NBA PM: Ranking the 70 Greatest Knicks of All-Time (Part 1)

The 2016-17 season marks the 70th anniversary of the New York Knickerbockers franchise. To commemorate seven decades of Knicks basketball, Tommy Beer of Basketball Insiders, in a two-part series, has ranked the 70 greatest Knicks of all time. Here, we cover the first half of these rankings:

70. Jeremy Lin
Lin played fewer than 1,000 minutes, appearing in just 35 games, including only 25 starts, in his entire Knicks career. Nonetheless, few players have matched his impact, both on and off the court. “Linsanity” not only took over New York City in the winter of 2012, but it also became an international phenomenon. During the peak of Linsanity, a ten game stretch in February, Lin averaged 24.6 points, 9.2 assists and 2.4 steals. He scored a combined total 136 points in his first five starts, which is the highest point total in the first five starts of any player’s career since the NBA and ABA merged in 1976. Only three other players had scored more than 100 points: Shaquille O’Neal (129), Michael Jordan (116) and Allen Iverson (107). Yes, the flame didn’t last long, but it sure was fun to watch it burn while it lasted.Another tidbit: There are only two players in Knicks history who have appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated multiple times: Patrick Ewing and Jeremy Lin.

69. Len Chappell
Chappell played three years in New York. His first season, 1963-64, was his best. Chappell was named to the All-Star team that year, averaging 17.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest.

68. Chris Childs
Childs was a starter on the 1996-97 squad, and a valuable reserve the following three seasons. He may be best known (and most loved) for clocking Kobe Bryant.

67. Xavier McDaniel
He only played one full season with the Knicks, but it would still feel wrong not including him on this list. The X-Man averaged 13.7 points and 5.6 boards in 1991-92 and was phenomenal in the postseason that year as he averaged 18.8 points and 7.2 rebounds. He earns bonus points for bullying MJ and Scottie.

66. Dean Meminger
Dean the Dream was a playground legend in NYC before ever suiting up as a professional. He played four seasons with the Knicks and was a reliable contributor off the bench during the team’s title run in 1973. During the postseason that year, Meminger played in all 17 games, making 31 of 56 field-goal attempts — good for a team-leading 55.4 shooting percentage.

65. Kenny Walker
After starring at the University of Kentucky, Walker was selected with the fifth pick in the 1986 NBA draft. He ended up playing for five coaches in his five years with the Knicks. Sky Walker won the 1989 Slam Dunk Contest. He wasn’t even supposed to appear in the contest, but was asked to be a last-minute replacement and agreed. Competing in the memory of his father, who had just passed away a few days earlier, he took home the title.

64. Raymond Felton
Felton had two separate stints with the Knicks. In total, he started 189 games and averaged 13.4 points and 6.6 assists.

63. Nate Robinson
Always entertaining, Robinson was one of the greatest all-around athletes to ever wear the orange and blue. Nate was an All-American in high school in both football and basketball. He won the NBA Slam Dunk contest three times.

62. Dave Stallworth
“Dave the Rave” had two solid seasons in New York before suffering a heart attack in 1967, which sidelined him for two years. He rejoined the team in 1969-70 and was a valuable contributor off the bench. When Willis Reed was injured early in Game 5 of the 1970 NBA Finals, Stallworth had the unenviable task of trying to stop Wilt Chamberlain. But Stallworth held his own, and the Knicks managed to secure the incredibly important victory.

61. Eddy Curry
Unfortunately, due to the way his career ended, Curry is remembered as a disappointing underachiever. However, he had some productive seasons in NYC. From 2005 through 2008, Curry averaged 15.7 points and six rebounds per game. In December of 2006, he averaged 21.6 points and 7.9 rebounds. How about this factoid: Over the last 35 years, only three Knicks have scored at least 20 points and grabbed five rebounds in 10 or more consecutive games: Patrick Ewing, Amar’e Stoudemire and … Eddy Curry.

60. Tom Gola
Played four years for the Knicks and made the All-Star team in both the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons. In 1968, Gola was elected to the Pennsylvania State House. He was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 26, 1976.

59. Rory Sparrow
Sparrow established himself as a starting shooting guard for the Knicks in 1983-84 and averaged 10.4 points and 6.8 assists in the regular season, and then contributed 11.2 points per game in the playoffs. He tallied a career-high 7.1 per assists per game the following season.

58. Howard Komives
Komives was named to the NBA’s all-rookie team as a Knick in 1965 and had his best professional season in 1966-67, when he averaged 15.7 points and 6.2 assists. He was also part of the package NY sent to Detroit to acquire Dave DeBusschere.

57. Louis Orr
Orr played six seasons in New York, qualifying for the postseason three times. In 1984-85, he posted career-highs in points (12.7 ppg) and rebounds (4.9 rpg).

56. Hubert Davis
Yes, Scottie Pippen did foul him. Hue Hollins made the correct call. Let’s move on.

55. Vince Boryla
Boryla played five seasons for the New York Knicks in the 1950s and averaged 11.2 points. New York went to the NBA finals in 1952 and 1953, losing both times to George Mikan and the Lakers. At age 28, after he had retired as a player, Boryla later took over as the Knicks coach for three seasons.

54. Trent Tucker
How many guys can claim they have a rule named after them? Tucker’s three-pointer to beat the Bulls with one-tenth of a second remaining would force the NBA to mandate that the game clock and shot clock must show at least three-tenths of a second for a player to secure possession of the ball to attempt a field goal. Among all Knicks, Tucker ranks seventh in career games played and ninth in three-point percentage (40.9).

53. Kristaps Porzingis
Figuring out where to place Porzingis on this list is extremely difficult, considering he has played only 130 games in his career thus far. However, he has already posted some eye-popping numbers and infused much-needed hope into a depressed fanbase. Believe it or not, Porzingis already ranks eighth in franchise history in blocked shots! Porzingis also has knocked down at least three three-pointers and blocked six shots in the same game three times in his young career. No other player in Knicks franchise history has done that even once.

52. Johnny Newman
Newman was a starter on a successful Knicks teams. New York went to the playoffs in each of his three seasons in NYC, advancing to the second-round twice. However, that was one of the very few stops in his NBA career in which he was a part of a winning team. Newman lost 664 games over the course of his 16-year NBA career, which are the most losses by an individual player in the history of professional basketball.

51. Charles Smith
He’d rank higher if not for the infamous final moments of Game 5 of the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals.

50. Marvin Webster
Webster gets bonus points for having the coolest nickname on the list: The Human Eraser. He blocked 542 shots over six seasons as a Knick, the third most in franchise history.

49. Dick Van Arsdale
Van Arsdale was selected by the ‘Bockers in the second-round of the 1965 NBA draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1966, along with his identical twin brother Tom Van Arsdale. Dick averaged 12.8 points and 5.7 rebounds in his three seasons as a Knick.

48. Toby Knight
Knight played four seasons in New York. In 1979-80, he posted career-highs in points (19.1), steals (1.4) and blocks (1.1), while shooting over 52 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the charity stripe.

47. Jamal Crawford
Crawford was (and still is) an incredibly gifted scorer. He appeared in a total of 299 games for the Knicks, averaging 17.6 points and 4.4 assists. Crawford would later find his groove coming off the bench in subsequent NBA stops. He won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2010, 2014 and 2016, becoming the first three-time winner of the award in NBA history.

46. Wilson Chandler
Chandler is the only player in franchise history with at least 200 blocks and at least 200 made three-pointers. (And they used to play the “Willllsssssooooonnnn” sound effect from the movie “Cast Away” when he scored at MSG.)

45. Max Zaslofsky
Zaslofsky helped lead the Knicks to two consecutive NBA Finals in 1950-51 and 1951-52. He was named to the All-Star team in the 1951-52 season and he led New York in scoring with 14.1 points per game (13th in the league).

44. Bud Palmer
Palmer is widely credited with popularizing the jump shot in the late 1940s. He was the Knicks first captain and their first leading scorer. Palmer played three seasons with the Knicks, averaging 11.7 points per contest. He increased his scoring to 14.4 points in 14 playoff games.

43. Ray Felix
Felix spent six seasons in New York, from 1955 through 1960. He averaged 12 points and 9.1 rebounds as a Knick.

42. Derek Harper
One could make a very strong argument that Derek Harper would have been named MVP of the 1994 NBA Finals had Hakeem Olajuwon not gotten a fingertip on John Starks’ three-point attempt in the closing seconds of Game 6. Harper averaged 16.4 points, six assists and 2.4 steals in that series. He also hit a ton of big shots and played spectacular defense, locking up Kenny Smith.

41. Cazzie Russell
Few players arrived in New York with higher expectations than Cazzie Russell. The Knicks selected Russell with the first overall pick in the 1966 draft after a standout career at the University of Michigan. However, Cazzie never quite lived up to the hype, averaging a solid, if unspectacular, 13.3 points and 3.7 rebounds during his five seasons as a Knick.

40. David Lee
Not much was expected of Lee after the Knicks took him with the last pick in the first-round of 2005 draft. However, Lee would go on to post some incredible stats during his five seasons in New York. In his final year, 2009-10, Lee averaged 20.2 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He’s one of only four Knicks to average at least 20/11/3 over a full season. The other three are Ewing, McAdoo and Bellamy. Lee’s stats benefited greatly from playing in Mike D’Antoni’s high-octane offense.

39. Gerald Wilkins
Which is a worse fate: Sisyphus being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill for all of eternity, or being tasked with guarding a young Michael Jordan in his prime?

38. Spencer Haywood
Compared to his days as a superstar in Seattle, Haywood’s numbers in New York are not nearly as impressive. Nonetheless, he still averaged 17.1 points and 8.6 rebounds during his four-year stint with the Knicks. Also, he enjoyed his time in NYC. According to Haywood’s bio on NBA.com: “In the Big Apple he led the life of a star. He married glamorous fashion model Iman, and the celebrity couple were regulars on the social scene.”

37. Charlie Ward
Ward, who won the Heisman Trophy and a national championship for Florida State in 1993, appeared in 580 games over 10 seasons in New York. That’s the most by any player since Patrick Ewing arrived. He was a gritty, steady point guard for some very good Knicks teams. He ranks fifth in franchise history in made three-pointers, fifth in steals and seventh in assists. Amazingly, Ward is the last Knick draftee to sign a multi-year contract extension after his rookie deal expired.

36. Phil Jackson
Action Jackson earned NBA All-Rookie Team honors in 1967-68, along with two other Knicks: Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley. He was a key contributor on the 1972-73 championship squad, averaging 8.1 ppg and 4.3 rpg in 17.4 minutes. The following season, 1973-74, Phil averaged a career-high 11.1 points. He ranks fifth on the all-time Knicks career list in games played. As you may have heard, he’s done some other stuff in the NBA since retiring as a player.

35. Kenny Sears
Drafted in 1955, Sears led the Knicks twice in scoring. He poured in 18.6 points per game in 1957-58 and a averaged a career-high 21 in 1958-59. Sears also led the league in field goal percentage in back-to-back seasons, 1958-59 (.490) and 1959-60 (.477). He made two All-Star teams.

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Be sure to stop by later this week when we will release the rankings for the top-35 Knicks of all-time.