury, the Knicks are still winning despite struggling at times. This season it looks like the Knicks’ ceiling is the Eastern Conference Finals at best, as nobody thinks that they have what it takes to beat the Celtics or the Cavs who are the juggernauts in the East. However upsets do happen in the NBA and if the Knicks are fully healthy, who knows what they can do going into the playoffs.
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