The Greatest Knicks - From Gallatin to Guerin
With the Donovan Mitchell saga in the rear-view mirror, let's begin wrapping up our "The Top 75 Knicks of All Time" series.
We cracked the top 10 in our previous installment, with Earl Monroe, Allan Houston, Carmelo Anthony and Bill Bradley.
7. Harry Gallatin
Harry "The Horse" was one of the NBA's best rebounders during the 1950s. Although he was undersized at just 6-foot-6, he averaged double-digit rebounds each season from 1950 through 1958. Gallatin led the NBA in boards in 1953-54, pulling down 15.3 rebounds per game and was named to the All-NBA First Team that season. He grabbed 33 rebounds in one game in 1953, a Knicks record that still stands. Gallatin was also incredibly durable. He played in 610 consecutive regular-season games and 57 postseason contests. He was named an All-Star in seven straight seasons, from 1950-51 through 1956-57.
Gallatin said being drafted by the Knicks in 1948 "was a dream come true," adding, "I really didn't know what to expect; it was my first plane ride, from St. Louis to New York. Here I am, a boy from Wood River, a country boy, and going to the Big Apple." During the off-seasons between his first three years in the NBA, Gallatin played minor league baseball in Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds systems. After retiring as a player, Gallatin went on to coach and won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 1964 with the Atlanta Hawks. He also coached the Knicks for a season before being replaced by Dick McGuire.
6. Bernard King
King was an offensive machine. A crafty and powerful 6-foot-7 small forward, he was truly one of the best scores the league has ever seen. And if it weren't for debilitating injuries, who knows how high he'd rank on this list.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Bernard was a prep star at BK's Fort Hamilton High School before enrolling at the University of Tennessee. After averaging nearly 26 points per game as a junior, King declared for the 1977 Draft and was selected by the Nets with the 7th overall pick. He finished in the top 10 in the NBA in scoring as a rookie, pouring in more than 24 points a night. However, alcohol and drug issues began to wreak havoc. The Nets traded him to the Jazz in 1979, but he played only 19 games for Utah before seeking treatment for substance abuse. The Jazz shipped him to Golden State (for Wayne Cooper and a second-round pick), and he averaged 21.9 ppg in 1980-81 while shooting nearly 59% from the floor, en route to being named NBA Comeback Player of the Year. The following season, he led the Warriors with 23.2 ppg, made his first All-Star Game appearance and was selected to the All-NBA Second Team.
As a free agent in 1982, King signed with New York, but the Warriors exercised their "right of first refusal," matching the offer and then trading King to the Knicks for Micheal Ray Richardson and a draft choice. King took his game to another level in New York, playing the best basketball of his career.
In 1983-84, King ranked fifth in the NBA, scoring 26.3 points per game. On January 31st and February 1st that season, he posted back-to-back 50-point outings against the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks. In the playoffs that year, King put the Knicks on his back and nearly single-handedly carried them to the Finals.
His performance in the first round against Detroit was utterly unbelievable.
Game 1: 36 points (15-of-26 shooting)
Game 2: 46 points (18-of-35)
Game 3: 46 points (19-of-27)
Game 4: 41 points (15-of-25)
Game 5: 44 points (17-of-26)
In a brutally tough second-round matchup with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics, King was at it again. New York lost in a decisive seventh game, but Bernard did everything asked of him. During the Knicks' playoff run that year, King AVERAGED 34.8 points while shooting over 57% from the floor. Think about that for a second.
Somehow, King was even better in 1984-85, as he led the NBA in scoring at 32.9 PPG. On Christmas Day of 1985, he hung 60 points on New Jersey (a Knick franchise record until Melo bested it). Six weeks later, he scored 55 points vs. the Nets.
The following month, disaster struck. In a March 23rd game at Kansas City, King tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The injury was so significant that he missed the entire following season and all but the final six games of the 1986-87 campaign.
In his final 20 games before wrecking his knee, King was averaging over 36 points (on 55% shooting) to go along with 6.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
Remarkably, King returned to greatness after fully rehabbing his ACL injury. As a member of the Bullets, he averaged 17.2 points per game in his first full season in Washington. Eventually, King upped his scoring average up to 28.4 PPG by 1990-91, which ranked third in the NBA behind only Michael Jordan and Karl Malone. However, King was forced to undergo another knee surgery prior to the start of the 91-92 season and was never the same player.
In 2013, King was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. His career scoring average (26.5) is the second highest amongst all Knicks.
5. Richie Guerin
Guerin, who grew up in the Bronx, served in the Marine Corps Reserve from 1947 to 1954. While a reservist, he attended Iona College and established himself as one of the best collegiate players in the country. The Knicks selected Guerin with the 8th pick in the second round of the 1954 NBA draft, but he wouldn't make his NBA debut until 1956. After graduation, Guerin served on active duty at Marine Corps Schools, Quantico, Virginia, for two years.
The Knicks was often not very good during Guerin's tenure with the Knicks, making the playoffs just once, but Guerin was great. He is one of only two Knicks in franchise history to average over 29 points per game for an entire season, pouring in 29.5 points in 1961-62. But Guerin wasn't just a scorer. In that aforementioned 1961-62 campaign, he also averaged 6.4 rebounds and 6.9 assists. Per BasketballReference.com, Guerin is one of only four players in NBA history to average at least 29.5 points, 6.5 assists and six rebounds over the course of an entire season. The other three players in that elite club are Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. During his prime, from 1957-58 through 1961-62, Guerin averaged 7.2 rebounds and six assists per game. He played in six consecutive NBA All-Star Games. His individual game career-highs of 57 points and 21 assists stood as franchise records for more than 50 years. He was traded to the St. Louis Hawks in 1964 and spent the next eight years as the team's player-coach and then head coach.