IVAN TORRES
Special to The Leader
If you’re a New York Knicks fan, you already know where this is about to go.
As long as we’re alive, the New York Knicks are never winning the finals.
Ever since the 2012-2013 season playoff run led by small forward Carmelo Anthony and coached by Mike Woodson, they’ve been awful.
In the past seven seasons, the Knicks have put up a record of 190 wins and 374 losses. In those seven seasons, their win percentage hasn’t been above 500 percent.
Teams go through a “rebuild phase,” which means they start at the bottom and progressively get better each season through draft picks and free agency.
The Knicks continue to be at the bottom, showing no progression on a year-to-year basis. I back that statement by presenting the Knicks’ winning percentages in the past five seasons: .390, .378, .354, .207 and .318.
So the question is, why are the Knicks so bad?
According to Bleacher Report, the Knicks have been the team with the least wins in the past 20 years.
“Over the last 20 seasons (including this one), the New York Knicks have an abysmal .402 winning percentage. That, of course, ranks dead last in the NBA.”
In the span of 20 years, coaches, players and trainers come and go.
However, the one position that has not changed is the owner of the Knicks, James Dolan.
Why does Dolan deserve the blame?
Before Dolan took over the franchise in 2000, the Knicks had qualified for the playoffs for 13 seasons straight.
Under Dolan, the Knicks had gone to the playoffs five out of 20 seasons. The fact that James Dolan can’t even produce half the success the Knicks had in the ‘90s is sickening.
Not only does Dolan pick the right pieces to produce wins for the Knicks, he also loves banning and kicking fans out of Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks.
The first instance was when he kicked out former Knicks player, Charles Oakley for being “drunk and abusive,” according to him.
Dolan also banned a fan for telling him to “sell the team.” Yes, James Dolan banned a fan for life because the fan gave him good advice.
Unfortunately, this is not the worst part.
According to Sportscasting, in 2010, Lebron James decided the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat and New York Knicks could be his destination. James had already written in stone that he was going to be in a Knicks jersey the following season.
However, according to sports media mogul Bill Simmons, the Knicks failed to achieve that seemingly simple goal.
In a recent episode of his podcast, Simmons reported on apparently good intel that the Knicks “didn’t have anything prepared.”
How can a front office be so discombobulated? How do you not have anything to offer for the best player in the world? That’s like showing up to the SAT or the GMAT without having something to write with.
The reason the New York Knicks suffer is because of terrible management from top to bottom.