Getty Maurice Harkless, at left, a Knick for now
If you want to know about the state of the New York Knicks, ask Daniel Artest, brother of former Knick Metta World Peace.
“The Knicks are a dumpster fire and they’re going to be a dumpster fire for a long time man,” Daniel Artest told me on today’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
“They’ve got to get rid of the owner. They got to redo the whole team. But you know they’re not going to get rid of the owners. The owners are making so much money right now man. Even with this entire of the Knicks being horrible for the last 20 years, they make the most money. It’s like how they sell drugs in the neighborhood – and that’s my analogy on the Knicks…I look at James Dolan as Pablo Escobar and stuff, and I look at the Knicks as the stepped on product, and the Knicks fans are the fiends that want to get that second hit again – the first hit happened in 1994 when they went to the Finals. Then the surprisingly second hit came when they got their other ‘high’ during the Finals in ’99 when they lost to my Spurs, and then they had a little smidge of it in 2013 when that was the last time the Knicks been to the playoffs, but other than that, it was just crazy. The Knicks fans got to change their mindset on supporting the Knicks. Hit them in the pockets man, so this team can make the right changes. James Dolan is always going to be Dolan. He’s always going to mettle in affairs even though he says that he doesn’t but he does and I had my issues with the Knicks when my brother played with them and stuff; their PR people are always in the way and so, it’s just crazy over there man.”
Yikes.
A Queens, New York native, Daniel Artest had a successful 12-year professional basketball playing in Germany, Greece, China and various pro basketball leagues in the United States. Artest currently hosts The Daniel Artest Podcast, which is available on all podcast streaming platforms,
He grew up a Knicks fan and he said he knows what key ingredients are missing to make a complete meal and he says New York’s player development coaches are an issue. He’s got his eyes on former Knicks big man, Kristaps Porzingis and current Knick, RJ Barrett as key examples.
“I don’t see the players getting better,” he tells Scoop B Radio.
“Like, you know you see Porzingis and you can see the improvement in his game since he got to Dallas. And you can definitely see that development in his game. I think that it’s definitely the player development and we will see once next year starts and we’ll see how RJ Barrett, you know how much better did he get. That’s what I feel like; it’s just the player development. Because they want these stars to come and they don’t focus on the rookies. They just throw them out there and you don’t even hear the coaches criticizing the rookies like, ‘Hey you need to play better. You shot this much’. You know what I’m sayin’? They don’t put any pressure on the player to get better.”