The Knicks have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the NBA this season, but their bench has been relatively stable. With players like J.R. Smith, Steve Novak, Baron Davis, and Iman Shumpert coming off the bench for New York, you could say depth is a strong suit for Mike Woodson’s team. Having realized that, Shumpert took to Twitter to search for a nickname for the unit back at the beginning of March. One follower came up with the name “Mob Deep,” and the Knicks have run with it ever since.
Of course, the nickname is a variation of the popular 1990s hip-hop duo “Mobb Deep,” which featured New York rappers Prodigy and Havoc. The duo is happy to share the name with their hometown team.
“I’ve heard them play our music before at different games, maybe during the highlights on the news and certain things like that,” Prodigy told ESPNNewYork.com. “But this is the first time where the team actually called something ‘Mobb Deep.’ That’s the Knicks. That’s what’s up.”
Havoc added that he can see the similarities between the Knicks bench and the way “Mobb Deep” came up with their name.
“It was a saying that we used to use in Queensbridge, describing how many of us it would be when we all went out, or if we saw another crew that had a lot of people rolling with them,” Havoc explained. “We would be like, ‘Yo, we were mobb deep last night at the movie theater,’ or whatever have you — as in a mobb of us, that we were rolling deep.”
Havoc and Prodigy used to roll deep and the Knicks bench is a deep unit. I get it. Now New York fans just have to hope that mob is deep enough withstand an injured Amar’e Stoudemire, who is out indefinitely with a bulging disk.
Photo credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE
