Breaking: The New York Knicks are a well-run basketball organization

A smart contract extension for Josh Hart outlines a pretty solid team-building plan.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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Loose Company; Jan Sanders van Hemessen; 1540

There are good summers, and then there is the summer Josh Hart is having. In the midst of preparing to represent Team USA at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Southeast Asia, Hart is reportedly finalizing a 4-year, $81 million extension with the Knicks. This is a really good come-up for the 30th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft — the extension will have tripled his total career earnings when all is said and done. Despite averaging less than 10 points per game, he’s found a great niche for three different franchises now: the Lakers (where he did well before being included in the Anthony Davis trade), the Pelicans and now the Knicks. (The fit didn’t work for whatever reason in Portland.)

But even more than how much this deal speaks to Hart’s success, this is yet another example that the New York Knicks appear to be a well-known basketball organization. This is the most shocking turn of events in the NBA since … uh, the Sacramento Kings earned the No. 3 seed? And the moribund Golden State Warriors threw off the shackles of misery and turned into a multi-championship dynasty?

For two decades the Knicks have been synonymous with dysfunction. Every ploy to escape the dread has backfired: sometimes instantly and sometimes eventually. The dreadful signings of the Isiah Thomas era: Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, Eddy Curry, Jerome James. The (extremely) brief flirtation with success behind Carmelo Anthony that ended with drama. The whole Phil Jackson experience. Derek Fisher. Jeff Hornacek. I had forgotten that during the bubble season of 2019-20, before the pandemic hit, the Knicks started 4-18 under Dave Fizdale. 4-18!

Rare success has been shallow for decades. Failure has been the norm. And the consistent culprit has been a dreadfully run basketball operation in the front office. Unstable, misguided and hamstrung by one of the worst owners in the league.

I think that’s officially changed now. The Knicks still haven’t won anything: the new era has a single playoff series victory under its belt (against the promising Cavaliers last season). And results are what ultimately matter. But the quality of the vision, and the execution of it: those are way different than they have been for years.