Without Ewing, Knicks are a Greek tragedy

Sporting News, The, Oct 2, 2000 by Dave D'Alessandro

If there was a single picture that illustrated the mood of the skeptics, it was the vision of Spike Lee wandering around Madison Square Garden, where he was muttering to himself in a rumbling, agitated tone normally associated with the criminally insane.

"Sad, sad day," he kept saying, and to emphasize this point, the filmmaker and Knicks enthusiast prodded perfect strangers to share the starting lineup he had scribbled on the back of a team release.

It had a blank space next to the "C," and if you don't find this to be a hideous development, you have never spent $1,500 per ticket for every home game. Put yourself in Spike's shoes: Soon, he will have recurring snapshots of Luc Longley swatting futilely as Grant Hill or Tracy McGrady does his Flying Wallendas act coming down the lane. Then, if Spike can shake these visions, he will ask, "Wonder who David Falk thinks we should get now?"

Jeff Van Gundy was right. It was last season when he was ruminating on the difficulty of coaching a superstar in his twilight years. His conclusion: "These things never end well; in fact, they are often ugly."

You don't know ugly until you have found yourself in a tight embrace with Falk, who engineered the deal last week that sent Patrick Ewing to Seattle in exchange for a year's supply of trading stamps. One is Longley, the plodding center from Phoenix whose primary achievement is having an aerial view of three Chicago titles; one is Travis Knight, who was once nicknamed "Charmin" by a former assistant coach; and one is Glen Rice, who at 33 is just old enough to merit a $36-million contract because Falk said so.

Forget the fact the Knicks have made their cap crisis even more intractable--they'll pay these three an average of $19 million per year over the next four years and double that when escrow kicks in. The astonishing aspect--which even the chat shows have beaten beyond the point of death--is Ewing didn't have to be moved in the first place.

Dave Checketts, the Garden president; claims the trade was "inevitable," because "Patrick requested a trade, and out of our respect for him, we honored that request."

Falk admits that is rubbish: "Categorically, Patrick did not want to leave New York at all costs," he says. "(Ewing) said, `If the (trade) situation can't be worked out, I would have been happy to be back here.'"

After the first trade collapsed a month ago, Ewing wanted out because he didn't want to feel like--to use his words--"a hindrance. I didn't feel as wanted as I've felt before."

The Knicks sprang into action: They quickly dispatched Van Gundy to Ewing's home in Maryland, and he did such a splendid job of mending fences it helped Ewing decide he wanted out of New York after all.

Re-enter Agent Evil, who happened to represent another disgruntled undesirable on the opposite coast. The resulting deal was vintage Falk.

Production: Cast Falk as Zeus, Checketts as Prometheus, Van Gundy as Epimetheus. The dubious gift this time is a slick shooter, who plays substandard defense, on the downside of his career, and--if the Knicks are so lucky to find something at the bottom of Pandora's box next year--another noted Falkian in Dikembe Mutombo.

Checketts and Falk have been around the block a few times. Their first contentious encounter came over Xavier McDaniel in 1992, when Checketts claimed the agent reneged on a verbal agreement to have the X-Man re-sign with New York. It didn't hurt Checketts, though: The Knicks traded for Charles Smith and developed Anthony Mason, and they held down the 3-spot for the next four years. Still, you'd have thought Checketts learned his lesson from that experience and would be loath to repeat it--especially now, with the stakes so much higher.

But the Knicks felt trapped, and Falk had the leverage. Three G.M.s last week said the story going around is Falk made daily threats to send Rice to Miami, which still had its middle-class exception to spend. Swell, Checketts must have thought--all I need is for Riley to get another player I wanted. So the Knicks blinked, but probably not before gaining certain assurances Falk will continue lobbying efforts on their behalf.

Falk: "So, how'd you like to be in New York for 2001?"

Mutombo : "After what they did to Patrick? I'd rather remove my eyelids with pinking sheers."

Falk: "I'll take that as a `maybe.'"

But that's a Greek tragedy for another time. The Knicks would just as soon move a few of their better players to Atlanta for Mutombo before camps open, but it will be hard even for Falk to make that happen. Mutombo may pursue free agency next summer, but the Hawks have the leverage right now: He's not going to get the $15-million average he's looking for without Atlanta's cooperation in a sign-and-trade deal, so the Hawks have no reason to rush into a move they don't want to make.

As for the Knicks, it will be interesting to see what abyss they've rushed into. They have parted with the most prolific player in their history and one of only three centers in the league to average 15 points and 10 rebounds last season. They traded away their best rebounder, which is an interesting move for a team that finished dead last in rebounding percentage. And they have added a player who occupies the same position as Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell, whose coexistence last year led Van Gundy to conclude his team is "structurally flawed."