It wasn’t the fairytale anyone was hoping for in New York.
From bad loss to bad loss, player injuries and constant trade rumors, the most dysfunctional organization in the NBA sunk a little lower Saturday.
Knicks forward Metta World Peace tweeted he and his agent were working on a buyout with the team.
Thank NYC for everything. Thanks for having me I will always be grateful… My agent is working on a buyout. No disrespect to the city Luv U
— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) February 22, 2014
My agent just informed me this release could happen any hr now. I just want to say “Thanks for everything”
— Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) February 22, 2014
World Peace may have handled this maturely, but his brother, Daniel Artest, did the opposite. And maybe that isn’t a bad thing.
Daniel Artest went on a Knicks killing spree, revealing all the dark secrets over the past six months.
In a 20-tweet attack, Daniel didn’t hold back any punches towards the organization.
Here’s the best from his rant:
Mike Woodson is trash as a coach. That’s my opinion. The Knicks are a trash organization. That’s my opinion too. Melo deserves better. Fact!
— Daniel Artest (@DMArtestQB) February 22, 2014
Ron wanted to be a knick his entire career and his dream became a nightmare. Knicks need an overhaul. Top to bottom
— Daniel Artest (@DMArtestQB) February 22, 2014
I’m not threatening Dolan on twitter tho. Lol. Some fan is locked up for that. Lol. However. I can say he’s the worst owner in sports.
— Daniel Artest (@DMArtestQB) February 22, 2014
One thing about Dolan. He hates knick slander but he loves the attention it gets. Trust me. I know.
— Daniel Artest (@DMArtestQB) February 22, 2014
I knew Knicks was bullshit when @NY_KnicksPR had me in office like. “Daniel. Ur tweets are a distraction.” Please.
— Daniel Artest (@DMArtestQB) February 22, 2014
Mike Woodson isn’t the man for NYC. Puppets will never prosper. Well actually. He made millions coaching. Still a yes man tho.
— Daniel Artest (@DMArtestQB) February 22, 2014
Daniel tweeted the cold hard truth.
He revealed the Knicks paid him to keep quiet and not slander the organization. He called Mike Woodson a “trash coach” and James Dolan “the worst owner in sports.”
The Knicks are dysfunctional, from top to bottom there’s organizational flaws at every level.
Before I examine New York’s troubles, please note: They have incredible fans, some of the best in the league. These fans are sometimes very hostile and bitter (understandably so) but they support their team through it all. For that I respect #KnicksNation.
Let’s start at the top, team owner James Dolan. Has anyone told him he’s not the general manager?
Dolan blocked a deal the Knicks had in place to bring Kyle Lowry to town. Lowry, who’s playing at an All-Star level, was being shopped heavily in December and New York could have got him cheap, but no deal.
He also gave the OK to pay Allan Houston $100 million over six years, yes, that’s way too much money. Don’t forget about the time Dolan offered Knicks legend Patrick Ewing a coaching role, in the D-League.
Then there’s Steve Mills, the actual GM of this team. If you’re not a big basketball fan you probably wouldn’t know that. That’s because he’s Dolan’s puppet and probably has less control over his team than any other GM in pro sports.
Back to Dolan.
He let Jeremy Lin walk, allowed Andrea Bargnani to be part of the team, signed JR Smith after surgery, paid a plethora of executives, coaches and players an excessive amount of money. The list goes on and on.
Don’t forget about Mike Woodson, a fair coach at best who’s stuck in the middle of a terrible situation.
His job has been on life support since December and that shows no sign of changing. There’s reports he’s lost control of the locker room and his players don’t listen to his play calls.
The roster is good on paper, but that carries no weight come game time. So many broken down players who have seen better days go to New York and let their career expire. The worst case scenario, Amar’e Stoudemire, who’s gone from MVP candidate to seventh man in a matter of years. Raymond Felton, once a good starting point guard in Charlotte, now pegged the “worst starting PG in the NBA.” Smith, who had a career year last season, has completely fallen out of sync.
And the future, what future? They hardly have any picks. New York treat’s draft picks like charity. Carmelo Anthony isn’t sticking around, who can blame him. He wants to win and he’s not winning in New York anytime soon.
The expression, ‘light at the end of tunnel’ doesn’t apply here.
It’s unfortunate to see one of the NBA’s most celebrated franchise’s suffer so much.
Very soon there will be a domino effect in New York. Players will keep wanting out, fans will stop watching games and coaches will start losing jobs. It’s only a matter of time.
This ticking time bomb that is the Knicks is about to go off. Anyone who can escape before getting trapped in the rubble would be wise to do so.
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Brett Poirier is a contributor to Sheridan Hoops. Follow @BrettNBA
Knicks fans are welcome to become fans of Brooklyn Nets, who have the best owner in the NBA, besides being the REAL Most Interesting Man in the World. Prokhorov’s Biathlon team’s 4 medals in Olympics may be the difference between Russia beating the USA in total medals.
His two finalists for the GM job were Billy King and Danny Ferry, who were arguably two of the six worst NBA GMs in the 30 years preceding their interviews. So no, he ain’t the best owner in the NBA. Just because he has the deepest wallet and is agreeable to using it doesn’t make him the best.
No one saying King is a bad GM now, especially not Prokhorov.
Artest’s brother is a little off, actually, Dan Gilbert is the worst owner in sports by a hair. Gilbert is 1(a), Dolan is 1(b). But Dolan is a much better singer than Gilbert.
Where are his tweets, did he delete them? I clicked the links, it says the page doesn’t exist.