NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 18: James Dolan, Executive Chairman of Madison Square Garden, answers questions during the press conference to introduce Phil Jackson as President of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 18, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

It’s hard to say when exactly the Knicks officially became the go-to NBA punchline for jokes about institutional incompetence. Probably right around the time the Clippers actually got good, while the Knicks followed up a few playoff seasons with uninspiring mediocrity at best, Phil Jackson-led chaos at worst.

Plus, James Dolan is still there.

Which is how we find ourselves, in the summer of 2017, with the Knicks operating sans-GM, for all intents and purposes, while making the kinds of decisions that could leave the next actual GM very little wiggle room. Things like maybe trading Carmelo to the Rockets or Cavs, which while perhaps being the prudent basketball move, could be a bullet the next GM might want saved for him.

Or, hey, here’s one:

Let’s just, uh, ponder that one, shall we? Tim Hardaway Jr. just signed a $71 million dollar offer sheet with the Knicks. Now, it’s obviously a different NBA, and with the salary cap where it is, midlevel players are going to get contracts for more money than we’re used to seeing. But this… this is a rotation player, at best, signing for near-star-level money, given where he’s at in his career.

Heading into his fifth season, Hardaway is essentially a volume scorer, a shooter with a questionable percentage from three, and definite liabilities in the rest of his game.

The odds of this being a good outcome for the Knicks are so, so slim. It seems unlikely the Hawks will match; they’d talked a big game about matching any offer for Hardaway, but who saw this coming?

If the Hawks let him go to New York, and he somehow does end up justifying the contract, which has what looks like an infinitesimally small chance of happening, it will still have been an incredibly stupid decision. It gets even dumber when you remember that the Knicks drafted Hardaway originally, then after enduring two fairly abysmal seasons, somehow got a first round pick from the Hawks for him anyway.

The entire transaction cycle really captures the essence of the Knicks on this one:

Way to go, Knicks. It’s caused some obvious, and understandable consternation among supporters.

Here’s more from former SI/The Cauldron writer/basketball book author/Knicks fan Andy Glockner:

The future doesn’t exactly look great either, unless Dolan is somehow forced to sell a la Donald Sterling, or lucks into an executive who knows what he’s doing and gets the latitude to make it work.

So, yeah. If Knicks fans want to turn elsewhere at this point, it’s hard to blame them.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.