Chapter Index
Foreword
Chapter 1
New York is such a great city and I came back knowing that the hopes of the people of NYC could be inspired by the on-court success of their basketball team - the New York Knickerbockers.
Nothing much had happened since those two championship titles in 1970 and 1973. The Knicks had years and years of Patrick Ewing trying to will the team to a title. It's a shame that he was playing in an era that just so happened to include MJ and the Bulls as well as Dream and the Rockets. That said, the Knicks just weren't good enough to get over the hump and salt was rubbed in Ewing's wounds when the Knicks contested the 1999 NBA Finals without their warrior leader.
Next came the Isiah Thomas era, which was a large chunk of Knicks history everyone wants to forget.
It's particularly forgetful especially if you have Stephon Marbury as your starting point guard/face of the franchise. How can a city be inspired by the likes of Starbury and the next great big men of the NBA: Jerome James and Eddy Curry. Later, Thomas was gone and the team hired Mike D'Antoni as their head coach. Amare Stoudemire signed with the team instead of Lebron James and Chris Bosh. Amare was a hit for a while but has since been missing in action. His suspected killer is Carmelo Anthony. Somewhere in between Isiah's rain and the arrival of Melo was Nate Robinson becoming a rich man thanks to playing for a shit team. That midget put up big numbers on a bad team. God bless him.
2014 was when I came to bring a change to the Knicks' culture. I came here thinking that I could help in making this franchise become relevant again. All of the 'big teams' have had their success. The Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, Heat had all performed since the 1980s and won championships. The only thing missing form there was our team.
I was asked to write and record my experiences throughout the years by my publicist. I was told it would be fitting to write another book that could be added to the collection of memoirs of famous basketball personnel. I suppose that, for myself, writing also acted as a release in tough times. This is what has kept me sane.
Now after all of these years of highs and lows, I have now been asked to make available my experiences. Looking back, I smile when I think about the uncertainty that we faced as a staff coming back to New York. I came to New York with a dream to help bring a championship to New York but most importantly to make a difference. I love the feeling of walking down the street and everyday New Yorkers thanking our team for bringing them some extra buzz in their lives.
And this story is how we made this dream into a reality.