The greatest Knick free agent signing of all time is...
(You gotta keep reading to find out who.)
For most of the first half of their history, the New York Mets were an annual black hole at third base. So when, shortly after winning it all in 1986, they let World Series MVP third basemen Ray Knight leave in free agency, Mets fans were suddenly left looking lustily across town, where in the Bronx Mike Pagliarulo might as well have been Eddie Matthews. The following season, a 26-year-old Howard Johnson put those fears to rest by putting it all together: for the next five years he finished top-10 in MVP voting three times. The post-HoJo Mets have seen Edgardo Alfonzo and Robin Ventura play the position impeccably and David Wright become arguably the greatest Met ever. Johnson didn’t just resist the curse, he broke it.
The New York Knicks’ third base has been point guard for nearly half a century. This year, this headline has been popping up more and more.
There are worse things to have said about your team’s most recent free-agent signing, to be sure. Jalen Brunson has been better than maybe everybody not named Jalen Brunson could have imagined, and not just on an individual level. Has any player who changed teams last summer done more to turn a franchise around than him? Only three teams this season won 10 or more games this year than last: the Knicks, and two teams who did things very differently this year than last.
Sacramento’s turnaround can be broadly attributed to De’Aaron Fox and Damontas Sabonis mind-melding after having a full year together, plus the additions of Keegan Murray and Kevin Huerter to the starting lineup. Oklahoma City’s bubbling cauldron of young talent was finally allowed to boil over for a full season rather than being taken off the burner weeks or months before the year is done. The Knicks feature the same front court and much of the same bench as last season. With so many of the same faces as last year achieving such vastly superior results, Brunson replacing the injured/ineffective Kemba Walker, Derrick Rose and Alec Burks is so remarkable an achievement it deserves its own stamp, like Kitty Hawk or Baloo.
Though with the stakes as high as anointing the Knick free-agent G.O.A.T., let’s not neglect Brunson on an individual level. One of basketball’s laws of thermodynamics is the more you shoot, the worse you shoot. Most players who miss a couple shots in a row will pass up the next look they get, even if it’s the best one they’ve had all game; on some level they’re showing their teammates that even when they’re off, they understand this axiom; they can be trusted to know what’s right. Star players may take on a bigger role when circumstances call for it, but it’s understood their efficiency will drop as a result: taking more shots means exerting more energy than usual against a defense designed to make things difficult for them. Attrition doesn’t have quite the same rep as death and taxes, but it’s just as famous.
Yet despite taking nearly 40% more shots per game than he did last year in Dallas, Brunson is shooting the same or better from everywhere in New York. He’s scored 24 a game this season on a 50/41/83 shooting slash. His assist percentage is the highest of his career; his turnover percentage is the lowest. He’s second in the league in charges drawn per game and tied for sixth for loose balls recovered. And none of these words nor numbers mean nearly as much as a newfound serenity you didn’t know existed until witnessing your team’s All-NBA point guard hold the world in his hands.
What if I were to tell you that Brunson will have an even better season than this in 2024-25? If he’s already the greatest Knick free agent ever, an elite ‘25 makes it even more obvious, surely. Of course, there’s always the chance Brunson doesn’t have a better year than this, ever – unless you think it’s fair to expect 25 a night on 50/45/90 shooting while continuing to up the dimes and turn it over less. Funny thing is, this storyline already happened, with a free agent the Knicks signed only four years ago.
Julius Randle did not burst onto the New York scene the way Brunson has. The situation he walked into was a rougher trick than what greeted Brunson, though Randle’s struggles that first year were internal as much as anything; he’s written about it. That lent flavor to his second campaign, one that began with low hopes and empty arenas and ended with MSG serenading the All-Star and All-NBA honoree with MVP chants. The disappointment of his postseason play that year was exceeded as a turn-off by his 2022, a year that saw him clash with his teammates and with a fan base that feared 2021 had been an anomaly. This year? Randle’s playing the best basketball of his career, defying the doubters. Again.
For Randle to bounce back not once, but twice, has to mean something, yes? How does the math work, though? Did 2021 cancel out 2020? Does the greatness of his two better years outweigh the negatives of the lesser two? If everyone gets knocked down in life, but what matters is that you get back up, isn’t Randle an exemplary exemplar? And what about his accolades since signing? Brunson being named All-NBA would be a pleasant surprise and a first for him. According to a recent Fred Katz piece in The Athletic, Randle looks to be in line for a second selection in three years.
Trying to compare Randle and Brunson is a small-scale version of the Finals arguments people have about Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Your bias probably predetermines your answer as to what’s more meaningful: MJ winning all six times the trophy was up for grabs, or LBJ winning two fewer but competing for four more. Is Brunson being practically perfect in every way for a year more impressive than Randle’s Sisyphean kismet? There’s no wrong answer. There is, however, a third option worth considering, and at least remembering.
Before Brunson and Randle, Allan Houston was the obvious choice for greatest Knick free agent ever. Houston signed a seven-year, $56 million contract with New York in the summer of 1996. That was big money back then, but in keeping with his seemingly quiet nature, Houston did not arrive with a lot of gravity. It wasn’t until Patrick Ewing and Jeff Van Gundy were gone that Houston finally started taking more shots than he did in Detroit. In Houston’s eight years in New York, the only times he led the team in attempts were the year Ewing missed most of with a broken wrist and Latrell Sprewell’s last year as a Knick, a time you may remember was not exactly It’s A Wonderful Life — unless you’re talking about someone wanting to be put out of their own misery, which is how Spree and Knicks fans felt in 2003.
Houston arrived with no small amount of hype after really taking off late in his final year in Detroit; 17 of his 25 best game scores came in the second half of the season. His scoring average fell five points a game his first year as a Knick. He never made an All-NBA team, nor was he an All-Star his first year in New York, nor his second or third. His peak individual successes came after the team’s best years were behind it. Injuries robbed Houston of a gradual decline; the end was quicker than not, and came when he was a year older than Howard Johnson had been when the bell tolled for he.
And yet Houston isn’t remembered for any of that stuff. He isn’t even really remembered for his 50-point games. He’s remembered for this.
Houston’s best play as a Knick came in the 1999 playoffs. That’s why 20 years after he retired he’s a beloved ex-Knick and not the rich man’s Johnny Newman. Brunson and Randle both have cases to be made along with Houston as the greatest Knick free agent signing ever. My hope is that by the time JB and JR are finished in New York, they – like Houston – will be remembered for so much more.
