Under the direction of James Dolan, the Knicks haven’t advanced to playoffs in the past five seasons, but he holds a record!-of having 50 losses in a single season for six years straight. James Dolan is known for having a bad track record regarding management of the Knicks as well as the Rangers.
He requested in past years to withhold game footage from airing on sports channels such as ESPN in order to reserve the team’s fairly good reputation at the time.
There has been multiple team trades involving the team, specifically Kristaps Porzingis, who was a star player and upcoming NBA star. Other players such as Deandre Jordan have been added to the team in the past month and helped break their 3-week long losing streak, but fans are still hesitant as to whether they will truly be an asset to the team in the future.
With the Knicks’ decent record casually declining, fans have been advising current owner James Dolan to “sell the team.” Under his direction, the Knicks have barely been successful and in the opinion of Max Kellerman, a sports commentator on ESPN, they have been “a laughing stock for decades under Dolan.”
The Knicks have been caught in many scandals under the ownership of Dolan including allegations of sexual harassment, releasing a song supposedly slamming Harvey Weinstein’s past, and unfortunately, much more.
Fans constantly prompted Dolan to sell the team and one fan in particular took to Madison Square Garden to voice his opinion about the man’s leadership qualities. In a video recorded by a fellow fan, it can be seen that Dolan is walking to the back of the arena while a nearby man shouts, “Sell the team.” There was no foul language used during this heated confrontation, but events took a turn as Dolan responded angrily, “That was rude” and claimed that the man’s statement was “not an opinion.”
Dolan then proceeded to order the fan out of the arena. Other NBA fans were outraged once the video was released and viewed by thousands. Some believe that the situation should have been handled differently and in a more sophisticated manner. However, others strongly argue that the commentator shouldn’t have been confronted in the first place considering Dolan’s position and the amount of hate he gets on the daily for his poor management of the team.
James Dolan smiles for an interview about owning NBA team, the New York Knicks, contrary to his poor leadership. Photo Credit: Maddie Meyer
Needless to say, the man was removed from the arena during the pre-game time and was escorted out of Madison Square Garden by multiple police upon Dolan’s request. What was shocking was that Dolan banned the fan from ever returning to Madison Square Garden for future games. EPSN channel anchors have debated whether this was an appropriate action taken in response to the situation.
Another fan went to a Knicks game following the previous debacle and held up a poster reading, “Quit your day job. Sell the…” along with an icon of the team’s logo. This fan was then banned by James Dolan as he said, “I’m gonna invite you to leave” at the music festival in which the occurrence took place.
What do you think about how Dolan treats Knicks fans? Should he sell the team in order for them to do better in the future?
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