It was exactly 30 years ago when another group of Knicks gathered together for the first time, elsewhere in Westchester County, and talked about the burdens of expectation. Back then, it was SUNY-Purchase. This time, it was the MSG Training Center in Tarrytown.
Back then, there was a new boss in charge, too. That was Don Nelson. He was appealing to Knicks brass because his approach was diametrically opposite from the man who’d preceded him, Pat Riley.
“I think sometimes it’s good for players to hear a different voice,” Nelson said in September 1995, the last time a Knicks team entered a season fostering reasonable hope of competing for a championship. “This team has knocked on the door for a couple of years now. It’s my job to help get us through that door.”
We know how that all turned out. We know that when Michael Jordan returned that season as a full-time basketball player, he would display nary a hint of rust, and the Bulls would win 72 games and look better than they’d ever looked. We know that Nelson failed miserably at his stated intention, alienated most of his stars, lasted only 59 games.
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