The silliest thing about this whole discussion is the unspoken assumption that any potential pursuit of Shaq went out the window along with Don Nelson. We traded Starks for Spree and Oak for Camby for god's sake. If Ewing for Shaq was ever a remote possibility, Checketts and Grunfeld would have jumped at it.

In any case, it was hardly a mistake keeping Ewing around. The Knicks' failure to win a championship in that mid/late 90s period was a product of bad luck (Ewing's wrist/the Heat brawl) as much as anything else. Obviously the huge blunder came some years later when the Knicks traded Ewing for a pile of cap-killing garbage rather than letting him walk.

My eyebrows went up when I read that article this morning. I don't remember Shaq for Ewing ever making it to the rumor mills when Nelson was here. It seems unlikely that it was a possibility but I guess it's possible that Nelson tried to bring it up and Ewing heard about it and got pissed. The article did mention the "slow down" which was a real thing at the end of Nelson's run. Regardless off Nelson's long term plans, the team wasn't playing for him. It was quite obvious that most of the team wasn't listening to him on the court and, yes, Patrick and others just shuffled through in protest. IIRC, Oakley let Nelson have it a few times in the locker room. Some of what Nelson was doing was obvious and clearly smart but it's hard to do anything when your team refuses to play ball.

Posted by Ira:

I don't believe it. I lost confidence in Nelson as a coach when he benched Starks and started Hubert Davis. That was utterly ridiculous, but there was a hidden motive. Nelson's Warriors had Starks and cut him. When the Knicks rescued him from the CBA, it made Nelson look bad.

.

I believe Nelson didn't like starks because he was one of ewings boys.

Ewing made coaches cater to him and that made it tough for them to do what was best for the team.

Posted by martin:

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/sports/basketball/02araton.html?ref=basketball

Hindsight, the Knicks and Nelson’s Foresight
by Harvey Araton

ANYONE HAVE SELECT? Please post full article. thanks.

Nelson was an outsider, an agent of change, who didn’t believe the Knicks had much of a future with Patrick Ewing, then 33 and angling for a rich contract extension, as their franchise player. Nelson was thinking out of the box, and big. He wanted the Knicks to chase Shaquille O’Neal, who was playing his last season in Orlando.

“I had coached Shaq in the world championships in ’94 and established a pretty good relationship with him,” Nelson said. “I knew he wanted to go elsewhere and so I brought this up a meeting with the Garden people. I said: ‘He would come to New York. It’s going to be Los Angeles or us. And if we give ’em Ewing, it would be the best deal Orlando could make.’

“Well, somehow that got back to Ewing and after that, I was toast.”

it's funny how I made a point of this disasterous investment in houston, and it would always go by the wayside. Always, on every board i went to. And now it's like 'new news' that no one's ever heard of. I don't know what the fuss is all about though. We don't believe in these kinds of things I thought, or am I wrong again. I know, I know. Some of you will tell me that 'I'm only saying what everyone already knows' but I have also made the attempt to say that we are (believe it or not) doing it again! but i'm making too much sense, so I'll stop.

Hey' you guys think we can get kevin ollie for a ten day contract? He's got to be better than Renaldo Balkman.

Mason sucked!!! Hands down!

Posted by tomverve:

The silliest thing about this whole discussion is the unspoken assumption that any potential pursuit of Shaq went out the window along with Don Nelson. We traded Starks for Spree and Oak for Camby for god's sake. If Ewing for Shaq was ever a remote possibility, Checketts and Grunfeld would have jumped at it.

In any case, it was hardly a mistake keeping Ewing around. The Knicks' failure to win a championship in that mid/late 90s period was a product of bad luck (Ewing's wrist/the Heat brawl) as much as anything else. Obviously the huge blunder came some years later when the Knicks traded Ewing for a pile of cap-killing garbage rather than letting him walk.

Or because we just were never going to win as constructed at that point. We never would have beaten the bulls in '97, and even with a healthy ewing, the Spurs would have slaughtered us.

Posted by jaydh:

Posted by 4949:

Mason sucked!!! Hands down!

signing LJ was another complete waste, but the ratings were up!

wow, 2 horrible and incorrect statements.

That figures. Another true Knick fan who settles for the very least. Oh yeah, I was wrong again. How stupid. I forgot all about those games against the jordan led bulls, in all of those playoff showdowns, how we beat the crap out of them, with Mason on our side.

Posted by jaydh:

Posted by 4949:

Posted by jaydh:

Posted by 4949:

Mason sucked!!! Hands down!

signing LJ was another complete waste, but the ratings were up!

wow, 2 horrible and incorrect statements.

That figures. Another true Knick fan who settles for the very least. Oh yeah, I was wrong again. How stupid. I forgot all about those games against the jordan led bulls, in all of those playoff showdowns, how we beat the crap out of them, with Mason on our side.

actually mason was one of the best defenders we were able to put on Jordan during all our playoff runs in the 90s. And going by your statement, all knick players of the last few decades sukked because they never got us anywhere.

Mason never defended Jordan, what are you talking about....Mason was a good defender ion the post and not on the perimeter...Jordan was defended by guards not power forwards...