Life offers few guarantees, but when Stephen Curry sat at the Garden on draft night 2009, he held one certainty.
If he remained available at No. 8, the Knicks would take him. Knicks owner James Dolan and coach Mike D’Antoni told him so.
“I went to the draft having talked to D’Antoni and Dolan, and they told me if I was on the board they were going to choose me,” Curry said. “To me, the Knicks were bound to happen.”
The draft proceeded.
“Blake Griffin … Hasheem Thabeet … James Harden …”
A rumor gained legs. The Warriors, at
No. 7, liked Curry.
“I got word that could happen, but I didn’t really believe it because Golden State had [Monta] Ellis and he was good,” then-Knicks president Donnie Walsh said.
“Tyreke Evans … Ricky Rubio … Jonny Flynn.”
Then came the Warriors’ selection.
“Stephen Curry.”
For three months after the draft, Curry wondered what might have been. For five years, the Knicks and their fans have done the same.
Raymond Felton’s recent off-court troubles magnified the miseries of the Knicks’ season. There is renewed focus on the point guard problems the Knicks have endured, seemingly forever.
“Obviously, it’s been a tough stretch of finding a guy you can hand the ball to and say, ‘We’re good the next five, 10 years,’ ” said Warriors coach Mark Jackson, one of the Knicks’ best point guards of the past three decades.
Some see the drought going back beyond Jackson, Rookie of the Year in 1988.
“Mark did it, but they just haven’t had any luck,” said Hall of Famer Walt “Clyde” Frazier, the greatest Knicks point guard. “They replaced Willis [Reed] with Patrick [Ewing] and they never got another Clyde.”
There have been hits: Jackson, Charlie Ward, Derek Harper. But there have been more misses for varied reasons: injury (Doc Rivers), inconsistency (Felton), chemistry (Stephon Marbury), one-dimensional (Nate Robinson). Bandages and quick fixes (Chris Duhon), often by guys at the wrong time in their careers (Maurice Cheeks, Baron Davis, Jason Kidd) solved little. Some didn’t stay around long enough (Jeremy Lin) or were designated backups and not developed into full-time starters (Greg Anthony, Toney Douglas).
Free agent signings (Chris Childs) did not work out. A first-round pick (Frank Williams, acquired in the 2002 Antonio McDyess trade) failed. Rod Strickland — not to be confused with Erick Strickland (he didn’t work out either) — was traded at 23 after a year and a half and following a public trade request, for Cheeks, 32.
What’s gone wrong? Besides, shockingly, no one ever seeking advice from Frazier? (“They never come to me, younger players are different,” Frazier said.)
“It’s been a lack of consistency. Guys play good in spurts. When Felton first came he was dynamic, but they haven’t been able to maintain that consistency,” Frazier said, noting the ones who did catch his eye over the years, beyond Jackson. “I thought Strickland had a chance, but he and Mark were here and one had to go. Childs was a good role player.”
Coaching styles also contrasted, so what may have worked in one system didn’t work in another. There was D’Antoni’s up-tempo approach, Isiah Thomas’ whatever it was they did. And it never helped when the Knicks looked at New Jersey from 2001-08 and saw Kidd triumphing.
“It’s like the search for the Holy Grail when you don’t have one,” said Walsh, now a Pacers consultant.
In three decades, the Knicks have drafted, traded and signed free agents. Still, they seek a long-term solution. Some suggested it is harder to develop a point guard in New York with the perceived “gotta have it now” atmosphere. Others disagreed.
“I never saw that in the fans,” said Jeff Van Gundy, a former Knicks and Rockets coach, now an NBA analyst for ABC. “If they understood that you were as invested as they were in trying to develop a champion, they would go through rebuilding.”
So what do you need in a New York point guard?
“Talent is certainly part of the equation,” Van Gundy said. “Skills development is part of the equation, but also having an insatiable desire to be great, to be part of something great is as important to long term success.”
Rivers, who played two-plus seasons with the Knicks but whose time was dashed by a torn ACL, said a good point guard flashes all the signs of being a future coach. Presented into evidence: Jackson.
“You just see it. You hear them talk about the game,” Rivers said. “You hear the reasoning and you see their communication skills. Mark’s in that group.”
Jackson said intangibles are as important as passing, directing, and pick-and-rolling in New York.
“He’s got to have the right skin. Thick-skinned, tough-minded, able to not be afraid of the bright lights,” Jackson said.
Jackson simply nodded affirmatively when asked if he felt Knicks ownership is impatient and too quick to abandon one path for another.
“You’ve got to find talent, recognize talent and then you’ve got to trust it,” Jackson said. “When you look at Steph, he had talent and I handed him the basketball and let him play, let him play through his mistakes.
“You can look back now and say, ‘Jeremy Lin,’ but it was a business decision, and it was the right business decision the way the contract was structured,” Jackson said. “Find the right guy, trust him and move forward.”
The Knicks really have not moved too far on the playoff front. Since the 2000-01 team under Van Gundy lost to the Pacers in the conference finals, the Knicks have been to the playoffs five times, winning one series. Ward, point guard for the Knicks team that advanced to the 1999 Finals, may have been one of their most underappreciated players.
“People underestimate what a great athlete he was,” Van Gundy said. “Think about today’s ‘SportsCenter’ era we live in. The guy was the Heisman trophy winner like Jameis Winston … People would be coming unglued.”
Curry credits his success to Jackson’s belief in him.
“He let me go out and play, develop, be allowed to fail a couple times and to work through my shortcomings,” Curry said. “It’s up to me to go out and do it.”
And he could have been doing it as a Knick but for one draft spot.
“No regrets,” Curry said. “Things have worked out, but you never know what would have happened if the alternative happened.”