This podcast episode is brought to you by Coors Light. These days, everything
is go, go go. It's NonStop hustle all the time. Work,
friends, family expect you to be on twenty four to seven. Well,
sometimes you just need to reach for a Core's light because it's made to chill.
Coors Light is cold loggered, cold filtered, and cold package. It's
as crisp and refreshing as the Colorado Rockies. It is literally made to chill.
Coors Light is the one I choose when I need to unwind. So
when you want to hit reset, reach for the beer that's made to chill.
Get Coors Light and the new look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly
or INSTATCRT Celebrate Responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden Colorado. Hi Blue Wire
Listeners. I'm Greg Olsen. I'm excited to partner with Blue Wire to bring
you te one, a podcast where I interview the tight ends who have revolutionized
the position. Listen in as I have raw, in depth conversations with the
all time greats Night Shannon Sharp, Tony Gonzalez, Travis Kelsey, and George
Kittle. We'll explore had the tight end position has changed over the last sixty
years and what it takes to be the very best. Subscribe to TE one
from Blue Wire Studios today, so you're ready for the August premiere. Hello
Hardwood Knox family. If you're confused because it's a different voice doing the intro,
it's me Adam frommel here with my first our second episode really in a
new co host capacity, which is a throwback to old times. I'm joined
as always by Dan Favali, the longtime co host, and we are continuing
our series where we're looking back at the last decade of NBA basketball for each
franchise and ranking the top ten players. Before we get started, a shout
out, as always to our sponsor bet Online dot Ag. You'll hear from
them later in the episode. But before we get there, we have to
ask Dan, how are you doing? Oh man, it feels weird to
be on this end of it. I know it's strange, isn't it.
I like that you called this a new throwback. So this is your second
episode and official capacity of your second go round. Because we recorded I think
you were on for the first hundred. I don't know. We're closing on
a four hundred episodes. By the way, that's remarkable. Yeah, it's
it's still It's comes so long since our our YouTube days of hoping for twenty
listeners and rambling about the latest trades and how it impacted teams that were entirely
unrelated to those teams involved in trades. Hopefully we'll get to those twenty listeners
one day, though, we're still we're still striving. I am doing fantastic,
though. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty well, but you're
copping out on the answer there. Why's that? I feel like I always
try to like throw it to some interesting story or weird thing happening in my
life, and I need you to do the same here. Now that we've
switched goals, I can totally gripe about something that is. You were just
complaining about acorns, like, that's pretty interesting. I'm pretty sure that squirrels
are attacking the office slash shoe closet slash Jim. It's like home gym that
I'm in right now, and that's pretty much what I think is happening.
So that is my welcome play. If you hear pelting in the background,
it's the squirrels. They're coming after me, and I have no idea what
I did to them, because egcords shouldn't be falling in the middle of July.
I mean, look, we already have dogs barking every once in a
while. Shout out to Wade and thor, so we might as well have
squirrels make their appearance on the podcast as well. Yeah, your dogs are
a little bit quieter than mine. Shout out. I have one of them
laying right next to me as we're recording. So who knows what's going to
happen. I have Wade, who do you have? I have Alder?
All right, we'll see if either one of them decides to make a guest
appearance on the podcast. If anyone wants to make bets, place them now.
So Nick's basketball, it's going to be moving on. It's going to
be a rough one this uh. I think the only appropriate way to start
is with the joke ballot that we deleted. And just to remind everyone of
the process, these composite rankings that we're going over are based on three different
segments of the voting. We have the fan vote, which has been tabulated
into into one set of top tens. We have my ballot, We have
dance, and we combine those to look at the composite rankings, and sometimes
we have to throw out one obviously joking ballot that happened a little more often
for New York, which shocker, I don't think should be particularly surprising.
We had one ballot I won't say who it came from, even though I
know who had Frank Ntilakina in all ten spots. We had another I don't
know who this one came from, who had Alan Houston in all ten spots.
And then we had one I'm glad to believe that it was Alan Houston,
by the way, or some could be here too, fourth related to
Alan Houston, it could be. And then we had one that had and
I the only way to present this is just to read through their ballot.
In first place, we had Zion Williamson, second, Kyrie Irving third,
Kevin Durant fourth. This ballot fifth is totally a joke. Six, but
I laughed at the seventh. Jimmy Butler vote eighth for the Lakers. Ninth,
So throw this out. Tenth, but I thought it would create a
nice conversation about the time when Knicks fans were asking if these three guys could
play together, and that was just like we got We both got a huge
kick out of that because that's like the perfect way to summarize this last decade
of Knicks basketball, where it's like, we're gonna go get these stars.
Oh wait where the Knicks? No, we're not. Yeah, that has
been my favorite ballot today. You read it. It was one that came
in early. We were talking about it before we did the Pelicans podcast.
Just absolutely spectacular and it's wild to think but fast forward about eleven months and
everyone sort of want maybe maybe only ten or rewind ten months, excuse me,
because we knew how the draft lottery had shaken out by some point,
but that was the actual question, or was it. Are the Knicks going
to use their their draft pick, if it's Ion Willington's, to trade for
Anthony Davis that he could play with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. And then
you just look back. They signed Julie this Randall, they signed Taj Gibson,
they signed Boffy Portis, they signed Elvid Peyton, Wayne Ellington. It
was it was very it was a very Knicks type of progress progression there.
And so look, I think some fans are probably tired Knicks fans anyway of
the Knicks being dumped on, they just deserve it so hard and so relentlessly
that I just can't make any apologies for it. Look, sometimes when you
strike out in free agency, you just have to power forward. Wow how
long. I'm really proud of that. On the spot, I was really
proud of that. I'll be sure to put that in the promo tweet.
The one nice thing we can say, though, and we won't get there
immediately, but the top like five five point five, as we put it
at the beginning of the podcast, it's not so bad, Like it's not
terrible. Yeah, it's it's not I mean, there was definitely a unanimous
number one and some prominent names just behind him. But the back end where
we're starting, it's a little rough. So we had thirteen people appear in
one of the three top tens. Three of them obviously just missed the cut
because we're only focusing on ten players. But those three are Amans Chumpert,
who finished tenth for the fans, kylo Quinn, who was tenth on my
ballot, and Danilo Gallinari, who was tenth on yours. I think this
sort of highlights Danilo Gallinari for me, at least how I approached this,
particularly towards the bottom, where I wasn't really concerned about theirness as much as
I was impact or the significance of their tenure, because you know, I'm
not going to cry about leaving Tim Hardaway Junior off because he had two different
stints with the team, or I'm not gonna you know, Lance Thomas as
someone else that I consider ultantly booted, and I went with someone with a
smaller sample. Danilo Gallinari, though absolutely belongs in the top ten. I
am sorry, played in more games than a Jeremy Lynded this decade. He
was the centerpiece of that Carmelo Anthy trade in which the Knicks gave up way,
way too much. I'm probably just bullish because I was bullish on him
at the time and looking at what he turned into, which was a fringe
All star NBA player consistently, and I know injuries of derailed a few campaigns,
but he is someone who was just I say this a lot in this
podcast, but he kind of straddles that line between a from scratch score but
also this good offensive compliment. So that's why I've always enjoyed his game,
and that was, you know, the hardest player to give up in that
package. But if you gave it up, if it was just him and
some other like negligible stuff for Kamla Anthony, but knowing what that trade really
turned into and how it gutted the team, just absolutely awful deal. Still
he was the centerpiece of it. I think he deserves some credit for,
you know, at least headlining that package that brings back the player who's going
to go down as fair not one of the best Knicks players of the decade
or one of the best Knicks most impactful recognizable Knicks players ever, even though
Kamla at They's time there wasn't too successful. So shout out to Neil Gallinari,
one of my favorite NBA players of the era. Yeah, I think
that's fair for me. I wanted to give credit to Kylo Quinn. I
thought you put it well before we started recording, as we were talking about
our ballots, like kind of a Mitchell Robinson light and that he made such
a tremendous impact in the minutes that he did receive but consistently seemed to get
the short stick in the rotation. So only thirteenth and minutes played for the
decade, but still made an impact whenever he was on the court. I
considered a lot of different guys for that ten spot. I mean Landry Fields,
Pablo Prigioni, en As Cantor, dinilog Ga, Gallinari, Schumpert.
There were a bunch of possible names, but I just wanted to go with
the guy who was the most effective of those while he was in New York.
Even if it didn't ever manifest into what we thought it could become,
we did have Jason Kidd actually checking in at number ten, and he was
floated solely by you. He was tied for twelfth with Frank Tilakina in the
fan vote. I had him just outside my top ten. You had him
at ninth, which was enough to get him play sent in our composite top
ten. I'm gonna look except for when the Kristaps Porzingis rise was first happening
in New York, that initial ascension from him twenty twelve twenty thirteen is the
last time it was really just fun to watch New York Knicks basketball. They
were good. They finished second in the Eastern Conference that season. They flamed
out in the second round, and Jason Kidd was absolutely a part of that.
I'm going to give you this is this is like sword of trivia,
but not really his true shooting percentage during that twelve game playoff push. I'm
gonna set it at thirty nine over or under under. Okay, it was
twenty one point three. It was so he couldn't make anything, But it
wasn't even that much better in the regular season, Like he shot like thirty
seven percent from the field that season and what like thirty four percent from three,
just like he was a good role player. Like I get, I
get the nod to it being a fun era, but I didn't get thirty
five point one percent from three, thank you very much, and forty five
point two percent on twos. He's a legend. And then no, I
totally agree with you just looking at the numbers, but definitely what he did
for that locker room because it became apparent to the Nicks that Carmelo Anthony wasn't
going to be that vocal leader. And the one thing I'll say about Melo
though, is he's whether it's since then or just over his entire career,
he's made a real effort to just like relate to the younger guys, and
a lot of the players talk about how well he does in every locker room
he's been in since there hasn't been an issue. He probably gets the way
he left Denver, that's going to give him a bad rap. And then
the Jeremy Lynn stuff was weird because he commented on that restricted free agent offer
sheet and people you know he wasn't happy with Mike D'Antoni. That didn't help
either for him, But in the years after that, it seemed like the
young players really gravitated toward him anyway, though Jason Kidd felt like he was
a good veteran presence for that locker room for that team, gave him some
effort on defense, gave them sort of this playmaking equal equilibrium in the offense
when Carmel Anthy didn't have the ball, and it was also sort of this
like intercessor role. It wasn't just making sure everyone else was involved, but
kind of making sure that Kromo Anthy wasn't overbearing in certain spots. He definitely
needed to be more of an overwhelming contributor in the playoffs, is based off
how that went, and so I think he was sort of the there are
a lot of veterans on that team. She'd Kurt Thomas. I think Jason
Kidd probably just epitomizes what they all stood for more than anyone else, and
so I threw him in there. And I have zero regrets about it hashtag
no regrets. I don't think you need to have any regrets about it.
I just it's not the direction I was going, just because I did think
there were people who spent more time and made more on court contributions. It's
hard to quantify what he added to the locker room. And he did play
for the most successful team of the decade, so there's no knocking him for
any of that. I just I found it difficult to put him over someone
like Tim Hardaway Junior, who is checking in at number nine on our composite
rankings. He was number nine for the fans and number nine for me.
I hope he just missed the cut for you since he wasn't in the top
ten. My initial nine and ten were Tim Hardaway Junior and Land Thomas in
that order, and then I decided to boot them for Gallo and Jason Kidd
because I was I thought I was waiting theirness too much. Yeah, there
are so many directions you can go with this franchise that has struggled for the
last decade, Like it's it's tough too. It was really tough to fill
out the back of half of this ballot in general, just because you didn't
have any obvious inclusions, like how high do you put Jeremy Lynn, who
were eventually going to get to just because of that briefly insanity run. How
do you weigh Jason Kidd? How do you weigh Tim Hardaway Junior, who
between his two stints in New York didn't really do anything of note in the
wind column and put up a lot of shots that he probably didn't have any
business taking, but also scored a lot of points improved. He was much
better in that second stint by no means a star, but it did kind
of pave the way for him to develop into what he's become with the Dallas
Mavericks, which is a really a really impactful tertiary scorer. So, you
know, if we're gonna give credit to Gallo for becoming the player that he
did elsewhere, like I think that the two times that Hardaway went around in
New York did help him grow into what he's become. Hardware knocks listeners.
Have you ever heard of dealdash dot com. It's the best, most honest
bidding site where you can win things you'd never expect at a price you'd never
believe. They have over one thousand auctions every day on electronics, appliances,
beauty products, home decor, and even cars. Here's how it works.
It's like an auction, but every item starts at zero dollars and only goes
up one cent every time you bid. The kicker is that the auction clock
restarts after just ten seconds. That means every time you bid, everyone else
has ten seconds to answer or the item is yours if you go ahead and
buy now. Deal dash is offering our listeners and extra one hundred free bids
upon sign up, on top of their other discounts. Go to deealdash dot
com and use the offer code Knox, or go to deeldash dot fm slash
knocks. That's deal dash dot Fm slash knocks. D E A L d
A s h dot fm slash knocks. You're you're not going to catch it
any arguments from here. At the bottom of the Knicks Top ten ballot I'm
actually just gonna instead ask you are able to take us too. When we
have through number eight already, number number nine, we're up to number eight
because Hardaway was number nine. Yeah, so number we actually don't have a
number eight because there's a two way tie for number seven. So the first
of the ones will cover. There is Raymond Felton, who was number eight
on the fan ballot, number seven for me and number six for you.
And every time I think about Felton and like the historical context here, I
remember the graphic and I wish I could remember the outlet that put this out,
but it was like the Knicks all decade team, right, and it's
like Raymond Felton at point as like wow, that is that's bleak. And
it's not like we don't mean to hate on Unfelton too much, but like
that's not what you want as your your your point heard of the decade he
had it was so they signed him in twenty eleven free agency, twenty ten
free agency, and then they trade him at mid season and the Carmelo Anthony
trade. He was having a good year seventeen and nine with one point eight
steals as well. It was only shooting thirty two point eight percent on threes.
But he was actually having a pretty good year, and so that's the
season I remember from him. And then when he comes back for twenty twelve,
twenty thirteen has another good year. He's thirty six percent of his threes,
average thirteen point nine points and five point five assist per game. So
he's relative to who the Knicks have had on their roster this decade, he
absolutely belongs in the discussion right where he is. I think you could probably
if he wanted to even make a case that he belongs, you know,
at six or five, if you wanted to go that high, I think
you could. And I think like in general, Raymond Felton throughout his career
has seemed to get like a little bit too much yet just for having the
facique of a bowling ball that hasn't worked out in a while. Well,
he seems like his disposition in Portland didn't help his reputation either. It definitely
did not, but especially but he's like smaller, so maybe like a Bacchi
ball, that's what he looks like coming down the court, is just like
this barreling Bacchi ball, because he could really get into defenses. He was
just he knows how to use the heft. Though it's like it's it's similar
to what we talked about in the past with like Nikola Yokichen Marcasol losing weight
and we question whether they're going to be as effective. Like Felton played at
the right weight for himself because he knew how to use the heft, like
to clear out space to create more lanes when he backed smaller players down in
the post, and he was a consistently steady offensive player. There's nothing wrong
with that. You know, we've we've talked before about how not being noticed
because you aren't making mistakes is sometimes a good thing. But he did more
than that. He was a consistently good facilitator who never really forced the issue.
As a scorer, he didn't turn the ball over, he knew when
to defer to better and bigger teammates, and he just didn't do much wrong
of note, And when we're talking about New York basketball over the last decade,
that's a hell of an accomplishment. Yeah, and again that season in
twenty twenty eleven, before the Mellow trade, I know it became clear they
desperately needed someone else but it was fun like he had the good chemistry going
with with a Maristademeyer there. And it is funny that his two most successful
seasons of the decade came in a Knick's uniform. So you know, I
guess you could make a case that was he maybe a little bit more valuable
to you OKC team in twenty seventeen twenty eighteen perhaps, but his role was
just so much smaller. So I think he's right where he belongs. Like
I said before, he could probably make a case to stick him a little
bit higher. Who was his comrade at number seven? Though we both thought
he was higher than his comrade at number seven, which is Jeremy Lynn,
who was buoyed by a fifth place finish in the fan voting, he rose.
He actually finished in every single spot on the ballot, which is interesting.
I'm including a first place vote, tass, but it seems a little
excessive. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this is the
lowest on the Fairness leaderboard. Anybody who's made one of our top tens has
been because he only played nine hundred forty minutes over thirty five games for the
Knicks, which puts him sixtieth and minutes played for the decade, and there
is there's basically no objective case to have Jeremy Lynn in the top ten.
But at the same time, like, how can you possibly overlook the excitement
that he brought to Madison Square Garden when everything started clicking and for a dozen
or so games he started playing like a full fledged superstar, just getting to
the rim, finishing plays, knocking down step back three pointers, hitting game
winners so coolly and calmly it all clicked. It was obviously unsustainable, it
didn't end up leading to any playoffs success, but it was It was unforgettable,
and in a decade where I think so many of the most memorable moments
that have involved the Knicks have stemmed from other teams and guys like Steph Curry
dropping massive point totals in MSG, the fact that New York had something that
everyone could coalesce around that led to books being written about this singular experience that
has to mean something here, absolutely needs to And so from when he from
when he entered the rotation for good with that twenty five point game against the
then New Jersey Nets through just his end of the year because he had the
knee injury that cost him the tail end of the regular season and then all
of the playoffs. He averaged eighteen point five point seven point seven assists,
two steals, And what's funny is I just remember him being way more efficient
than he actually was thirty two point four percent on threes. But during that
stretch, you just had this feeling when he was shooting at that time that
it was going to go in. And you remember some of the flashpoint moments
of that stretch, the game against the Nets, where it was like sort
of his coming out party. He dropped thirty eight points against Kobe and the
Lakers and Kobe didn't even know who he was at the time. And then
my favorite moment is the game winner he hits in Toronto, where I think
he I'm like, I've watched it so many times that now I'm second guessing
everything I'm about to say. But like he just the bravado that he dribbles
up the court with and just fires like this deep three doesn't and it was
just you knew it was going in. I think Landry Fields at the time
even said why wouldn't it go in with the way that he's playing, So
I have no qualms about putting him in a tie for seventh. You and
I polled had him an eighth, I believe, and so you could even
put him higher just because of what he meant to this decade. I think
you could argue that stretch of basketball was the most exhilarating to be a Knicks
fan of the decade because it was so unexpected, Even that twenty thirteen squad,
it had expectations not so lofty as what they came out to me with
the whole point of trading for Kamelo Anthy was that you could be in that
position to be one of the two or three best squads in the Eastern Conference.
So Jeremy Lynch just comes out of absolutely nowhere saves the Knick season essentially
during that stretch, it feels like because they were just headed nowhere super quickly.
So I wouldn't have any issues if someone wanted to throw him, you
can't put hip number one. But if he wanted to put him like four,
just because of what he represented, I'm totally fine with that. And
my hot take on this issue, maybe it's not hot, is that if
he never really starts having those injuries, he ends up being a very good
NBA player. I would love to see an alternate universe in which he never
suffers that initial knee injury with the Knicks, and I know he dealt with
other stuff beforehand, but I'm just that point. What would have happened in
the playoffs or something. No, they're not going to beat Miami. I
totally know that, and I don't think that they would have been able to
had time to sort of scrap together a different matchup. But he was doing
a lot of what he was doing when Mellow and Stat were injured two during
that stretch, and it would have been will try to see them place together.
We never got that true opportunity because the Knicks didn't mess that offer that
came from Houston in restricted free agency. Still, again, I have no
qualms on anyone who wants to argue that he needs to be even higher than
this. I mean, Jerry Lynn went from being an undrafted point guard to
signing a free agent contract with the Golden State Warriors and playing sparingly. He
was assigned to the G League three different times before he was waived by the
Warriors. He signed with the Rockets, who didn't have a role for him,
so they cut him. He signed with the Knicks, who sent him
to the Erie BayHawks in the G League before his breakout, and within sixty
on court minutes, it was so obvious he was doing something special enough that
he was a scheme altering player, Like opposing coaches were legitimately figuring out,
like do we want to play drop coverage against the pick and rolls he's going
to throw out? Do we want to like ice him more? How do
we stop this guy from getting to the rim all the He's a competent defender
who's racking up steals and seems to understand where to go. It's like it
was so out of nowhere that it feels like one of those Flashbowl memories in
recent NBA history, not just for the Knicks, that no one who was
watching those games is going to forget about anytime soon. Also, what I
think people I don't know if they forget, are always underestimated about his game.
He was really good at getting to the foul line. If you just
sort by Knicks players who logged five hundred minutes or more this decade, he
was fifth in free throw attempt rate and third among non bigs. The only
two ahead of him were Daniela Gallinari number one among non bigs, just thusly
proving my point from before even more, and Shauncy Billips was number two.
He actually played even fewer games in New York though than Jeremy Lindd. He
had twenty one appearances to Jeremy Linn's thirty five. Well, as we move
forward in our rankings, we're gonna go from an underrated foul drawer to a
guy who sends a whole lot of guys to the free throw line, and
that is Mitchell Robins. He was seventh for the fans, he was sixth
for me, He was seventh for you. He's been spectacular when he's on
the floor, but both because the knicks are let's be generous here, stubborn,
and because he can't stop fouling people. He just hasn't played enough to
really capitalize on what seems like just this unlimited potential. Right he should be
starting next year, and hopefully that will be the case. The on off
splits with him defensively or just absolutely wild, and he didn't really get his
fouling issues too under control this year. I think he went from looking at
it right now, so he went from averaging seven point seven fouls per one
hundred possessions to six point seven fous per one hundred possessions. I don't know
if his demeanor on defense would change where he won't take as many chances if
he's not coming off the bench because he'll know that he'll be playing more minutes.
But if you're going to average, you know, he's still around five
fous p thirty six minutes. It's going to be tough to carve out a
starting role in that situation. You'll at LEAs be in foul trouble early if
you're not gonna and then you'll of course have those just too many foul outs.
But I like what I do see from him overall on defense, and
it does feel like he's going to be one of those No, I don't
expect him to start shooting threes like we've seen in those in those videos,
but I do expect it to be one of those non shooting bigs who isn't
able to be run off the floor, sort of like you know, we
saw the extreme with Rudy Gobert in Houston, and I'm not I know that's
the popular comparison. I don't think Robinson will ever be on the same tier
as Colbert, but where you can pull Rudy Gobert outside the paint and he's
not completely a deer in headlights, and with Mitchell Robinson, he has the
length to kind of leave space between he and guys that are going to try
and take jumpers on him. But he can also move really well on the
perimeter too, And so you'd just bake in a couple more years of experience.
We maybe are talking about one of the more impactful defenders in the NBA.
And he was tough to place because he's only two seasons into his career,
hasn't really played that much, should have played more. But he also
was probably the Knicks' best prospect at this point. And I mean that with
all due respect to the RJ. Barrett, And that's you know, to
say you're the best prospect of the mixed ranchise. It's not exactly like a
small feet to accomplish. And so I could totally get I could. I
thought about putting him as high as five is where I'm getting it. I'm
actually buying into his offensive upside a little more than you are. I believe
these workout videos that we're seeing, and granted, like we have to take
anything that happens in these practice settings with a massive heaping of salt, but
like his ball handling skills are kind of convincing, just the fact that he
is able to break down players from the perimeter. I'm not sure he's ever
going to develop into a three point shooter or even a long too shooter.
Then again, like we've seen guys like jona' valincunis completely moreph their offensive game,
and I feel like he could eventually fill a similar role. But even
around the rim, he's like what DeAndre Jordan dreams of being. And that's
no disrespect meant to DeAndre Jordan, who's been one of the best pick and
roll finishers in the game for a while. But Robinson's at the leticism is
just off the charts, and he just he seems to have that in eight
knack for angles around the basket, even when he isn't able to just hit
hand to iron and throw down a dunk. Like seventy four point two percent
from the field is not easy to do, even if it's only on five
point six shots per game that are all coming from close proximity to the basket.
Generating those looks and being able to capitalize them capitalize on them is difficult,
and that alone draws so much defensive attention that I think it's going to
make it easier for him to develop the other skills that haven't been there yet.
The only thing I'll say for him offensively is I do wonder a question
whether he can expand his range when the primary indicator for looking at free throw
percentage, he went from shooting sixty percent as a rookie to fifty six point
eight percent as a sophomore, and so that's going to be something that needs
to be monitored moving forward, because especially because you don't expect him to all
of a sudden have this floater or try to take his reason, so that's
going to be the best indicator of what he can do offensively. I am
encouraged that he's improved from that three to ten foot range, that he started
to make more of those touch shots from slightly further distances. I think that's
a good sign of growth for a guy who is still only twenty two years
old and does have so much untapped potential. I just the only reason I
really hesitate to buy into it totally is because he plays for the Knicks.
Well there's and then also his volume from that range diminished this season too,
right, And I don't mean that to sound like super pity or anything like.
It's just they have not shown that they can properly develop talents. The
ones that they have, they have tended to bury on the bench in favor
of more established players who can try to expedite that rebuilding process, probably not
in the most beneficial fashion, and I just I don't want that to happen
to him. I can. I can so easily see it, especially during
a year where free agency is going to be so weird and there are such
limited options. I can totally see the Knicks just being like, up,
got to sign a veteran big man for ten million dollars per year and then
we're gonna have to play him over Robinson. Sorry, you're gonna get twenty
two minutes a game again. Yeah. I'm very interested to see what they
do with all those team options and non guarantees, because if you end up
bringing back even one of TODJ. Gibson and Bobby Porters, you still have
Julius Randall there, and he just Robinson doesn't make sense alongside any of their
traditional power forwards. And look, the endgame here, or the expected endgame,
is that Mitchell Robinson ends up being in a trade package for someone they
shouldn't be trading for. That's I don't I mean, I actually think there's
a debate as to whether they should trade for CPCH three. I don't think
you give up any of your cornerstone prospects in that deal. And by that
I mean Frank Nielikino and Frank Nilikina only, but I actually mean you don't
give up Mitchell Robinson or r J Barrett in that deal. But the expectations
would be that that's what the Knicks are eventually going to do, whether it's
the CP three trade or another one. They do always seem to be on
this immediate, urgent timeline that they can never hit because instant turnarounds are hard,
which is why they're not done so frequently. And I know fans,
certain fans, a ton of fans, whoever money you want to say,
will point to some of the things that you know. Leon Rose has hasn't
really said much since he was hired as a team's president, but some of
the language where it says that Frankie a'keina is going to be this long term
piece. I will believe everything about the Knicks following a more gradual timeline when
I see it. There are certain franchises, like the Charlotte Hornets that we
use the phrase the mediocrity treadmill for just like you know, they're never going
to be bad enough to get a great draft pick, they're never good enough
to make any noise in the playoffs, and they seem to do everything to
continue staying on that mediocrity treadmill. The Knicks have ramped the treadmill up to
thirty miles an hour and just try to jump on it, and that doesn't
work. Like that is not how you use a treadmill. It can work
like one out of every x times if you jump on and everything's perfect.
Because yes, there are teams that do these overnight rebuilds in free agency,
but sometimes those don't always work out. Look at the Brooklyn Nets, because
they signed one of their players was injured, then Kyrie got injured this season
as well. They're still going to go to the playoffs probably, but when
was the last time one of those did work? I mean, like,
I think the most common example is the Boston Celtics, who went from what
twenty five wins in two thousand and six two thousand and seven to a sixty
six win juggernaut in two thousand and seven two thousand and eight by acquiring both
Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett over the offseason. Who is Who's the Knicks?
Paul Pierce like that, it just doesn't work unless you have the pieces in
place. And if you have the pieces in place, then you typically don't
need to do the instant turnaround. I just would I would question when the
last time anything like that has actually worked without a star incumbent right or?
And I mean some of the teams were even good to begin with, like
the Clippers getting Paul Georgia and Kawhi Leonard that made them instant contenders, but
they were a playoff team before that. And it's the same thing with the
Miami Heat. They had to win made already they weren't a great team,
but I think the year before they signed had the Big Three come together,
they won forty seven games. And so the Knicks are trying to go from
like these twenty something win teams to these immediate contenders, and it's hard,
nigh impossible to complete, and it's going to take even Lebron going to the
Lakers didn't change the tenor of that entire franchise for a year. They had
to wait to get Anthony Davis, so I get that perspective from you as
well. I'd just like to apologize to the Boston Celtics. I said they
went from twenty five to sixty six wins. It was twenty four and a
sixty six, so their jump was even more impressive. Sports are back,
and so are your chances to bet on your favorite teams and events. Major
League Baseball is finally kicking off, and there's no better place to start wagering
than our exclusive partners bet online. Check out all the odds, futures and
props to bet on, all available twenty four seven and with the return of
sports, bet online sat down with former pro players Eddie George, Harold Reynolds,
and seven time NBA champ Robert Worry. See what they had to say
on what it'll be like playing without fans in a series they're calling fandemic.
Visit bet online dot agen for all your odds and up to date sports news.
Remember to use promo code blue Wire all one word to receive your new
welcome bonus. That's promo code blue Wire and online your online wagering experts.
Speaking of impressive jumping, number five is JR. Smith, who was number
five for both you and I and number six for the fans. He was
so much more than just like this highlight generating meme generating fringe rotation player during
his time in New York. He was legitimately a really good three and D
guy. Yeah, and look his this come harkens back to the twenty thirteen
season. Again, that was a sixth Man of the Year campaign, eighty
games, all of which came off the bench, eighteen point one points,
two point seven assists, shot thirty five point six percent from three only forty
five point eight percent on two's. But the thing about him is that he
was taking difficult jump shots. And I'm not saying that I'm going to praise
him for that, but to have the type of efficiency that he did,
it just could have been so much worse, And for him specifically, it
has been so much worse in other seasons. I mean, Jerry Smith is
one of those few players that is legitimately better with fourteen hands in his face.
That's and there's probably math to back that up. Let's be honest,
we don't have it, but there's got to be numbers to back that up.
So he's he's definitely this enigma. But when you look at him and
watch him, excuse me with his shot selection, but he's still he's that
guy who can He's a role player who could get you the square one buckets,
but he could also work off other ball dominant stars, as we saw
with the Knicks, and we've seen it. He became less ball dominant when
he would when he played for the for the Cleveland Cavaliers, And so I
don't want to say that this jersey needs to be retired, but he was
just a solid role player for the most part during his time in New York.
And the way it came to an end during the twenty fourteen twenty fifteen
season, like, yeah, they were clearly out on him by them,
and he was probably having his worst season with the Knicks that you maybe you
could make the case that twenty eleven twenty twelve was a little bit worse for
him. But but just for the part, if you're looking for a role
player who plays the way that he does, there's going to be higher variant
outcomes in their roles, and I think his time in New York on the
floor, which is overwhelmingly positive in that regard, and I think this is
where it starts to get into territory and maybe even with Mitchell Robinson that you're
just comfortable with where it's like, oh, okay, his name coming up
in a decade rankings like this, that that's perfectly fine. Jared Smith has
played fifteen NBA seasons. How many of those has his team not been better
with him on the floor? Is this my trivia for this pod? Sure,
I'm gonna say three that created it. That's exactly correct. Now,
which seasons were they? That's not happening yet. Yeah, that's that's that's
too difficult. They're his first two seasons in the league with New Orleans and
then the twenty seventeen eighteen season with Cleveland, which was his age thirty two
campaign. But yeah, each each of the three seasons, each of the
four three and a half seasons that he spent with the Knicks, they were
better with him on the floor. And that's been consistent throughout because as much
as he gets knocked for the inexplicable decisions, forgetting what the score is in
a key playoff moment, all those things like he tends to understand how to
make his team better. We saw that really come to a head in twenty
thirteen fourteen, where he's coming off that six Man of the Year season and
all of a sudden, the Knicks are throwing him in the starting lineup and
asking him to handle the ball less, to shoot the ball less. He
did it. He up to his assist numbers, he dropped his turnover numbers,
he became even more efficient from the three point arc. Just he's always
been one of those guys who maybe we're just blinded by the athleticism and recklessness
with which I can't use my words, and recklessness with which he plays,
but it tends to work. Maybe tends to work. Yeah, you're actually
right. It feels like because he has his reputation in such a wild card
that amost feels like a hot take. But it's really not because he was
a wild card, but I think because his highs could be so high,
and what he could do when he no like Joe contended there either with phrasing
because of what he could do when he was at his very best. It
was almost worth it to go through for most of his career to kind of
go through that roller coaster process. I think he needed to be on the
right team, though, where that type of performance, particularly when he's older,
that's not going to work on a rebuilding squad, but on a contender
that has some depth and can withstand poorer performances from him. To have that
guy who can just sort of explode it can really help you. I was
surprised that the Fans only had j. R. Smith at sixth just because
of the highlights and the positive memories that he did provide for that franchise.
I think I was more surprised though, that Chris stops porzingis checked in at
number two for the Fans, which still only got him to number four in
the composite rankings, because you and I both had him at number four,
just given the ACL injury and the way the exit happened. The trade that
sent him to the Dallas Mavericks just out of the blue, you know,
it didn't even seem like he was on the trade block. In the next
morning, he was a member of the Mavericks. As incredible as he was
during his three years in New York and the role that he was growing into
as that rim protecting menace, the seven foot three, three point shooter when
everything clicked. He was so obviously special. But just given how that exit
took place, I was shocked that he still got enough credit to be number
two on the fan vote. It doesn't really surprise me because of what he
sort of represented for the franchise, just that fortune's turning prospect they really didn't
have since Patrick Ewing at the time, because they were so embedded in the
culture of trying to get other team his players rather than developed their own.
He was elected into one All Star Game, but he spent three seasons there.
But he seemed like he was, you know, particularly during his latter
two seasons. He missed a ton of time, he had the ACL injury.
To call him the second best player of the decade, he feels I
consider putting him at three. To be honest with you, it does feel
a little bit like a stretch, but I get it looking at just on
the court. I do think, though, that you point out correctly the
way he left. The circumstances under which he left have to be factored in
here, and I don't even know if it was so out of the blue,
because it was kind of this known thing in New York that he was
unhappy or wasn't thrilled with the franchise. I don't know how much Carmelo Anthony
Leaving actually played into that, because he really seemed to take to Mellow,
but he didn't feel like he was being treated like a star, and they
eventually just gave in, and the trade did seem like it came together quickly
where they didn't pull the rest of the league for long enough because there was
even rumors that the Knicks were considered. I think they were considered trading him.
Wasn't around the twenty sixteen draft or the twenty seventeen draft, because he
skipped out on his exit meeting with Phil Jackson, so I think that was
twenty seventeen. Yeah, So just all the circumstances, they were just so
murky, and if people factored in the rape allegations as well with him,
I'm not going to move him lower. I'm not going to grudge that certainly
either. But he was on the court someone who I think people who believe
that he could win Defensive Player of the Year, and maybe I was one
of them at a certain juncture was taking it too far, but most of
us were those someone's honestly. But he was such a plus defender when you
looked at what he could do, because he could move pretty well on the
defensive end, and then he was just this more than a nuisance around the
rim. He was just like this shot wet blanket, just absorbing a ton
of things. And then what he could do on offense where you could see
he's gonna be this floor space or he'll work within the spread pick and roll.
Is there going to be more than he'll have to offer? Maybe not
necessarily in the post, and I think we've seen that in Dallas. He
struggled there, but to just work off the dribble. The ceiling was so
high to where it was someone who would be worth a max extension investment,
someone who might be one of the twenty twenty five best players in the game,
if not better than that, as absolute pinnacle, and so that symbolic
nature of what he represented on the court for them, I can see why
fans would have placed him even higher. But when you just factor in,
maybe you can't say availability just because looking at some of the other people we
put on this list, but the circumstances under which he left, and then
the teams with that he played for, you know, they weren't these great
teams to begin with. I think that all matters and is all relative to
this discussion, particularly when you're going to look at who's actually in front of
him for us. Anyway, my biggest qualm with Porzingis's game when he was
in New York was just that he didn't understand passing. There were so many
possessions where he just totally commandeered the ball the entire shot clock, and then
four stuff, a hero shot just would look off open teammates would work into
double teams without realizing where his kickout passes work. But at the same time,
like he also had like a little bit of Carmelo Anthony LaMarcus Aldridge to
his game, where he was just he was a really good face up shooter
from those long two zones, and there's value in that, you know,
as much as we knock those long two pointers and hope the players can take
a step behind the three point arc, which he often did. You know,
during his three seasons in New York, he shot forty four point one
percent between ten and sixteen feet. He shot forty one point five percent from
beyond sixteen feet, but inside the three point arc. There's value in that
just forcing defenses to cover that because no one was big enough to block his
shot from those from those areas, I think that he took them too often.
He bought into the idea of him being a high scoring threat a little
too often, and that held him back and maybe hindered some of the development
of his less notable teammates. But he was really good in so many areas,
not all of which he gets credit for. I will say that I
think if you have a team that doesn't put Derek Rose, Jokim Noah and
Carmelo Anthony around him during his sophomore season, that he probably develops as a
passer better and just looking at the personnel they put aroun him in general during
his three seasons there, and then in contrast of what's happened in Dallas this
year, he started making better reads with the ball. When you put sensible
personnel around christophs Porzingis, it's I think he'll have room. He has the
bandwidth to do more things than Knicks never gave him that leeway. That will
be my one defense of him, which is fair, which is fair.
It's also interesting how so many of the best Knicks players have been big men
over the last decade. I say that because we've already talked about Mitchell Robinson,
we just talked about christophs Porzingis, and I kind of want to cover
these next two together because it's hard to separate them, not because they are
these intertwined legacies and players, but just it was difficult to differentiate between the
two on our ballots. And that's Tyson Chandler, who checked in at number
three. He finished fourth for the fan he was third for both of us,
and a Maria Staudemeier who was third for the fans and second for both
of us, which does push him just ahead to the number two spot in
our composite rankings. What made you put stat ahead of Tyson Chandler. I
think the twenty ten free agency decision and then that ensuing season to where he
had claimed the Knicks were back and they were in a sense, and just
some of the moments he had, the thirty point game streak, the game
winner that wasn't against the Celtics. I actually remember back when I could call
myself a loyal Knicks fan, like pumping my fist to a point that my
then girlfriend, like, I almost clocked her in the jaw completely on accident.
I just remember jumping up because it was just so exciting. And I
do think he deserves credit for that, because does Melo want to go to
New York if Stotomyer isn't there, I honestly don't know. Maybe he still
does, but maybe not. And so he gave the Knicks a winning timeline
and it proved to be a flawed one, and then he deals with the
injuries thereafter. He's also not a great fit alongside Mellow, and then it
got to this point where they tried bringing him off the bench. They were
trying all these different things. The game passed him by a ton as well,
as we saw, and that happened in real time in New York.
If he never has those injuries, maybe that slows down the devolution. But
just given what he did on offense, the shots he lived on the type
of shots he liked to take, he might have always been been doomed to
a similar fate. Though he was one of the best rim running bigs at
one point, like someone you could really just trust to devastate out of the
pick and roll. No, he didn't have Steve Nash tossing him passes in
New York, but could we We never really got to see a ton of
the mellow stat pick and rolls, and that's something that in theory could have
worked, and so I gave him number two for that. The body of
work is also just larger, so you can count the theirness as well.
But the significance of his decision to come to New York and Tyson Chandler probably
could have been put lower when you're looking at his sample, but defensive player
of the Year and just one of the better decisions that they've actually made during
this decade was signing him for what he did for that team and then just
another or where it's like he's he lived through. He wasn't there that long,
but he lived through all these different versions of the Knicks, and he
obviously didn't finish that that contract there. They flipped into Dallas in twenty fourteen.
I think that was the last year of his deal, if I'm not
mistaken. Yeah, it was so just I'd be curious to see if they
had actually put like more of a winning situation type roster around him, the
type of indent he would have been able to make, but he was sort
of a culture setter definitely on the court. Not known for doing that as
much I think off the court, but just on the court and what he
could do defensively, and again winning the Defensive Player of the Year in two
eleven two twelve is a big freaking deal. I wish that the first thing
we thought of with Amaru Stademeyer in New York wasn't injuries, But it's like
that, that's how it has to be, just because of the bulging disc
in his back during the twenty eleven twelve season, punching the box containing a
fire extinguisher and suffering a hand laceration in game two of the opening round of
twenty twelve playoffs against the Miami Heat, all the knee trouble, all the
back issues, and it just it contributed to a decline that was so much
swifter than anyone could have anticipated when he signed that five year, one hundred
million dollars deal that really could have been reasonable. It's it's so easy to
forget that during his first season in New York twenty ten eleven, though also
the first season in the decade that we're looking at here, he finished ninth
and MVP voting. He was that good and then the injuries struck. So
I really struggled with the decision to have him above Tyson Chandler because even though
the sample is larger and he did more, we associate Tyson Chandler more with
winning than we do with him because he, as you mentioned, he was
a defensive Player of the Year. He made such important contributions to the most
successful NIX team of the decade. He was there when it counted. I
gave Stademeyer the bump just because he was obviously the more talented player and represented
a time when the Knicks could land a marquee free agent. But it was
it was a really tough decision. Yeah, that wasn't That was a tough
call by any stretching look. I grappled with this sort of porzingis Chandeler,
Statomeyer, Smith, Robinson, like this whole section. I I always knew,
we knew who was going to be number one going in. We always
we always knew that. But I think you could probably justify maybe with the
exception of Smith and Robinsons, maybe it's more of the KP Channeler, Statomy
or Trio was tough. You probably could justify any given order if you really
wanted to. I agree with that, but yeah, I mean, Carmelo
Anthony always had to be number one. That was the only certainty on these
ballots, and it didn't always worked out that way. We actually had one
two. We had four different players received first place votes, and I'm gonna
go out on a limb and say that three of them were like pseudo joke
ballots. One was Jeremy Lynn, one was Pablo Prigioni, and one was
Franknin Tilakina. None of those those players really have any justification to be above
Carmelo Anthony. I don't know, Neila Kean is on off defensive splits.
I would just like to point out or among the bre we go again,
over, Here we go again, Here we go again. But I mean,
if you look at the barness factor alone, Mello has played more minutes
over the last decade for the Knicks than any two players combined. His first
place in fourteen, eight hundred and thirteen minutes Sadam Iron, Tim Hardaway Junior
combined for just over fourteen thousand. That alone gets him in consideration but but
so too does just how ridiculously good he was during his peak years. I
mean, as talented a scorer as he was with the Denver Nuggets. He
probably played his best basketball early in his New York career and pushed the franchise
to heights that it hadn't seen in a while and has not seen since.
So if you look at the Knicks top players in value over replacement player,
he is first with twenty and then second is Tyson Chandler j R. Smith,
Chris Stops and amri Odamyer. Sixth is Kylo Quinn. If you combine
all of those five players together, spots two through six, you have about
Mellow's VORP. So he basically added the same value as the Knicks's second through
sixth best player by VORP. That's not an end all wheel by any stretch,
but that you talk about lapsided and the thing to really look at here
for me, because we all know what Melo was capable of with the scoring,
there are two things that stand out. Is the matter in which he
forced his way to New York really ended up hurting the team. It's not
his fault that James Dolan is a buffoon, and was negotiating against himself at
this point. He was the person who insisted on having Donnie Walsh include more
players in there. And I fully wear that Gallinari always would have been jettison
in that deal. I feel like he could have held a firmer stance knowing
that he I understood that the lockout was coming and that he wanted to get
his extension. I totally understand all that, but I feel like he probably
if you were going to force a trade to a team like do it in
a way that you know it's not going to gut the roster, and if
you were more publicly made it clear that you were going to sign with the
Knicks and free agency anyway. That's something that maybe Anthony Davis aired with during
the Pelicans thing, is that he wasn't as open about it at the same
time, with such common knowledge that he was only wanted to go to the
Knicks, that this is more on the Knicks than him. So that's really
my point there is to probably blame not probably definitely blame the Knicks more than
Mellow. The thing that you can actually blame Mellow for is just not wanting
to play power forward as often the Knicks wasted. The best version of Carmelo
Anthony they ever had was actually in twenty thirteen twenty fourteen, I believe,
and he played a majority of minutes at power forward there, so he was
always resistant that he's resistant to it now. He's even talking about how excited
he is to be moved back to the three with the Blazers. I'm just
not a big fan of positions at this point anyway, and to me,
power forward is just so similar to three at this point when you look at
the type of personnel that plays there, it shouldn't matter. But if he
was more willing to embrace that style, which is something that D'Antoni, would
have gotten him too quicker. And maybe that's another talking point for this,
is how he didn't really want to embrace Mike D'Antoni early on, and that
actually might have been a really good coach for him. So those are the
things that I remember. There does seem to be at least a sliver emoticom
of squandered potential with Mellow on the Knicks, and they're both equally culpable.
I will blame the team far more than I blame the player, because it's
your job as the team to install the right people that will get the right
buy in from the player and maybe not give him too much power. But
I'm not going to sit here and you know, make you know, absolve
Mellow of all the problems either. But I also will say that it doesn't
seem like it never seemed like he was as much as a cancer as he
was portrayed by by some people, because his teammates really did seem to embrace
him, especially the younger ones later on in his tenure with the Knicks.
And so what I would like to see if we're going to play the alternate
universe card, is what just happens if you take you know, twenty thirteen,
twenty twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen, melow those seasons and like, let's
just extrapolate that are the Knicks? Do they have a quicker path back to
the playoffs? Does something different happen? But this might just be a thing
for his entire careers. What if he was willing to play power forward right
away when Mike D'Antoni was still there. I just I don't have much to
add to that, since you did such a thorough and great job covering all
of that I just I like the symmetry that we began this this episode talking
about the knicks unending desire to add power forwards and finished with Mellow's refusal to
pay to play power forward. And the only other thing that I really want
to add is to anyone who doesn't have Carmelo Anthony in first place for the
last decade of Nick's basketball, do you know what he would probably say to
them? Because I do, what will you say? He would probably call
them a glazed donut face asks, one of the best tweets of all time
by him, one of the best tweets today, still alive today December thirty
feet twenty thirteen. Shout out to Carmel Anthony for that. That might be
his finest moment as a Nick. And look, he had great moments as
a Nick. That game what do you Drop against the Horns? Was that
the sixty point game? I can't even remember what that was at that point,
but like he was. I mean, actually, one of the other
iconic momentst Room is getting blocked by Roy Hibbert at the rim. So that's
that's like one of my favorite it like it guts me to look at but
that's actually one of the like the best still shot photos that I've seen from
the NBA in recent memory. But he had great moments with the Knicks and
the sixty two point game and against the Hornets like those when he got hot,
or the Easter game against the Bulls. I think that was twenty twelve
where he hits those two threees to just win it all. But he was
really good for this team. I don't think they ever optimized him the way
that he needed to be. Twenty twenty thirteen is probably the closest they came
to surrounding him with the right personalities, and then twenty thirteen twenty fourteen is
probably the closest they came to using him in the best fashions. So if
you were combined just the the circumstances of those two seasons, you have the
perfect version of Mellow And then the Knicks never got anywhere close to that though
it was those two seasons were just separate and still missing elements. He definitely
needed younger teammates around him towards the talent of that twenty thirteen season, more
playoff proof guys than twenty thirteen twenty fourteen. He just didn't have the I
mean he didn't have the talent either around him, But there wasn't also the
requisite supplementary leadership for him either. And you can say that's on Mellow making
him a flawed player, but you invested in him. That's the decision you
made as the team. You need to make sure that you're surrounding him with
the right type of roster and supporting cast, and the Nicks barely ever,
if ever, actually did that. I don't like that. NBA conversations often
operate in extremes wherein you're either a great defender or you're an awful defender,
or you're a great shooter or a terrible shooter. It all. It seems
like so many conversations tend of the year towards those polar opposites. But I'm
gonna ask you to engage in that kind of answer. Here was his time
in New York a success or not? That's a really good question. It
was. In reality, it's on the fence, right, and I think
we can all acknowledge that I'm asking you to come down on one side of
that fence. I would say no, because you didn't trade for him with
the intention of making three playoff berths in was it seven years. I think
is would have ended up being trying to double check myself here. You made
three Yeah, just three playoff berths, and one of those came during a
partial season that he was there. So that's just that's a failure. It's
a failure on both Mellow and the team, more so the team to me.
But I don't know that you can constitute it as a success. Yes,
it gave the Knicks a marquee player around which to build, but they
never properly did that. Maybe they did it once and that's just that's not
enough when we're talking about six plus seasons. Yeah, I agree with you.
My answer would also be that it was more of a failure than a
success. But as soon as we allow any sort of nuance to enter into
that question, I don't think it was Carmelo Anthony who was a failure.
That distinction is important. The Knicks failed him, which made his time there
a failure. Yeah, I think that's the best way to put it.
Ready for some honorable mentions, Yes, they should get very interesting. There
are a lot of them. So outside of the top ten in the fan
vote, as we always go through at the end, we had Pablo Prigioni
at eleven, Frank Ntilikina tied with Jason Kidd at twelve, Steve Novak at
fourteen, a tie between Derrick Rose and RJ. Barrett at fifteen, Danilo
Gallinari at seventeen, Landry Fields at eighteen, a tie between Chauncey Billips,
Ennis Canter, Kevin Knox, Marcus Morris Senior. At nineteen twenty third,
we have a tie between Andrea Barnyani Courtney Lee, David Lee, Julius Randall,
and Ronnie Turryoff. At twenty eight, we have Alonso Treer, Lance
Thomas Mark, Keith Morris who never played for the Knicks, and Michael Beasley.
At thirty two, we had Jared Jeffries, Robin Lopez, Kylo Quinn
way too low for O'Quinn. At thirty five, we had Kose Calderone and
Wilson Chandler. At thirty seven we had Kenyon Martin, Ron Baker, Trey
Burke and Billy heron On Gomez. Wow, that is quite the forty different
players. I'm actually surprised, nine of which appeared for the Knicks. I'm
actually shocked there was only thirteen players who appear in the top ten. Yeah,
yeah, it did seem like it could go a lot more directions,
and I guess it was actually more than forty because Alan Houston, Zion Williamson,
Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant all appeared as well. We just deleted
those ballots. Well look actually playing for them that yes, we have that
power in the interest of getting us out of here and under an hour for
a change, though, please please, pretty please with sugar on top,
remember to rate, review and subscribe to us wherever you're consuming your podcasts,
even if you're not getting it from iTunes. That is the best way to
help us out. Please go throw us a five star rating, write a
review. Those help paton as well. Even if you have a constructive criticism,
we welcome it. We will be checking it, so continue to keep
doing that. Shout Outs on Twitter are appreciated. Retweeting our promos, telling
friends, family members, acquaintances, random people on social media about us.
That helps too, whatever we can do to build up the community that we
have built here, which we both very much appreciate. Also, please follow
us on Twitter at Hardwood Knox. You can follow our YouTube channel as well
YouTube dot com search Hardwood Knox and we will be right there until next time.
We leave you with the shout out to the one, the only,
the Knicks legend for this decade, fan favorite post up machine Aarona follow Sugar
Ray, Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvelous, Marvin Hagler, and Thomas Hearns.
Legends whose four way rivalry define one of the greatest errors in boxing history.
Relive their decade of dominance in the new Showtime Sports documentary The Kings,
a four parts series premiering Sunday, June sixth, only on Showtime