New York Knicks: 5 Knicks Who Haven't Lived Up to Expectations in 2012

To say that the 2011-12 season has been wild and unpredictable would be a major understatement.

The New York Knicks have experienced more this season than the average NBA team has in the last decade. They had to go through injuries to their star players, a fired coach and the sudden rise and fall of a young Harvard kid who swept the nation for a month.

After making the playoffs for the first time in ages last season, the bar was raised higher for the Knicks, but they have failed miserably to live up to their expectations. If it wasn't for the sudden emergence of Jeremy Lin, this team would be on the outside looking in.

It's really interesting to think about where the Knicks would be right now if it wasn't for that short period where we were all caught in the middle of Linsanity.

This season has been a disappointment, to say the least. They came into the season with high expectations because it was going to be the first full season for Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire together. 

The team has collectively failed to live up their standards. Here are five Knicks who should look in the mirror and accept part of the blame for this year's lost season. 

Baron Davis

Baron Davis is celebrating his 33rd birthday this Friday.

At times this season, though, he's looked more like 43. 

He has looked out of shape all year long, and has only averaged 5.5 points and 4.9 assists ever since he played in his first game in a Knicks uniform on February 20. 

OK, so perhaps one might say that the decline in his numbers are because of the fact that Jeremy Lin had been eating up most of the minutes all season long.

That's definitely not true, though. In the last nine games with Jeremy Lin out of the lineup, Davis has yet to hit double-digits in points, and has just two assists in the last three games.

Folks, that wasn't a typo. He's not averaging two assists in the last three, he has two assists in the last three.

Davis is also ranked 53rd among 65 point guards in terms of player efficiency. He has a PER of just 9.61, and this is one year after he provided solid output for the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Last season, he averaged around 13 points and close to seven assists per game on two atrocious teams. One would think his numbers would go up when playing with stars like Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler, but that just hasn't been the case for the aging point guard. 

Carmelo Anthony

Carmelo Anthony's 21.9-points-per-game average is the lowest since his sophomore season in the league. 

It's well documented that Carmelo is one of the best scorers in the league. He doesn't do much of anything else, but one thing he has excelled in throughout his career is putting the ball through the hoop. 

But this season he's averaging over four points less than what he was scoring last season in a Knicks uniform. His numbers are below his career averages, and this shouldn't be the case for an All-Star-caliber player in his prime.

Even his field-goal percentage has declined this season. It has rock-bottomed at 42.2 percent, which is the lowest of his career. 

And this is after playing over half the season with an extremely offensive-minded head coach in Mike D'Antoni.

Speaking of D'Antoni, Carmelo has been an even bigger headache off the court. He was seemingly frustrated with the coach in the days leading up to this resignation. 

This is definitely not what the Knicks signed up for when they acquired 'Melo. 

Amar'e Stoudemire

Amar'e Stoudemire is another superstar player not living up to expectations for the New York Knickerbockers. 

Amar'e is only averaging 17.6 points per game this season, a dip from the 25.3 points he averaged last year. This is the lowest average for him in a full season since his rookie year, when he was scoring at a 13.5-points-per-game clip.

This is an absolutely glaring drop off for the big man. 

What's worse is that his shooting percentage is down to 47.7 percent. Four years ago in Phoenix it was near 60 percent. 

The New York Knicks did not have this in mind when they went out and signed him two summers ago. There's no question that Stoudemire's slump this season has played a major role in the Knicks' struggles.

Toney Douglas

Backup point guard Toney Douglas showed some promise last season when he averaged over 10 points per game. Maybe he was the answer to the Knicks' point guard woes.

This year he has taken a major step back. He's only averaging 6.6 points per game, which is lower than is rookie year's average.

As a result, Douglas found a nice warm seat on the bench after Jeremy Lin broke out in the middle of the season. Now that Lin's out for the season, Douglas is at least getting some playing time, but his numbers haven't been anything to write home about. 

Mike Bibby

It may not seem like it, but Mike Bibby isn't all that old. He's only 33. 

When you look at what Steve Nash is doing at his age down in Phoenix, there's no excuse why Bibby shouldn't be replicating his prowess of his prime years to some extent.

However, Bibby has averaged a meager 2.3 points per game along with 1.4 assists, as it seems like retirement is the next option for the point guard who once averaged over 21 points per game in Sacramento.

Bibby is being used sparingly this season by the Knicks, and he hasn't even been able to match his horrible numbers from last season in Miami, where he averaged 7.3 points and 2.5 assists per game.