Before the internet, in the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s — as a basketball fan I couldn’t wait each October for the Zander Hollander Complete Handbook of NBA Basketball to be published and be available in bookstores.
I’d check the bookstores weekly until it arrived. Seeing it on the shelf was a special, magical treat — I’d purchase it with wet anticipation and start reading it on the subway home. Hollander provided funny and accurate bios and a scouting report of each player. He was a comedian and excellent basketball analyst — like any good comedian he hit the nail on the head.
He also provided statistics for each player, a scouting report on players just drafted, and predictions — a complete handbook.
Analysis of Zander’s Knick Analysis
I’m posting a sampling of the 1993 Handbook — the pages for the Knicks team — under Fair Use doctrine of Copyright law, and with perfect hindsight, will analyze Zander’s analysis. The 1993 handbook covered the 1991-92 season that had just ended, the 1992 draft, and the upcoming 1992-93 season.
Pat Riley had just taken over the Knicks’ coaching job from Stu Jackson and led them to a 51-31 record, and given the 67-win Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan a run for their money in the Eastern Conference semis — stealing game 1 in Chicago and taking the series to 7 games before being blown out in game 7 in Chicago.
Mark Jackson — in his 5th season in NY — had a comeback year — with tremendous passing, as Zander notes in the Playmaking section. But Mark Jackson had just been traded before the publishing of the book, in September 1992, in a package for Charles Smith and Doc Rivers.
Zander talked up the off-season acquisition of Rolando Blackman and drafting of Hubert Davis to help give NY some jump shooters. Blackman was coming off 18.3 ppg for the Mavs and was just on the backend of the bell curve of his All Star career. He would be a key reserve for NY, averaging 9.7 off the bench with .425 from 3.
Zander was also high on the acquisition of Tony Campbell to replace Xavier McDaniel. Campbell averaged 7.7 ppg in 18 mpg and shot .400 from 3 (averaging .1 attempted 3’s a game) for the 1992-93 Knicks. Sounds great but for some reason he is a totally forgettable Knick. Campbell was traded 22 games into 1993-94.
Zander gives credit to Dave Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld: “Outlook — Do you mean before or after Dave Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld are named co-Executives of the year?” Checketts was only 28 years old at the time — a boy genius GM who went out and got The Best coach available — Pat Riley. Riley would coach the Knicks deep into the playoffs the next 2 years — then get into a power struggle with Checketts and quit after the 1993-94 season — joining Miami where he coached and built several championships. But it is easy to forget Checketts hired Riley.
Grunfeld would remain the Knick GM until 1999, when he was fired by Checketts because of an underachieving Knick team that then turned it on and went to the finals. Checketts then made a mistake in the early 2000’s by hiring Scott Layden to be GM.
Zander predicted that ‘barring injury, a repeat 50-victory season is a lock. And for the first time since Pitino paced the Garden, the Knicks loom as a legitimate threat to get to the conference finals. Maybe even beyond.”
Zander nailed it — the coming season was the infamous 1992-93 campaign, when NY had the best record in the NBA at 60-22 — and took a 2-0 lead over Michael Jordan and the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals — but were robbed, many believe — by the NBA refs as Jordan got all the calls and Chicago was able to come back and win the series 4-2. Charles Smith was fouled at least twice on the final play of game 5, and Doc Rivers was apoplectic throughout that game at the calls Jordan was getting, that kept Chicago in it.
But that’s a writeup for another time.
Zander on Patrick Ewing: “Best jump-shooting big man ever.” (This was before Karl-Anthony Towns became the best 3-pt shooting big man ever.)
Interestingly, Zander places Rolando Blackman, Charles Smith, and Doc Rivers — the 3 players the Knicks acquired just before the book went to print — as the #2, #3, and #4 mentioned players on the Knicks. They were important but this would still be a team driven by Ewing-co-stars John Starks and Charles Oakley.
Note that Charles Smith was only 27 years old, with 4 years played so far in the NBA. There was great reason for Knick fans to be excited.
Note that Tony Campbell had really nice numbers coming in — and his numbers as a reserve (mentioned above) for Knicks in 1992-93 were pretty good. And the Knicks won 60 games with him as a key reserve. And yet he is completely forgettable — probably because Anthony Mason rose up to be the main off-the-bench forward for NY.
Zander was high on Anthony Mason — as everyone was. “Body by Schwarzenager, temperament by Jaws.” This was of course the steroid era and there are some who feel the circumstantial evidence is high that Mason’s rise was due to roid usage. But so many players in sports were on roids in this era — one can’t discount contemporaries Dennis Rodman, Karl Malone, etc on them as well.
Zander on Charles Oakley: “Has a nice 15-foot jumper.” Indeed Zander was on the money as usual. “Did superlative job taking Dennis Rodman out of rebounding heaven in 1st round.” Forgot about that!
On Greg Anthony: “Tilted to left side, must develop moves right.” That is indeed how I remember Anthony — the lefty point guard which made him unorthodox. Greg Anthony was a key part-time point guard (24 mpg) for the Knicks for the next 3 years before being lost to the — get this — Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1995 Expansion Draft.
John Starks was just reaching into stardom. He would eclipse the newly acquired Rolando Blackman and become the main sidekick to Ewing — averaging 17.5 and 19.0 ppg the next 2 seasons, become an All Star, and have a wonderful 8-year run with the Knicks before being traded in a package for Latrell Sprewell.
Patrick Eddie would never play in the NBA again. It must have been a terminal hamstring.
For about a month, the Knick acquisition of Tim McCormick seemed like a possible steal. But he’d never play NBA ball again after the 1991-92 season.
Bo Kimble would only play 9 games for the 1992-93 Knicks before being released and never playing in the NBA again. He is currently the head basketball coach of Overbrook High School in Philadelphia. Overbrook is a known breeding ground for NBA players with 11 NBA players to its credit including Wilt Chamberlain. It is 6th all time in number of NBA players that a high school has fielded.
It’s easy to forget that Hubert Davis had some strong seasons coming off the Knick bench from 1992-93 thru 1995-96 — averaging 5.4 ppg as a rookie, then 11.0, 10.0, and 10.7 ppg the next 3 years. NY traded him to the Toronto Raptors for their 1st round pick in 1997, which ended up being center John Thomas. They should have kept him. The 3-and-D guard spent 11 years in the NBA before becoming a famous college coach.
Zander on Pat Riley: “See — doesn’t need Kareem and Magic to win. May have done his best job ever. Turned gambling, underachieving Knicks into 51-victory team that lost Atlantic Division in final days, then extended heavily-favored Bulls to 7 games in Eastern Conference semis. Believes in team-family concept. Wishes everyone else would fall off a cliff, especially the media.”
Zander on best Knick trade: Dave DeBusschere. That trade is still right there as best Knick trade ever, probably tied by the RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa trade, and the Julius Randle with Donte DiVincenzo for Karl-Anthony Towns trade.
Zander also lists the Michael Ray Richardson for Bernard King trade — another good one — which is probably in 4th place overall right now. Others: Bill Cartwright for Charles Oakley, and then also Charles Oakley for Marcus Camby.
On Zander Hollander
Zander Hollander passed away in 2014. He created something special, and his handbooks will live on for many years; each one a treasure.
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