FanPost

An Open Letter to You Tankers...

Go take that nonsense somewhere else. The following is not a knee jerk reaction to the unfair word 'tank' -- I am assuming the best and most well thought out intentions from you tankers. I am going to present to you several things everybody needs to realize about the Knicks, but you's in particular. Before you start running to basketball reference and your advanced numerical labels for analog actions, read and remind yourself of each of these points:

LOSING DOES NOT FUCKING STAND IN NEW YORK CITY

This is not some small market team that nobody wants to come play for. Everybody always wants to come here as long as we are not embarrassingly bad. There are many people on this site that have watched more or less every Knicks game for decades. It is important to realize that different people grew up on different Knicks teams. All the more reason to pass along the fucking memo that we ALWAYS compete for the playoffs, every season, no matter what the predictions are. We're hoping Phil J is the first person who can do this responsibly, but even in the most dire situations our lowest possible goal is to sneak into the playoffs and then make some magic happen.

• WE HAD OUR CHANCE TO TANK. WE BLEW IT.

Shittiness can last one year maximum here. Last season our conference was full of teams actually trying to tank, and one of them actually beat us out for the final playoff spot (oh yeah and that team played Spurs style offense...) Our record was far worse than our team was, yet we lost out on the playoffs on a year when we didn't even have a draft pick. You know what, it wasn't even that high of a pick anyway so I'm over it. We can't even tank properly, and you clowns want to try it again?

• I KNOW YOU LOVE COLE ALDRICH, THE SUMMERKNICKS, AND JEREMY LIN, BUT SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT.

We need to be thinking playoff basketball. Smack yourself when you say you rather have Jeremy Lin and a bunch of cap space on the court than Carmelo Anthony...SHAME ON YOU. I'd rather have Coach Fish on the squad next year than Jeremy Lin -- though I appreciate what he did that month. Funny how nobody gives any props to coach D'Antoni for that month when players actually agreed to do what he asked...This is the KNICKS. Shelve your hatred for Amare and realize you want him on your team in the playoffs, and try to love that tiny little mean streak that you know Bargnani has, until we can celebrate the moment we no longer have to pay him.

STOP SHITTING ON NEXT YEAR'S KNICKS

Ask yourselves how many times the opening day roster is the same as the closing day roster (seriously someone figure that out), I bet the answer is NEVER. It's not Carmelo you are pissed about paying, it's Amare and Bargnani, and maybe a tiny bit of Calderon. Deal with it, they are on the books for this year only -- and that happens to make them expiring contracts, which some would dare to consider assets. So when the Knicks are floating nicely at the all-star break somewhere around the 5th seed, and Melo is MVP leader, someone up in our new front office might smell a chance or two to make a TRADE at the deadline, when other teams are out of it and about to lose their best players. Patience grasshoppas...but never bank on a draft pick...not here.

• YOUR SEATS ON THE MELO BANDWAGON ARE SOLD

You don't realize how lucky you are that the player we are paying that much money to is Carmelo Anthony. You can save all the cap space you want, but we would not land a single player that good. Stop reading, start watching. You want Parsons or Lin or Bledsoe at $15 mil/per or Bosh at $118 mil, get the fuck outta here. Melo alone is more individual offensive firepower than anyone on the Spurs, and everyone seems in tune with playing like them. Melo could be deadly, this system sure didn't hurt Jordan or Kobe. Melo has always been willing to do whatever it takes for the team to win, and it so happens that a lot of the time the best thing for us was for him to shoot a lot. Melo is on a level above other max players, and I include James Harden in that list and certainly his oaf sidekick. Melo IS the Knicks for the forseeable future, the glory and the shame, all of it. You should be glad, and you would be shortsighted to think he'll have to do it by himself.

• IMAN SHUMPERT

Know that this dude has the tenacity required of a playoff Knick. Go find what he did to Derrick Rose, naaa here I'll do it for you in case you forgot. Know that our chief operator has detected this, and might even have caught a light case of the Shumps. You should too.

• ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE PLAYOFFS.

The last time we made the finals, we barely made the playoffs. Squeaked in as the 8th seed. The Garden is electric when a good team occupies it. If you don't thirst for playoff games at MSG every season, then I dunno what kind of fan you are. Tanking might be good strategy for some teams, but not for us. Too many players want to play here, and when we start winning even a little the doorsteps are gonna be full of dudes trying to take our half mini level shitball exceptions. Playoffs. Tank somewhere else.