New York Knicks: Can #KnicksTape make a comeback?

Knicks: The Mike Woodson era begins

Now, some might think that having your head coach resign as your team is still fighting for a spot in the post-season isn’t a good look, and it’s not. But on the other hand, something had to be done. If D’Antoni didn’t resign himself, he was probably going to be let go by the team sooner than later, so he went out on his own terms. With “Players’ coach” Mike Woodson now under the helm as interim head coach, the Knicks rallied. They finished off the regular season with a record of 36-30 (18-6 under Woody), and the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference.

Overall, you can at least say this was an eventful season. I mean, Linsanity happened for like two weeks and we signed J.R. Smith during the season, who would play a pretty substantial part in the next “chapter” of Knicks basketball. Things didn’t go so hot in the playoffs though, and the Knicks quickly lost in 5 games to LeBron James’ Miami Heat, which brings us to where I want to be; the 2012 NBA off-season.

Free-agency starts on July 1st, but the Knicks waited until the 12th to make their first big-name signing. Someone who, although he was only with the team for one season and might have been viewed as past his prime at this point, still played such an integral role in the success of the team and was essentially a coach on the court.

You might think that I’m talking about the great James “Flight” White, but that deal was actually made the day prior to this one. Thirty-nine-year-old Jason Kidd agreed to come to New York on a 3 year deal worth 9 million dollars in total, deciding to leave the Mavericks, who had offered him a similar deal. Soon after Kidd signed on the 12th, the Knicks also orchestrated a trade with the Portland Trailblazers for former Knicks point guard and Carmelo Anthony trade-piece Raymond Felton on the 16th. They still weren’t done though, as they also signed 35-year-old Argentinian point guard Pablo Prigioni on July 24th, as well as Rasheed Wallace way down the line on October 4th, about a month out from the start of the season.

We all already know how the 2012-2013 season goes because it’s one of the lone bright spots for this franchise over the last 21 years, but I feel that some quick facts are still in order before jumping over to the present-day.