Luv those Knicks wrote:. . .
Getting back to the subject at hand. I remember the Knicks in the 75-76 and subsequent seasons. They struggled.
Frazier was good but getting older.
Monroe was fine, but more of a support player. He always was just that in NY
Spencer Haywood was . . . as described above, doing too much coke. Still good, but not the star he once was
Bill Bradley, an unathletic, undersized small forward was their 4th best player
and John Gianelli was their center.
They didn't have the parts to trade for Kareem as most of their good players were over 30 and not that good anymore. I don't think they were ever really in the hunt. They'd also traded a first round pick for Haywood, which, presumably, they'd have needed to get Kareem.
A year and a few months into the season later, they traded for McAdoo, basically picked him up for cash, which is wild. They traded Mac a couple years later and got a first-round pick in exchange. Bill Cartwright was selected.
I digress, but the Knicks were pretty bad 75-76 onwards.
They drafted OK, but never put it together.
Lonnie Shelton was a good pick in 76. They traded him for Marvin Webster, who was basically finished. Shelton's sonics made it to the finals back-to-back seasons. Webster was a bench player a year later.
Ray Williams was a solid pick in 77
and Michael Ray Richardson in 78 could have been a star, if he hadn't done more drugs than the entire city of Cleveland during his time in the NBA.
Cartwright, drafted in 79 was also good, but they never had enough talent overall.
As for the Lakers
The year before they traded for Kareem, they won 30 games. After trading for him, they won 40, so it doesn't look like he could carry a team. The Lakers didn't make it to the finals until they added Magic Johnson. Nothing against Kareem, who was a great player, but it looks like he couldn't win by himself. If the Knicks had him, I don't think they'd have won it all unless they found good players to play around him, and I don't have faith that they'd have done that.
It's still an interesting bit of history though. I didn't remember this.
I do remember the Knicks being rumored to be interested in Dr. J and George McGinnes. Both ended up in Philly, which sucked. They tried by adding a few stars. They added Haywood, McAdoo, Webster (mentioned above), but never got interesting. The only pretty good season they had in the next few years was when they swapped Michael Ray for Bernard King. King gave them two good playoff runs.
Keeping Shelton and no Michael on coke and Knick's history is a LOT different
