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Umbrella · 05-03-2021, 09:46 AM

1955-56 NEW YORK KNICKS

OFF SEASON

I didn’t get an email about it, but I now have 5 years left on my contract, so I guess I was re-signed. In league news, Baltimore folded. I guess signed all those giant free agent contracts with no championships to show for it was their demise. In addition, the Milwaukee Hawks have relocated to St. Louis. I signed Coach Nelson to a 4 year extension. He has done well with not a lot of talent to work with, so I want him to stay. One of our assistants left to become the head coach for Minneapolis.

We pick 5th in the dispersal draft, and there are seven players available. Our old friend Carl Braun was available, but his contract is not a good one. I’ve been working hard to get out of salary cap trouble, so instead I picked PF Earl Lloyd. While his contract isn’t great, it isn’t as bad as Braun’s was. In real life, Lloyd was the first African-American player to appear in an NBA game.

This years rookie class has five or six players who could be special, so with the fifth pick, I am guaranteed at least one of them. To my shock, the #1 player on my board fell to me, and I happily selected SF Maurice Stokes. If you don’t know about him, his story is a tragic one. He was a very good player in real life, winning rookie of the year, and a consistent triple double threat. He played three seasons and was second in rebounds and third in assists during that time. However, in the last game of his third season, he fell and hit his head, getting knocked unconscious. Three days later, after playing in his team’s playoff game, he got sick on the team flight, went into a seizure, and ended up permanently paralyzed. He died at 36. In the second round I selected SG Ed Conlin. I didn’t find any interesting facts about him, but he looks to be a decent scorer, ball handler, and rebounder. In other words, a guy that can do a lot of things, but none of them exceptionally well. Philadelphia took SG Tom Gola with the #1 pick, and I thank them for that.

Syracuse is the only team that is under the cap, so I hope they aren’t looking for a point guard. I want to sign Cousy, then see who is available to sign my minimum one year deal. I have Bird rights to McGuire and Tannenbaum, and I may consider signing them both if they don’t want too much.

Of course, Syracuse offers Cousy a little more than I can, so this isn’t looking good for me. However, after they sign Charlie Share to a big deal, they pull the offer to Cousy. I offer a three year deal at just above the minimum in years 2 and 3. He isn’t happy with the offer, but I will wait him out.

Halfway through the free agency period, Cousy hasn’t budged, so I am starting to get nervous. I offer PG Bill Kenville a minimum deal. Kenville signs, and Cousy says he will only sign for 1 year at that price. I offer a 1 year minimum deal, and after sweating for a few days, he signs.

One of the stars, PF Neil Johnston is still unsigned, so I offer a 1 year min to him, which he reluctantly accepts. Finally, I offer C Al Miksis a 1 year min. He makes me sweat it out, but he finally signs at the end of the free agency period. The team is looking strong, and hopefully I can sign some of these guys to longer deals once Simmons and Fulks contracts are off the books next season.

PRE-SEASON

The media predicts us to finish second behind Syracuse. Our lineup this season will be C-Johnston, PF-Pettit, SF-Stokes, SG-Berce, PG-Cousy, with Miksis, Fulks, and Kenville filling out the rotation. It is really weird to not have Fulks in the starting lineup, but this is the new era New York Knicks. Whatever is in the water in the garden gets Johnston, as he breaks his foot during the pre-season, which will sideline him until December. We go 2-0 with Johnston in the lineup, and 0-4 after his injury. This doesn’t bode well.

REGULAR SEASON

Conlin joins the broken foot brigade the first game of the season. I swear, Bill Walton must be our trainer. I offer a 3 year extension to Cousy and a 1 year max extension to Johnston. After some haggling, I agreed to a 5 year extension to Cousy. I couldn’t reach an agreement with Johnston.

Meanwhile, we were playing terrible basketball. Then we lost Kenville for 2 weeks with a sprained knee late in November. We finished the month 3-8. I can’t believe how bad it is right now.

We play better in December, even though we keep fighting minor injuries to various players. Then we lose Miksis for 2 months to plantar fasciitis. We finish the month at 10-13, which is currently good enough for third place. Johnston wins player of the month.

We start the new year off well, winning the first three games, when both Cousy and Spoelstra get injured. Spoelstra’s is minor, but Cousy will miss a week or two. Seeing as they are the only two point guards on the roster, this is bad news. We limp along with minor injuries all over the place, but get out of January in second place at 19-17. Neil Johnston wins player of the month again, and I wish we could come to an agreement on an extension I can afford. I try one more time offering a five year deal a little under the max, which he finally accepts.

Pettit, Johnston, and Cousy are all selected for the all-star game. Unfortunately, Johnston injures his finger during the game, but it isn’t too serious. Kenville then goes down with a minor wrist injury. Throughout all the lineup changes, we continue to play fairly well, finishing the month at 26-21, second place 5 ½ games behind Syracuse, but only ½ game in front of Boston. Pettit wins player of the month.

Entering March, we are fully healthy for the first time all season, all though the lineup is littered with disgruntled players. We lose Pettit for a week with a jaw injury. Then we lose Cousy to a knee injury, which will knock him out of action for most of the remainder of the regular season. Syracuse starts to struggle a bit, while we and Boston make up ground. March ends with us at 34-27, 3 ½ games behind Syracuse, but still only ½ game in front of Boston.

We had a late season swoon, coupled with some more minor injuries to Fulks and Johnston, which knocked us down to third place. We finished at 38-34.

Cousy loses the assist title this season, but still finishes second. Berce also finishes third in steals.

PLAYOFFS

Both Berce and Kenville were named 1st team all-defense. They were unsung heroes this season. Conlin and Stokes both made 1st team all-rookie. Cousy and Pettit were both all-NBA first team, while Johnston was named to the 2nd team. Dolph Schayes won the MVP for Rochester, and Ken Sears won rookie of the year for Syracuse.

We enter the playoffs with Johnston and Fulks still not 100%. Boston absolutely destroys us 108-75, and we lost Berce in the process to a sprained ankle. Game 2 was a little closer, but not competitive as we lost 112-99. Johnston tried to play through his injury in game 3, and played well, scoring 31 points and grabbing 18 boards, but Vern Mikkelsen hit a shot at the buzzer to beat us 102-101.

Boston went on to dominate in the playoffs, winning their fourth championship.

The lack of success in the playoffs is starting to become an issue. We haven’t advanced in 6 years. However, I think we are set up well. Our stars are signed for a while, and we will have some cap space to maneuver next season. We fought the injury bug hard this season, and if we can get some better luck next season on that front, I think we could maybe break our playoff slump. I’ll have a tough decision to make with Fulks next year. He’s not the player he once was, but letting go the highest scorer in the history of the league will not be easy.

05-03-2021, 09:46 AM	#24
Umbrella High School Varsity Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Back in the desert	1955-56 NEW YORK KNICKS OFF SEASON I didn’t get an email about it, but I now have 5 years left on my contract, so I guess I was re-signed. In league news, Baltimore folded. I guess signed all those giant free agent contracts with no championships to show for it was their demise. In addition, the Milwaukee Hawks have relocated to St. Louis. I signed Coach Nelson to a 4 year extension. He has done well with not a lot of talent to work with, so I want him to stay. One of our assistants left to become the head coach for Minneapolis. We pick 5th in the dispersal draft, and there are seven players available. Our old friend Carl Braun was available, but his contract is not a good one. I’ve been working hard to get out of salary cap trouble, so instead I picked PF Earl Lloyd. While his contract isn’t great, it isn’t as bad as Braun’s was. In real life, Lloyd was the first African-American player to appear in an NBA game. This years rookie class has five or six players who could be special, so with the fifth pick, I am guaranteed at least one of them. To my shock, the #1 player on my board fell to me, and I happily selected SF Maurice Stokes. If you don’t know about him, his story is a tragic one. He was a very good player in real life, winning rookie of the year, and a consistent triple double threat. He played three seasons and was second in rebounds and third in assists during that time. However, in the last game of his third season, he fell and hit his head, getting knocked unconscious. Three days later, after playing in his team’s playoff game, he got sick on the team flight, went into a seizure, and ended up permanently paralyzed. He died at 36. In the second round I selected SG Ed Conlin. I didn’t find any interesting facts about him, but he looks to be a decent scorer, ball handler, and rebounder. In other words, a guy that can do a lot of things, but none of them exceptionally well. Philadelphia took SG Tom Gola with the #1 pick, and I thank them for that. Syracuse is the only team that is under the cap, so I hope they aren’t looking for a point guard. I want to sign Cousy, then see who is available to sign my minimum one year deal. I have Bird rights to McGuire and Tannenbaum, and I may consider signing them both if they don’t want too much. Of course, Syracuse offers Cousy a little more than I can, so this isn’t looking good for me. However, after they sign Charlie Share to a big deal, they pull the offer to Cousy. I offer a three year deal at just above the minimum in years 2 and 3. He isn’t happy with the offer, but I will wait him out. Halfway through the free agency period, Cousy hasn’t budged, so I am starting to get nervous. I offer PG Bill Kenville a minimum deal. Kenville signs, and Cousy says he will only sign for 1 year at that price. I offer a 1 year minimum deal, and after sweating for a few days, he signs. One of the stars, PF Neil Johnston is still unsigned, so I offer a 1 year min to him, which he reluctantly accepts. Finally, I offer C Al Miksis a 1 year min. He makes me sweat it out, but he finally signs at the end of the free agency period. The team is looking strong, and hopefully I can sign some of these guys to longer deals once Simmons and Fulks contracts are off the books next season. PRE-SEASON The media predicts us to finish second behind Syracuse. Our lineup this season will be C-Johnston, PF-Pettit, SF-Stokes, SG-Berce, PG-Cousy, with Miksis, Fulks, and Kenville filling out the rotation. It is really weird to not have Fulks in the starting lineup, but this is the new era New York Knicks. Whatever is in the water in the garden gets Johnston, as he breaks his foot during the pre-season, which will sideline him until December. We go 2-0 with Johnston in the lineup, and 0-4 after his injury. This doesn’t bode well. REGULAR SEASON Conlin joins the broken foot brigade the first game of the season. I swear, Bill Walton must be our trainer. I offer a 3 year extension to Cousy and a 1 year max extension to Johnston. After some haggling, I agreed to a 5 year extension to Cousy. I couldn’t reach an agreement with Johnston. Meanwhile, we were playing terrible basketball. Then we lost Kenville for 2 weeks with a sprained knee late in November. We finished the month 3-8. I can’t believe how bad it is right now. We play better in December, even though we keep fighting minor injuries to various players. Then we lose Miksis for 2 months to plantar fasciitis. We finish the month at 10-13, which is currently good enough for third place. Johnston wins player of the month. We start the new year off well, winning the first three games, when both Cousy and Spoelstra get injured. Spoelstra’s is minor, but Cousy will miss a week or two. Seeing as they are the only two point guards on the roster, this is bad news. We limp along with minor injuries all over the place, but get out of January in second place at 19-17. Neil Johnston wins player of the month again, and I wish we could come to an agreement on an extension I can afford. I try one more time offering a five year deal a little under the max, which he finally accepts. Pettit, Johnston, and Cousy are all selected for the all-star game. Unfortunately, Johnston injures his finger during the game, but it isn’t too serious. Kenville then goes down with a minor wrist injury. Throughout all the lineup changes, we continue to play fairly well, finishing the month at 26-21, second place 5 ½ games behind Syracuse, but only ½ game in front of Boston. Pettit wins player of the month. Entering March, we are fully healthy for the first time all season, all though the lineup is littered with disgruntled players. We lose Pettit for a week with a jaw injury. Then we lose Cousy to a knee injury, which will knock him out of action for most of the remainder of the regular season. Syracuse starts to struggle a bit, while we and Boston make up ground. March ends with us at 34-27, 3 ½ games behind Syracuse, but still only ½ game in front of Boston. We had a late season swoon, coupled with some more minor injuries to Fulks and Johnston, which knocked us down to third place. We finished at 38-34. Cousy loses the assist title this season, but still finishes second. Berce also finishes third in steals. PLAYOFFS Both Berce and Kenville were named 1st team all-defense. They were unsung heroes this season. Conlin and Stokes both made 1st team all-rookie. Cousy and Pettit were both all-NBA first team, while Johnston was named to the 2nd team. Dolph Schayes won the MVP for Rochester, and Ken Sears won rookie of the year for Syracuse. We enter the playoffs with Johnston and Fulks still not 100%. Boston absolutely destroys us 108-75, and we lost Berce in the process to a sprained ankle. Game 2 was a little closer, but not competitive as we lost 112-99. Johnston tried to play through his injury in game 3, and played well, scoring 31 points and grabbing 18 boards, but Vern Mikkelsen hit a shot at the buzzer to beat us 102-101. Boston went on to dominate in the playoffs, winning their fourth championship. The lack of success in the playoffs is starting to become an issue. We haven’t advanced in 6 years. However, I think we are set up well. Our stars are signed for a while, and we will have some cap space to maneuver next season. We fought the injury bug hard this season, and if we can get some better luck next season on that front, I think we could maybe break our playoff slump. I’ll have a tough decision to make with Fulks next year. He’s not the player he once was, but letting go the highest scorer in the history of the league will not be easy.