An open letter to New York Knicks owner James Dolan from a fan<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\nDear Mr. Dolan,<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nLet me start by saying thank you.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nNot\u00a0the type of sarcastic thanks that precedes an evisceration, but a genuine thank you. In a world where billionaire owners count their pennies, you have consistently spared no expense when it comes to the teams you own. Too many franchises are treated strictly as a business. As a result, fans are ones left holding the bag.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nNever once have you worried about the bottom line.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\nThis letter is a plea that maybe, for the first time, you should. As a businessman (and a successful one at that) you know better than anyone that the market doesn\u2019t lie. For every dollar going into one pocket, there\u2019s a dollar coming out of someone else\u2019s.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nYou also know that the NBA works the same way, except instead of dollars, there are wins.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m sure you\u2019ve hears by now that in this millennium, there are only two teams with a worse ratio of wins to losses than the Knicks. One is the Charlotte franchise, which didn\u2019t exist until 2004. The other is the Timberwolves, who play in as unappealing a locale as New York is an enticing one.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nAgain, the market doesn\u2019t lie. Things haven\u2019t been going very well.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\nThe thing that most New York Knicks fans seem to be mistaken about is that you\u2019ve recognized this better than anyone! You have relieved five separate general managers of their duties over these last 17 seasons. You seem like the type of man who simply doesn\u2019t stand for losing. This is something else that every fan should appreciate even if they don\u2019t.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nYou\u2019re also the type of man who is fiercely loyal. This is where (and please forgive me for the bold assumption I\u2019m about to make) you\u2019ve run into some problems.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nSteve Mills has been by your side for most of the past eighteen years. He\u2019s a great businessman, and it shows\u2026the fan experience at the Garden is consistently one of the best in sports. He\u2019s also something of a basketball man, having played in his youth and being\u00a0around the league for over three decades now.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nAllan Houston, similarly, has been around the game for a while. Not only was he a great Knick, but he\u2019s learned the ropes and bided his time. He knows the city, and knows what it takes to win here, having led the team to its last appearance in the Finals.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nBut this is 2017.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\nMills and Houston know the game at advanced college levels. People running other teams have multiple PHD\u2019s in this stuff. The level of basketball acumen necessary to successfully run an NBA franchise has gone up exponentially over the decade.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nYou recently saw first hand just how much things have changed.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nPhil Jackson may have been an ideal choice to run an organization a decade ago, but as you saw as clearly as anyone, the game has at least somewhat passed him by. There\u2019s no shame for him, or you; everyone was excited when he came aboard. Unfortunately it didn\u2019t work out.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nThe toughest part was that you were truly hands off and had to witness the debacle of the last few years from afar. All indications are that you plan to stay hands off.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nAgain, you should be commended. The hardest thing to do is admit one\u2019s own limitations, especially for someone successful in other arenas. You did that, and I think you realize it was the right move.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nHaving extricated yourself from the day to day running of the basketball team, you\u2019re totally justified in wanting Steve Mills, Allan Houston, and the rest of your people to at least have a hand in the process. Two heads are better than one, right? And hey \u2013 a man\u2019s word is everything, and you\u2019ve kept your word to those who have been with you that their loyalty to the franchise won\u2019t be forgotten.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s easy to get lost in these clouds when someone like David Griffin comes along and demands to clean house. He\u2019s an outsider who you\u2019ve never worked with, and his demand was clearly a bit jarring.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nBut here\u2019s the thing: Griffin, as an outsider, only sees the results that the rest of us have seen for the better part of the last two decades. Eight different franchises have won titles. Four more have made the Finals and 11 others have made the Conference Finals. If the Knicks made it even that far, the city would be in a state of pandemonium.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nIt hasn\u2019t happened.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h5>\nIf any company kept failing with the same business plan despite CEO after CEO, the market would dictate that it needed to change. The market has spoken loud and clear. The plan needs to be altered.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n
Time to go, Time to let somebody who understands a little basketball, and appreciates his fans to take over.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n17 years is not a small sample size. For the league\u2019s oldest franchise that also happens to play in the greatest city the world has ever known \u2013 one that young men all over the world grow up dreaming of someday playing in \u2013 to have experienced a single playoff series victory since George W. Bush took office is almost hard to fathom. I\u2019m sure it has kept you up at night. I can promise you it has kept Knicks fans awake, loss after loss, season after season.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nI don\u2019t mean to belabor the point, but sometimes being on the inside makes it difficult to see the forest for the trees. When the voices of the very people who are preventing the success that all of us \u2013 and especially you \u2013 \u00a0so desperately seek are the same voices you hear day in and day out, change can seem impossible.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nI\u2019m sure they\u2019re good people.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\nThey no doubt work hard, and have your back in a city full of people looking to stick a knife in it. That doesn\u2019t make them qualified to have any part of making basketball-related decisions in a league where guys like Daryl Morey, RC Buford and Masai Ujiri have teams of people working day and night, poring over spreadsheets and data models, looking to get even the slightest advantage.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nWhoever comes in next, even if they don\u2019t demand full autonomy, give it to them. Let them have at it. It\u2019s the one thing you haven\u2019t tried, at least with someone who\u2019s done the work of team building before.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nAs for your people, there\u2019s no doubt plenty of work to be done in and around the Garden that can use competent people on the job. We understand you want to be loyal to them. If they\u2019re truly loyal to you, they\u2019ll see that this is the only choice for the team they\u2019ve dedicated their life to.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nYou made the tough decision to step away. They should be able to\u00a0do the same.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\nBefore I sign off, in these tough times when it seems like everyone is as down on the Knicks as they have ever been, I feel\u00a0a word of encouragement is warranted.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nFor a decade and a half, the greatest franchise in professional sports was a laughingstock. For most of the 80\u2019s and the first half of the 90\u2019s, the New York Yankees couldn\u2019t get out of their own way. Their owner, George Steinbrenner, was the most derided man in New York.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nBy the time he left the franchise to his sons, he was arguably the most loved.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nHe stepped back, let really good baseball people make really good baseball decisions, and the rest is history.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThere\u2019s still time.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\nIf you hire the man who delivers a championship to a city starving for success in the sport that courses through its veins, you will forever be appreciated in a way few could possibly fathom. All you have to do is hire the right guy, hand them the keys, and step away. It\u2019s that easy.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nWhat won\u2019t be easy is telling those closest to you that they can\u2019t do their job. But every one of us knows the truth in our heart. You won\u2019t be telling them anything they don\u2019t already know.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nYes, you\u2019ll be letting a few people down. But you\u2019ll be giving hope to millions in the process.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nWe know you can do it. All of New York is counting on you.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nLet\u2019s change the narrative. It\u2019s not too late.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nSincerely,<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nNew York Knicks fans everywhere<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n5. \u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 \u05de\u05ea \u05e2\u05dc \u05d4\u05d2'\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d2'\u05e7\u05e1\u05d5\u05df \u05d4\u05d6\u05d4<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n*
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