The 15 greatest bigs in New York Knicks history

Bill Cartwright

After being drafted third overall in the 1979 NBA Draft, Bill Cartwright quickly lived up to the hype.

In his first two seasons, he averaged 21.7 and 20.1 point respectively. He also was selected to the All-Star game in his rookie season, giving many the belief that he was to be the future of the Knicks franchise.

While he was an apt rebounder and rim protector in his early career, truthfully, he went on to become a relatively poor rim protector (albeit an excellent offensive player) in his seven seasons after the Knicks.

In the end, Cartwright accidentally played into the two best front court players for the Knicks straight through the 1990s.

With his foot injury that kept him out the entire 1984-85 season, the Knicks were prompted to select Patrick Ewing with the number one overall pick in the summer of 1985 – a decision that played out pretty well, to say the least.

While Cartwright and Ewing were quickly dubbed the twin towers, unfortunately, Cartwright’s foot injuries lingered and eventually he was traded to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for a young Charles Oakley, which of course also proved to be an extremely fruitful trade.

In the end, Cartwright was an excellent player who became curtailed by injuries and front office decisions. But, unlike in more recent times, the Knicks‘ brass proved to make a couple of excellent decisions that ironically revolved around Bill Cartwright in a sense.