we recycle many topics such as favorite player, moment, or coaches. how about seeing what players were the biggest suprise to us, whether it is good or bad.


5.) rolando blackman- i wanted to pen in a title. we received a 2 guard that had great offensive punch and could defend pretty well. the year before, he and derek harper were the only thing good about dallas avg. around 19ppg. then we got him on what was supposed to be our championship season in 92-93. he became the twelth man on the bench. disappionting. i know that age and injury played a huge part, not to mention the emergence of john starks ( see number 2 on this list) but it was sort of a shame.

4.)allan houston- in 96 i knew we were getting a good shooter with some ups but i never knew we would get a person who could drop 50points any given night. houston was always in another persons' shadow whether it was grant hill, patrick ewing or even latrell sprewell but he is a flat out scorer. he probably has the best jumper i have ever seen and when he is on it is like poetry in motion. biggest moment for me: he practically put the team on his shoulders in the 99 playoffs against indiana in game six and buries the pacers. too bad he is old now and overpaid.

3.)anthony mason- this is a guy who came from the cba and looked like a preseason cut but his tenacity and toughness earned him a spot on the knicks roster. the one thing about mason is his willingness to improve his game. when he first came into the league he was just a chiseled brute. then he became a reliable player who is capable of playing multiple positions. he had his flaws such as peer relations and coach relations but he was undeniably talented at his peak.

2.) john starks- one faithful injury was all it took for starks to be forever part of knicks history. his preseason in 91 with the knicks turned a disaster into one of the best stories that year. because starks was injured attempting a dunk over ewing in practice he was forced to have a roster spot on the knicks as a reserved. for the next seven years he has suprised us with gutsy play. arguably the most courageous knick ( also the most hot-headed), he has had classy battles with jordan, miller and other shooting guards. not the most talented but still pretty darn good.

1.) charles smith- i can not believe a 20ppg, 10rpg person can come to a team and stink. well, that was charles smith. he tried to fool us with some inspired play here or there but he was overrated and soft.

Well, I thought when they hired Layden under Checketts, it was a good move. Does that count?

I was also surprised with how overrated Chris Childs was. And by how good LJ was even without hops.

Id put in someone you mentioned,Derek Harper.I knew he was a great PG in his prime but I didnt think he would make the contribution he did at his age.Look back at your old tapes of the finals and ask yourself how many guys have run the floor like he did for the Knicks since then?Ward couldnt,Marbury has yet to do it here although that could change this season.

I agree about Starks and Mason.Doc Rivers was also a surprise for me for the same reasons as Harper.Even Maurice Cheeks to an extent.You dont find many PGs like them anymore.I wasnt surprised about Charles Smith's stats going down because he got them with the Clippers.What did surprise me about him was how soft he was.

Camby surprised me because I knew he had some injury problems but I didnt know he was so fragile.

Oakley surprised me in that the Garden would groan when he would would take a 15ft shot when he first got here but eventually he became somewhat of a reliable shooter.

Mark Jackson surprised me because I never thought he would be rookie of the year and bring all his playground moves to the garden.

Thats some of them from recently.

Posted by Kwazimodal:

Id put in someone you mentioned,Derek Harper.I knew he was a great PG in his prime but I didnt think he would make the contribution he did at his age.Look back at your old tapes of the finals and ask yourself how many guys have run the floor like he did for the Knicks since then?Ward couldnt,Marbury has yet to do it here although that could change this season.

I agree about Starks and Mason.Doc Rivers was also a surprise for me for the same reasons as Harper.Even Maurice Cheeks to an extent.You dont find many PGs like them anymore.I wasnt surprised about Charles Smith's stats going down because he got them with the Clippers.What did surprise me about him was how soft he was.

Camby surprised me because I knew he had some injury problems but I didnt know he was so fragile.

Oakley surprised me in that the Garden would groan when he would would take a 15ft shot when he first got here but eventually he became somewhat of a reliable shooter.

Mark Jackson surprised me because I never thought he would be rookie of the year and bring all his playground moves to the garden.

Thats some of them from recently.

i was going to put down harper also but we knew that he was good. he had a solid career with dallas and had the label as the " best player ever to not make the all-star team". he was a true floor general who makes people around him better if he has the talent.

I am surprised

The Knicks never had the sense to offer Del Curry or Dale Ellis a contract so Ewing had a reliable outside threat.

I am surprised that the Knicks paid 32 million dollars for childs.

I am shocked that with three draft pick in the 1996 draft the Knicks couldn't find a way to get Kobe Bryant

I am shocked that stupid ****ing GM's have jobs after passing on Ron Artest to take Fred Weis

I can't comprehend how with role players out there like Jim Jackson, Layden turn three bad deals into Shandon Anderson

I am shocked that we let Portland give J O'Neal to the Pacers, when w we could have just sent Ewing in a trade.

I can't believe that Layden had a chance to actually make the Knicks into a Championship contended in 2002, but decided to trade camby and a pick that could have been boozer, stoudmire, prince, butler for an injured power foward. Then i can't believe he made things worse by brining in eisley and shandon anderson.

If he was going to blow up the ship the oppurtunity was there and Lebron James was right there for the taking. Draft a rookie let them play major minutes, let camby rest for the rest of the season, trade sprewell for brandons contract, and have one of the worse records in the league

pg ?
Houston
Lebron/ Melo
Boozer/Stoudmire
Camby

But i am just upset because there is no way to ever turn this thing around because no one realize that if you put an entertaining team out there that has potential fans will be patient.

"But i am just upset because there is no way to ever turn this thing around because no one realize that if you put an entertaining team out there that has potential fans will be patient."

Wait a sec.. isnt that whats happening now?

I think we can officially count Ariza now.

Nash ran the pick and roll so well in Dirk, I'm not surpirsed he's doing the same with Lampe.

The biggest shock of my lifetime that was obvious was the not drafting of Ron Artest. A guy from Queensbridge, played at St. Johns, Knicks needed a swingman, and they picked Fred Weis. One of the most disappointing moments of my life.

I'm also shocked that they were up 3-2 and lost to the Rockets. Rats. Starks bad shooting in game 7 was like a nightmare.

I think Trevor Ariza could be at the tops of this list in 2-3 years as a total surprise.

Dice has to be the biggest let down to me despite coming off an injury, he was so durable prior to that.

Pat Riley Faxing in his resignation.

Howard Eisley being part of any trade.

Patrick Ewing not being part of the Knicks still to this day.

Getting Marbury as a kick, after having to endure Ward, Childs and Eisly for so many years.

And finally, The multiple Extensions that was giving to Don Chaney the more he kept loosing. ( nothing has baffled more then that)