OAK’S STILL OLD SCHOOL
Ex-Knicks star talks about state of team, Dolan & relationship with Commish
Once again, the Knicks have gone from declaring themselves a throwback to the 90s to becoming the butt of the joke.
The latest was Richard Jefferson stating on a broadcast that he retired instead of signing with the Knicks. It was funny because it was believable. Jefferson and LeBron James shared a laugh on Twitter about the troll job. Before that, Kevin Durant said the Knicks were an uncool franchise.
This is all hard to fathom for Charles Oakley, who remains unapologetically old school and remembers a much different level of pride associated with playing for the Knicks.
“Guys weren’t disrespecting the city like that when we were playing. They wouldn’t have said that,” Oakley said in an interview with the Daily News. “My thing is, if somebody said that when we were playing, they got problems. No doubt. They’re not going to disrespect me and come in and I can do something about it on the floor.
“If somebody disrespected me in the press or a sit-down interview and I’m on the team, I’m going to have to see him.”
It’s been a long time since opponents feared the Garden, and Oakley was a driving force behind the last great run. He forged the identity that today’s Knicks players claim they aspire to attain — a tough, gritty and uncompromising force — yet Oakley remains banned from the building.
In many ways, Oakley has moved on from the Knicks and that night of infamy involving James Dolan, back nearly three years ago when he was cuffed and dragged through the tunnel. Oakley turned physical with security guards after they surrounded him near the start of a Knicks game, resulting in one of the ugliest moments of franchise history. Oakley since played and coached in the Big3. He still has the carwash in Yonkers. He has business aspirations that include a gambling website and culinary ventures. On Tuesday afternoon, Oakley pulled up in a Range Rover outside of the East Harlem Scholars Academy with aluminum trays of food packed in the trunk.
He pre-cooked the lasagna, meatballs, rice and bread cake for college students returning home for Thanksgiving, a social event hosted by East Harlem Tutorial Program. Oakley was worried about the lack of bread rolls, but otherwise expressed confidence in his concoction before the 40 students arrived.
“I already know it’s good,” said Oakley, who plans to publish a cookbook next year. “If it wasn’t good, I wouldn’t bring it.”
Still, the effects of the war with Dolan linger. He felt betrayed by former teammates and opponents — some employed by MSG — who showed up at the Garden days after his arrest in a thinlyveiled publicity stunt orchestrated by the owner. Patrick Ewing never said a word in support of his longtime frontcourt mate and enforcer, even while representing the Knicks at the 2019 draft lottery.
Their relationship is strained.
Oakley also felt slighted by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who facilitated a sitdown with Dolan not long after the incident. Silver quickly released a statement claiming that “both Mr. Oakley and Mr. Dolan were apologetic about the incident and subsequent comments.”
But Oakley didn’t agree with the sentiment. He left the meeting with the impression that Dolan might apologize to the fans and Oakley directly. That never happened.
“(Silver) released a statement without me knowing about it,” Oakley said. “We met. And we didn’t reach a conclusion. He said, ‘I’m going to call you later on and talk.’ I went back to my hotel and fell asleep. They called me about 10 times but I was asleep. And they still released the statement.”
Oakley has an open defamation lawsuit against Dolan, who implied, without presenting evidence, that the former All-Star was an alcoholic. Since banning Oakley, Dolan personally had security remove a fan last season who told the owner, “Sell the team.”
Just this month, another longtime Knicks fan, Andrew Padilla, told the News he was escorted out of his seat by security after chanting “Fire Dolan.” Padilla said he was told he could return if he ceased the chant. Padilla chose to leave.
“We’re going all the way (with the lawsuit),” Oakley said. “And this man (Dolan) is still doing the same thing: bullying people.”
On the court, the Knicks are also doing the same things. They entered Wednesday’s game in Toronto with a 4-13 record and tied for last in the Eastern Conference. Steve Mills has been “laying the groundwork” to fire coach David Fizdale, according to ESPN, despite handing him a roster without an All-Star.
Oakley said the Knicks’ strategy of stacking the roster with short-term deals undermines continuity and winning.
“You can’t be trying to do but so much if you sign all these guys to one-year contracts,” Oakley said. ”It’s a selfish problem when you do that. They’re thinking, ‘I’m going to make myself look good, and you can’t have that much interest in me if you have me for one year.’ Who knows what they’re trying to do? But they sell out every night so (it doesn’t matter).”
Then there’s the “uncool” perception and the timetested theory that the Knicks aren’t attractive to superstars. Beyond sending a message through physicality, Oakley knows the best way to change the narrative.
“My thing was, if somebody talks about you this and that, you got to go prove them wrong,” he said. “That’s when guys on the floor have to say, ‘Hey, this is the place to be.’ By winning. And being consistent. You can’t shut somebody up by losing.”