QUESTION:

What do the following NBA stars doing well in the second round of the 2015 NBA playoffs have in common?
- Iman Shumpert
- J.R. Smith
- Timofey Mozgov
- Pablo Prigioni
- David Lee
- Jamaal Crawford
- Matt Barnes
- Trevor Ariza
- Corey Brewer
- Nene
- Beno Udrih
- Zac Randolph
- Doc Rivers
- Tom Thibodeau

If you are stumped, scroll down for the answer.

ANSWER:

Believe it or not, every single one of those NBA playoff stars was once a part of the NY Knicks organization! Those stars were all in the Knicks organization -- an organization that now sells us on Bargnani, Barry Larkin's kid, Ledo, Fisher...

Look at that list above of 14 ex-Knicks. Can you imagine how many championships the Knicks would have won by now had we simply stuck with those guys? The Yankess won five championships with their "Core Four." There are 14 names of ex-Knicks above. That could have been our "Core Fourteen." Yanks won five titles with their "Core Four," logic tells us the Knicks could now be on their 15th title if they stuck with their "Core Fourteen."

But, no. We have Bargnani, Barry Larkin's kid, Ledo, Fisher....our wonderful "Core Four."

Crawford and Barnes play with these guys named CP3 and Blake Griffin.

JR and Iman play with this these guys Lebron and Kyrie

ZBO was a bouncing around the league until he found Marc Gasol

Ariza and Brewer play with Dwight Howard and James Harden

the guys you are listing are all co-stars. they need a leader and or a superstar. I liked a lot of those players, but they weren't gonna get it done on their own.

Knicks need to build a foundation and get a superstar or two in the draft. then you have a pretty easy time adding role players, which is what every single guy you listed is.

FireWoodson wrote:

crzymdups wrote:the guys you are listing are all co-stars. they need a leader and or a superstar.

Melo.

And Zebo is a leader and star, by the way.
So is Thibodeau and Nene.

There's no way they could have all those guys and also Melo.

foosballnick wrote:Does the OP like to rehash old threads you started because they failed the first time?

Failed? How is it a failure to keep bringing up our team's shortcomings?
You must be like Dolan and Fisher: "All is well, the culture here right now is a winning culture. We will win 63 games next year."
Keep drinking their MSG kool-aid they serve you from the sewer.

I fight. I rage. I never forget.
I will always remember that we had Thibodeau and we let him get away.
I will always remember we had Prigioni and we let him get away.
I will always remember we drafted Nene and we let him get away.

You should remember these things, too. That's why I posted this thread.
Be a better fan. Be angry that your team makes ridiculous moves.

Moonangie wrote:

Nalod wrote:Great post!!!! Reminds me of about 10 others you did.

Nene never played for the knicks. Neither did Corey Brewer.
Barnes was here years ago. Rivers long retired, Thibs was Van Gundy's assistant.
We burned thru HOF coach's, I doubt Thibs would be succeeding. How was Beno here?
Priggs, JR and SHump were here this season. How was it going when there were playing?
Zbo and craw? How was that working out? Zbo next to Gasol, much better!!!
DLee is on the bench. I love the guy, same for Mozgov who starts next to Lebron, Kyrie and Love.

By the way, you missed Ariza!!!! You do realize that without him, harden and Dwight would be NOTHING!
Its why Harden did not get the MVP. Its widely assumed that without Reezy, Harden would be a mid level guy!

Hmm, I vaguely remember seeing Brewer play in a few games before we traded his ass.

WaltLongmire wrote:

Moonangie wrote:

Nalod wrote:Great post!!!! Reminds me of about 10 others you did.

Nene never played for the knicks. Neither did Corey Brewer.
Barnes was here years ago. Rivers long retired, Thibs was Van Gundy's assistant.
We burned thru HOF coach's, I doubt Thibs would be succeeding. How was Beno here?
Priggs, JR and SHump were here this season. How was it going when there were playing?
Zbo and craw? How was that working out? Zbo next to Gasol, much better!!!
DLee is on the bench. I love the guy, same for Mozgov who starts next to Lebron, Kyrie and Love.

By the way, you missed Ariza!!!! You do realize that without him, harden and Dwight would be NOTHING!
Its why Harden did not get the MVP. Its widely assumed that without Reezy, Harden would be a mid level guy!

Hmm, I vaguely remember seeing Brewer play in a few games before we traded his ass.

I think he played a few minutes, but it was understood that he wanted to be situated elsewhere and that MDA didn't see him fitting into his system.

I was thinking the same thing about brewer
Zbo and JC actually got off to a good start before walsh threw lighter fluid and a match to that line up.

Nalod wrote:8 COACHES IN 13 YEARS!!!!!!!
7 GM's IN 13 Years!!!!!!!!!
Lack of continuity!!!!!! Thats what to blame.

I agree with that. And lack of continuity also applies to players, you know.
When Melo is the only player on your team that was here two seasons ago....Allan Houston, we have a problem.

That list above of the "Core Fourteen" shows we do not hold onto anything (except, for some reason, Bargnani). Thibodeau was a jewel. Jamaal Crawford was gold. Nene was a diamond. Mozgov was a red ruby. Zebo was black gold.
All these great natural resources we just threw away. But we keep a big Italian meatball.

crzymdups wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:

Moonangie wrote:

Nalod wrote:Great post!!!! Reminds me of about 10 others you did.

Nene never played for the knicks. Neither did Corey Brewer.
Barnes was here years ago. Rivers long retired, Thibs was Van Gundy's assistant.
We burned thru HOF coach's, I doubt Thibs would be succeeding. How was Beno here?
Priggs, JR and SHump were here this season. How was it going when there were playing?
Zbo and craw? How was that working out? Zbo next to Gasol, much better!!!
DLee is on the bench. I love the guy, same for Mozgov who starts next to Lebron, Kyrie and Love.

By the way, you missed Ariza!!!! You do realize that without him, harden and Dwight would be NOTHING!
Its why Harden did not get the MVP. Its widely assumed that without Reezy, Harden would be a mid level guy!

Hmm, I vaguely remember seeing Brewer play in a few games before we traded his ass.

I think he played a few minutes, but it was understood that he wanted to be situated elsewhere and that MDA didn't see him fitting into his system.

I was actually furious that D'Antoni was that fricking dumb about Brewer. Ugh.

Just to add fuel to that fire: if we held onto Corey Brewer, we would've had enough contracts to sign and trade for Tyson Chandler during that 2011 offseason. That would've also meant that we could've saved our amnesty for Amar'e, which also meant that we would've had some $21 million to retool the team after the fact. It's funny how little, seemingly inconsequential moves like that changes the entire trajectory of a team.

CrushAlot wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:

Moonangie wrote:

Nalod wrote:Great post!!!! Reminds me of about 10 others you did.

Nene never played for the knicks. Neither did Corey Brewer.
Barnes was here years ago. Rivers long retired, Thibs was Van Gundy's assistant.
We burned thru HOF coach's, I doubt Thibs would be succeeding. How was Beno here?
Priggs, JR and SHump were here this season. How was it going when there were playing?
Zbo and craw? How was that working out? Zbo next to Gasol, much better!!!
DLee is on the bench. I love the guy, same for Mozgov who starts next to Lebron, Kyrie and Love.

By the way, you missed Ariza!!!! You do realize that without him, harden and Dwight would be NOTHING!
Its why Harden did not get the MVP. Its widely assumed that without Reezy, Harden would be a mid level guy!

Hmm, I vaguely remember seeing Brewer play in a few games before we traded his ass.

I think he played a few minutes, but it was understood that he wanted to be situated elsewhere and that MDA didn't see him fitting into his system.

I was actually furious that D'Antoni was that fricking dumb about Brewer. Ugh.

I hated D'Antoni's tenure with the Knicks. So many mistakes made.

How much of that responsibility was Donnie Walsh's fault? He was the one, after all, that made all those terrible trades and never gave D'Antoni any semblance of roster stability or continuity.

I personally hated D'Antoni's extreme favoritism and inflexibility. It still irritates me how he refused to give Jordan Hill minutes but most of the failings of that era should be attributed to Walsh, IMHO.

WaltLongmire wrote:

NardDogNation wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:

Moonangie wrote:

Nalod wrote:Great post!!!! Reminds me of about 10 others you did.

Nene never played for the knicks. Neither did Corey Brewer.
Barnes was here years ago. Rivers long retired, Thibs was Van Gundy's assistant.
We burned thru HOF coach's, I doubt Thibs would be succeeding. How was Beno here?
Priggs, JR and SHump were here this season. How was it going when there were playing?
Zbo and craw? How was that working out? Zbo next to Gasol, much better!!!
DLee is on the bench. I love the guy, same for Mozgov who starts next to Lebron, Kyrie and Love.

By the way, you missed Ariza!!!! You do realize that without him, harden and Dwight would be NOTHING!
Its why Harden did not get the MVP. Its widely assumed that without Reezy, Harden would be a mid level guy!

Hmm, I vaguely remember seeing Brewer play in a few games before we traded his ass.

I think he played a few minutes, but it was understood that he wanted to be situated elsewhere and that MDA didn't see him fitting into his system.

I was actually furious that D'Antoni was that fricking dumb about Brewer. Ugh.

I hated D'Antoni's tenure with the Knicks. So many mistakes made.

How much of that responsibility was Donnie Walsh's fault? He was the one, after all, that made all those terrible trades and never gave D'Antoni any semblance of roster stability or continuity.

I personally hated D'Antoni's extreme favoritism and inflexibility. It still irritates me how he refused to give Jordan Hill minutes but most of the failings of that era should be attributed to Walsh, IMHO.

And what about Darth Dolan? What was his role in all of this?

Walsh was like the captain on a lifeboat in jeopardy of capsizing who has to make choices on who will stay and who will go.

You never got the feeling that he was dealing from a position of strength, or that he had complete control over what the team was going to do. He was subject to the whims of Dolan and the wants of MDA.

He was pretty draconian in getting rid of bad contracts, but overpaid for Amare and, ultimately, gave too much away for Anthony.

I think he would have done a better job if he had more control and less pressure from other sources, although he has to accept some blame.

Donnie Walsh was awful his last few seasons with the Pacers, so I don't buy the "But Dolan Made Me Do It!" argument. I remember looking at the last 5 or so years of his tenure there and they never had one .500 team during that span. Hell, after Danny Granger, name me one of their draft picks that actually stuck in the league beyond their rookie contract! Like I said, Walsh was pretty awful without Dolan there to help.