Dave DeBusschere

Dave DeBusschere was the piece that turned a good Knicks team into a champion. When New York acquired him from Detroit in December 1968, the move let Willis Reed slide to center and gave the Knicks a forward who could smother the league's best scorers, an assignment he accepted nightly. He earned All-Defensive First Team honors six times and anchored the title runs of 1970 and 1973. His athleticism ran deep: before committing to basketball he pitched in the majors for the Chicago White Sox, and at 24 he became the youngest head coach in league history as a player-coach in Detroit. An eight-time All-Star, he entered the Hall of Fame in 1983. DeBusschere died in 2003 at the age of 62.