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If I hadn't have known better, I would have thought that was Chris Douglas Roberts. I'm like CDR done went and bulked up.
2015 NY Knicks offseason thread, Los Almighty appreciation thread
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by pr0phecy718,
- Start date
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They need to make him cut that **** off. Looking stupid as ****.
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he had so much potential 
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Leave JR in the trash pls.
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another great article by the
the gr8est
http://g42sports.com/new-york-state-mind/
It's a long one but very worth reading.
the gr8est
http://g42sports.com/new-york-state-mind/
It's a long one but very worth reading.
“Die hard.” You know, as in “diehard fans.” We have all used this term before. Many of us have lived this term. I am sure that most people reading this have. It is the New York way. For better or worse. No place breeds true “diehard” fans quite like New York does. I don’t even think we can help it. Hell, I know I can’t. It goes much deeper than rationale. It is the New York state of mind.
“Beyond the walls of intelligence life is defined.” Nas sums this mindset better than I could on his iconic track, New York State of Mind. One of the many songs made throughout history in all genres of music that attempt to describe this particular frame of mind. You got Frank Sinatra’s classic New York, New York. Billy Joel’s own New York State of Mind. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ popular Empire State of Mind. Even Hi-Tek’s underrated Where it Started At, amongst countless others.
I chose Nas’ version because he is my favorite rapper of all time and I love this quote in particular. You cannot use intelligence to explain the process of the New York State of Mind. Or being a diehard fan. It goes well beyond the confines of intelligence. It is beyond these “walls” that explain why we remain so extremely loyal to this mind frame as New Yorkers. Because it sure as hell doesn’t make any rational sense. We are loyal to a fault at times. It is who we are, and it shows in almost everything we do. Particularly, in the way we support our teams. I am not saying that New York is the only place where diehard fans exist, but no other place breeds diehards quite like New York does. We are truly a special breed.
As a life-long New Yorker, and just a crazy person in general, I am simply not wired to go at anything in life half-assed. Being a “casual fan” as opposed to a “diehard” fan simply does not do it for me. I get no joy in that and I do not see the point of it. If you can’t ride with your squad through adversity, why do you deserve to be a part in the potential glory? If I am not 100% in, I might as well be 100% out.
If I was a rational fan, I would have left the Knicks in my rearview mirror long ago. I think we all would. But being a diehard fan is never a rational thing. It is why a lot of adults lose this sort of passion as they get older and think more rationally and less emotionally. Being a diehard fan is almost a child-like behavior. It requires a child-like level of emotion. It makes little to no logical sense. Yet, here we are. I am in my 20s and I am a diehard Knicks fan.
Being a diehard fan is one of the least rational behaviors that grown adults still willingly take part in. Particularly, us Knicks fans who remain present and hopeful after experiencing nothing but consistent suffering and failure with seemingly no end in sight. I mean, how else can you explain us willingly letting the neurotic and erratic actions of a spoiled billionaire ex-drug addict (well, technically, you are never really considered an “ex-addict.”) get to us in the way it does? Why the hell do we care so much? What makes this thing so damn important?
In a way, James Dolan is a reflection of us all. I hate myself for even writing that but it is an extremely sad truth. Like when Julius says to Gary Bertere in Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership, captain.” Well, for better or worse (mostly worse), James ******* Dolan is out leader. It has been an awful ride, to say the least. But there is a saying that is often used in the recovery of addiction. “Take what you want and leave the rest.” Well, if there is one positive we can take from being led by Dolan for the past 15 years, it is that he has tested our loyalty. Time and time again. He has forced us to carry his addictive personality. And I mean that in the best way possible. It really is the only reason why, after all these years, through all the pain and suffering, we are still drawn to his depressing product. Like an addict. Addiction beats out rational thought every time.
If you are reading this, you are likely just as lost in this process as I am. Dolan could probably sign himself as the starting point guard and we still wouldn’t jump ship. Hell, he couldn’t be too much of a downgrade from Raymond Felton and Chris Duhon. He leaves us with no shred of hope, yet we are still here. Somehow. Some way. It is our New York resilience and collectively addictive personalities. Our very own “New York State of Mind.”
We are more than fans, we have become full blown Knicks addicts. We have become as addicted to the Knicks as Dolan was to abusing all sorts of substances. We are loyal to a fault. Diehards, if you would prefer. But an “addict” is described as “one to habituate or abandon oneself to something compulsively or obsessively.” I believe that any true diehard fan is an addict. It is what separates us from the casual fan. Similar to any other addict, we are unable to stop using despite negative consequences, and if you don’t have this mindset yourself, it is impossible to fully understand or explain. We are stuck in an abusive relationship with an actual addict himself (Dolan), and we will always come crawling back for more. Because like with any other addiction, rationale just doesn’t work. Depressing, yes. But bear with me. Because it is also what makes us great.
I have described myself as a Knicks addict in the past. I was a psychology major in college. The PhD types usually try to steer me away from this kind of talk. But **** the PhD’s. Bunch of know-it-alls as far as I’m concerned. So often thinking they understand the unexplainable processes of the human mind and emotions. That word in general, “Addict,” is extremely negative from a psychological perspective. I have been told that I am not a Knicks “addict,” I am simply “passionate” about the Knicks. But if you are similar to me, you know as well as I do, that is a load of BS. The Knicks are not a passion of mine. Collecting stamps might be considered a passion. Gardening could be a passion. One might be passionate about painting. The Knicks, however, are an addiction. For better or worse.
The Knicks can and do lead me down a destructive path. They have done so in the past. On many occasions. Even right now while writing this article free of charge at my paying job—I am using. I am not looking to become a storyteller, but I have accepted myself as a Knicks addict. It has become a part of me and as destructive as it often is, I am honestly proud as hell of it. In a world where money and material things drive society (hell, even I work on Wall Street) I am proud that I have at least one thing that I truly feel that passionate about. One thing that goes well beyond money, material, or any sort of rational thinking whatsoever. An extreme, obsessive passion that is incorruptible at its very core.
Even through Dolan, all the losing, and an ugly sexual harassment lawsuit—being a Knick exceeds all of that. The idealism of being a New York Knick exceeds any flaws of anyone that has anything to do with the actual organization itself. Even the owner. The concept of being a New York Knick is incorruptible, despite all of the extremely corruptible individuals currently involved and running the franchise. As long as we as fans remain loyal to this ideal, it will always exist.
It is like what Eddie told “Wild Bill” when he was looking to move the Knicks to St. Louis in the movie Eddie. “You do not own the Knicks. New York owns the Knicks.” Or something like that. I couldn’t find the exact quote. But I have seen the movie enough times to understand the concept. The Knicks are not something that any individual can own or buy. They can never be for sale because it is the collective New York state of mind that owns the Knicks, and makes us what we are. Makes us a truly great franchise despite the win-loss record telling us otherwise.
This remains as true as ever. And it remains true because of our undying loyalty to the product as a fanbase. Despite who is on the team or who is running the team. The mindset remains unchangeable and incorruptible. Sure it can be destructive, but it is also a beautiful thing. And if/when the Knicks ever do climb to the top of the mountain, we diehards will experience a high that no drug could ever replicate. It is a healthy(ish) addiction, but an addiction none the less.
However, while my Knicks addiction goes beyond the confines or “walls” of rational thinking, it is still important to look at the Knicks with a rational state of mind. Not getting overly optimistic or overly pessimistic just because we are loyal. This can be extremely difficult to do. It often leads to “homerism” as well as catastrophizing. But regardless of one’s general point of view on the Knicks, regardless of how different we all might be individually, the important thing to take away is that we are all still here. The very process that brings us all together is our collectively unrivaled dedication to the Knicks product. We resemble the team. Individually we are very flawed. But as a whole, we are the greatest fanbase there is. I wholeheartedly believe in this. I wouldn’t write it if I didn’t.
I can only speak for myself, but I am sure my journey is similar to others. I was raised as a Knicks fan. I grew up as a basketball savant in New York, and I fell madly in love with Madison Square Garden’s home team. I like to say that I bleed orange and blue. Unfortunately for myself and others, those teams were an enigma. I was drawn to those tough minded Knickerbockers teams of the 1990’s before I even knew what I was getting myself into. Those teams wore their hearts on their sleeves. They played with the kind of passion and energy that was simply intoxicating. Night in and night out. Win or lose. It was easy to get caught up in it all because that team seemed to care about winning as much as the fans did. They understood what it meant to be New York Knicks.
I became addicted to it without even knowing it. And I know that that word has a negative connotation to it, but it’s the truth. I was like a young alcoholic getting a little tipsy for the first time at a high school party. Not a care in the world. No knowledge whatsoever of the downward spiral I was about to go through. I was young and naïve and I fell in love with the Knicks. Not necessarily the Knicks as players (although they were part of it), but this incorruptible product of the New York Knicks. What they should be and what I believe they stand for. It is an idea that far exceeds any singular part. But at the same time, it was all because that team that I grew up watching carried that image. They lived it. They proudly played for the “NEW YORK” across the chest.
I think the entire mindset of the 90’s Knicks became engraved in the brains of an entire generation of fans who, like myself, developed an addiction watching that team. We strive for this mindset to this very day. We fell for the players that wanted it the most. The tough guys. The ones who pounded the “NEW YORK” on their chest with pride and purpose. The players who stood for what the fans stood for. The players who represented the very embodiment of the New York Knicks. The ideal. Sure, they got paid. Sure, it may sound naïve in the business of the NBA. But that is what drove me to Ewing, Starks, Oakley, Mason and others. I know that I am not alone.
You can tell, that for them, it was more than the money. It was greater than themselves. They wanted to win for the “NEW YORK” on the chest more so than the name on the back. They wanted to deliver for the fans who had their backs through thick and thin. It was a “real recognize real” type of situation to the fullest extent. Real New York fans gravitate towards real New York players. And the result was one big love fest between players and fans, despite the unit never being able to deliver an NBA Championship to the city. Throughout it all, they never lost sight of the New York State of Mind. That was the true power of the 1990’s Knicks. I felt a sense of pride rooting for those teams and those players. As a fan, that is all I can ask for. It more than fed into my Knicks addiction. It basically created it. And similar to most addictions, it was all fun and games until Isiah Thomas trades two top-10 picks for Eddy Curry and you realize that you have no way out.
I’m not saying it was all easy. Far from it actually. For the fans or the players. Like many New York athletes, Patrick Ewing probably became the most over-scrutinized NBA player of all time because of the expectations placed on him as the face of the New York Knicks. And his ultimate failure to win a championship. But nobody wanted it more than Pat. He was a true warrior who unfortunately was never able to get it done playing with a group of role players, competing in the “Jordan era.” His legacy is entirely misunderstood by all of the talking heads out there who view his career as a disappointment due to his inability to ever produce any hardware. Patrick Ewing was the standard that any future Knick should strive for. He represented all that was good within the organization. Selflessness, loyalty and toughness. The full package. He was truly great—a winner in every sense of the word. His teammates and fans fed off of his mentality, as our leader. But arguably the worst thing about 90’s raised Knicks fans like myself who idolized Patrick Ewing and the others is not their ultimate failure to deliver a championship, but the incredible standard they created. We have taken on the mindset of our childhood heroes and we have developed almost unrealistic expectations. It is a gift and a curse.
It is a gift because, like the 90’s Knicks, we remain tough and we are loyal as a fanbase. Like I said in my last article, we are a tough group to win over. But once you got us, you really got us. We will have your back more than any other fanbase and we can help drive you to heights that might be unreachable playing anywhere else. But it is also a curse—because we often place unrealistic expectations in the “me-driven” NBA. An era of NBA basketball when contracts and player egos have become ridiculous. Most of all, we hate the “soft” players. It’s almost like we expect everyone to be Mason and Oakley. It’s unfortunate really, because players like that rarely exist anymore. I think this is the reason why Knicks fans seem to target Reggie Evans every offseason.
This brings me to our new franchise player. Carmelo Anthony. The man known simply as Melo has become one of the most polarizing people in sports today. Especially since he joined the New York Knicks in 2011. The Brooklyn born, Syracuse star, becoming the face of the New York Knicks. Great expectations playing in the city when every little thing you do is overanalyzed, and often scrutinized. Very similar to Patrick Ewing, who came to New York with even greater expectations.
Some love Melo. Others hate him. Very few feel indifferent towards him. As a lifelong New Yorker, I know as well as anyone that if we feel strongly about something, we form even stronger opinions. Just like anything else, when we are in, we are all in. It is what makes this city and this fanbase great. The addict “all or none” mindset. But like the case with any addiction, there is always a dark side. The increased level of passion and loyalty in New York drives even greater expectations. This is particularly true when it comes to Carmelo Anthony. The face of New York’s City’s team of its favorite game.
Even moving past the infectious bacteria that has become James Dolan and the Knicks ownership, trying to build a lasting New York City legacy has always been a daunting task. This is nothing new. Like many things that appear great in theory, being the star of the Knicks is not all fun and games. There is a major burden that all New York athletes are forced to carry. The better that athlete is, the greater the burden becomes. Not everyone is capable of handling it. It is great to have an obsessive fanbase behind you, but that same obsession is not handed out like it might be in other cities.
We do not accept anyone with blind eyes. New Yorkers have to be won over. It’s not even enough to love having the “NEW YORK” across the chest. You have to live the “NEW YORK.” You need to understand what that “NEW YORK” across the chest truly means, and embrace all of it. Understand that when you put on that jersey you are no longer just representing yourself—you become a part of a much greater whole. That whole obviously includes your teammates as well as the organization. But there is so much more to it.
That whole includes the legendary Knicks of the past who wore that jersey as a badge of honor. The players who accepted the responsibility of being a New York Knick, and never lost sight of that. Whether that was Patrick Ewing never abandoning his mission of bringing a championship to this city, through thick and thin, regardless of the fact that he never did. Whether that was Willis Reed letting nothing besides death itself prevent him from walking out that tunnel on to the Garden floor to play in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. And of course, I can’t leave out Walt Frazier. Who has become almost the de-facto face of the Knicks. Who rallied around his captain’s leadership and perseverance to take his game to unforeseen heights in an absolutely legendary performance in that very game 7, to deliver the Knicks their first ever championship.
Most of all that whole includes the millions of fans who legitimately care so much about all that the Knicks should represent. Enough that we are still here. That idealism. Money clouds a lot of things but it should never cloud this basic principle. We believe in this idealism. It is what keeps us around as fans. The players need to respect that.
It is why John Starks is my all-time favorite Knick, despite him being an extremely flawed basketball player who shot an atrocious 2/18 from the field in the biggest game of his career. Some of my all-time favorite Knicks were extremely flawed basketball players, and honestly, I am totally fine with that. John Starks legitimately gave a ****. Not just about himself, but the fans and the city. John Starks loved being a New York Knick and he left everything on the floor every time he stepped on the court. He truly understood the importance of playing basketball for the Knicks and in Madison Square Garden. He put this on display in every single game that he played. Whether it was during the regular season or the NBA Finals. John Starks was all heart all the time. He encompassed the New York State of Mind and that is why I, along with many other fans, were drawn to him and loved him. Despite flaws in his game and skillset. We took him in as one of our own. Real recognize real.
I don’t care how much money a player makes. I don’t care that any hired gun will never believe in this idealism as much as a lifelong diehard fan. New York needs athletes who care least somewhat as much as we do. They need to possess this idealism inside them. Like others have done before them. Especially the superstars. They need to carry the New York State of Mind more so than anyone else.
Up until recently, it has been believed that the opportunity that comes with being the franchise player of the Knicks far outweigh the negatives. This perfect image. It is like getting into a relationship with a beautiful woman, and only focusing on that. Everything looks good from the outside. You have an undying loyal fanbase behind you. A city that truly loves and knows the game. You have all the marketing and endorsement possibilities you can ask for. And of course, you have the grandest stage possible. You play your home games at the “World’s Most Famous Arena.” No other team in the league can offer that. The entire package. Even the reliably annoying New York media had been thought to be as much of a positive as a negative. Bad publicity is better than no publicity, right?
But this thinking has changed dramatically during the past couple of years. The biggest culprit has been James Dolan, of course. The Knicks have become a laughingstock since James Dolan gained ownership of the team and this has badly hurt the Knicks as a destination franchise. But there is more to it than this. A large portion of this change can be traced back to 2010 and “The Decision.”
We all remember “The Decision.” Vividly, I am sure. As well as all the lead up to “The Decision.” We remember Donnie Walsh taking over the Knicks from incumbent team President/GM/coach/sexual harasser Isiah Thomas and immediately putting a plan in place that targeted the 2010 free agency class as the end game. We remember the cap clearing transactions that came as a result of this plan. From 2008-2010, every single move the Knicks made was about clearing cap space for the summer of 2010. This was fine in principal. Financial flexibility is never a bad thing to have in salary cap NBA, after all. But the goal itself, was extremely flawed.
The Knicks goal was to sell LeBron and the other marquee free agents on the Knicks and New York City. Everyone loves New York City right? The basketball Mecca? We had no reason to believe this wouldn’t work. The Knicks never had cap space to work with during the salary cap era of NBA basketball. The plan focused on the perception that the reality of the Knicks never being able to acquire a superstar post-Ewing, was because we could not afford them. We went after the wrong kind of players because we were always looking for the “quick fix,” and never had the cap space or draft picks to nab a legitimate franchise player. And this was partially true. Even an intelligent basketball lifer like Donnie Walsh believed in this plan. He was the one who put it together. We had no reason not to believe in him.
There was no evidence or logic that disproved this notion at the time. Maybe it was our engraved New York cockiness. We all figured that as long as we had the money to spend, the big names would flock to us. Kind of like they do to the Yankees. Because we are the best. Amongst the many problems that Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas each had running the Knicks, and there were many. Their most significant common flaw was that they never left the Knicks any sort of financial flexibility whatsoever.
We consistently invested a lot of money in players who didn’t deserve it and never had money to go after big fish in the free agency pool. This was the difference between the Knicks and the Yankees. Or so we thought. 2010 was being looked at as the biggest free agency summer in NBA history. Walsh and others (including myself) believed that as long as the Knicks were able to clear up the necessary cap space, New York City alone would be enough to sell James and other big name targets to play for the Knicks. It sounded like a solid plan because we had no reason not to believe it was.
We never had any sort of plan whatsoever for the past decade. Just a series of transactions that had no direction besides trying to acquire the best possible talent available regardless of money and fit. If a big name was available to us via trade, we went after him. At all costs. Without ever using rhyme or reason to make the decision. The Knicks lived and died by the theory of talent wins out in the NBA. Which is partially true. But Layden and Isiah accumulated talent aimlessly. Like monkeys trying to throw darts at a dartboard. They figured that if they threw enough darts at the board, eventually they would hit a bull’s eye. They never even tried to build up a foundation, and the process completely backfired on them both. Walsh at least had a legitimate plan in place. It sounded great in principle. This was something to look forward to as fans. But boy, did it backfire on us once again.
Of course we all remember LeBron spurning us and everyone else on national television to join his buddies Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. The Knicks essentially ended up doing exactly what we had always done in the past. Acquiring the best player available to us because we were willing to pay more money than anybody else. Amar’e Stoudemire.
“The Decision” will go down as one of the most monumental non-playing moments in NBA history. I am sure there will be multiple documentaries made about it. As well as “The Decision Part 2.” And LeBron is only 30 and lacks a loyal bone in his body. So let’s not rule anything out down the road. But what people often overlook about LeBron leaving for the Heat in 2010, and then leaving the Heat in 2014, was the much greater spiraling effect that it caused. Something that I like to refer to as the “LeBronization” of the NBA.
The LeBronization effect is that players have started to value winning more than anything else. More so than that, actually. Players have always valued winning. But when Lebron made “The Decision” to join the Heat, it changed the game. Initially it was responded by widespread criticism. He was ridiculed beyond belief. Labeled as “soft” and basically being called a complete loser. The public criticism of Lebron reached new heights after his choke job in the 2011 NBA Finals vs Dallas. Two championships later, and this mindset has changed entirely. It has made a complete 180.
The Lebronization effect made winning out to be this black and white ideal. Now, it is not only accepted for players to take the easiest path towards winning a championship, it has become the expectation. The Lebronization effect is that players are expected to go wherever winning is easiest and most readily available. Loyalty is no longer considered unless the team is a contender. Marc Gasol stays in Memphis and he is considered “loyal,” but that is only because Memphis has been a consistent playoff team. Carmelo stays with the Knicks and he is ridiculed as selfish and “all about the money.” By re-signing with the Knicks last summer, Melo became labeled just as much of a “loser” as LeBron initially was in 2010. And it is because the Knicks suck right now. They do. There is no way around that. If players don’t take the easy way out, it has become consensus belief that they simply do not care about winning. What was considered a loser’s mentality 5 short years ago, has become the new norm. The new way of proving that a player is “all about winning.” The LeBronization effect of the NBA.
Gone are the days of overcoming obstacles and looking to build something that is lasting. Something that takes time. Players have become expected to combine forces and create “Big Threes” or “Core Fours” or whatever the hell you want to call it. After all of the “Not 2. Not 3. Not 4…” talk from LeBron in 2010, it only took him 4 years to get out of Miami. People now praise LeBron for choosing to take matters into his own hands. They like to justify LeBron’s decision(s) by pointing out that Jordan played with Scottie Pippen and others in Chicago. LeBron never had that in Cleveland, so he was right to leave.
This is partially true. LeBron did have limited support in Cleveland. But it’s like people have started to overlook the half-decade of coming up short that Jordan endured. The pain he experienced from defeat at the hands of the “Bad Boy” Pistons and others. How overcoming those obstacles and experiencing failure is what drove him to greatness. Through failure, Jordan developed the ultimate winner’s mentality. It is what made him the champion he became. Staring failure in the face and rising above it, not running away from it. It is why, that once MJ finally captured the rush of winning an NBA Championship, he never let it go. Michael Jordan never ran from adversity, he lived for it. He became addicted to competition. It showed on the basketball court, and it shows to this present day when he loses millions of dollars gambling in Las Vegas.
However, it is still true that Jordan could have never done it alone. He had an ideal support system around him, and the “Zen Master” was the perfect complement to Jordan’s hyper-competitiveness. But people have started to act like Michael Jordan was just handed Scottie Pippen and others. Nobody likes to consider how struggling and overcoming adversity created the winning culture in Chicago around Michael Jordan. And likely helped Pippen and others ultimately develop into the champion caliber supporting players they became. You know. That whole concept of building a foundation.
The LeBronization effect of the NBA has not only remained, but gained power with time. I mean forget about Jordan and the 90’s. Just look at where we are right now compared to where we were in 2010. 5 years ago. It is absurd. In 2010 we thought that the allure of New York City ALONE was all that we needed to attract big names. Now, even with Carmelo Anthony already on the roster and readily available cap space, free agents have spurned the 17 win Knicks left and right. And we’re not talking about LeBron and Wade either. Greg Monroe just signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. Marc Gasol decided to remain in Memphis. LaMarcus Aldridge did decide to flee the Portland Trailblazers, but for the San Antonio freaking Spurs. I mean come on! San Antonio has become a target destination in the NBA today! San Antonio might be the least marketable NBA city there is. Now, not only are they retaining their own foundation, but players are fleeing their own teams to go play there. If that doesn’t prove the point that I am getting at, then I don’t know what in the hell does. Winning sells.
Nowadays, it doesn’t matter where you play, you will be seen. If the “Greek Freak” makes some ridiculous highlight play out in Milwaukee, it will be all over the internet in a matter of seconds. New York is no longer needed as a platform. The NBA has become a global platform in itself. People all around the world are watching the NBA and all of its teams. Regardless of whether you play in San Antonio, Milwaukee, or Memphis you will be seen in the same way you would in New York City. The LeBronization of the NBA combined with exponential advancements in technology and social media has leveled out the playing field in the NBA. And the NBA runs on a salary cap system, which creates a level playing field in itself. As opposed to the MLB where big market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox can outbid for every major free agent on the market.
But what in the hell does all of this have to do with Carmelo? What the hell does it have to do with Knicks fans? I already touched on a lot of these same principles in my last article. The idea that winning sells in the NBA today. Well, for one, as you might come to find, I like to rant. I am most definitely a ranter and will consistently go into great detail in order to try and prove my points. Use all the ammunition I have possible.
But the primary reason I provide such a detailed synopsis in the context of Carmelo Anthony, is that Melo is the modern embodiment of outdated principles. Principles that have become so obsolete that they are barely even recognizable. In fact, they have almost been forgotten about completely. Melo has an old school mentality that has become misunderstood in today’s game, and therefore looked down upon. Carmelo represents a combination of ideals that do not really exist in the NBA anymore. It did once upon a time, but the common trend has gone against it. It is a certain type of idealism that all of us loyal New York fans possess in spades. It is almost indescribable, but there is concrete evidence that it exists. It far exceeds a player’s skillset and ability. It even exceeds basketball. This attitude helps explain why Derek Jeter went one way in New York and Alex Rodriguez went another. Despite Rodriguez being the better overall ball player (Well, in addition to Jeter not using steroids and being an overall good person, but let’s stick to basketball). It cannot be fully explained, but at the same time it is essential to possess in order to make it as a New York star. This is the mentality that I like to call the New York State of Mind.
The New York State of Mind relates to everything I mentioned about the Knicks legends of the past. Because they are the ones who helped shape it. It is also the same basic concept we expected to win over LeBron and others in 2010. The same principle that every big name free agent passed on this summer. The allure of being a New York franchise player. The entire package. Even though this allure has become more of an illusion over time, because it goes completely against the LeBronization effect. The new norm. It is almost like it has become a mirage. Something that we love to talk about, and we think is there. But it might not even exist. Others do not believe it exists. Clearly. But this mirage concept is flawed. Because for some unexplainable reason, us fans do still believe it exists. . And so does Carmelo Anthony. This makes it real.
Carmelo still idealistically believes in the allure of being a New York Knick and all that it should represent. I think this can best be described by comparing him to the anti-New York State of Mind. The LeBronization effect. Caused by none other than Carmelo’s good buddy, LeBron James. Let’s compare the two.
LeBron proved himself incapable of being a New York star, despite being the best player on the planet. In Miami, LeBron not only chose the best team and the easiest route to an NBA championship, he took a more laid back city with a more laid back media and a much more laid back fanbase. Miami does not hold their players accountable like they do in New York. LeBron knew this, and he wanted no parts of New York City pressure. And you know what? This is fine. It is who LeBron James is. LeBron is the kind of player who wants everything handed to him. He made the easiest possible decision for himself in 2010, and he did so again in 2014. And it worked out the way he had hoped it would. Best for LeBron James.
LeBron cares only about LeBron. As great as he is as a basketball player. He has always been this way and he likely always will. He is not the kind of player who “plays for the front of the jersey.” He will play wherever it best suits him and his career. And that mentality just does not cut it in New York. Everything about “The Decision” (and “The Decision part 2”) made it easy for me, as a Knicks fan, to lose LeBron. He is simply not built for New York and has proven as much with his actions. Not only did he turn down potential New York immortality in 2010, but he spurned his own fanbase, his “home city,” and the organization who drafted him in order to take the easiest path possible for himself.
Then, after all of that, he chose to “come home” to Cleveland after years of grunt work that he was not present for paved the way for him to pair with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, after the Heat got worked over in the 2014 Finals by the Spurs. To put it frankly, LeBron doesn’t give a **** about Cleveland. He never did. He can talk all he wants. LeBron is an incredible marketer. But actions speak much louder than words. Real recognize real, as they say, and LeBron is looking kind of unfamiliar.
LeBron has never made one move in his entire career that was based on loyalty. He has consistently tried to flee adversity, as opposed to overcome it. And loyalty never stood in his way from doing so. LeBron is selfish and shows it time and time again with his actions. He is not the kind of player you want in your foxhole. I don’t care how good he is, he isn’t good for New York, and he never was. If you cannot suffer through adversity, you will never make it as a New York star. LeBron is incapable of doing this. It is not how he is wired. It wouldn’t have worked.
Carmelo Anthony is cut from a different cloth. No, he is not LeBron James. For worse, sure. But also for better. We love to fault Carmelo for not being LeBron on the basketball court. Not being the point-guard-quality facilitator that LeBron is. Not being the elite defender. Not being the freak athlete. Not being the guy who could take a garbage team to the NBA Finals. Basically, not being the most talented player in the NBA. But we often get lost in these specific criticisms and overlook the positives of Carmelo not being LeBron. It’s a very addict like mentality. Dwelling on the few negatives while overlooking the many positives.
While Carmelo Anthony is not the best player in the NBA, he is still the best (or one of the very bests) at what he does. He is still more than skilled enough to be the centerpiece of a winning foundation if surrounded by the right pieces. He has done it before and he can do it again. My last article went into that concept in much greater detail. But this is not about that. This is about Carmelo Anthony the character more than the player.
Carmelo Anthony chose New York. He chose New York well before he re-signed last summer. Carmelo was born in Brooklyn. He chose New York when he committed to Syracuse University, a New York based shool with a strong basketball legacy, an extremely passionate fanbase, but no championships. He delivered head coach Jim Boeheim and all the Cuse faithful their only NCAA Championship as a freshman. He chose New York again in 2010, when he asked out of Denver and made it very clear where he wanted to end up. He knew all that playing here entailed, and he has embraced every bit of it. The entire package. The good and the bad. Carmelo certainly has his faults. But don’t we all? He is imperfect as a player and there is no doubt that he enjoys the opportunity playing in New York City offers to his brand. But why do we choose to focus so much on the branding aspect of Carmelo? It is part of the New York City package, after all.
It is what we tried to sell LeBron in 2010. We sure as hell didn’t try to sell LeBron on the team back then. We blew up the team to go after him. Branding is part of the New York City package. Ewing, Jeter, Eli Manning, all these guys made a ton of money off of their brand playing in this city. But that is far from what defines their New York legacy. And it is far from all that Carmelo is, and why he is here.
If we have learned anything recently, it is that branding has become possible anywhere. It is naïve to think that Carmelo decided to stay in New York simply for his brand. Carmelo Anthony, the face of the New York Knicks, fell out of the top-15 individual jersey sales late in the NBA season. What does this tell us? Once again, Winning sells, and winning improves branding. New York City alone does not improve one’s brand. Winning in New York City has proven to be capable of taking an athlete’s brand to new heights, but winning is first and foremost. Carmelo is in New York for the full package, which includes, but is not limited to branding.
But why was it OK to promote marketing and branding to LeBron in 2010, yet Carmelo is constantly looked down upon for wanting to improve his own brand? Well it is all part of the scrutiny that comes along with being a New York franchise player and the vicious double standard we often hold Melo to.
Anthony is criticized for things that no other player is held accountable for. Mostly for costing the Knicks assets. Assets as in players and cap space. Assets that every single franchise player for any team costs their organization. It is like the only thing that Carmelo could do to prove himself to us is cost us nothing at all.
Melo made it clear that he wanted to play for the Knicks during the 2010-2011 season. Carmelo wanted to be traded to the Knicks before the inevitable 2011 lockout, but it was pretty much known that even if he was not traded during the season, Carmelo would have signed with the Knicks as a free agent in the summer of 2011. This gave the Knicks all sorts of leverage, compared to when other franchise type players ask their respective teams for trades with no clear destination in sight. Just various contenders. Anywhere they can win. Denver’s GM at the time, Massai Uriji, needed to work out a trade with the Knicks and he knew it. Knicks GM at the time, Donnie Walsh wanted Carmelo, but knew he was in the driver’s seat and was looking for the right deal. However, that neurotic addict of an owner, James Dolan, stepped in and made a trade with for Carmelo before Donnie Walsh wanted to. He played right into Uriji’s hands. It drove Donnie Walsh right out the door once Dolan went against his first (but not last!) promise of “full autonomy” over the Knicks basketball decisions.
Yet, we blame Anthony. He takes blame for wanting to come to the Knicks, and Dolan being, well, Dolan. And it is not even like we gave up Andrew Wiggins, who was traded by the Cavs for Kevin Love, or any kind of franchise player. Carmelo is criticized for costing the Knicks Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov. Unbelievable. And it is true, we probably did give up too much for Melo, holding the leverage that we did. And it definitely set the organization back more than it should have. But how exactly is this his fault?
Carmelo Anthony was loyal to the Knicks before he even was a Knick. Yet he continues to have blame placed on him for our organizational problems that go well beyond him. The Knicks have never put a capable team around Carmelo, and Carmelo receives the blame. Both for being the centerpiece of a trade that cost us assets and for not making the limited talent available to him much better. Carmelo led a 54 win Knicks team with JR Smith as his beta-dog. Carmelo competed in a playoff series surrounded by Anthony Carter, Toney Douglas, Bill Walker and Jared Jeffries. That was an actual lineup the Knicks used in a legitimate playoff series against the Boston Celtics in 2011. I am 99% sure that every single one of those players are no longer in the league 4 years later. Always black and white with the Melo haters. He can never do enough. Addicts.
No player gets ridiculed for taking money quite like Carmelo does either. It’s a strange concept. I mean Melo got destroyed last summer not just for remaining with the Knicks, but for taking slightly less than the max when he said he would be willing to take a pay cut. Which he did, albeit not by much. But the fact of the matter is that Melo didn’t need to take a pay cut at all. As a matter of fact, taking a 5 year contract was not even a profitable long term decision. Just look at the free agency market right now. But of course this wasnt enough. Because it will never be enough unless Carmelo wins a championship. Melo was simply “going after the money” by choosing to re-sign with the Knicks.
But maybe that pay cut he spoke about was relative? Maybe it was more of a long term pay cut. Just look at the absurd free agent landscape going on right now. Melo got all types of criticism last summer for passing up that Chicago offer. The haters threw the book at him. He “didnt want to win.” It was “all about the money.” I mean, I am pretty sure that if Melo took that deal from Chicago, for what $60 million? He would be getting paid as much as Demarre Carroll a year later. Demmarre ******* Carroll! Imagine next year? After the cap increases? Melo would probably be making less than his backup in no time if he took that offer from Chicago. Yet Melo received the criticism for turning down a $60-million offer from Chicago. It meant he didn’t want to win. Give me a break. Any player in Melo’s position would have turned that down offer.
The cap increase was no surprise. People knew this was coming. LeBron sure as hell did with his one year contract and opt out clauses, or whatever the hell he demanded from Cleveland. He just took another one of those today. Two year deal, for the max, opt out clause after year one. You best believe LeBron plans on using that opt out clause again next summer to cash in on the market’s new max contract. Of course Melo knew about this as well. And even if he didn’t quite understand the extent of it all, you sure as hell better believe that his agent did.
If Melo wanted to, he could have even signed with a contender like Chicago for a short term deal. Giving him the opportunity to “win now” AND make more money in the long run. But this is part of the beauty of Melo not being LeBron. He had the opportunity to take a similar path to LeBron last summer, but he chose not to. Instead, he committed himself to this team in the long term and now that “pay cut” he took is showing its true colors.
All professional athletes have a very short timeframe to make an outrageous amount of money. It is unlike any other profession that exists. Professional athletes owe it to themselves to achieve maximum financial gain while they can. They love you one minute, but make no mistake, the second it is over, the teams you dedicated yourself to will toss you to the side like an object. The fans may not, but the organizations themselves will. They have proven this. It is a cutthroat business that lacks real loyalty. But it pays, so all is well. Get what you can while you can. It is the nature of the business. Michael Jordan is a billionaire. Was he “all about the money” because of his dedication to his “Air Jordan” brand? Hell no. “Air Jordan” became the billion dollar brand it did because of Jordan the player. The competitor. Not the other way around.
Melo knows this and so does LeBron. Again, it is perfectly explains why LeBron chose to “come home” to Cleveland. It was extremely marketable. It was all about improving his brand image. Everyone loves LeBron now. He is loyal! Going back to his routes! All in for Cleveland! Right? I say, hell no. LeBron was attracted to the combination of winning and marketing Cleveland offered LeBron. Both extremely related to each other, as we have seen. It amazes me when LeBron is praised for his perceived “loyalty” to Cleveland, when in reality, he did the same exact thing he did in 2010. He just marketed it differently. He left a team that was going nowhere fast, for a team with much more possibility and support. I saw this coming from a mile away. Right after Cleveland won the NBA Draft lottery (again) and Miami got spanked in the NBA Finals.
Bron is a smart dude. He knew how to market it. But I gag every time I read that phony letter he wrote. LeBron left Cleveland in 2010 and did everything in his power to try and distance himself AND Akron from Cleveland. He relentlessly tried to separate the two cities. Saying his “loyalty” is to Akron, not Cleveland. Cleveland were the big city folks who looked down upon small town Akron. Remember that? Well, I do. Let me refresh your memory. “Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us…. So we didn’t actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up.” Straight from the horse’s mouth. That was from August 2010. Prime LerBon spewing all types of BS, trying to justify “The Decision.”
Now LeBron is all about “Northeast Ohio?” Wow. Give me a break. Next thing you know LeBron will join the Chicago Bulls and claim that he grew up a Bulls fan because he is “just a Midwestern kid” at heart (Sidenote: the fact that LeBron grew up a Bulls, Cowboys, and Yankees fan while growing up in Akron should tell you everything you need to know about his character). I am sorry. Just spare me the BS. I don’t even doubt that LeBron loves Cleveland right now. But LeBron loves Cleveland for all that Cleveland can offer him right now. Not the other way around. That is why LeBron didn’t “love” Cleveland when he abandoned them in 2010.
I consider myself smart enough to know an act when I see one. I do not believe for a second that LeBron’s entire way of thinking suddenly changed over the course of 4 years. At least not when there were clearly other factors at play. Like Cleveland’s developing young roster that included Kyrie Irving and the #1 pick in the 2014 Draft (Who they were able to turn into Kevin Love, which everyone knew was coming). As well as the dismantling the Heat took at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals. LeBron doesn’t love Cleveland any more now than he did in 2010. It’s just that Cleveland offers LeBron the best opportunity right now in terms of roster talent and marketing, when they didn’t in 2010. LeBron loves what Cleveland can do for him. And he sure as hell knows how to sell it.
Carmelo, on the other hand is one of us. I truly believe in this. Say what you want about his flaws as a player, but he is addicted to the concept of the New York State of Mind. Just like we all are. Carmelo had a chance to “take his talents” elsewhere. Put himself in a better position to “win now.” Leaving this city would have been the easy way out. He could have went to Chicago or Houston and put himself in a better position to win now. He could have taken a short term deal with opt out clauses, like LeBron did, and cashed in on the current free agency landscape, as well as the market that winning creates in itself. It would have made all the sense in the world for Carmelo to do so. In terms of winning and financial potential both. But it wouldn’t have been home to him. He would have been an outsider. Carmelo is a New Yorker, for better or worse, and that is what kept him here.
Maybe he looked around, and why wouldn’t he? I am sure he was even very tempted. I’m sure it was very difficult for Melo to stick it out with the Knicks as opposed to jettisoning himself to a contender like the rest of his NBA counterparts have been doing. Particularly his good buddy LeBron. Carmelo could have chosen to go that route. He would have even been praised for doing so. It was the “rational” move to make. Thinking about it, it’s actually incredible that Carmelo Anthony did decide to stay in New York. He turned all of these incredible possibilities down despite any rational thinking that would have led him to do so. If this isn’t the New York State of Mind then I don’t know what is. If Carmelo would have written everything out on a “Pros & Cons” list last summer, and made his decision based off of that, he would have be out the door easily. But the New York state can never be explained by rationale. It goes well beyond the walls of intelligence. This is why it is so misunderstood
Maybe nobody would have blamed Melo for joining a more proven winner. A team more ready to win now. But Anthony would have blamed himself. No doubt about it, in my mind. He would have blamed himself for turning his back and quitting on the goals he set out for himself and this fanbase. Instead of giving up on himself and his goal, he decided to take a gamble on himself and in Phil Jackson’s vision.
Carmelo Anthony made up his mind to be a Knick long before last summer. He could have made up his mind back in 2010, when he informed the Denver Nuggets he wanted out, and that he wanted to be a New York Knick. Instead of being open to joining another contender, like most players in his position do, or even riding it out in Denver. Maybe he made his decision even earlier. Who knows? Maybe Carmelo always dreamed of playing for the Knicks, like I am sure all of us have at one point or another in our lives. But the most important thing to take away is that Carmelo made up his mind to be a New York Knick and he has stuck the **** to it. Who does that nowadays? Melo. Only Melo.
It is really the only logical explanation to why he forced himself here and it why he stuck with us despite all rational thinking pointing him out the door. Carmelo wants that lasting New York legacy and he wants to win for this city. Winning a championship is NOT the same as winning a championship in New York. Carmelo knows this. And Carmelo wants the latter. Even if it might cost Carmelo some of his prime to achieve that goal. If Carmelo is going to strike out, best believe that he will do so swinging for the fences. It is who he is. Just because Carmelo chose the path less traveled does not mean that Carmelo does not care about winning. Carmelo cares about winning. But more so, Carmelo cares about winning in New York. There is a difference.
So I do not fault for Carmelo for looking around or even almost leaving. No. I admire him for staying. For riding out the wave and trying to do it his way. Swinging for the fences that is winning a championship for the New York Knicks, as opposed to the double, or even triple it would have been to win out in Chicago or Houston. As an outsider. As a role player.
Unlike LeBron and Cleveland, Melo is in New York for New York. He really is the perfect New York superstar. For better or worse. New Yorkers are not perfect as individuals, and neither is Melo. But one thing that nobody can take away from Knicks fans is our undying loyalty. This is the most tangible characteristic of the “New York State of Mind” that Melo shares with us all. Like most New Yorkers, Carmelo is loyal. Even to a fault. Since this loyalty often leads him away from rational decision making. But when I call Melo loyal, I mean that he is actually LOYAL.
“Loyal” as in sticking himself on the line and signing a 5 year contract to the team he ******* committed himself to, despite potential financial or winning ramifications. No escape routes in the form of one year contracts and opt out clauses. Not “loyal” as in spoon feeding the media a bunch of BS in the form of a phony *** letter, without truly having a loyal bone in his body. And proving that time and time again with actions. You know, like his buddy LeBron!
Carmelo came here with a vision. To win in New York as a New York Knick. And apparently Carmelo Anthony is not one to abandon goals that he sets out for himself. Melo chose to commit to this team, city, and fanbase for 5 years. He showed the same dedication to this franchise that we miserable fans have shown for more than a decade. Despite the ideal situation not being presently available. Melo chose to believe in this organization and stick with it. Something that we as diehard fans, do all the time.
Does this mean that we don’t want to win either? No. It means more than that. It means that Carmelo actually cares about the “NEW YORK” he rocks on his chest. Carmelo Anthony encompasses the New York spirit in a very similar way to the 90s Knicks I fell in love with. I can respect the **** out of that much, and I will continue to defend Carmelo because of it. He is the kind of player who I would gladly ride or die with. If he is loyal to a fault than so am I. Hell, I have remained loyal through a lot worse. It is the New York State of Mind. And Carmelo is stuck with it in the same way we are. He probably cant even help it.
I am not a believer in karma in the traditional sense of the word. The idea that if you do one good thing, another will come. That it is a co-dependent process. Life rarely works out like that. That clearly shows in being a Knicks fan. We continue to put in all of this dedication and loyalty and receive nothing but pain and suffering in return. Raw deal. Life can be unfair.
However, I have always been a bit of a math-wiz and I am a believer in statistics. The law of averages. You know. The idea that probability will influence all occurrences in the long term. That one type of occurrence will neither win nor lose all of the time. That at the end of the day, the mean always wins out. Flip a coin 5 times and you might get 5 heads in a row. That is uncommon. Flip a coin 100 times and you will get a lot closer to the 50/50 probability of a coin landing on heads or tails. Flip that coin 1000 times, and it gets even closer. Until the sample basically resembles the probability. 50% heads. 50% tails. At the end of the day, the results resemble the mean.
I believe that karma can be found in a similar statistical sense. Statistical karma, let’s call it. This idea is that if you continue to do right and remain true to yourself, at the end of the day overall goodness will win out. If you do the right thing and live by your moral compass, it becomes the mean. And the mean always wins out in the long run. Despite all of the failures we have gone through as fans, I think there is something coming for us in the long term. Similarly, I think that by Carmelo taking a leap of faith in himself and the Knicks, doing right by him despite temptation, the results will follow him similarly. Good things will come. It may take time. It might never even happen.
There are certain variables to include. You know. Like a certain spoiled billionaire who still owns the team and seemingly always stands in the way of success. Dolan is basically a karmic disaster in that sense. He prevents the natural process from occurring through his neurotic actions. But I am a believer in Carmelo Anthony and I fully believe that through the adversity he is currently experiencing, he will someday get the redemption and the recognition he deserves. I certainly hope so at least.
Like Melo even wrote on Instagram himself, “Iron, when heated and pound, becomes a fine sword. Likewise, our true strength and potential cannot be forged without hardships.” Let’s hope that hardships forge Melo into the fine sword we all know he can be.
But this is why I love Carmelo Anthony. He is part of the process. He respects the idealism. This is why pains me to hear Knicks fans and media continue to unfairly criticize Carmelo Anthony. One of our own. Pick apart his game all you want. Melo has choses to dedicate his career to this city and this fanbase. Through thick and thin. And also through temptations. Like a recovering drug addict being tempted by the immediate relief of getting high, but choosing long term sobriety instead. That is what really counts to me, as a fan.
Call me an idealist, but I do expect to receive some semblance of loyalty from the highly paid mercenaries who I choose to dedicate my life rooting for. If this makes me illogical or irrational, then so be it. I will stick to it. All diehard fans defy logic on a regular basis. Look at all of the crazy things we do and embrace for our teams. Even seemingly miniscule actions like superstitions we have developed over time. None of it makes even the slightest bit of rational sense. But we do it anyway. Hoping for the best. Why else do we have such a vested interest in a bunch of millionaires doing their job together while being paid by billionaires? Especially a lunatic drug addict billionaire, who runs the Knicks like that annoying kid in last place of your fantasy league, who has chosen to screw around with the rest of the league because he has given up hope for himself to win. There is no correct answer. Because being a diehard fan is never rational. There is no reason for us to still be here. Yet, here we are.
The same is also true of Carmelo Anthony. Our franchise player. Our real leader. **** what I said about Dolan earlier. Carmelo is the real embodiment of the New York Knicks franchise. Like Patrick Ewing was before him, and Willis Reed before him. He shares our state of mind and even possesses the potential to carry it to new heights. Who knows? Maybe a new generation of Knicks fans will fall in love with Carmelo’s Knicks like I did with the 90’s Knicks, and others before me did with the 70’s Knicks. It is a growing evolutionary process that cannot be defined. Whatever Carmelo’s legacy becomes, we cannot predict. But he has remained loyal. To a fault, even. Please do not take that much away from him. Instead of harboring on what he cannot bring to the table, let us instead focus on all that he does and build on that. Let’s take a collective leap of faith in him as a fanbase. Have his back like he has had ours. Carmelo has taken on the entire state of mind. Embrace it.
Through all of the losing and suffering, we somehow someway stay committed to the current enigma that is the New York Knicks. We stick with the idealism that not only are we the greatest fanbase. Not only do we, of course, have the World’s greatest arena. But we are also the greatest organization. Honestly. Carmelo believes in this as well. Why else would he have stayed? Winning and losing. All that is semantics. Obviously it is what we are in it for, but it is not what defines us. It can be earned anywhere, even San Antonio. Of course our success will never compare to the Celtics or the Lakers. I’m not an idiot. I wouldn’t call the Knicks the greatest franchise based on our win loss record. Or our championships. This is obviously untrue. But true greatness is all about perception. As long as we believe, we will succeed. As long as we remain addicted to the New York Knicks product, it becomes the truth. It is this very hope that we as a fanbase continue to possess that causes the illusion to become a reality.
Take away all of the winning and losing, and what you have left is what counts at the end of the day. It is what lasts. It can be argued that winning is often more so of an illusion than the idealism. Because winning often times creates an artificial sense of loyalty in a fanbase. Our loyalty and dedication is real and lasting. Genuine loyalty that cannot be bought. It is driven by New York’s engraved sense of loyalty to our teams as well as our collective love for the game of basketball. The city’s game. It is why I believe that despite the Yankees 27 World Series, New York is and always will be Knicks city.
The Knicks fanbase has proven our loyalty time and time again. This persistent loyalty has shaped the ideal of the New York Knicks, more so than the actual organization itself. We have been tested time and time again, and that has been outside of our control. But we have not jumped ship. That is all on us. The fact that we remain as committed as we do should serve as a glowing example of this basic principle. Carmelo Anthony currently personifies this principle. The New York State of Mind, and all of its glorious faults. It should be admired, not looked down upon. Because it has shaped the idealism of the New York Knicks, and it makes us the greatest. Makes us diehards. Maintains the incorruptible force that is the New York State of Mind…
“Nothing’s equivalent to the New York state of mind.”
“Beyond the walls of intelligence life is defined.” Nas sums this mindset better than I could on his iconic track, New York State of Mind. One of the many songs made throughout history in all genres of music that attempt to describe this particular frame of mind. You got Frank Sinatra’s classic New York, New York. Billy Joel’s own New York State of Mind. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ popular Empire State of Mind. Even Hi-Tek’s underrated Where it Started At, amongst countless others.
I chose Nas’ version because he is my favorite rapper of all time and I love this quote in particular. You cannot use intelligence to explain the process of the New York State of Mind. Or being a diehard fan. It goes well beyond the confines of intelligence. It is beyond these “walls” that explain why we remain so extremely loyal to this mind frame as New Yorkers. Because it sure as hell doesn’t make any rational sense. We are loyal to a fault at times. It is who we are, and it shows in almost everything we do. Particularly, in the way we support our teams. I am not saying that New York is the only place where diehard fans exist, but no other place breeds diehards quite like New York does. We are truly a special breed.
As a life-long New Yorker, and just a crazy person in general, I am simply not wired to go at anything in life half-assed. Being a “casual fan” as opposed to a “diehard” fan simply does not do it for me. I get no joy in that and I do not see the point of it. If you can’t ride with your squad through adversity, why do you deserve to be a part in the potential glory? If I am not 100% in, I might as well be 100% out.
If I was a rational fan, I would have left the Knicks in my rearview mirror long ago. I think we all would. But being a diehard fan is never a rational thing. It is why a lot of adults lose this sort of passion as they get older and think more rationally and less emotionally. Being a diehard fan is almost a child-like behavior. It requires a child-like level of emotion. It makes little to no logical sense. Yet, here we are. I am in my 20s and I am a diehard Knicks fan.
Being a diehard fan is one of the least rational behaviors that grown adults still willingly take part in. Particularly, us Knicks fans who remain present and hopeful after experiencing nothing but consistent suffering and failure with seemingly no end in sight. I mean, how else can you explain us willingly letting the neurotic and erratic actions of a spoiled billionaire ex-drug addict (well, technically, you are never really considered an “ex-addict.”) get to us in the way it does? Why the hell do we care so much? What makes this thing so damn important?
In a way, James Dolan is a reflection of us all. I hate myself for even writing that but it is an extremely sad truth. Like when Julius says to Gary Bertere in Remember the Titans, “Attitude reflects leadership, captain.” Well, for better or worse (mostly worse), James ******* Dolan is out leader. It has been an awful ride, to say the least. But there is a saying that is often used in the recovery of addiction. “Take what you want and leave the rest.” Well, if there is one positive we can take from being led by Dolan for the past 15 years, it is that he has tested our loyalty. Time and time again. He has forced us to carry his addictive personality. And I mean that in the best way possible. It really is the only reason why, after all these years, through all the pain and suffering, we are still drawn to his depressing product. Like an addict. Addiction beats out rational thought every time.
If you are reading this, you are likely just as lost in this process as I am. Dolan could probably sign himself as the starting point guard and we still wouldn’t jump ship. Hell, he couldn’t be too much of a downgrade from Raymond Felton and Chris Duhon. He leaves us with no shred of hope, yet we are still here. Somehow. Some way. It is our New York resilience and collectively addictive personalities. Our very own “New York State of Mind.”
We are more than fans, we have become full blown Knicks addicts. We have become as addicted to the Knicks as Dolan was to abusing all sorts of substances. We are loyal to a fault. Diehards, if you would prefer. But an “addict” is described as “one to habituate or abandon oneself to something compulsively or obsessively.” I believe that any true diehard fan is an addict. It is what separates us from the casual fan. Similar to any other addict, we are unable to stop using despite negative consequences, and if you don’t have this mindset yourself, it is impossible to fully understand or explain. We are stuck in an abusive relationship with an actual addict himself (Dolan), and we will always come crawling back for more. Because like with any other addiction, rationale just doesn’t work. Depressing, yes. But bear with me. Because it is also what makes us great.
I have described myself as a Knicks addict in the past. I was a psychology major in college. The PhD types usually try to steer me away from this kind of talk. But **** the PhD’s. Bunch of know-it-alls as far as I’m concerned. So often thinking they understand the unexplainable processes of the human mind and emotions. That word in general, “Addict,” is extremely negative from a psychological perspective. I have been told that I am not a Knicks “addict,” I am simply “passionate” about the Knicks. But if you are similar to me, you know as well as I do, that is a load of BS. The Knicks are not a passion of mine. Collecting stamps might be considered a passion. Gardening could be a passion. One might be passionate about painting. The Knicks, however, are an addiction. For better or worse.
The Knicks can and do lead me down a destructive path. They have done so in the past. On many occasions. Even right now while writing this article free of charge at my paying job—I am using. I am not looking to become a storyteller, but I have accepted myself as a Knicks addict. It has become a part of me and as destructive as it often is, I am honestly proud as hell of it. In a world where money and material things drive society (hell, even I work on Wall Street) I am proud that I have at least one thing that I truly feel that passionate about. One thing that goes well beyond money, material, or any sort of rational thinking whatsoever. An extreme, obsessive passion that is incorruptible at its very core.
Even through Dolan, all the losing, and an ugly sexual harassment lawsuit—being a Knick exceeds all of that. The idealism of being a New York Knick exceeds any flaws of anyone that has anything to do with the actual organization itself. Even the owner. The concept of being a New York Knick is incorruptible, despite all of the extremely corruptible individuals currently involved and running the franchise. As long as we as fans remain loyal to this ideal, it will always exist.
It is like what Eddie told “Wild Bill” when he was looking to move the Knicks to St. Louis in the movie Eddie. “You do not own the Knicks. New York owns the Knicks.” Or something like that. I couldn’t find the exact quote. But I have seen the movie enough times to understand the concept. The Knicks are not something that any individual can own or buy. They can never be for sale because it is the collective New York state of mind that owns the Knicks, and makes us what we are. Makes us a truly great franchise despite the win-loss record telling us otherwise.
This remains as true as ever. And it remains true because of our undying loyalty to the product as a fanbase. Despite who is on the team or who is running the team. The mindset remains unchangeable and incorruptible. Sure it can be destructive, but it is also a beautiful thing. And if/when the Knicks ever do climb to the top of the mountain, we diehards will experience a high that no drug could ever replicate. It is a healthy(ish) addiction, but an addiction none the less.
However, while my Knicks addiction goes beyond the confines or “walls” of rational thinking, it is still important to look at the Knicks with a rational state of mind. Not getting overly optimistic or overly pessimistic just because we are loyal. This can be extremely difficult to do. It often leads to “homerism” as well as catastrophizing. But regardless of one’s general point of view on the Knicks, regardless of how different we all might be individually, the important thing to take away is that we are all still here. The very process that brings us all together is our collectively unrivaled dedication to the Knicks product. We resemble the team. Individually we are very flawed. But as a whole, we are the greatest fanbase there is. I wholeheartedly believe in this. I wouldn’t write it if I didn’t.
I can only speak for myself, but I am sure my journey is similar to others. I was raised as a Knicks fan. I grew up as a basketball savant in New York, and I fell madly in love with Madison Square Garden’s home team. I like to say that I bleed orange and blue. Unfortunately for myself and others, those teams were an enigma. I was drawn to those tough minded Knickerbockers teams of the 1990’s before I even knew what I was getting myself into. Those teams wore their hearts on their sleeves. They played with the kind of passion and energy that was simply intoxicating. Night in and night out. Win or lose. It was easy to get caught up in it all because that team seemed to care about winning as much as the fans did. They understood what it meant to be New York Knicks.
I became addicted to it without even knowing it. And I know that that word has a negative connotation to it, but it’s the truth. I was like a young alcoholic getting a little tipsy for the first time at a high school party. Not a care in the world. No knowledge whatsoever of the downward spiral I was about to go through. I was young and naïve and I fell in love with the Knicks. Not necessarily the Knicks as players (although they were part of it), but this incorruptible product of the New York Knicks. What they should be and what I believe they stand for. It is an idea that far exceeds any singular part. But at the same time, it was all because that team that I grew up watching carried that image. They lived it. They proudly played for the “NEW YORK” across the chest.
I think the entire mindset of the 90’s Knicks became engraved in the brains of an entire generation of fans who, like myself, developed an addiction watching that team. We strive for this mindset to this very day. We fell for the players that wanted it the most. The tough guys. The ones who pounded the “NEW YORK” on their chest with pride and purpose. The players who stood for what the fans stood for. The players who represented the very embodiment of the New York Knicks. The ideal. Sure, they got paid. Sure, it may sound naïve in the business of the NBA. But that is what drove me to Ewing, Starks, Oakley, Mason and others. I know that I am not alone.
You can tell, that for them, it was more than the money. It was greater than themselves. They wanted to win for the “NEW YORK” on the chest more so than the name on the back. They wanted to deliver for the fans who had their backs through thick and thin. It was a “real recognize real” type of situation to the fullest extent. Real New York fans gravitate towards real New York players. And the result was one big love fest between players and fans, despite the unit never being able to deliver an NBA Championship to the city. Throughout it all, they never lost sight of the New York State of Mind. That was the true power of the 1990’s Knicks. I felt a sense of pride rooting for those teams and those players. As a fan, that is all I can ask for. It more than fed into my Knicks addiction. It basically created it. And similar to most addictions, it was all fun and games until Isiah Thomas trades two top-10 picks for Eddy Curry and you realize that you have no way out.
I’m not saying it was all easy. Far from it actually. For the fans or the players. Like many New York athletes, Patrick Ewing probably became the most over-scrutinized NBA player of all time because of the expectations placed on him as the face of the New York Knicks. And his ultimate failure to win a championship. But nobody wanted it more than Pat. He was a true warrior who unfortunately was never able to get it done playing with a group of role players, competing in the “Jordan era.” His legacy is entirely misunderstood by all of the talking heads out there who view his career as a disappointment due to his inability to ever produce any hardware. Patrick Ewing was the standard that any future Knick should strive for. He represented all that was good within the organization. Selflessness, loyalty and toughness. The full package. He was truly great—a winner in every sense of the word. His teammates and fans fed off of his mentality, as our leader. But arguably the worst thing about 90’s raised Knicks fans like myself who idolized Patrick Ewing and the others is not their ultimate failure to deliver a championship, but the incredible standard they created. We have taken on the mindset of our childhood heroes and we have developed almost unrealistic expectations. It is a gift and a curse.
It is a gift because, like the 90’s Knicks, we remain tough and we are loyal as a fanbase. Like I said in my last article, we are a tough group to win over. But once you got us, you really got us. We will have your back more than any other fanbase and we can help drive you to heights that might be unreachable playing anywhere else. But it is also a curse—because we often place unrealistic expectations in the “me-driven” NBA. An era of NBA basketball when contracts and player egos have become ridiculous. Most of all, we hate the “soft” players. It’s almost like we expect everyone to be Mason and Oakley. It’s unfortunate really, because players like that rarely exist anymore. I think this is the reason why Knicks fans seem to target Reggie Evans every offseason.
This brings me to our new franchise player. Carmelo Anthony. The man known simply as Melo has become one of the most polarizing people in sports today. Especially since he joined the New York Knicks in 2011. The Brooklyn born, Syracuse star, becoming the face of the New York Knicks. Great expectations playing in the city when every little thing you do is overanalyzed, and often scrutinized. Very similar to Patrick Ewing, who came to New York with even greater expectations.
Some love Melo. Others hate him. Very few feel indifferent towards him. As a lifelong New Yorker, I know as well as anyone that if we feel strongly about something, we form even stronger opinions. Just like anything else, when we are in, we are all in. It is what makes this city and this fanbase great. The addict “all or none” mindset. But like the case with any addiction, there is always a dark side. The increased level of passion and loyalty in New York drives even greater expectations. This is particularly true when it comes to Carmelo Anthony. The face of New York’s City’s team of its favorite game.
Even moving past the infectious bacteria that has become James Dolan and the Knicks ownership, trying to build a lasting New York City legacy has always been a daunting task. This is nothing new. Like many things that appear great in theory, being the star of the Knicks is not all fun and games. There is a major burden that all New York athletes are forced to carry. The better that athlete is, the greater the burden becomes. Not everyone is capable of handling it. It is great to have an obsessive fanbase behind you, but that same obsession is not handed out like it might be in other cities.
We do not accept anyone with blind eyes. New Yorkers have to be won over. It’s not even enough to love having the “NEW YORK” across the chest. You have to live the “NEW YORK.” You need to understand what that “NEW YORK” across the chest truly means, and embrace all of it. Understand that when you put on that jersey you are no longer just representing yourself—you become a part of a much greater whole. That whole obviously includes your teammates as well as the organization. But there is so much more to it.
That whole includes the legendary Knicks of the past who wore that jersey as a badge of honor. The players who accepted the responsibility of being a New York Knick, and never lost sight of that. Whether that was Patrick Ewing never abandoning his mission of bringing a championship to this city, through thick and thin, regardless of the fact that he never did. Whether that was Willis Reed letting nothing besides death itself prevent him from walking out that tunnel on to the Garden floor to play in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals. And of course, I can’t leave out Walt Frazier. Who has become almost the de-facto face of the Knicks. Who rallied around his captain’s leadership and perseverance to take his game to unforeseen heights in an absolutely legendary performance in that very game 7, to deliver the Knicks their first ever championship.
Most of all that whole includes the millions of fans who legitimately care so much about all that the Knicks should represent. Enough that we are still here. That idealism. Money clouds a lot of things but it should never cloud this basic principle. We believe in this idealism. It is what keeps us around as fans. The players need to respect that.
It is why John Starks is my all-time favorite Knick, despite him being an extremely flawed basketball player who shot an atrocious 2/18 from the field in the biggest game of his career. Some of my all-time favorite Knicks were extremely flawed basketball players, and honestly, I am totally fine with that. John Starks legitimately gave a ****. Not just about himself, but the fans and the city. John Starks loved being a New York Knick and he left everything on the floor every time he stepped on the court. He truly understood the importance of playing basketball for the Knicks and in Madison Square Garden. He put this on display in every single game that he played. Whether it was during the regular season or the NBA Finals. John Starks was all heart all the time. He encompassed the New York State of Mind and that is why I, along with many other fans, were drawn to him and loved him. Despite flaws in his game and skillset. We took him in as one of our own. Real recognize real.
I don’t care how much money a player makes. I don’t care that any hired gun will never believe in this idealism as much as a lifelong diehard fan. New York needs athletes who care least somewhat as much as we do. They need to possess this idealism inside them. Like others have done before them. Especially the superstars. They need to carry the New York State of Mind more so than anyone else.
Up until recently, it has been believed that the opportunity that comes with being the franchise player of the Knicks far outweigh the negatives. This perfect image. It is like getting into a relationship with a beautiful woman, and only focusing on that. Everything looks good from the outside. You have an undying loyal fanbase behind you. A city that truly loves and knows the game. You have all the marketing and endorsement possibilities you can ask for. And of course, you have the grandest stage possible. You play your home games at the “World’s Most Famous Arena.” No other team in the league can offer that. The entire package. Even the reliably annoying New York media had been thought to be as much of a positive as a negative. Bad publicity is better than no publicity, right?
But this thinking has changed dramatically during the past couple of years. The biggest culprit has been James Dolan, of course. The Knicks have become a laughingstock since James Dolan gained ownership of the team and this has badly hurt the Knicks as a destination franchise. But there is more to it than this. A large portion of this change can be traced back to 2010 and “The Decision.”
We all remember “The Decision.” Vividly, I am sure. As well as all the lead up to “The Decision.” We remember Donnie Walsh taking over the Knicks from incumbent team President/GM/coach/sexual harasser Isiah Thomas and immediately putting a plan in place that targeted the 2010 free agency class as the end game. We remember the cap clearing transactions that came as a result of this plan. From 2008-2010, every single move the Knicks made was about clearing cap space for the summer of 2010. This was fine in principal. Financial flexibility is never a bad thing to have in salary cap NBA, after all. But the goal itself, was extremely flawed.
The Knicks goal was to sell LeBron and the other marquee free agents on the Knicks and New York City. Everyone loves New York City right? The basketball Mecca? We had no reason to believe this wouldn’t work. The Knicks never had cap space to work with during the salary cap era of NBA basketball. The plan focused on the perception that the reality of the Knicks never being able to acquire a superstar post-Ewing, was because we could not afford them. We went after the wrong kind of players because we were always looking for the “quick fix,” and never had the cap space or draft picks to nab a legitimate franchise player. And this was partially true. Even an intelligent basketball lifer like Donnie Walsh believed in this plan. He was the one who put it together. We had no reason not to believe in him.
There was no evidence or logic that disproved this notion at the time. Maybe it was our engraved New York cockiness. We all figured that as long as we had the money to spend, the big names would flock to us. Kind of like they do to the Yankees. Because we are the best. Amongst the many problems that Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas each had running the Knicks, and there were many. Their most significant common flaw was that they never left the Knicks any sort of financial flexibility whatsoever.
We consistently invested a lot of money in players who didn’t deserve it and never had money to go after big fish in the free agency pool. This was the difference between the Knicks and the Yankees. Or so we thought. 2010 was being looked at as the biggest free agency summer in NBA history. Walsh and others (including myself) believed that as long as the Knicks were able to clear up the necessary cap space, New York City alone would be enough to sell James and other big name targets to play for the Knicks. It sounded like a solid plan because we had no reason not to believe it was.
We never had any sort of plan whatsoever for the past decade. Just a series of transactions that had no direction besides trying to acquire the best possible talent available regardless of money and fit. If a big name was available to us via trade, we went after him. At all costs. Without ever using rhyme or reason to make the decision. The Knicks lived and died by the theory of talent wins out in the NBA. Which is partially true. But Layden and Isiah accumulated talent aimlessly. Like monkeys trying to throw darts at a dartboard. They figured that if they threw enough darts at the board, eventually they would hit a bull’s eye. They never even tried to build up a foundation, and the process completely backfired on them both. Walsh at least had a legitimate plan in place. It sounded great in principle. This was something to look forward to as fans. But boy, did it backfire on us once again.
Of course we all remember LeBron spurning us and everyone else on national television to join his buddies Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. The Knicks essentially ended up doing exactly what we had always done in the past. Acquiring the best player available to us because we were willing to pay more money than anybody else. Amar’e Stoudemire.
“The Decision” will go down as one of the most monumental non-playing moments in NBA history. I am sure there will be multiple documentaries made about it. As well as “The Decision Part 2.” And LeBron is only 30 and lacks a loyal bone in his body. So let’s not rule anything out down the road. But what people often overlook about LeBron leaving for the Heat in 2010, and then leaving the Heat in 2014, was the much greater spiraling effect that it caused. Something that I like to refer to as the “LeBronization” of the NBA.
The LeBronization effect is that players have started to value winning more than anything else. More so than that, actually. Players have always valued winning. But when Lebron made “The Decision” to join the Heat, it changed the game. Initially it was responded by widespread criticism. He was ridiculed beyond belief. Labeled as “soft” and basically being called a complete loser. The public criticism of Lebron reached new heights after his choke job in the 2011 NBA Finals vs Dallas. Two championships later, and this mindset has changed entirely. It has made a complete 180.
The Lebronization effect made winning out to be this black and white ideal. Now, it is not only accepted for players to take the easiest path towards winning a championship, it has become the expectation. The Lebronization effect is that players are expected to go wherever winning is easiest and most readily available. Loyalty is no longer considered unless the team is a contender. Marc Gasol stays in Memphis and he is considered “loyal,” but that is only because Memphis has been a consistent playoff team. Carmelo stays with the Knicks and he is ridiculed as selfish and “all about the money.” By re-signing with the Knicks last summer, Melo became labeled just as much of a “loser” as LeBron initially was in 2010. And it is because the Knicks suck right now. They do. There is no way around that. If players don’t take the easy way out, it has become consensus belief that they simply do not care about winning. What was considered a loser’s mentality 5 short years ago, has become the new norm. The new way of proving that a player is “all about winning.” The LeBronization effect of the NBA.
Gone are the days of overcoming obstacles and looking to build something that is lasting. Something that takes time. Players have become expected to combine forces and create “Big Threes” or “Core Fours” or whatever the hell you want to call it. After all of the “Not 2. Not 3. Not 4…” talk from LeBron in 2010, it only took him 4 years to get out of Miami. People now praise LeBron for choosing to take matters into his own hands. They like to justify LeBron’s decision(s) by pointing out that Jordan played with Scottie Pippen and others in Chicago. LeBron never had that in Cleveland, so he was right to leave.
This is partially true. LeBron did have limited support in Cleveland. But it’s like people have started to overlook the half-decade of coming up short that Jordan endured. The pain he experienced from defeat at the hands of the “Bad Boy” Pistons and others. How overcoming those obstacles and experiencing failure is what drove him to greatness. Through failure, Jordan developed the ultimate winner’s mentality. It is what made him the champion he became. Staring failure in the face and rising above it, not running away from it. It is why, that once MJ finally captured the rush of winning an NBA Championship, he never let it go. Michael Jordan never ran from adversity, he lived for it. He became addicted to competition. It showed on the basketball court, and it shows to this present day when he loses millions of dollars gambling in Las Vegas.
However, it is still true that Jordan could have never done it alone. He had an ideal support system around him, and the “Zen Master” was the perfect complement to Jordan’s hyper-competitiveness. But people have started to act like Michael Jordan was just handed Scottie Pippen and others. Nobody likes to consider how struggling and overcoming adversity created the winning culture in Chicago around Michael Jordan. And likely helped Pippen and others ultimately develop into the champion caliber supporting players they became. You know. That whole concept of building a foundation.
The LeBronization effect of the NBA has not only remained, but gained power with time. I mean forget about Jordan and the 90’s. Just look at where we are right now compared to where we were in 2010. 5 years ago. It is absurd. In 2010 we thought that the allure of New York City ALONE was all that we needed to attract big names. Now, even with Carmelo Anthony already on the roster and readily available cap space, free agents have spurned the 17 win Knicks left and right. And we’re not talking about LeBron and Wade either. Greg Monroe just signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. Marc Gasol decided to remain in Memphis. LaMarcus Aldridge did decide to flee the Portland Trailblazers, but for the San Antonio freaking Spurs. I mean come on! San Antonio has become a target destination in the NBA today! San Antonio might be the least marketable NBA city there is. Now, not only are they retaining their own foundation, but players are fleeing their own teams to go play there. If that doesn’t prove the point that I am getting at, then I don’t know what in the hell does. Winning sells.
Nowadays, it doesn’t matter where you play, you will be seen. If the “Greek Freak” makes some ridiculous highlight play out in Milwaukee, it will be all over the internet in a matter of seconds. New York is no longer needed as a platform. The NBA has become a global platform in itself. People all around the world are watching the NBA and all of its teams. Regardless of whether you play in San Antonio, Milwaukee, or Memphis you will be seen in the same way you would in New York City. The LeBronization of the NBA combined with exponential advancements in technology and social media has leveled out the playing field in the NBA. And the NBA runs on a salary cap system, which creates a level playing field in itself. As opposed to the MLB where big market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox can outbid for every major free agent on the market.
But what in the hell does all of this have to do with Carmelo? What the hell does it have to do with Knicks fans? I already touched on a lot of these same principles in my last article. The idea that winning sells in the NBA today. Well, for one, as you might come to find, I like to rant. I am most definitely a ranter and will consistently go into great detail in order to try and prove my points. Use all the ammunition I have possible.
But the primary reason I provide such a detailed synopsis in the context of Carmelo Anthony, is that Melo is the modern embodiment of outdated principles. Principles that have become so obsolete that they are barely even recognizable. In fact, they have almost been forgotten about completely. Melo has an old school mentality that has become misunderstood in today’s game, and therefore looked down upon. Carmelo represents a combination of ideals that do not really exist in the NBA anymore. It did once upon a time, but the common trend has gone against it. It is a certain type of idealism that all of us loyal New York fans possess in spades. It is almost indescribable, but there is concrete evidence that it exists. It far exceeds a player’s skillset and ability. It even exceeds basketball. This attitude helps explain why Derek Jeter went one way in New York and Alex Rodriguez went another. Despite Rodriguez being the better overall ball player (Well, in addition to Jeter not using steroids and being an overall good person, but let’s stick to basketball). It cannot be fully explained, but at the same time it is essential to possess in order to make it as a New York star. This is the mentality that I like to call the New York State of Mind.
The New York State of Mind relates to everything I mentioned about the Knicks legends of the past. Because they are the ones who helped shape it. It is also the same basic concept we expected to win over LeBron and others in 2010. The same principle that every big name free agent passed on this summer. The allure of being a New York franchise player. The entire package. Even though this allure has become more of an illusion over time, because it goes completely against the LeBronization effect. The new norm. It is almost like it has become a mirage. Something that we love to talk about, and we think is there. But it might not even exist. Others do not believe it exists. Clearly. But this mirage concept is flawed. Because for some unexplainable reason, us fans do still believe it exists. . And so does Carmelo Anthony. This makes it real.
Carmelo still idealistically believes in the allure of being a New York Knick and all that it should represent. I think this can best be described by comparing him to the anti-New York State of Mind. The LeBronization effect. Caused by none other than Carmelo’s good buddy, LeBron James. Let’s compare the two.
LeBron proved himself incapable of being a New York star, despite being the best player on the planet. In Miami, LeBron not only chose the best team and the easiest route to an NBA championship, he took a more laid back city with a more laid back media and a much more laid back fanbase. Miami does not hold their players accountable like they do in New York. LeBron knew this, and he wanted no parts of New York City pressure. And you know what? This is fine. It is who LeBron James is. LeBron is the kind of player who wants everything handed to him. He made the easiest possible decision for himself in 2010, and he did so again in 2014. And it worked out the way he had hoped it would. Best for LeBron James.
LeBron cares only about LeBron. As great as he is as a basketball player. He has always been this way and he likely always will. He is not the kind of player who “plays for the front of the jersey.” He will play wherever it best suits him and his career. And that mentality just does not cut it in New York. Everything about “The Decision” (and “The Decision part 2”) made it easy for me, as a Knicks fan, to lose LeBron. He is simply not built for New York and has proven as much with his actions. Not only did he turn down potential New York immortality in 2010, but he spurned his own fanbase, his “home city,” and the organization who drafted him in order to take the easiest path possible for himself.
Then, after all of that, he chose to “come home” to Cleveland after years of grunt work that he was not present for paved the way for him to pair with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, after the Heat got worked over in the 2014 Finals by the Spurs. To put it frankly, LeBron doesn’t give a **** about Cleveland. He never did. He can talk all he wants. LeBron is an incredible marketer. But actions speak much louder than words. Real recognize real, as they say, and LeBron is looking kind of unfamiliar.
LeBron has never made one move in his entire career that was based on loyalty. He has consistently tried to flee adversity, as opposed to overcome it. And loyalty never stood in his way from doing so. LeBron is selfish and shows it time and time again with his actions. He is not the kind of player you want in your foxhole. I don’t care how good he is, he isn’t good for New York, and he never was. If you cannot suffer through adversity, you will never make it as a New York star. LeBron is incapable of doing this. It is not how he is wired. It wouldn’t have worked.
Carmelo Anthony is cut from a different cloth. No, he is not LeBron James. For worse, sure. But also for better. We love to fault Carmelo for not being LeBron on the basketball court. Not being the point-guard-quality facilitator that LeBron is. Not being the elite defender. Not being the freak athlete. Not being the guy who could take a garbage team to the NBA Finals. Basically, not being the most talented player in the NBA. But we often get lost in these specific criticisms and overlook the positives of Carmelo not being LeBron. It’s a very addict like mentality. Dwelling on the few negatives while overlooking the many positives.
While Carmelo Anthony is not the best player in the NBA, he is still the best (or one of the very bests) at what he does. He is still more than skilled enough to be the centerpiece of a winning foundation if surrounded by the right pieces. He has done it before and he can do it again. My last article went into that concept in much greater detail. But this is not about that. This is about Carmelo Anthony the character more than the player.
Carmelo Anthony chose New York. He chose New York well before he re-signed last summer. Carmelo was born in Brooklyn. He chose New York when he committed to Syracuse University, a New York based shool with a strong basketball legacy, an extremely passionate fanbase, but no championships. He delivered head coach Jim Boeheim and all the Cuse faithful their only NCAA Championship as a freshman. He chose New York again in 2010, when he asked out of Denver and made it very clear where he wanted to end up. He knew all that playing here entailed, and he has embraced every bit of it. The entire package. The good and the bad. Carmelo certainly has his faults. But don’t we all? He is imperfect as a player and there is no doubt that he enjoys the opportunity playing in New York City offers to his brand. But why do we choose to focus so much on the branding aspect of Carmelo? It is part of the New York City package, after all.
It is what we tried to sell LeBron in 2010. We sure as hell didn’t try to sell LeBron on the team back then. We blew up the team to go after him. Branding is part of the New York City package. Ewing, Jeter, Eli Manning, all these guys made a ton of money off of their brand playing in this city. But that is far from what defines their New York legacy. And it is far from all that Carmelo is, and why he is here.
If we have learned anything recently, it is that branding has become possible anywhere. It is naïve to think that Carmelo decided to stay in New York simply for his brand. Carmelo Anthony, the face of the New York Knicks, fell out of the top-15 individual jersey sales late in the NBA season. What does this tell us? Once again, Winning sells, and winning improves branding. New York City alone does not improve one’s brand. Winning in New York City has proven to be capable of taking an athlete’s brand to new heights, but winning is first and foremost. Carmelo is in New York for the full package, which includes, but is not limited to branding.
But why was it OK to promote marketing and branding to LeBron in 2010, yet Carmelo is constantly looked down upon for wanting to improve his own brand? Well it is all part of the scrutiny that comes along with being a New York franchise player and the vicious double standard we often hold Melo to.
Anthony is criticized for things that no other player is held accountable for. Mostly for costing the Knicks assets. Assets as in players and cap space. Assets that every single franchise player for any team costs their organization. It is like the only thing that Carmelo could do to prove himself to us is cost us nothing at all.
Melo made it clear that he wanted to play for the Knicks during the 2010-2011 season. Carmelo wanted to be traded to the Knicks before the inevitable 2011 lockout, but it was pretty much known that even if he was not traded during the season, Carmelo would have signed with the Knicks as a free agent in the summer of 2011. This gave the Knicks all sorts of leverage, compared to when other franchise type players ask their respective teams for trades with no clear destination in sight. Just various contenders. Anywhere they can win. Denver’s GM at the time, Massai Uriji, needed to work out a trade with the Knicks and he knew it. Knicks GM at the time, Donnie Walsh wanted Carmelo, but knew he was in the driver’s seat and was looking for the right deal. However, that neurotic addict of an owner, James Dolan, stepped in and made a trade with for Carmelo before Donnie Walsh wanted to. He played right into Uriji’s hands. It drove Donnie Walsh right out the door once Dolan went against his first (but not last!) promise of “full autonomy” over the Knicks basketball decisions.
Yet, we blame Anthony. He takes blame for wanting to come to the Knicks, and Dolan being, well, Dolan. And it is not even like we gave up Andrew Wiggins, who was traded by the Cavs for Kevin Love, or any kind of franchise player. Carmelo is criticized for costing the Knicks Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Timofey Mozgov. Unbelievable. And it is true, we probably did give up too much for Melo, holding the leverage that we did. And it definitely set the organization back more than it should have. But how exactly is this his fault?
Carmelo Anthony was loyal to the Knicks before he even was a Knick. Yet he continues to have blame placed on him for our organizational problems that go well beyond him. The Knicks have never put a capable team around Carmelo, and Carmelo receives the blame. Both for being the centerpiece of a trade that cost us assets and for not making the limited talent available to him much better. Carmelo led a 54 win Knicks team with JR Smith as his beta-dog. Carmelo competed in a playoff series surrounded by Anthony Carter, Toney Douglas, Bill Walker and Jared Jeffries. That was an actual lineup the Knicks used in a legitimate playoff series against the Boston Celtics in 2011. I am 99% sure that every single one of those players are no longer in the league 4 years later. Always black and white with the Melo haters. He can never do enough. Addicts.
No player gets ridiculed for taking money quite like Carmelo does either. It’s a strange concept. I mean Melo got destroyed last summer not just for remaining with the Knicks, but for taking slightly less than the max when he said he would be willing to take a pay cut. Which he did, albeit not by much. But the fact of the matter is that Melo didn’t need to take a pay cut at all. As a matter of fact, taking a 5 year contract was not even a profitable long term decision. Just look at the free agency market right now. But of course this wasnt enough. Because it will never be enough unless Carmelo wins a championship. Melo was simply “going after the money” by choosing to re-sign with the Knicks.
But maybe that pay cut he spoke about was relative? Maybe it was more of a long term pay cut. Just look at the absurd free agent landscape going on right now. Melo got all types of criticism last summer for passing up that Chicago offer. The haters threw the book at him. He “didnt want to win.” It was “all about the money.” I mean, I am pretty sure that if Melo took that deal from Chicago, for what $60 million? He would be getting paid as much as Demarre Carroll a year later. Demmarre ******* Carroll! Imagine next year? After the cap increases? Melo would probably be making less than his backup in no time if he took that offer from Chicago. Yet Melo received the criticism for turning down a $60-million offer from Chicago. It meant he didn’t want to win. Give me a break. Any player in Melo’s position would have turned that down offer.
The cap increase was no surprise. People knew this was coming. LeBron sure as hell did with his one year contract and opt out clauses, or whatever the hell he demanded from Cleveland. He just took another one of those today. Two year deal, for the max, opt out clause after year one. You best believe LeBron plans on using that opt out clause again next summer to cash in on the market’s new max contract. Of course Melo knew about this as well. And even if he didn’t quite understand the extent of it all, you sure as hell better believe that his agent did.
If Melo wanted to, he could have even signed with a contender like Chicago for a short term deal. Giving him the opportunity to “win now” AND make more money in the long run. But this is part of the beauty of Melo not being LeBron. He had the opportunity to take a similar path to LeBron last summer, but he chose not to. Instead, he committed himself to this team in the long term and now that “pay cut” he took is showing its true colors.
All professional athletes have a very short timeframe to make an outrageous amount of money. It is unlike any other profession that exists. Professional athletes owe it to themselves to achieve maximum financial gain while they can. They love you one minute, but make no mistake, the second it is over, the teams you dedicated yourself to will toss you to the side like an object. The fans may not, but the organizations themselves will. They have proven this. It is a cutthroat business that lacks real loyalty. But it pays, so all is well. Get what you can while you can. It is the nature of the business. Michael Jordan is a billionaire. Was he “all about the money” because of his dedication to his “Air Jordan” brand? Hell no. “Air Jordan” became the billion dollar brand it did because of Jordan the player. The competitor. Not the other way around.
Melo knows this and so does LeBron. Again, it is perfectly explains why LeBron chose to “come home” to Cleveland. It was extremely marketable. It was all about improving his brand image. Everyone loves LeBron now. He is loyal! Going back to his routes! All in for Cleveland! Right? I say, hell no. LeBron was attracted to the combination of winning and marketing Cleveland offered LeBron. Both extremely related to each other, as we have seen. It amazes me when LeBron is praised for his perceived “loyalty” to Cleveland, when in reality, he did the same exact thing he did in 2010. He just marketed it differently. He left a team that was going nowhere fast, for a team with much more possibility and support. I saw this coming from a mile away. Right after Cleveland won the NBA Draft lottery (again) and Miami got spanked in the NBA Finals.
Bron is a smart dude. He knew how to market it. But I gag every time I read that phony letter he wrote. LeBron left Cleveland in 2010 and did everything in his power to try and distance himself AND Akron from Cleveland. He relentlessly tried to separate the two cities. Saying his “loyalty” is to Akron, not Cleveland. Cleveland were the big city folks who looked down upon small town Akron. Remember that? Well, I do. Let me refresh your memory. “Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us…. So we didn’t actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up.” Straight from the horse’s mouth. That was from August 2010. Prime LerBon spewing all types of BS, trying to justify “The Decision.”
Now LeBron is all about “Northeast Ohio?” Wow. Give me a break. Next thing you know LeBron will join the Chicago Bulls and claim that he grew up a Bulls fan because he is “just a Midwestern kid” at heart (Sidenote: the fact that LeBron grew up a Bulls, Cowboys, and Yankees fan while growing up in Akron should tell you everything you need to know about his character). I am sorry. Just spare me the BS. I don’t even doubt that LeBron loves Cleveland right now. But LeBron loves Cleveland for all that Cleveland can offer him right now. Not the other way around. That is why LeBron didn’t “love” Cleveland when he abandoned them in 2010.
I consider myself smart enough to know an act when I see one. I do not believe for a second that LeBron’s entire way of thinking suddenly changed over the course of 4 years. At least not when there were clearly other factors at play. Like Cleveland’s developing young roster that included Kyrie Irving and the #1 pick in the 2014 Draft (Who they were able to turn into Kevin Love, which everyone knew was coming). As well as the dismantling the Heat took at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals. LeBron doesn’t love Cleveland any more now than he did in 2010. It’s just that Cleveland offers LeBron the best opportunity right now in terms of roster talent and marketing, when they didn’t in 2010. LeBron loves what Cleveland can do for him. And he sure as hell knows how to sell it.
Carmelo, on the other hand is one of us. I truly believe in this. Say what you want about his flaws as a player, but he is addicted to the concept of the New York State of Mind. Just like we all are. Carmelo had a chance to “take his talents” elsewhere. Put himself in a better position to “win now.” Leaving this city would have been the easy way out. He could have went to Chicago or Houston and put himself in a better position to win now. He could have taken a short term deal with opt out clauses, like LeBron did, and cashed in on the current free agency landscape, as well as the market that winning creates in itself. It would have made all the sense in the world for Carmelo to do so. In terms of winning and financial potential both. But it wouldn’t have been home to him. He would have been an outsider. Carmelo is a New Yorker, for better or worse, and that is what kept him here.
Maybe he looked around, and why wouldn’t he? I am sure he was even very tempted. I’m sure it was very difficult for Melo to stick it out with the Knicks as opposed to jettisoning himself to a contender like the rest of his NBA counterparts have been doing. Particularly his good buddy LeBron. Carmelo could have chosen to go that route. He would have even been praised for doing so. It was the “rational” move to make. Thinking about it, it’s actually incredible that Carmelo Anthony did decide to stay in New York. He turned all of these incredible possibilities down despite any rational thinking that would have led him to do so. If this isn’t the New York State of Mind then I don’t know what is. If Carmelo would have written everything out on a “Pros & Cons” list last summer, and made his decision based off of that, he would have be out the door easily. But the New York state can never be explained by rationale. It goes well beyond the walls of intelligence. This is why it is so misunderstood
Maybe nobody would have blamed Melo for joining a more proven winner. A team more ready to win now. But Anthony would have blamed himself. No doubt about it, in my mind. He would have blamed himself for turning his back and quitting on the goals he set out for himself and this fanbase. Instead of giving up on himself and his goal, he decided to take a gamble on himself and in Phil Jackson’s vision.
Carmelo Anthony made up his mind to be a Knick long before last summer. He could have made up his mind back in 2010, when he informed the Denver Nuggets he wanted out, and that he wanted to be a New York Knick. Instead of being open to joining another contender, like most players in his position do, or even riding it out in Denver. Maybe he made his decision even earlier. Who knows? Maybe Carmelo always dreamed of playing for the Knicks, like I am sure all of us have at one point or another in our lives. But the most important thing to take away is that Carmelo made up his mind to be a New York Knick and he has stuck the **** to it. Who does that nowadays? Melo. Only Melo.
It is really the only logical explanation to why he forced himself here and it why he stuck with us despite all rational thinking pointing him out the door. Carmelo wants that lasting New York legacy and he wants to win for this city. Winning a championship is NOT the same as winning a championship in New York. Carmelo knows this. And Carmelo wants the latter. Even if it might cost Carmelo some of his prime to achieve that goal. If Carmelo is going to strike out, best believe that he will do so swinging for the fences. It is who he is. Just because Carmelo chose the path less traveled does not mean that Carmelo does not care about winning. Carmelo cares about winning. But more so, Carmelo cares about winning in New York. There is a difference.
So I do not fault for Carmelo for looking around or even almost leaving. No. I admire him for staying. For riding out the wave and trying to do it his way. Swinging for the fences that is winning a championship for the New York Knicks, as opposed to the double, or even triple it would have been to win out in Chicago or Houston. As an outsider. As a role player.
Unlike LeBron and Cleveland, Melo is in New York for New York. He really is the perfect New York superstar. For better or worse. New Yorkers are not perfect as individuals, and neither is Melo. But one thing that nobody can take away from Knicks fans is our undying loyalty. This is the most tangible characteristic of the “New York State of Mind” that Melo shares with us all. Like most New Yorkers, Carmelo is loyal. Even to a fault. Since this loyalty often leads him away from rational decision making. But when I call Melo loyal, I mean that he is actually LOYAL.
“Loyal” as in sticking himself on the line and signing a 5 year contract to the team he ******* committed himself to, despite potential financial or winning ramifications. No escape routes in the form of one year contracts and opt out clauses. Not “loyal” as in spoon feeding the media a bunch of BS in the form of a phony *** letter, without truly having a loyal bone in his body. And proving that time and time again with actions. You know, like his buddy LeBron!
Carmelo came here with a vision. To win in New York as a New York Knick. And apparently Carmelo Anthony is not one to abandon goals that he sets out for himself. Melo chose to commit to this team, city, and fanbase for 5 years. He showed the same dedication to this franchise that we miserable fans have shown for more than a decade. Despite the ideal situation not being presently available. Melo chose to believe in this organization and stick with it. Something that we as diehard fans, do all the time.
Does this mean that we don’t want to win either? No. It means more than that. It means that Carmelo actually cares about the “NEW YORK” he rocks on his chest. Carmelo Anthony encompasses the New York spirit in a very similar way to the 90s Knicks I fell in love with. I can respect the **** out of that much, and I will continue to defend Carmelo because of it. He is the kind of player who I would gladly ride or die with. If he is loyal to a fault than so am I. Hell, I have remained loyal through a lot worse. It is the New York State of Mind. And Carmelo is stuck with it in the same way we are. He probably cant even help it.
I am not a believer in karma in the traditional sense of the word. The idea that if you do one good thing, another will come. That it is a co-dependent process. Life rarely works out like that. That clearly shows in being a Knicks fan. We continue to put in all of this dedication and loyalty and receive nothing but pain and suffering in return. Raw deal. Life can be unfair.
However, I have always been a bit of a math-wiz and I am a believer in statistics. The law of averages. You know. The idea that probability will influence all occurrences in the long term. That one type of occurrence will neither win nor lose all of the time. That at the end of the day, the mean always wins out. Flip a coin 5 times and you might get 5 heads in a row. That is uncommon. Flip a coin 100 times and you will get a lot closer to the 50/50 probability of a coin landing on heads or tails. Flip that coin 1000 times, and it gets even closer. Until the sample basically resembles the probability. 50% heads. 50% tails. At the end of the day, the results resemble the mean.
I believe that karma can be found in a similar statistical sense. Statistical karma, let’s call it. This idea is that if you continue to do right and remain true to yourself, at the end of the day overall goodness will win out. If you do the right thing and live by your moral compass, it becomes the mean. And the mean always wins out in the long run. Despite all of the failures we have gone through as fans, I think there is something coming for us in the long term. Similarly, I think that by Carmelo taking a leap of faith in himself and the Knicks, doing right by him despite temptation, the results will follow him similarly. Good things will come. It may take time. It might never even happen.
There are certain variables to include. You know. Like a certain spoiled billionaire who still owns the team and seemingly always stands in the way of success. Dolan is basically a karmic disaster in that sense. He prevents the natural process from occurring through his neurotic actions. But I am a believer in Carmelo Anthony and I fully believe that through the adversity he is currently experiencing, he will someday get the redemption and the recognition he deserves. I certainly hope so at least.
Like Melo even wrote on Instagram himself, “Iron, when heated and pound, becomes a fine sword. Likewise, our true strength and potential cannot be forged without hardships.” Let’s hope that hardships forge Melo into the fine sword we all know he can be.
But this is why I love Carmelo Anthony. He is part of the process. He respects the idealism. This is why pains me to hear Knicks fans and media continue to unfairly criticize Carmelo Anthony. One of our own. Pick apart his game all you want. Melo has choses to dedicate his career to this city and this fanbase. Through thick and thin. And also through temptations. Like a recovering drug addict being tempted by the immediate relief of getting high, but choosing long term sobriety instead. That is what really counts to me, as a fan.
Call me an idealist, but I do expect to receive some semblance of loyalty from the highly paid mercenaries who I choose to dedicate my life rooting for. If this makes me illogical or irrational, then so be it. I will stick to it. All diehard fans defy logic on a regular basis. Look at all of the crazy things we do and embrace for our teams. Even seemingly miniscule actions like superstitions we have developed over time. None of it makes even the slightest bit of rational sense. But we do it anyway. Hoping for the best. Why else do we have such a vested interest in a bunch of millionaires doing their job together while being paid by billionaires? Especially a lunatic drug addict billionaire, who runs the Knicks like that annoying kid in last place of your fantasy league, who has chosen to screw around with the rest of the league because he has given up hope for himself to win. There is no correct answer. Because being a diehard fan is never rational. There is no reason for us to still be here. Yet, here we are.
The same is also true of Carmelo Anthony. Our franchise player. Our real leader. **** what I said about Dolan earlier. Carmelo is the real embodiment of the New York Knicks franchise. Like Patrick Ewing was before him, and Willis Reed before him. He shares our state of mind and even possesses the potential to carry it to new heights. Who knows? Maybe a new generation of Knicks fans will fall in love with Carmelo’s Knicks like I did with the 90’s Knicks, and others before me did with the 70’s Knicks. It is a growing evolutionary process that cannot be defined. Whatever Carmelo’s legacy becomes, we cannot predict. But he has remained loyal. To a fault, even. Please do not take that much away from him. Instead of harboring on what he cannot bring to the table, let us instead focus on all that he does and build on that. Let’s take a collective leap of faith in him as a fanbase. Have his back like he has had ours. Carmelo has taken on the entire state of mind. Embrace it.
Through all of the losing and suffering, we somehow someway stay committed to the current enigma that is the New York Knicks. We stick with the idealism that not only are we the greatest fanbase. Not only do we, of course, have the World’s greatest arena. But we are also the greatest organization. Honestly. Carmelo believes in this as well. Why else would he have stayed? Winning and losing. All that is semantics. Obviously it is what we are in it for, but it is not what defines us. It can be earned anywhere, even San Antonio. Of course our success will never compare to the Celtics or the Lakers. I’m not an idiot. I wouldn’t call the Knicks the greatest franchise based on our win loss record. Or our championships. This is obviously untrue. But true greatness is all about perception. As long as we believe, we will succeed. As long as we remain addicted to the New York Knicks product, it becomes the truth. It is this very hope that we as a fanbase continue to possess that causes the illusion to become a reality.
Take away all of the winning and losing, and what you have left is what counts at the end of the day. It is what lasts. It can be argued that winning is often more so of an illusion than the idealism. Because winning often times creates an artificial sense of loyalty in a fanbase. Our loyalty and dedication is real and lasting. Genuine loyalty that cannot be bought. It is driven by New York’s engraved sense of loyalty to our teams as well as our collective love for the game of basketball. The city’s game. It is why I believe that despite the Yankees 27 World Series, New York is and always will be Knicks city.
The Knicks fanbase has proven our loyalty time and time again. This persistent loyalty has shaped the ideal of the New York Knicks, more so than the actual organization itself. We have been tested time and time again, and that has been outside of our control. But we have not jumped ship. That is all on us. The fact that we remain as committed as we do should serve as a glowing example of this basic principle. Carmelo Anthony currently personifies this principle. The New York State of Mind, and all of its glorious faults. It should be admired, not looked down upon. Because it has shaped the idealism of the New York Knicks, and it makes us the greatest. Makes us diehards. Maintains the incorruptible force that is the New York State of Mind…
“Nothing’s equivalent to the New York state of mind.”
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@ShamsCharania: Knicks free agent Lance Thomas has agreed to a one-year, $1.6 million deal to re-sign with New York, league sources tell RealGM.
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Still can't believe he is in the league 
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dude ****** around and found a team running a system he can mess with 
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happy for Lance but we still need a shooting wing...
anyone know that status of Antetokowimqorpqo?
anyone know that status of Antetokowimqorpqo?
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Nice write up 
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Nice write up
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Were gonna be at the bottom in 3 point shooting this season
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we'll sign Cesar and be in the top 3.Were gonna be at the bottom in 3 point shooting this season
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SQUADD
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Cautiously optimistic.
sonoftony
Supporter
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At this point if we don't add another 3pt threat or a vocal veteran, Calderon has to be kept.
Also KJ Mcdaniels needs to get a call ASAP.
Also KJ Mcdaniels needs to get a call ASAP.
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Thanks for the support fellas. Really put my heart into this one.
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Why they always make FAs sign contracts on those small *** tables for NYK?
This aint the first time I've seen that small *** table for a Knicks FA to sign on. Looking like a kindergarten table
This aint the first time I've seen that small *** table for a Knicks FA to sign on. Looking like a kindergarten table
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everyone signs on the mini coffee table
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Beautiful written
