Max Kellerman: A Grade-School Child Could Have Written Knicks' Equality Statement

The New York Knicks organization suffered an internal crisis of sorts over the last few weeks. Owner James Dolan and his company were completely silent in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed around the country. Knicks players and other employees were apparently furious about that decision. It only got worse when Dolan emailed everyone in his employ explaining he didn't feel it was his company's place to make statements on such matters.

Flash forward to today, over a week later, and the Knicks finally released a statement. It was ... underwhelming.

Noted former Knicks fan Max Kellerman was the one responsible for taking Dolan to task on First Take today with Stephen A. Smith out for the week. He did not hold back in his utter distaste for how badly this organization manages to screw everything up, even when it's something as crucially important as this.

"Well, those are all good sentiments and we should all share those values, for sure. But let me ask something of this clown organization," Kellerman began. "It took you two weeks-plus to come up with that? Two weeks to come up with that? A grade-school kid could come up with that today. Like, right now. If I gave him the assignment, 'In five minutes write something about values we should share as a society,' five minutes a grade-school kid could write that. It took the New York Knicks, a multi-billion dollar organization, more than TWO WEEKS? ... That is pathetic, James Dolan. Pathetic."

"The second thing is," continued Kellerman, "Say Black Lives Matter. It's not that hard. Just say Black Lives Matter. Can you write that somewhere in your statement? Can you say George Floyd's name? What are you afraid of? What is Dolan afraid of? He can't have one of his flunkies write Black Lives Matter or say the name George Floyd? What is he afraid of? It's easy: Black Lives Matter. George Floyd. His life mattered. Say his name. Write it down. Send it out."

Kellerman's disgust is evident and should be shared by Knicks fans everywhere. Just another misstep in a long line of them from James Dolan.