New York Knicks vs. Philadelphia 76ers: Trust The Process
By Cory Adelson
The Philadelphia 76ers may have coined, “Trust The Process,” but the New York Knicks are in the same situation under team president Phil Jackson.
Geographic proximity isn’t the only thing the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers have in common. With only one winning season over the past five years and a .452 winning percentage since the start of 2010-11, the Knicks are trusting their own process.
New York fans are some of the best in the world; there’s no denying that. When Carmelo Anthony came over in the middle of the 2010-11 season, Knicks fans were ecstatic. After the formation of the first (second?) modern day super team in South Beach, Knicks fans were drooling over the next big move before ‘Melo even stepped foot in Gotham.
Little did they all know that the Golden Age of Knicks Basketball was still more than five years away.
Over that same span, the Philadelphia 76ers became the laughing stock of the NBA. Philadelphia implemented a tanking strategy to secure top-three selections in each of the past three seasons.
The 76ers did whatever they could to acquire draft picks while keeping a mediocre team on the court to increase the value of their own.
Since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, the 76ers have won only 33.5 percent of their games—11.7 percent worse than the Knicks—but have made only one less postseason appearance.
Another disheartening fact for Knicks fans, the 76er have won the same amount of series as well.
The 76ers, as you may have heard, have recently hopped on the back of a catchy movement coined by “The Process” himself, Joel Embiid. The 76ers and their fan base have embraced the rebuild that was once blasted by NBA executives and are now “Trusting the Process.”
In their own way, the Knicks have done the same thing, albeit with a much less proven leader. Phil Jackson was supposed to give the Knicks (and Carmelo Anthony) a fresh start, and hopefully a spot amongst the Eastern Conference’s elite.
Things haven’t exactly worked out as planned, starting with the 2014-15 season being the worst in Knicks history. That season, however, resulted in Jackson finding the only hope fans have left that the Golden Age is close: Kristaps Porzingis.
Now, after the Knicks failed to move any of their tradable pieces for future assets at the deadline, they face an uncertain future. Although they have picks in this year’s stacked draft, they risk losing the likes of Brandon Jennings and Derrick Rose for nothing.
By trusting their own “Process,” Knicks fans have endured more frustration than any other franchise not named the Sacramento Kings.
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The New York Knicks must Trust the Process and believe that Porzingis can pull them into the next Golden Age.