Coaching vs. Chemistry: Which Is a Greater Obstacle to Knicks' Success?

For the last decade, the New York Knicks have struggled with underachieving and mediocrity.

Even after trading for and signing players like Amar'e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and J.R. Smith, the Knicks can't seem to get their act together and make it out of the first round of the NBA playoffs.

While the Knicks' lack of postseason success is certainly disheartening for Knicks' fans, the real issue is that no matter who's on the court, the Knicks can't seem to develop into a cohesive unit.

That lack of chemistry is what holds the Knicks back from being more than a perennial underachiever in the Eastern Conference year in and year out.

No head coach in the world, not even the mighty Phil Jackson, could lead the Knicks to an NBA title without first helping develop legitimate chemistry between the players on the roster.

While Mike Woodson certainly plays a part in helping the Knicks develop chemistry in the locker room and on the court, the ultimate responsibility of establishing chemistry falls squarely on the shoulders of the veteran players on the team.

It's the responsibility of players like Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler and Amar'e Stoudemire to ensure that there is chemistry on the court between the players on the Knicks' roster.

We saw last season just how important chemistry is when the Dallas Mavericks knocked off the mighty Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.

Even with three All-Stars—LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh—the Heat didn't have the chemistry they needed to knock off a veteran Mavericks team who played with an incredibly high level of chemistry.

With chemistry between the Knicks' star players, they could be one of the best teams in the East even with Will Ferrell coaching the team.

Without chemistry, the Knicks couldn't be a legitimate threat in the East even if they had Red Auerbach running the show.

The veteran players for the Knicks need to realize that chemistry on the court begins with the atmosphere in the locker room and away from the court.  If the players don't care about each other, they will end up trying to win games with individual performances rather than as a cohesive unit of players pursuing the same goal.

For the sake of chemistry, it's integral that the Knicks re-sign Jeremy Lin.  

Lin helped the Knicks see first hand just how important chemistry is when he led the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak back in February.

Lin gave something for the Knicks to believe in and rally around, and that's exactly what is at the foundation of building chemistry within an NBA roster.

The biggest obstacle to the Knicks' success moving forward as a franchise isn't who they have as their head coach, it's whether they can develop an effective level of chemistry between the star players on their roster.

If building chemistry isn't the Knicks' main focus heading into the 2012-13 season, their fans will be relegated to yet another season of average play and underwhelming results.