New York Knickerbockers All Time Roster

[Oliver P]

What would the Knicks All Time Roster would look like in your opinion ?

 

Here's what it would look like for me :

 

 

Starting Lineup :

 

C. Patrick Ewing

P.F. Willis Reed

S.F. Bernard King

S.G. Earl Monroe

P.G. Walt Frazier

 

Bench :

 

C. Jerry Lucas

P.F. Charles Oakley

S.F. Dave DeBusschere

S.G. John Starks

P.G. Derek Harper

S.F. Latrell Sprewell

S.G. Allan Houston

 

At center I picked Patrick Ewing of course. Easy choice, he’s definitely the best player that we ever had. Too bad that he never won a ring, he would have deserved it.

As his back up I pick Jerry Lucas. When Jerry arrived in New York he wasn’t the same player that he was during his Kings days, and he only played in New York three years but still he has to be mentioned here. He was still a terrific player nonetheless and a very important part of the 73 championship team.

 

At P.F. I picked Willis Reed. Willis was rather a center but he could play F, he played PF when Walt Bellamy was in the team in the 60’s anyway. And Willis is one of our best players ever, and arguably our greatest hero (who does not know about the game 7 of the 70 Finals ?), so he has to start anyway. That’s why I prefered to pick him as the starting PF and Lucas (who was a F/C) as the back up C.

As his back up I picked Charles Oakley. Easy choice for me, I think that the people who did not Watch Oak at his prime do not realize how great a player he was. During the 90’s he truly was the heart of our team. Plus I’ve always been a fan of his hard fouls. I love his violent game, just like the I loved the violent defense of the 90’s Knicks, I admit it. It was fun to see Grant crying every time Oak was fouling him haha.

 

At S.F. it’s obviously Bernard King. Certainly the second most talented player that we ever had. In the 80’s, before the arrival of Ewing, he was the team. Too bad that he was too lonely to win anything, cause he was really a terrific player and would have deserved a ring.

His back up is definitely Dave DeBusschere. One of the best defenders ever, and a very important player in the two teams that won a ring in 70 and 73.

 

As the starting S.G. I picked Earl Monroe. Earl The Pearl is one of the best SGs ever and his duo with Frazier is certainly one of the most exciting back court ever. Very important player of the 73 team.

As his back up I chose John Starks. John is certainly not the most talented player that we ever had. But he definitely had the biggest heart among all the Knicks players ever. In fact among all the players of the history in the league. You could say what you want about John Starks but even the people who do not like him (and there are a lot sadly…) have to admit that John gave all what he got on a court. John only wanted one thing : to make his team win. On the court he forgot about everything else. A lot of passion. Too much passion sometimes maybe… That’s why John often lost his mind on the court. But that’s the kind of player I like. And that is why he is, with Ewing, my favorite player ever. Houston was certainly more talented than him but yet he was not a better player than him, because as talented as Allan was he’s always been weak mentally. Starks was way tougher in his head. And that is why Starks is a better player and has to be mentioned above Houston IMO.

 

I picked Walt Frazier as the starting P.G. Obviously. Definitely the best P.G. that we ever had, and the only player who ever led us to a ring. Even if the 70 and 73 Knicks main strenght was its fantastic chemistry, Walt was still the leader. Also one of the best defenders ever. He has to start.

As his back up I picked Derek Harper. Now I know that Derek did not play long with us, two years and a half, almost three years, but he immeditely had a huge impact on our team. And gave it what Mark Jackson never was able to give it. I’ve always been a huge fan of Derek, very underrated player IMO. I even consider him as the best player that never played in an All Star Game. One of the best defenders I ever seen. And his performance in the 94 Finals was unbelievable. Honestly if the Knicks had won that year, Harper would have been Finals MVP. Ewing was great defensively but horrible offensively, his FG% was just terrible. Ewing has always been a shooting center but in those Finals he was shooting from too far away. Riley told him several to play closer, to play in the paint but Ewing didn’t listen quite the opposite he shot from further away. Which is the main reason why he didn’t do his job offensively. And Starks was terrific too, could have been Finals MVP but he was horrible in games 1 and 7. Especially 7... Because he was still thinking about Olajuwon’s block at the end of game 6, Starks always said that he was 100% sure that his shot was good. Anyway meanwhile Harper was perfect in every game. This Finals sure are Harper’s career highlight and he has to be mentioned in that roster.

 

For the two last spots, well I picked Houston and Sprewell. Many other players could have been mentioned though, players like Gallatin, Guerin, Bradley, Mason, Bellamy, Johnson, Barnett, etc… But I picked Allan and Spree because they are the last two real stars that we had (Francis, Marbury and Penny were done when they joined us…). Plus Spree had quite a performance in the 99 Finals. Ewing was injured and Sprewell took over the leadership of the team and was absolutely fantastic. He was really Jordan like. This Finals are certainly his career highlights, he definitely deserve to be in that roster thanks to that performance.

And even if Houston never became the player that he was supposed to become when we signed him, well he still had a great career with us nonetheless. And his shot against the Heat in 99 not only allowed us to become the second team to ever knock off a number 1, but we even became the first 8th seed to make the Finals. That is one of the greatest moment in our history for sure.