New York Knicks: Constructing the Franchise's All-Offensive Team

The type of offensive players the New York Knicks have had over the franchise's history have evolved and changed shape with the game of basketball itself. Each of these players, from Richie Guerin all the way up to Carmelo Anthony, have a unique offensive style that make all of their accomplishments memorable, regardless of what era they played in.

While compiling a list of the franchise's All-Offensive Team is a worthy endeavor which can be viewed as a vehicle utilized to cure basketball fans ailing need for roundball, it is a little more than that.

It commemorates Knicks' players of yesteryear, who may have retired long ago, while also appreciating the growing achievements of today's most dominant offensive players which are still in progress.

Allow your imagination to disregard the era from which each player belongs to and place them on a court where only legends dominate the paint and fire long range bombs from the depths of the three point line. This isn't your average offensive team. In fact, they play at such a frenetic pace that the "Showtime" Lakers coached by Mike D'Antoni would be left gasping for air.

Uproot Rucker Park's concrete court and plant it firmly, right smack in the middle of Madison Square Garden. Only the hottest streetball court in New York embedded in the Mecca of basketball is fit enough for these Gods of the game.

This spot serves as a melting pot where each of the best offensive players in Knicks history blend together to play the game they love. They epitomize scoring, and this court is simply the canvas which they have to unveil their majestic masterpiece.

Point Guard: Walt "Clyde" Frazier

While Walt "Clyde" Frazier has always had an affinity for the absurd when choosing his outfit, his flashy style of play on the court demanded equally as much attention.

Frazier amassed seven All-Star appearances and two championships in his 10 seasons as a New York Knick.

He remains one of the best defenders in the history of the NBA, even though steals and blocks weren't even recorded until halfway through his career, and is also one of the NBA's Top 50 players of All-Time.

Although he is done capturing fans attention on the court, Frazier captivates the Garden faithful as the team's announcer alongside his cohort Mike Breen. His witty rhymes and tendency to use literary vocabulary to describe the game of basketball made even the most disastrous Knicks teams entertaining.

Affectionately known by his moniker "Clyde," he is still a fan favorite in New York and is one of the most eccentric personalities in the league today.

Shooting Guard: Earl "The Pearl" Monroe

Earl "The Pearl" Monroe was the other half of a backcourt many believed at the time was bound to fail. Fans couldn't have been more wrong.

Monroe ended up sacrificing his scoring numbers and made the combination of him and Frazier devastating for their opponents. During the team's 1973 Championship season, Monroe averaged 15.5 PPG, while Frazier poured in 21.1 PPG, and both shot an uber-efficient 49 percent from the field that year.

Although his best years offensively were during his previous years with the Baltimore Bullets, he nabs the spot at the shooting guard position for being part of the 1973 Championship team. He is also recognized as one of the pioneers who brought street-style basketball to the NBA.   

Small Forward: Bernard King

King could easily be recognized as the most potent scorer on this entire list. He had a baby jumper from around 12-15 feet that was absolutely unstoppable. He mastered the mid-range game during his time in the NBA and had some of the greatest individual performances in the history of the game.

His biggest accomplishments as a Knicks were his incredible two consecutive 50-point performances in 1983, which both resulted in victories, and a season later in 1984, he torched the New Jersey Nets with a 60 point outburst on Christmas Day.

He was a scoring champion in 1985 and a four-time All-Star who will go down with the unfortunate label of being one of the greatest players to finish his career without a Championship to his name.

Power Forward: Willis Reed

I bent the rule's here a bit to fit Reed into the starting line-up, but to be fair, at 6'9" and 240 lbs., he fits the bill for today's starting power forward.

All that aside, Reed cracks the starting line-up for playing his entire career with the New York Knicks, something rarely seen by today's standards and averaging over 20 PPG five times in his career. He also posted stellar rebounding numbers averaging 10 plus rebounds per game in his first seven seasons.

His most iconic moment, however, was when he triumphantly limped onto the court in Game 6 of the 1970 NBA Finals, hitting the Knicks' first two jumpers. Although he didn't score again that game, that would be one of the years the Knicks would win an NBA Championship. Not to take away any credit from Reed, he was also a part of the Knicks 1973 Championship team, which unfortunately, are the only two Championships the team has won to date.

Center: Patrick Ewing

The only other player who could've challenged him for this spot is this team's starting power forward. Ewing deserves this one, since he is a legitimate seven footer and matches up better at center than Reed would against today's big men.

The rough and tumble Knicks of the 90's were one of the toughest defensive teams, with Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley as a power forward combo and the equally gritty Ewing at center.

Playing a whopping 15 seasons with the Knicks, Ewing will be remembered as a player who threw an underwhelming Knicks team on his back year after year and ultimately fell short. While that sounds like a tragic end to a player's career, realize he was dueling for a Championship with the likes of Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, two of the NBA's most imposing offensive and defensive players of all-time.

While it's easy to see Ewing's glass as half-empty, it's important to realize that he scored 20 plus points per game for 13 out of his 15 seasons as a Knickerbocker, and unfortunately, he just showed up at the wrong time. Without Olajuwon and Jordan in the picture, I'm willing to bet Ewing would've walked away with the Championship ring he rightly deserves.

Bench Player No. 1: Richie Guerin

Although many Knicks fans may have long forgotten about Guerin's accomplishments, they are certainly worth remembering. He played with the Knicks during the late 1950's well into the early 60's.

He topped 20 points four times as a Knickerbocker and finished his sixth season with the team averaging a career best 29.5 PPG.

He makes the list not only for his scoring prowess, but also for his underrated passing ability and surprising rebounding ability. Guerin averaged four-plus rebounds per game in seven seasons with the team and averaged six-plus rebounds in five seasons with the team.

After reviewing his accomplishments, he is deserving of a spot on the team and can even be argued as the starting shooting guard since he played with the Knicks longer than Monroe did, and for his era, seemed to have a better all around game as well.

Bench Player No. 2: Allan Houston

Easily the most efficient long range shooter for this Knicks squad, Houston averaged tremendous percentages from long distance and from the free throw line.

He averaged over 80 percent shooting from the free throw line for his whole career and always hovered around 40 percent from three point range as well.

He also can be tossed into the argument for who the starting shooting guard should be for this offensive juggernaut, since he played for nine seasons with the team and always remained a key contributor.

Bench Player No. 3: Walt Bellamy

Like fellow Knicks All-Offensive Teammate Richie Guerin, Walt Bellamy is an NBA player who is rarely talked about. Fortunately for the towering big guy, we'll pay him homage here.

Hopefully, he'll get his name tossed into more conversations about the NBA's greatest players and big men after we review his impeccable accomplishments.

He posted one of the most incredible rookie seasons the NBA has ever seen by averaging 31.6 points and 19 rebounds per game, on 52 percent shooting from the field! We drooled over Blake Griffin's monster year, and Griffin fell way short of Bellamy in points and rebounds (Granted, Griffin's dunks added to the hoopla, which made his rookie season larger than life).

Bellamy is also famous for one of the strangest records of All-Time that is likely never to be beaten. He featured in 88 regular season games. While there's only 82 in a regular season, the Knicks traded Bellamy for Dave DeBusschere, and because of a scheduling glitch, Bellamy played a combined 88 games for the two teams that season.

He averaged a double-double for 16 out of the 20 seasons he played in the NBA. Bellamy will go down as one of the NBA's top 100 players of all-time and will unfortunately also be one of the least talked about, despite his legendary achievements.

Bench Player No. 4: Bob McAdoo

Like Bellamy, McAdoo enjoyed tremendous longevity in the NBA, contributing 20 seasons worth of numbers after all was said and done.

However, only about three of those seasons were played wearing a Knicks jersey. Though his time was short with the Knicks, he made every game count.

Like Bellamy, he averaged unimaginable double-double numbers by today's standards and would even have Kevin Love looking on in amazement. While his best seasons with the Knicks included 26 point per game averages and 10 plus rebounds averaged per game, his best seasons were really with the Buffalo Braves, where his NBA career started.

Though he never pulled down 19 rebounds a game like Bellamy did, he put up 30 plus points averaged per game three seasons in a row with the Braves and kicked in well over 10 rebounds per game as well during those seasons.

McAdoo won two NBA championships and compiled three scoring titles in his time in the NBA. Not to mention the fact that he was one of the sharpest shooting big men in NBA history, averaging a precise 50 percent from the field over the course of his 20 NBA seasons. 

Bench Player No. 5: Amar'e Stoudemire

I know some historical fans were expecting some players with longer time of service as Knicks, but you can't leave Stoudemire or the next guy off the list if you are looking for the most potent offensive Knicks team of All-Time.

While his injury woes are well-documented, Stoudemire made the big move in 2010 and signed on as a free agent with no other guarantee of help in sight. Never a complainer, he worked tirelessly to get the Knicks into the playoffs for the first-time in over a decade.

Although he had the help of Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups, the two of them only played 27 games last season with the Knicks. Sure the Knicks had some young talent like Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton and Wilson Chandler, but there was no mistake about it; Stoudemire showed up in New York and he embraced the leadership role given to him. He threw a young team on his back for most of the season until the aforementioned reinforcements showed up to help take some pressure off of him.

In his lone season with the Knicks so far, Stoudemire posted a very high scoring average, with 25.3 PPG, and also shot efficiently from the field and the free throw line, 50 percent and 79 percent respectively.

Although he only has one season under his belt so far, I expect Stoudemire to be a crucial part of helping the Knicks return to the NBA Finals and achieve the ultimate goal of winning an NBA Championship.

Bench Player No. 6: Carmelo Anthony

While some people are thinking that he's only been wearing the orange and blue for 27 games and someone with more of a history with the Knicks should make the team, no one besides the players on this list can score at a higher rate than Anthony can.

He averaged 26.3 PPG and kicked in 6.7 RPG as a Knickerbocker while shooting stellar percentages of 46 percent from the field, 42 percent from downtown and 87 percent from the line as a New York Knick.

The argument for the greatest scorer in today's game usually comes down to Anthony, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant. While you can make an argument for any of the three, Anthony is my pick to have the ball in his hands during the final seconds of a close game.

Whenever the season starts up again, we should start to see more chemistry between Stoudemire and Anthony, and hopefully, they will begin to feed off of each other and make each other better. With two scorers averaging over 25 PPG for the Knicks, they finally have a bright future, and with a few additions, they could be on the road to prominence in no time.