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Umbrella · 04-29-2021, 06:53 PM

1951-52 NEW YORK KNICKS

OFFSEASON

More instability for the league as Washington folds, taking the league down to 10 teams. Washington was pretty bad so I’m not expecting much in the dispersal draft. There were only nine players available, and we picked 9th, so I got C Jack Hewson by default. He’s played a combined 10 minutes in the last three seasons, so he will be a non-factor. Unfortunately, he still has two years left on his contract, and it isn’t a great contract at that.

We pick 9th in the rookie draft. It is an incredibly weak draft, with only 2 players worth anything. I picked PG Al McGuire in the first round. Yes, he is the same guy who coached Marquette and became an announcer. In the second round, I selected SG Ray Ragelis. In real life, he only played one season before joining the military. C Charlie Share was taken #1 overall by Syracuse.

In free agency, I wanted to sign Tannenbaum back, as well as another SF for depth. I have no cap room, so I will use my Bird rights for Tannenbaum, and sign someone to a min contract. Tannenbaum signed a two year deal with us. I then signed SF Dillard Crocker to a one year min deal. Crocker didn’t play much last season, but was a starter for Minneapolis the previous two seasons. The biggest free agency news wasn’t anyone signed, but the fact that Red Rocha is unsigned. Everyone is over the cap, and I guess he wasn’t willing to play for the minimum. In addition, I signed Coach Nelson to a four year extension.

PRE-SEASON

We were picked to finish third, with Boston being the favorite. Our lineup this season will be C-Simmons, PF-Braun, SF-Fulks, SG-Tannenbaum, PG-McGuire, with Boykoff and Zaslofsky filling out the rotation. I didn’t think that highly of McGuire, but I guess Nelson feels he’s the best guy to run the team this year. After some tough thoughts, I decided to decline the team option for Lavoy. We have a lot of depth at center, and I don’t think he fits into my plans. We went 6-0 in pre-season, so maybe this team will be able to compete with Boston.

REGULAR SEASON

For the second straight year, the schedulers are not kind to us, as 9 of the first 11 games are on the road. Like last year, our road record is a problem, and we finish November with a 4-7 record, but that is still good enough for third place.

Midway through December, Tannenbaum gets a stress fracture which will sideline him for about 5-6 weeks. Three games later, Simmons breaks his leg. He may be back in time for the playoffs, but that is a big loss for us. This team is a middling team right now, and even though Fulks wins player of the month, we finish December at 10-13, which is only good enough for fourth place.

The injury bug continues to bite us, as we lose Fulks in the first week of January with a sprained ankle, which will put him out for about a month. Down three starters with a bit of ground to make up is not encouraging. We go 1-6 with Fulks out of the lineup. Both Fulks and Tannenbaum get healthy at the end of the month, but the damage has been done. We finish January at 13-21, which is fourth place, 5 ½ games out of a playoff spot.

Two games into February, Fulks gets a major concussion, which will probably finish his season. He could be back for the playoffs, but that is looking like a pipe dream at this point. However, at this point in the season, we’ve played 24 road games with only 12 home games, so the schedule should get better at some point. Tannenbaum and Braun both make the all star game. I wonder if Fulks didn’t make it because I have him on the injured list. Towards the end of February, I lose Crocker for the season with a broken foot as well. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but with the injuries, he was part of the normal rotation. We finish February 16-28 as our nightmare season goes on.

We continue to struggle into March, as we have a franchise record nine game losing streak. Not much to say about the rest of the month. We continue losing, finishing at 20-37.

Fulks is eligible to come off the injured list early in April. However, we have been officially eliminated from the playoffs at this point. The upcoming draft is incredibly weak, with only 2 players being worth anything. Since we currently sit at the second pick, I’m in no hurry to activate him until he’s 100% healthy. To taunt me further, the team decides to play well in April, finishing with a record of 27-39, which will give us the #4 pick in the upcoming draft.

Simmons led the league in rebounding average, but that's a bit misleading as he only played in 20 games.

PLAYOFFS

Tannenbaum was named second team all defense. McGuire was all rookie second team. Braun made second team all NBA. Ed Macauley from Milwaukee won MVP, and Neil Johnston from Minneapolis won rookie of the year. For the first time we were not in the playoffs. Boston had a rough go, but ended up winning the championship over Milwaukee.

We have everyone of significance returning next year, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Injuries were a major factor this year, but finishing as poorly as we did doesn’t bode well for next season.

04-29-2021, 06:53 PM	#19
Umbrella High School Varsity Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Back in the desert	1951-52 NEW YORK KNICKS OFFSEASON More instability for the league as Washington folds, taking the league down to 10 teams. Washington was pretty bad so I’m not expecting much in the dispersal draft. There were only nine players available, and we picked 9th, so I got C Jack Hewson by default. He’s played a combined 10 minutes in the last three seasons, so he will be a non-factor. Unfortunately, he still has two years left on his contract, and it isn’t a great contract at that. We pick 9th in the rookie draft. It is an incredibly weak draft, with only 2 players worth anything. I picked PG Al McGuire in the first round. Yes, he is the same guy who coached Marquette and became an announcer. In the second round, I selected SG Ray Ragelis. In real life, he only played one season before joining the military. C Charlie Share was taken #1 overall by Syracuse. In free agency, I wanted to sign Tannenbaum back, as well as another SF for depth. I have no cap room, so I will use my Bird rights for Tannenbaum, and sign someone to a min contract. Tannenbaum signed a two year deal with us. I then signed SF Dillard Crocker to a one year min deal. Crocker didn’t play much last season, but was a starter for Minneapolis the previous two seasons. The biggest free agency news wasn’t anyone signed, but the fact that Red Rocha is unsigned. Everyone is over the cap, and I guess he wasn’t willing to play for the minimum. In addition, I signed Coach Nelson to a four year extension. PRE-SEASON We were picked to finish third, with Boston being the favorite. Our lineup this season will be C-Simmons, PF-Braun, SF-Fulks, SG-Tannenbaum, PG-McGuire, with Boykoff and Zaslofsky filling out the rotation. I didn’t think that highly of McGuire, but I guess Nelson feels he’s the best guy to run the team this year. After some tough thoughts, I decided to decline the team option for Lavoy. We have a lot of depth at center, and I don’t think he fits into my plans. We went 6-0 in pre-season, so maybe this team will be able to compete with Boston. REGULAR SEASON For the second straight year, the schedulers are not kind to us, as 9 of the first 11 games are on the road. Like last year, our road record is a problem, and we finish November with a 4-7 record, but that is still good enough for third place. Midway through December, Tannenbaum gets a stress fracture which will sideline him for about 5-6 weeks. Three games later, Simmons breaks his leg. He may be back in time for the playoffs, but that is a big loss for us. This team is a middling team right now, and even though Fulks wins player of the month, we finish December at 10-13, which is only good enough for fourth place. The injury bug continues to bite us, as we lose Fulks in the first week of January with a sprained ankle, which will put him out for about a month. Down three starters with a bit of ground to make up is not encouraging. We go 1-6 with Fulks out of the lineup. Both Fulks and Tannenbaum get healthy at the end of the month, but the damage has been done. We finish January at 13-21, which is fourth place, 5 ½ games out of a playoff spot. Two games into February, Fulks gets a major concussion, which will probably finish his season. He could be back for the playoffs, but that is looking like a pipe dream at this point. However, at this point in the season, we’ve played 24 road games with only 12 home games, so the schedule should get better at some point. Tannenbaum and Braun both make the all star game. I wonder if Fulks didn’t make it because I have him on the injured list. Towards the end of February, I lose Crocker for the season with a broken foot as well. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal, but with the injuries, he was part of the normal rotation. We finish February 16-28 as our nightmare season goes on. We continue to struggle into March, as we have a franchise record nine game losing streak. Not much to say about the rest of the month. We continue losing, finishing at 20-37. Fulks is eligible to come off the injured list early in April. However, we have been officially eliminated from the playoffs at this point. The upcoming draft is incredibly weak, with only 2 players being worth anything. Since we currently sit at the second pick, I’m in no hurry to activate him until he’s 100% healthy. To taunt me further, the team decides to play well in April, finishing with a record of 27-39, which will give us the #4 pick in the upcoming draft. Simmons led the league in rebounding average, but that's a bit misleading as he only played in 20 games. PLAYOFFS Tannenbaum was named second team all defense. McGuire was all rookie second team. Braun made second team all NBA. Ed Macauley from Milwaukee won MVP, and Neil Johnston from Minneapolis won rookie of the year. For the first time we were not in the playoffs. Boston had a rough go, but ended up winning the championship over Milwaukee. We have everyone of significance returning next year, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Injuries were a major factor this year, but finishing as poorly as we did doesn’t bode well for next season.