Last week, I attended my first Knicks game since moving back to New York. They played the Hawks. I was pretty excited because of their recent competitiveness with Atlanta and because it was the last game before the All Star Break. Sufficed to say, the Knicks were clearly going to be fired-up, and I was ready to watch some good basketball.
And it was some good basketball. After a slow start, the Knicks did a great job of moving the ball. Amare, though he played fewer minutes than usual, made some good plays and kept his 20-points/game streak going. Fields played with his usual intensity. Felton had some crisp passes and timely three-pointers. Gallinari showed his growing versatility of shooting well and going hard to the basket. Chandler tried his best to remind people that he is a legitimate scorer, a player who has not yet reached his zenith. Turiaf continued to be the cheerleader-extraordinaire that would make Mark Madsen proud. There was a moment or two of players getting in the Hawks’ face, as if this game meant something greater than a score and a paycheck. In all, I saw it as an improving and inspired Knicks team maximizing their potential against a newly-ordained rival. It boded well for a competitive second half of a season. I was happy.
I wish it were that simple, that my review could end there. Especially in-light of the recent Carmelo Anthony trade, there was so much going on besides here-and-now basketball.
The pre-game introductions lauded the team as “Your new New York Knicks”. I guess using “new” is better than “temporary” or “today’s”. The marketing campaign to promote this incarnation of the Knicks as a revelation, as a team to feel connected-to now seems so fleeting. (It makes me think that it was as much marking territory in light of the Nets’ move as anything.) Most of the starters are gone, traded away to Denver. Sure, the replacement-starters are arguably better, but they are not yet ours.
It’s not as-if this trade came out of nowhere. Well-before the season began, Anthony was rumored to be a Knick in-waiting. It was likely that he would arrive via trade, meaning that there would be some player-movement. Already, fans knew not to get too attached to the 2010-11 Knicks. Still, with good team-oriented offensive basketball, a group of young likable characters, and a marketing campaign aimed at personalizing these Knicks, the organization was essentially begging us to connect with this young team. Fans obliged.
Now that half of the team is gone, I can’t help wondering which players contributed to this extremely likable identity and whether this new new New Yorks Knicks team has the same potential for meaning and connection as the old new New York Knicks. Gallinari was developing into a multitalented player with hard work and persistence. Felton was a happy surprise, a near-all star caliber point guard who was constantly improving. In many ways, his arc embodied much of the old new Knicks identity: they were obviously not going to win a championship or dominate contenders in seven-game series, but they were good enough to challenge even the best on any-given night. They brimmed with potential. I never got a good handle on Chandler. When I saw him play, I tended to frame him in relation to his near-inevitable replacement: does this game show that the Knicks don’t need Anthony all that much? Would Anthony have done more this game to help the Knicks? This season, he averaged over 17 points per game and had career-highs in many other statistical categories. He wasn’t bad, and yet he was a dead man walking at 23 years old. There is a lot to like about Chandler, but his big-picture role elicited a sense of detachment. It was unclear how frame him yet because it was implied that he had yet to play his most significant role for the Knicks, be it as bait or as consolation for a bigger catch.
Out of all the Knicks, Amare is clearly the leader, and the most likely source for establishing the new New York Knicks identity. He flaunts style, range, power, and gregariousness. Maybe more importantly, upon arriving, he clearly wanted to transcend who he was as a Phoenix Sun. He adopted a city and a culture where there are endless amounts of work (for the employed) and fun. For those who embrace New York, the exhausting expectations and surpassing comfort-zones usually lead to a great deal of personal growth. Amare embodies the “be a part of it” enthusiasm that permeates New York, what makes it such a destination for the ambitious and dissatisfied. Seeing him take the reins of a proud franchise when he wasn’t even the biggest star of his former team shows that he was ready to transcend himself to lead this team and this city. (Something LeBron feared.) He is the primary player who makes these Knicks special, and he is still here.
The two main additions to this trade are Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. Billups, a cornerstone of the selfless Pistons squads, will most likely continue to radiate consistency and poise. It’s unclear what he will do to the team’s identity, but passing to two of the best scorers in the league and exuding a veteran presence will no-doubt be appreciated in New York.
Anthony effect on the Knicks’ personality is still a mystery. He is already a superstar, hugely marketable, and yet I would hesitate to call him a leader. In terms of character, I don’t know that getting him before July at a possibly-debilitating premium price was worth dismantling an exciting team in February. He scores and smiles for the cameras, but I question whether he will follow Amare in growing into a greater role. Will he consume the Knicks’ new culture, or will the Knicks new culture consume him? With Amare being first in-time to the Knicks and his oozing enthusiasm for leading this team, it’s hard to imagine that Anthony will take over as the new alpha (beyond marketing). Instead, he may prove a monument for some to claim that the Knicks have some semblance of a super-team, albeit with a gutted nucleus: a poor man’s Miami instead of Chicago’s kin.
One thing that this trade definitely does is accelerate time. The Knicks essentially gave up some improving young players who played significant minutes for a 26-year old in his prime (Anthony), a 34-year old past his prime (Billups), and a 24 year old unproven bench player (Brewer). This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that what you see is what you get for the next two years. This fact, with the addition of two accomplished veterans, means that the Knicks will need to start producing now, not later, lest fans become impatient. The luxury of watching the Knicks grow up before your eyes ended. Gone are the days when Fields is a pleasant surprise, Felton is a revelation, and that’s enough to make you cheer. Beginning Wednesday night, the tone is: win now or you’re a bum. Fans will expect championship-level performances each night, whether or not that is a practical goal with this depleted team. If the Knicks had waited until this summer to sign Anthony, there would still be a youth movement to enjoy. Now, the future is here and there are wars to be won; sucks to your assmar.
It was strange to hear chants of “M-V-P!” for Amare followed by callings of “We Want Melo”, with the Knicks enjoying a 10+ point lead against a good Hawks team. It reflects the schizophrenic nature of a city that has long-been without basketball saviors, yet craves to improve from disappointment to perfection in a New York minute, sacrificing a no-name nucleus of promising players in the process. I wonder if this city will be happy with anything short of a championship contender, if those calling for Anthony over the past six-months will now cry for a point guard over the next two seasons. Instead, I hope everyone enjoys their new team for what they are and accept their inherent failings. It’s a long time for the antsy fans and a pushy organization to hold their breath, and yet something tells me that they may not know how else to behave, in light of these untenable expectations.
Maybe fans and the organization alike should adopt a new new slogan: “be here now”.
