Earlier this week, renowned NBA analyst Bill Simmons revealed that the Knicks were among LeBron’s best picks in the summer of 2010. In Simmons’ own words, the race for LeBron was “their to lose”.
Simmons revealed that it was a “disastrous” first encounter that ruined their chances.
“From everyone I’ve talked to since then, it’s clear that the Knicks were the first choice. And I’m sorry for Knicks fans, earmuffs. But it was essentially the loss of the Knicks, and they just couldn’t help it. And the stories are legendary, “he said on his podcast.
“They had the legendary meeting. Donnie Walsh was in a wheelchair and [the owner of the Knicks James] Dolan was Dolan. And it was just a suit: they hadn’t prepared anything. And it couldn’t have been any worse, by all accounts. It was a disaster. I think at that point, combined with the Knicks decade, I think those guys were just like ‘f-k’. “
Between their lackluster presentation and Dolan’s rather toxic behavior (he was apparently distributing copies of his CD during free-agent meetings that summer), it seems that the Knicks never had a chance.
They just can’t get out of the way and the franchise has suffered a lot from it.
Decades of failures have ruined their reputation and have been among the worst teams in the league. The hope is that one day he will finally wake up and start changing things. Because, as anyone in the league will tell you, the NBA is better when the Knicks are good.