Dear Knicks fans,
The time has come. You need help.
Not next week. Next month. Or even next year. NOW.
The blind love and loyalty has to stop. The Knicks just aren’t worth it anymore.
The 2020-21 NBA season is here and the Knicks might as well be the Sacramento Kings East.
Let’s face it. If you’re still a Knicks fan, you are basically living in NBA Siberia.
The league is rolling out marquee games tonight and on Christmas.
One New York team will play on both nights and one New York team is nowhere to be found.
In the first game of the season, NBA America will watch Kevin Durant make his Nets debut. It will be the first time Durant and Kyrie Irving play together after the two signed with Brooklyn last summer.
Tonight, the Nets are in San Francisco to take on the Warriors at 7 p.m. ET and it’s the Lakers at the Clippers in L.A. for the nightcap at 10 pm ET.
It’s pretty simple. Relevant teams play on Opening Night.
The players have told you the Nets matter. The league has told you the Nets rate. And the TV networks have spoken, too.
It’s the Nets, not the Knicks, that should get your attention until further notice.
The Nets are so good, and star-studded that many think they have a legit shot to get to the NBA Finals out of the East.
The Knicks, on the other hand, are heading to yet another non-playoff season. There’s little buzz. And yes, you need a scorecard to figure out who is on the roster.
If fans get to see games in person this season, The Garden will be a good place only if you want to see an opponent come to town. Other than that, the Garden is beat, a waste ofa good time.
Want proof? The Knicks have the worst NBA record this century (693-997). Yes, they are winning at a .410 clip, just a little better than the Washington Generals against the Harlem Globetrotters.
The only stars in the building will be sitting in seats, not playing on the court.
Their new coach is a failed retread in Tom Thibodeau.
There are a lot of young players with potential, yet unproven. Does their 2020 lottery pick power forward Obi Toppin really move you?
Didn’t think so.
We get it. It wasn’t always that way. The Knicks used to be must-see. The Patrick Ewing Era with Pat Riley when they played against Michael Jordan’s Bulls were special. Those were the days. The Garden was jumping, a star-studded place to be.
But the Knicks didn’t win a title back then, and in fact, haven’t won one since 1973.
Even the last time a b-ball team from the area made it to the NBA Finals, it was the New Jersey Nets — back-to-back years in 2002 and 2003. Nobody in NYC cared.
Back then, we get it.
The Nets didn’t count. Crossing the river and cheering for a squad in ugly uniforms, not repping NYC wasn’t happening.
The Nets are New York’s now. The move to Brooklyn broke down all those barriers that stopped New Yorkers from ever caring one ounce.
Forever in the Big Apple, you had to pick a team. You couldn’t be a fan of both teams in the same sport. It was the Mets or Yanks (can Giants or Dodgers, too, depending on how far you go back). Giants or Jets. Islanders or Rangers.
Not when it came to hoops, however, it was just the Knicks. They were the only team that had the city’s full and undivided attention.
And we get it. Habits are hard to break.
The blue and orange has always worked. The Garden is the Mecca of basketball.
Truth be told, it’s all passé. The Knicks, and the experience, are old and depressing.
That’s why when the Knicks and Nets both had enough money to spend on free agents, NBA stars stepped over the Knicks and The Garden, and went to Brooklyn and the Nets.
That scenario would have been inconceivable 30 years ago. It’s reality now.
LeBron James didn’t want to come to the Knicks. The same with Durant and Kyrie.
The Knicks don’t rate. The players in the league don’t recognize The Garden or the Knicks as anything special.
Brooklyn is New York. Better yet, it’s more hip.
The Barclays Center is a showplace in Downtown Brooklyn. The feel and vibe makes it a great place to watch basketball.
As hard as it might be, Knicks fans should follow the Nets this season. They are the best basketball team in the city. And it isn’t even close.
Yours in Sports,
Rob Parker, from Jamaica, Queens