I am a New York Knicks fan. Yes, I know, it sucks to be me. But what do you want me to do? They’re my team and I’m stuck with them.
I understand they have terrible ownership, but short of provoking James Dolan to make racist comments on tape we’re stuck with him.
As a Knicks fan it hasn’t been a great decade and a half. Patrick Ewing left in 2000, though of course he was really only there to hold the knee strapping up from about 1997.
The last good Knicks team was murdered by Reggie Miller in the mid-90s. Since then the Knicks have been a trail of broken dreams, rancour and oh so many disastrous trades.
Lord have mercy on those trades. Eddy Curry, Steve Francis and Andréa Bargnani I’m looking in your direction.
Many seasons begin with promise and somehow the basketball gods keep finding new ways to tear that promise to pieces.
With all that in mind, what is an Australian Knicks fan to do with recent rumours that the Knicks are interested in Australia’s own Patty Mills? Stories from the US suggest that they’re taking a long look at Mills as a potential starter to replace the oversized and underwhelming Raymond Felton.
Clearly as an Australian, and moreover a Canberran, I want Patty to do well. Watching his run in the playoffs this year was amazing for any Australian basketball fan.
Mills’ team-first attitude and carefree play seemed like the very best of Australian sporting culture. When Jeff van Gundy said in commentary “Give me Patty Mills anywhere, anytime” it honestly felt like he was talking about all Australians.
So I’m undoubtedly a Patty Mills fan but does that mean I should want him on my team? Maybe.
The thing is the Knicks aren’t just any team and New York fans aren’t like other fans. And I don’t mean either of those things in a positive sense.
Knicks fans are passionate but much like English cricket fans they’ll turn on their team in mere moments when things go awry. Perhaps Mills’ sheer Australian-ness would endear him to the locals. Certainly his towel waving antics would be a hit.
But have three bad shooting nights in a row and you’re fair game in New York. Does Mills have the stomach for that?
More importantly than Mills’ temperament though is whether he is actually ready for a starting role on a team with the expectations that the Knicks come with.
Let’s be honest, as exciting as it was to see Patty dropping three-bombs on a routed Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals is there really evidence to suggest that Mills is up to starters minutes?
For all the hype in the Australian media Mills only played about 15 minutes per game for the Spurs during the NBA Playoffs, during which he scored 7.3 points per game.
Fine numbers for a role player, but how would he fare against opposition starters rather than fellow reserves?
Finally there is the fact that in San Antonio Mills was playing for one the NBA’s greatest ever coaches and a man famed for getting the very best out of his bench players.
So it’s not unreasonable to question just how effective Mills would be in an expanded role anywhere, let alone the pressure cooker that is Madison Square Garden. On a team with unrealistic high expectations, with a rookie head coach plus a rookie general manager.
So on the one hand it would be pretty cool to actually have one of the very few Aussies in the competition playing for my team. Just for starters it would give me an excuse to buy a sweet new Knicks jersey.
But on the other hand a long history of misery as a Knicks fan leads me to the conclusion that not only would it not work out for Patty in New York, but I’m pretty sure playing there would somehow end up ruining his career.
So should I root for the Knicks to sign Patty Mills or not?
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