New York Knicks: 25 Greatest Players of All-Time

8. Dick McGuire

Dick McGuire was one of the original stars of the New York Knicks. He facilitated three runs to the NBA Finals and once held the league record for assists in a single season.

Today, McGuire’s No. 15 jersey is hanging from the rafters alongside Earl Monroe‘s.

McGuire’s numbers don’t hold up to today’s standards, and that’s a major reason why his accomplishments have been dismissed. The 1950s are generally viewed as a weak era in basketball, whether fair or foul.

With that being said, to downplay McGuire’s impact on the organization would be to ignore vital history.

McGuire helped New York become what it and Madison Square Garden are known as today: the Mecca of Basketball. He made the Knicks a perennial contender, thus building the allure of the basketball city.

New York hasn’t always lived up to the moniker of a basketball haven, but its McGuire-led success in the 1950s helped fuel that raging fire.

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