Not a lot broke right for David Fizdale’s 2019 Knicks, but if a broke clock is right twice a day that’s 730 times a year, so even Fiz had his moments. One came a few months into another lost season, after he got over the shock of Kevin Durant and Zion Williamson not walking through that door, looked around the locker room and decided the Knicks’ future centered on its two young centers, Mitchell Robinson and Luke Kornet. That pair went on to play supporting roles as backup bigs for NBA champions.
The center they displaced did not.
Enes Kanter’s postseason history is short and direct, like a shiv. He was Oklahoma City’s only real reserve big man in 2016, what with Kevin Durant, Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams each playing 30-40 minutes per playoff game. Three years later, Kanter was the starting center for a Portland side that made the Western finals before being swept by Golden State. The next season he played bit minutes for Boston the first two rounds before barely seeing the floor in the ECF vs. Miami. Spoiler: Kanter existing right as the NBA downshifted to pace-and-space and 3s was like the dinosaurs existing the same time as the asteroid. Tough break.
Fizdale likely figured Kanter — older, more worldly and presumably more mature than Kornet or Mitch, three and six years his juniors — would handle the news with grace. Brace yourself: Fizdale was wrong.
“For me to get to the next level, just be a good teammate, support my teammate out there and clap for him and cheer for him,’’ Kanter said at the time. “I’ll go out and do my job and help my team win. If we’re winning, it’s good. But if we’re losing it’s a problem. If this adjustment is going to get us a win, cool. But if not, there’s a problem.”
There’s a problem all right. Not that I’m surprised Kanter could both state it and miss it, simultaneously.
He changed his name years ago, because like the bottle-blonde Leavitts and low-T-hating Hegseths of the world, Kanter has no sense of shame. He’s open publicly about changes he’s made to his identity to better reflect the way he wishes to be seen by others. But as one who literally hugs the flag fails to recognize what such a slovenly act says about them, Kanter isn’t merely lacking in self-awareness. Self-awareness is entirely beside the point. Because “Enes Freedom” really isn’t about freedom. Which is sad.
For years, Kanter has been an outspoken critic of Turkish dictator Recep Erdoğan. The personal may be political, but it’s often the other way around, too. Born in Switzerland, Kanter gained Turkish citizenry through his parents. He’s endured Erdoğan’s forces imprisoning and oppressing his loved ones in Turkey and escaped a Turkish kidnapping attempt in Indonesia, so you can see how even a man bigger than Charles Oakley is only human in the face being a political target. You can understand why he sought American citizenship, saying, “I feel like this is my home now.”
The D.C. kleptocracy abhors Europe in general and birthright citizenship in particular, so you might not expect them to view Kanter fondly, nor he them. Yet hate makes for strange bedfellows, so wealthy, anonymous powers-that-be fly their willing human cargo to Chicago with primo seats for a Sky game, claiming he’s there to “support women.” That manifested as Kanter going harder and louder after the Sky’s Natalie Cloud than he ever did Royce White. White recently joined Kanter in “supporting women” by facetiously stating their intent to enter the WNBA draft, after which we learned White’s ex-wife and the mother of his son was granted a 50-year order of protection after years of White’s abuse and intimidation.
It was the same story with Damyean Dotson, Kanter’s former Knick teammate who faced rape charges while at the University of Oregon. The district attorney’s office dropped the case, though not without stating “there is no doubt the incidents occurred [ . . . ] the conflicting statements and actions by the victim make this case unprovable as a criminal case.” The victim won a settlement from the school after a case that saw Dotson’s defense peddle in the pathetic, including the claim that“because the University [sic] disciplines male students for sexual misconduct but never female students, it is biased against men.” Hospitals treat the sick but never the healthy, therefore they’re biased.
And who among us doesn’t remember where they were the first time they heard Kanter’s impassioned support for women after Michael Beasleywas accused of stripping, choking and raping a woman? Or wait — was that after Kyle O’Quinn allegedly punched a woman? Or Kristaps Porziņģis was accused of rape? Kanter’s former teammate Ime Udoka cheated on his wife with a woman in the Celtics organization, who unless she’s the owner’s wife is by default less powerful within the Celtics than Udoka was as the head coach. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall when Kanter let Udoka have it after being personally and professionally in the red.
Plenty of opportunities to support women by punching up. The 49ers owner was arrested this week for soliciting prostitution from an undercover cop. One of the football Giants’ owners is more than a little linked with Jeffrey Epstein’s child rape racket. James Dolan forces facial recognition technology on millions of unwitting people. Kanter thinks he’s edgy for bugging Cloud at her job.
“Never, ever hide,” Kanter told Fox News in a 2023 interview. “Hiding is not an option. I know it can be a bit dangerous sometimes, but . . . we live in a free country.” Not everybody, Enes. Yesterday in Connecticut, ICE waited for school kids to get on the morning bus, then kidnapped their parents. The cruelty was the point: when the kids get home after school, they can’t find their parents and have no idea what’s happened to them, nor where to search without subjecting themselves to the same cruel system. ICE shoots and kills women in the face. They rape and kill women in their concentration camps.
Contrast that with the article photo: literally, angry man yells at Cloud. That night, Kanter’s head hit the pillow with him proudly centered as both hero and victim. The kind of man a woman would rather avoid than a bear.
I won’t call him Enes Freedom anymore. Freedom means sharing the rights and responsibilities you demand for yourself with those you live with and around. Escaping oppression, only to pile on some other oppressed people, is not freedom. That’s impunity. After a string of DNPs near the end of his days in New York, Kanter kissed the Garden floor after finally returning to action. “Obviously, on the court and off the court I’ve been having a very rough time the last three weeks with Turkey issues and basketball issues,” he said. “The support that they are showing just meant a lot to me.”
Support is nice.
