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Are the Knicks heading to Harlem?
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Renaissance
Casino and
Ballroom
Harlem may soon be home to its own pro hoops squad, as rumors that the Knicks are inching closer to securing an NBA Development League team and moving it Uptown have hit fever-pitch levels.
Such talk began making the rounds as early as 2007, but recently more concrete plans have began to surface amid reports the Knicks are actually close to buying the expansion rights for any such team.
The movement picked up even more steam recently when NBA Commissioner David Stern told New York Times sports columnist William Rhoden: “Harlem represents a basketball tradition that for decades and decades and decades has given the N.B.A. so many players. The Knicks are all over the idea.”
Possible playing venues discussed thus far include the Armory at 142nd Street and Fifth Avenue and the old Renaissance Casino and Ballroom on 138th Street, partly made famous in its early 1920s heyday by the legendary Harlem Rens. The building has stood shuttered for nearly the last three decades.
Behind the play of William “Pop” Games, Charles “Tarzan” Cooper and John "Wonder Boy” Isaacs, the Rens once embarked on an 88-game winning streak and finished with an overall record of 2,318-381. "It's a great cultural idea," notes Stern, alluding to Harlem's already esteemed rep as home of the Rucker Park League and various other summer league tournaments.
It's also enough to leave one wondering if another streak could soon be in the offing.
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