COMMENTARY : It’s Time for Some Knick Players To Go

The Knicks said goodby to each other and to the season last week at their practice facility. It won’t happen right away, but Dave Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld need to start saying goodby to some of the Knicks. Because it is time for some of them to go.

The Knicks can contend for the championship again, and even do it next season, but they should get rid of some of the players they have, even big players like Charles Oakley, and bring in some new ones. Checketts and Grunfeld, who run the operation, owe Pat Riley that, if Riley decides to stay. They owe it to Patrick Ewing even more.

The Knicks came within a few baskets against the Pacers of having a game against the Orlando Magic tonight (May 23). For all the talk about the imminent collapse of the Knicks, as though they have been gallantly holding back the basketball darkness, they could have won 60 games regular-season games this season with some luck. They have been a hit show here for a long time. Even hit shows make cast changes if they want to keep going.

Of course Riley should not go anywhere. And the Knicks should do everything possible to re-sign Anthony Mason.

But Oakley should go, especially if the Knicks can trade him for a shooting guard. Greg Anthony goes on the expansion list. Riley told you everything you need to know about Anthony by playing him three minutes in Game 7 against the Pacers.

If the Knicks can’t move Oakley, they must try to move Charles Smith.

I believe Checketts and Grunfeld would take Smith over Oakley at this stage of both careers, and move Smith into Oakley’s big-forward spot. Oakley has been one of the leaders of this Knicks team. There have been times when he has played like one of the great Knicks. His personality often has been the team’s personality. I am one who says his No. 34 may end up in the Garden rafters some day.

Still, the Knicks’ best front line this season was not Ewing, Oakley, Smith. I believe the Knicks played their best ball when Oakley was recovering from foot surgery, and the front line was often Ewing, Smith, Mason.

John Starks can stay a Knick, but should have to come off the bench from now on. Starks is no longer a dependable scorer, and it is silly to pretend that he is. Maybe he can win the league’s Sixth Man award, the way Mason did this season. I have heard all the stories about the Warriors’ Latrell Sprewell, and I would trade Oakley for him tomorrow, give him Starks’ spot in the starting lineup.

Or maybe the answer for the Knicks is Mitch Richmond, some one Checketts always has coveted to be his shooting guard. But Starks no longer is the answer. He is a streak player and shooter who should come off the bench. Or be traded.

I believe Derek Harper has one more good season in him. But just one. Harper made more big shots for the Knicks during the playoffs than anyone on the team, including Ewing. He should just not play the kind of minutes he did this time. The Knicks believe they have a real player in Charlie Ward, so he should get into the game now. Along with Monty Williams, by the way. And even Doug Christie. Not all of Riley’s players can be All-World on defense. He is going to have to open things up a little next season, even if the Knicks do make all the right moves.

“But you wait and see,” Doc Rivers, the old Knick now going for a championship with the Spurs, said Monday. “The Knicks will do some things, and they’ll be right there as a contender again next year. I thought they were going to make the Finals this year.”

So did I, at least until Ewing got hurt at the end of the regular season. It always will be interesting to wonder what would have happened if the Knicks had not lost Game 1 to the Pacers. But they did lose that game, under amazing circumstances. Reggie Miller made shots you had to see to believe in Game 1. Ewing missed a shot you had to see to believe in Game 7, and the season was over.

Ewing will be around next season. His body isn’t breaking down. He just got hurt at the wrong time. Even hurt, he is one of the best players in basketball. He will be around and I hope Riley will be right there with him. They just need reinforcements. Checketts and Grunfeld need to do something more dramatic than getting Harper from the Mavericks.

The Knicks have gone as far as they can with some of these players.