Now’s a good time for luck to shine on Knicks

YOU know the meat of the quote. But this is the entirety of what Branch Rickey said one day in 1946, in an interview with The Sporting News, in what was possibly one of the most honest things anyone in sports ever said about anything: “Things worthwhile generally don’t just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference are usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.”

(We’re almost near the end of the history lesson, but here’s a bit of trivia: those last six words have become permanently attributed to Rickey even though they are generally believed to have been originally written by the 17 th-Century English poet John Milton. Rickey only borrowed from the best.)

What made Rickey unique, whether he invented the phrase or merely rented it, was his willingness to mention luck at all. Most people who help control the destinies of sporting teams don’t like to talk about luck, because that assigns a randomness to what they do as opposed to a genius. And that’s hard to reconcile.

And look: The Knicks haven’t spent close to 20 years wandering in the NBA wilderness thanks entirely to a faulty supply of rabbit’s feet and horseshoes and four-leaf clovers; much of the historical carnage is a result of terrible decision-making and predictable outcomes based on those awful choices. They have been brutal on merit. Take that to the bank. Still, a little luck wouldn’t hurt. You know who’s been lucky? The San Antonio Spurs have been lucky. They’ve been in the lottery exactly three times since

1985, the year the lottery was invented (and, through either good luck or chilly envelopes, the Knicks experienced their lone day in the lottery sun, winning the Patrick Ewing sweepstakes). Three times. And the Spurs moved up all three times. It allowed them to select David Robinson (1987), Sean Elliott (1989) and Tim Duncan (1997). Now, look: Gregg Popovich is one of the smartest NBA coaches ever. R.C. Buford is one of the shrewdest GMs in the game. They became a dynasty thanks to a lot of talent and a lot of wisdom in the room. And a little bit of luck in the lottery bin, too. You know who’s been lucky? The Cavaliers. They drafted LeBron James on merit after losing 65 games in 2003, yes. But in 2011, holding the Clippers’ No. 8 draft slot and a 2.8 percent shot of moving up to No. 1, they won it and drafted Kyrie Irving, which is a huge reason they were attractive to James when he was pondering a homecoming. And three years later, holding a 1.7 percent chance and a No. 9 draft

slot — which, for those who like to torture themselves about such things, are the exact odds and placement the Knicks will find themselves in Tuesday night in Chicago — won the draft sweepstakes again, allowing them to take Andrew Wiggins, which allowed them to trade Wiggins to Minnesota for Kevin Love, which, ultimately, gave James the supporting cast he needed to win the NBA title in 2016 and return to the Finals last year.

And then we have the Knicks, and maybe it’s true that they haven’t deserved to be lucky, that the residue of awful design is awful luck, but however you care to explain it, the reality is stark: Since winning the rights to Ewing in 1985, they have been a part of the lottery 14 times (though six of those picks were already swapped with other teams). Not once in those 14 lotteries have they even moved up one slot. Not once. As it is, it feels like the 29-53 slog the Knicks endured last year should’ve yielded better than those 1.7 percent odds of winning it, or even the paltry 6.1 percent chance of landing in the top 3. But when you factor in history, and when you factor in luck …

Well, the Spurs have 0.0 percent chances of moving up because they aren’t even in the lottery, but it sure feels like they have a better shot than the Knicks, doesn’t it? More galling: Sitting one slot ahead of the Knicks at No. 8 are … the Cavaliers, who own the Nets’ pick. How do you feel matching up with them?

Unless … well, as Private Reiben (portrayed by lunatic Knicks fan Edward Burns) said in “Saving Private Ryan”: “I don’t need luck, Sarge, I was born lucky!”

Hey, when you’ve been wandering in the dark as long as the Knicks have, you look for any sign at all, right?