(NY Post)
The Knicks have little choice in the matter of what they must do now. If there is one silver lining ? and it is but a thin sliver of silver ? it is this: The fantasy they?d created for themselves that they could somehow sneak into the playoffs is now over.
Whatever benefits they believed would be available by serving as a four-game tomato can for the Celtics or Raptors ? in a best-case scenario ? are now beside the point. The Knicks tried, really tried, to sell us ? and, more relevant, to sell themselves ? that this year was supposed to be all about rebuilding.
But then they won a few home games, built a nice record after 30 games, Kristaps Porzingis bloomed as an All-Star, Tim Hardaway Jr. emerged as a steady wingman and Enes Kanter as a surprising crowd favorite. And suddenly it was back to the same old time-honored Knick Trick: the half-measure.
The rebuild-while-trying-to-win trick.
The Yankees pulled it off, they figured. Why not us?
Well, forget about any notion of that. Porzingis is gone now, and there isn?t any way to know how long he?ll be gone. Best case ? best case ? he only misses all of training camp next year. Worst case ? well, you remember Derrick Rose, right? More likely, he?ll make the kind of midseason return next year that will be over-heralded and then over-scrutinized, at the end of a long, dark season of rehabilitation.
That has to be standard Knicks business in this immediate time before the trading deadline and for most of the next 18 months: Cut bait wherever possible. Collect picks. Clear cap space. Attempt to move anybody on the roster other than Porzingis, Frank Ntilikina and Hardaway. Lose to your heart?s content ? and given the way the roster looks now, that shouldn?t be a problem, and there?s no reason the Knicks can?t reverse-leapfrog three or four teams into better lottery position.
Most important: Accept that this is what?s necessary. Accept that while nobody wanted the epiphany to look like this, with Porzingis writhing on the Garden floor and vanishing for a year, that is now the only strategy that makes sense. No more half-measures. Commit to this. It?s the only way.
It is also a way that has worked before, the Knicks turning a cruel twist (actually, a cruel tear) into something good and something real.
If you are a Knicks fan of a certain age, the instant Porzingis crumpled to the ground Tuesday night had to produce some involuntary reactions: a sour stomach, a shivering spine, a powerful sense of d?j? vu.
If you are old enough, you remember the night of March 23, 1985. If you were watching the Knicks play the Kansas City Kings from Kemper Arena that night, it was for only one reason: Bernard King, the NBA?s leading scorer at 32.9 per game. The Knicks were a wreck: 24-46 heading into that Saturday night.
With 90 seconds left in another forgettable loss, King tried to slip a pass to Eddie Lee Wilkins that was intercepted. Angry at himself, he sprinted to the other end of the floor, where Reggie Theus was preparing to dunk. King leapt with two outstretched hands, knocked away the ball while delivering a hard foul.
And toppled to the floor.
And started pounding the floor with his fist.
?Look out,? Marv Albert said solemnly on television. ?King hurt himself.?
Thirty-three years later, it was like some distant, dastardly replay. It was King?s right knee, Porzingis? left, but the result was the same: A Knicks season already careening off the road had slammed right into a wall. Helpless feeling then. Helpless feeling now.
Those Knicks were experts at fooling themselves, too, believing themselves real contenders after extending the Celtics to a seventh game the year before but, in reality, just a collection of role players and aging players orbiting one superstar. Absent the superstar, they needed a new plan.
Now, that era of Knicks got very lucky a few months later, winning the first-ever lottery when the odds were equal for all seven qualifying teams. Dave DeBusschere would deliver his own unforgettable punch, on a table at the Waldorf, and even if those Ewing Knicks never did deliver a parade, they sure gave the city its game back, and for a lot of years. All of it starting that horrible night by the Kansas City stockyards.
The Knicks could use some of that old luck too, sure. More valuable will be seizing this as an opportunity to make hard choices and smart decisions. No more half-measures. They must rebuild this team at the same time the doctors repair Porzingis? knee. That two-sided pathway is the only lighted trail through a permanent midnight.
