The 15 greatest bigs in New York Knicks history

Tyson Chandler

The Tyson Chandler tenure with the New York Knicks was bittersweet.

Like Amar’e Stoudemire, he put it all on the line for the Knicks in his prime of primes. The 2012 playoff run was classic Tyson Chandler, complete with clutch rebounds leading to critical second offensive opportunities, and hustle plays all over the court.

Even though he was just a year removed from his glorious Dallas Maverick championship over the LeBron James-led Miami Heat, he played marginally better in his inaugural Knick season averaging 11.3 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks on a ridiculous career high 67.9 percent effective field goal percentage.

All in all, he played his definitive season with the Knicks, earning his lone All-Star nod in the 2012-13 season.

Ultimately, it was sad to see him go as part of the first move made by Phil Jackson as GM after the 2013-14 season, but perhaps the harshest sting from shipping off a guy who retrospectively had so much left in the tank was that the Knicks declined Dallas’ throw in player of Jae Crowder into the deal.

Of course, Crowder would go on to become a respectable 3-and-D guy for the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and now Utah Jazz.

One thing that Chandler did which no New Yorker could ever take away from him was work hard and ability to win games. The latter is more than most Knick big-men can claim for themselves.