Whats Wrong with the Knicks?

With the second worse record in the Eastern Conference at 11-26, the Knicks are beginning to look like the squad who played under Larry Brown.

They are already 19 and half games back from the first place Celtics (i never thought I'd ever say that) and have a worse record then the rebuilding franchise of Philly.

Only the Miami Heat have a worse record then the Knicks at 8 wins and 28 losses.

The Knicks are 8-13 in conference play, and have a horrible road record at 2-13. ok so they've won 2 straight against two pretty good teams. beating the wizards in new york by 12, the same wizards team that had their fun with the unstoppable celtics. the game before was the more impressive win. the knicks beat up on the Detroit Pistons, yes you heard me, the detroit pistons. they held the pistons to a season low in points. the pistons just barely avoided a franchise low for points with 65. they shot a season low 30.7 percent (23-75) which matched the NBA low for field goals made in a game in the 07-08 season. All detroit coach Flip Saunders had to say after the gamewas, "They beat us bad." 

now if you look back at the games before those two, you have a string of en games within which the knicks only won one, beating the "all-powerful" Bulls in a tight matchup, 105-100. after the romping of cleveland on December 19 at the Garden the knicks just were absolutely aweful! so why is that? what makes the knicks so bad for these stretches of games? i dont think anyone knows exactly whats up with them.

so this is my answer, its simple really, its actually only a few words, "personel change!"

its thats simple. go ahead look at the roster, and youll see alot of talent and what looks to be on paper a .500 team or better. youve got Jamal Crawford who is a decent sized gaurd who averages almost 20 points a gmae and on most nights will put the team on his back and carry them. then theres David Lee, who should be avergaing at least 15 points and 12 rebounds, excpet for the fact that Coach Thomas has decided to keep him benched for most parts of some games. this year however hes averaging 9 points and 8 rebounds, and is averaging 26 minutes a game, down from almost 30 minutes he played last. 4 minutes might not seem like alot but in a 48 minutes game 4 minutes at the end of a game could be crunch time. then theres the always under-estimated Renaldo Balkman, his stats might not be so great, but with increased playing time his hustle, defensive grind and ally-oop jams will come in handy to help pump the team up. if you watch Balkman and little Nate Robinson play together they really get the Garden going and get the team hyped up. the combonation really bring alot of energy to the floor. in the offseason everyone knows about the big deal for Zach Randolph, but it seems to be effecting Eddy Currys game, his point are down from 19-14 and randolph has dominated the offensive side of the ball. the bad thing about having both of them in the game is that they are both black holes, they both just cant learn how to pass out. there are some games where the knicks have great ball movement (all thanks to david lee, ahem) and the big men will pass. but on most nights, its pass to bigmen never get the ball back again!!

so where does Stphon Marbury fit into all of this, well, he doesnt. im sorry to say it, but just get rid of him. hes had his chance, and hes lost it. he hasnt played in most games this season, being riddled with injurey and other distractions. i understand his father passed away and thats ok, but it seemed like he was gone a little bit to long.

and what about the coach? Isiah Thomas, former NBA superstar, now head coach and head honcho in the front office of a once proud franchise. should he go? should he stay? i guess James Dolan, Madison Square Garden and president and CEO, thinks he should stay. in march of 2007 he gave thomas a contract extension and since then the knicks have gone a combined 15-41.

so what to do? well i think the knicks should get rid of Thomas, Marbury and Randolph. they need to bring in a head coach who is experianced, so i think Jef Van Gundy should come back and try to fix these knicks. he knows how the system in new york works, and has alot of coaching experiance. He would have a completely different sqaud then he had before. then get rid of "Starbury," hes a nutjob, a head case. hes not what he used to be. in his golden days he was going to the all-star game and was putting up better numbers. now hes gone, i dont know where but just gone. the knicks should either try and draft a point gaurd, possibly someone like dominic james of marquette or taurean green from florida. so lastly, lets just get rid of him, im sorry zach randolph fans, if they exist, he needs to go. he could be great, but hes crazy. a criminal and a headcase, its all about him, its a one man show. keep eddy curry because he showed alot of promise last year and at least hes not crazy. with the right work ethic and practice i believe curry become one of the more dominant big men in the league. on many occasions ive seen him give alot of trouble to guys like Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard and Shaq. he could potentially be great someday, but not with a guy like Randolph crowing the other side of the hoop.

so th knicks obviously have alot of work to do and it will take some time to do it. if a team really tries then they can really turn a season around. look at the celtics, look what theyve done, so why cant the knicks do it?