The Athletic Hockey Show - Introducing Shattered: The Athletic's new narrative series on the New York Knicks

Episode Date: April 6, 2021

We are excited to announce The Athletic's new podcast series - Shattered: Hope, Heartbreak and the New York Knicks. Hosted by hip-hop legend Chuck D, the series dives deep on the past 20 years of the Knicks. Shattered reveals never-heard-before stories about the Knicks, team owner James Dolan and the NBA, with interviews from dozens of voices including franchise legend Patrick Ewing.This is the first 5 minutes of episode one - a look at how the 90's Knicks team broke apart. To listen to the rest click this link or search Shattered wherever you get your podcasts. A new episode of Shattered will be released every Tuesday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, this is Ian Mendez from the Athletic Hockey Show. Excited to share with you a new podcast from The Athletic. It's called Shattered, Hope, Heartbreak, and the New York Knicks. Shattered is a documentary-style podcast series in the past 20 years of the Nix. Hosted by hip-hop legend Chuck D. The series tells all the wild crazy stories from the franchise under team owner James Dolan. Here now are the first five minutes of episode one. To listen to more, search Shattered wherever you get your podcasts.

You know, I think a lot of my adult life has been built around never letting the Knicks hurt me like that again. If they suck, they suck. If Jim Dolan does something absolutely idiotic, he did it again. Of course he did. The saddest moment as a Knicks fan was undoubtedly a legend. Charles Oakley. They dragged him out of there like he was a piece of garbage. And that was the first time where I started to think, like, this isn't the team that I grew up loving.

This isn't worth it. Dolan's ownership, I mean, it's been 20 years of chaos and mayhem. Inept, does that work? Clown show? Embarrassment. Sad, pathetic. There's a generation of fans that have become very apathetic. You know what I'm saying?

It's like the cool thing right now is not the Knicks. Yes, I believe New York City is the mecca of basketball. I didn't know how much we could continue to include the Knicks necessarily in that conversation because how long do you get to live on what a team used to be? You're really going to bring a Pat Riley to two New York Knicks fans. Listen, that's the last time. You all were good. You should say thank you.

Thank you. With Dolan as the owner, many players just don't want to play for him. I think we're going to have a very successful offseason when it comes to free agents. I say New York is where legends go to die. That can't all be blamed on James Dolan, but it certainly has happened under his watch. Sell the team. James Dolan, he has incredibly thin skin and the emotional maturity of a young child. With Dolan, it felt like babysitting.

It felt like everybody was aware that there was this man-child that had reckless emotional reactions to things. They've been fucked up for 20 years. 20 fucking years. That's crazy to say. Look, I know this will sound crazy to people, but I'll believe it until the day I die. The New York Knicks organization has pissed off the basketball gods one too many times. They are feeling the effects of that now. I'm Chuck D

and The Athletic Presents Shattered Hope heartbreak in the New York Knicks. This series will tell the story of the past 20 years of the Knicks from the moment James Dolan took control of the franchise until now. From all the moments of hope, Marbury, Carmelo,

Amare, Linsanity, Chris Staps, to why the team has been unable to sustain success. To understand where the Knicks are today, we have to understand where they've been. On this episode of Shattered, we'll look back at the last truly great era of the Knicks, the snarling aggressive and entertaining 90s nix, led by franchise legend Patrick Ewing.

Sometimes you don't realize what you happen until it's gone. Once I left, then they realize how good I was for them. What made those teams special allowed them to sustain success over an entire decade, and we'll discuss what caused the end of the 90s Nix, and why things haven't been the same since. This is shattered. Episode 1, the collapse of the 90s Nix. We knew that we represented the blue-collar, you know, hard-haired city.

You know, New York has both. It has the flair and the glit and the glamour, but it also has people who makes the city cold. We represented them extremely well. Whatever made the 90s NIC special came from their star player Patrick Yves. Ewing. The expectation on the former number one overall pick were massive. When Ewing was in high school in Massachusetts, his high school coach Mike Jarvis said that Ewing was going to be like Bill

Russell, the greatest winner in NBA history, except Ewing would be better offensively. And the funny thing is, Mike Jarvis was kind of right. Ewing was a modern day version of Russell with a better offensive game. He was a forceful, game-changing presence on defense. And on offense, it was Ewing's soft-toucher 18-foot jumper that set them apart for most other centers of his generation. Despite all this, the basketball smarts combined with the physical gifts, Ewing and his Knicks' teammates were underdogs because they played in the same era as Michael Jordan. But it was that underdog quality that connected Ewing's Knicks with fans in an almost spiritual way. They were always just like we were ready for those big games, they were ready as well.

You know, they was always at a fever pitch. They were there supporting us, cheering us at times, but it was great. In 1985, the same year Ewing was drafted number one overall, Jeff Van Gundy was just starting his head coaching career at McQuade Jesuit High School in Rochester, New York. Just a decade later, he'd be coaching Ewing in the world's most famous arena, leading the New York Knicks.

People always say, like, New York loves stars. When people say that, like, it's like, they only love stars. I don't agree with that. I think they love anybody that gives great effort and has, you know, passion. That's why I've never believed it's just a, it's just a city that appreciate stars. Like, they appreciate hard playing good basketball. That was the first five minutes of episode one of Shattered, the athletics new podcast series on the past 20 years of the Knicks. New episodes come out every Tuesday. To listen to the rest of episode one, search Shattered.

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