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September beckons, bitches. Let’s mailbag.
What would your team look like if you assembled it from the stinky years of the 2000s-2010s?
— Unmitigated Gall
In order to tackle this question, I had to settle on what exactly “2000s-2010s” meant. We talking just the awful aughts, ending with the 2009-10 season? Or the whole stinking two decades of stank? I found myself confronted by a mystery I’d never wanted to solve: who was worse, the 2000s Knicks or the 2010s Knicks?
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To really get the stink marinating, I compared two nine-year abominations: the Knick teams from 2002-2010 and from 2014-2022. Combined that’s 18 seasons, 17 below .500, 16 missing the playoffs. eight losses in nine playoff games and a partridge in a pear tree. Before I give you the numbers, what does your gut tell you? Which Knicks feel like they were worse?
From 2002-2010 the Knicks were 279-459; adjusted for 82 games that’s 31-51. The 2014-2022 Knicks went 262-450, a 30-50 pace. The numbers wouldn’t settle this debate. Futility being in the eye of the beholder, I had to dig deep. Was there anything particularly sadder about one batch versus the other? For me, there is.
In 2013-14, New York was coming off a tremendous run the year before, plus three consecutive winning seasons and playoff appearances. Carmelo Anthony had just led the league in scoring while finishing third for MVP. J.R. Smith was top-20 in points, Jason Kidd top-20 in steals and Tyson Chandler top-10 in offensive rebounds, an All-Star and First Team All-Defense.
The writing was on the wall once Kidd retired and James Dolan strong-armed Glenn Grunwald outta town and Andrea Bargnani in, but there was reason to feel good heading into 2014. There was excitement in 2016 for the arrival of Kristaps Porziņģis. In 2019 there was hope — if not conviction — that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Zion Williamson were on their way to save the day.
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The 2001-02 Knicks were post-Patrick Ewing and, not coincidentally, not good, failing to win a playoff series in 2001 for the first time since 1991. Jeff Van Gundy left, Marcus Camby and a lottery pick were soon to follow in…
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Publish date : 2026-09-01 18:28:00
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