New York Knicks: Kenny Smith’s theory for players signing elsewhere

NBA champion and TNT analyst Kenny Smith thinks modern-day NBA players are not aware of what it means to play for the New York Knicks.

Luring big names to the New York Knicks has become a struggle for this franchise. The days of Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony willingly arriving happened nearly one decade ago; money is still thrown around in free agency, but not for the top stars, as seen with the 2019 offseason.

Instead, players are signing elsewhere, including the crosstown Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers, the other prominent Hollywood team. The Knicks became lost in the shuffle, and former NBA player and TNT analyst Kenny Smith has a theory.

Per Marc Berman of the New York Post, Smith does not think players are aware of New York’s previous history, dating back to the 1990s, when it was a higher-profile circumstance to wear the orange and blue:

"“I don’t think they understand — there has to be reeducation to certain players about the Knicks that they are the biggest stage,’’ Smith told The Post. “There’s certain players who grew up not knowing Patrick Ewing played for the Knicks. They know Carmelo [Anthony], but not with a great history here. There’s a generation of players that don’t understand the magnitude of what being a Knick is.”"

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That may hold true; NBA players born in 1989 are already 30 years old or just shy of it, and the Knicks had one of their greatest runs in franchise history during the 1990s, when these players were no older than 10 years old.

Otherwise, once the 2000s arrived, they saw players like Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin lead the New Jersey Nets to two NBA Finals appearances or when the franchise moved to Brooklyn for the 2012-13 season and became the talk of the league.

In that span, the Knicks have missed the playoffs more often than they made, with organization dysfunction following, whether from the Isiah Thomas era in the front office or Phil Jackson’s tumultuous reign.

The times are changing in the NBA, and it is no longer the days of Patrick Ewing controlling Madison Square Garden. Sure, head coach David Fizdale continues to bring famous Knicks of the past to mentor the current young players, but these are for the homegrown talents that are drafted onto the team. For attracting outside players, that might be more difficult to create in 2019.

Instead, it takes the current product succeeding for the Knicks to become attractive, and Anthony’s era provided some of that, but only to start his tenure; losing seasons mostly followed.

There is work for the New York Knicks to do to return to prominence and join the Nets and Clippers of the NBA. The success will not arrive overnight, but the 2019-20 season can take them in the proper direction and potentially set up a lucrative summer in 2021.