"Sell the Team": Is it time for New York Knicks owner James Dolan to hang it up?

If you were to ask someone today what comes to mind when they think of New York City, you might get a variety of answers. Some will say bright lights, some diversity of cultures, and others the belief that, in the famous lyrics of Frank Sinatra, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere”.

However, ask them about basketball and New York, and they’ll probably answer mediocrity, poor management, and a heart wrenched fanbase.

The New York Knicks are currently riding the worst stretch in the team’s history. Since their last experience of long term success in the late 1980’s to the early 2000’s, the team has had three winning seasons, one Atlantic Division title, four playoff appearances, twelve coaching changes, poor management, an unfavorable public image, and let's not forget a star small forward who was basically thrown out of town.

The Knicks have been one of the NBA’s biggest laughing stocks in recent years, and we saw another reason why this past weekend.

Amid the excitement over this summer’s possible free agent signings, the team and their fan base now must worry about the off-court drama scaring away potential stars. Following Saturday’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, a TMZ Sports video was released showing Knicks owner James Dolan threatening to ban a fan from MSG after a fan yelled “sell the team”.

Dolan told the fan that what he said wasn’t an opinion, and asked him to “enjoy watching them [the Knicks] on TV”.

This past Saturday’s altercation adds to a long list of events that have shown Dolan’s failures as the Knicks owner over the past 20 years, and how they have turned the franchise’s fan base against him. Through his tenure with the organization, Dolan has gotten into several altercations for petty reasons with fans and ex-players like Knicks legend Charles Oakley.

He’s failed on numerous occasions to get talent like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, and ran out the one true talent the Knicks have had since Patrick Ewing in Carmelo Anthony. His hiring of GMs like Phil Jackson got the fans' hopes up and, in the end, completely let them down.

He has even banned certain media organizations from attending press conferences due to their unfavorable coverage of the team.

Now this isn’t to say that things will not change for the better this summer, or that the Knicks, with over $70 million in cap space, will not bring in a star player like Kevin Durant. However, if things don’t improve and the team sees another sub-20-win season, that might be enough to make the now famous fans' opinion hold weight and prove that Dolan really needs to reconsider those offers he spoke about receiving for the team in recent interviews.

Too much time has gone by without a beloved sports team in New York; the city's fans deserve better, and are desperate to see increased success and feel like a force in the NBA. The owner, through which all business operations go through, has failed to find ways to improve the team and act in a way that shows he knows how to handle being the owner.

Of course, Dolan is acting within his right to do what he’s doing and not sell the team. But that doesn’t hide the fact that it’s hurting the team’s public image.

A transaction is rightly due.