Lights at the End of the Tunnel for New York Knicks' Dark Days
The New York Knicks are absolutely dreadful, and everyone involved is responsible.
From Phil Jackson to Derek Fisher to Carmelo Anthony, this is on each and every Knick, regardless of whether he wears a suit or a jersey.
As of Dec. 19, the ‘Bockers stood with the NBA’s second-worst record at 5-23 and held a marginal one-game lead over the intentionally horrendous Philadelphia 76ers. In the history of the franchise, no Knicks team had ever gotten off to a worse start.
Philly literally entered the season aiming to lose as many games as possible and cash in on the hoard of draft picks the franchise has acquired in recent years.
By contrast, New York signed Anthony to a five-year deal worth $124 million. Jackson traded Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks for Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin, Samuel Dalembert and a pick that turned into Cleanthony Early.
"We believe that we're going to be a playoff team and then we don't know how far we'll be able to go," PJax said back in September, per Ian Begley of ESPN New York. "We're hoping for the best."
The Knicks weren’t supposed to be bad. This isn't tanking, this is failure.
Zoom out for a minute and look at the big picture, though. This season, as painful as it is, could be beneficial for the franchise in the long run.
Is New York That Bad?
The Knicks’ 23 losses probably offend your eyes, and rightfully so. It’s a pitiful number.
But let’s look at it with a magnifying glass—15 of those 23 defeats have been determined by single-digit points, and 10 of them have been by five or less. That comes to an average margin of 8.9 points in losing efforts.
With a 14.3 margin of defeat, Philly has been considerably worse, having come within single-digits just eight times in 22 Ls.
Look, I get it—the 76ers shouldn’t be used as a measuring stick. But these teams are separated by one game in the standings.
Bad teams find ways to lose. Intentionally poor teams get blown out every night.
The Knicks aren’t necessarily close to relevancy, but they’re not all that far either. That's not to say they'll be contenders every year after this, but they're straddling the line of good and bad, so the transition to winning won't be as difficult.
Fisher has struggled to get his team clicking with any consistency in the triangle, and even angrily yanked out the starters just five minutes into the 107-87 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 16.
“I thought the start was not the right way to start a professional basketball game,” Fisher said of the 26-11 lead Dallas jumped out to, via Marc Berman of the New York Post. “The guys who started the game were a disappointment to their teammates. Guys who start a game have to be physically and mentally ready to play. We got five guys in there who played hard.”
On Dec. 9, Frank Isola of the New York Daily News relayed Jackson’s displeasure with how his team has begun the season:
"Obviously, we’re disappointed. We knew it was going to be a process; we talked about that before. But the process has been kind of set in place. I think guys understand what we’re trying to do. Hopefully, they’re getting to be more compliant.
There’s some resistance to discipline and order and culture change and things like that. I will call it a crucible for what we’re going through here. The process is going to refine some of the stuff so that we come out and be a pretty good team after all is said and done.
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Jackson went on to say the Knicks have a “loser’s mentality” and stressed the importance of setting the groundwork for a team-oriented offense.
The franchise player, who is averaging 23.4 points and 6.6 rebounds, wants to get his team back into contention. But he needs to remain patient, weather the criticism and keep his eyes on the future.
“Losing the way we’re losing don’t sit well,” Anthony said after the Dallas game, per Berman. “I don’t like this feeling.”
The Biggest Perk of Putridity
If the Knicks keep losing, then they will have a great chance at getting back on the right track as early as next year.
Why? A potential lottery pick.
Granted, the lowest teams don’t always get the highest picks. After all, the Cleveland Cavaliers somehow slithered into the No. 1 last year spot despite a 1.7 percent chance of winning the lottery.
The NBA’s biggest bottom-feeders are the Minnesota Timberwolves (5-19), Detroit Pistons (5-21), Knicks (5-23) and Sixers (2-22). It’s almost certain the quartet will continue to slide while more skilled teams like the Charlotte Hornets (6-19) and Utah Jazz (7-19) are a bit more likely to get their act together.
Anthony, Calderon, J.R. Smith, Pablo Prigioni, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Early are the only players on the books for next year. That will leave Jackson with the hefty task of building a roster from the ground up, and the foundational first step will come on June 25.
There looks to be an abundance of big men coming out for the draft, with Duke’s Jahlil Okafor and Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns headlining the class. Okafor is currently the top overall prospect on DraftExpress, but Towns would be an interesting fit in New York.
Here’s Bleacher Report’s John Dorn with more:
"The team is in need of a center for the long term, and Towns would presumably fill that need. The Kentucky freshman stands at 7'0", 250 pounds, and contributes a unique skill set to the position.
Though he has good size, he's not overly strong down low on either end. Instead, Towns brings an incredible shooting touch from a big man, which would be useful in the triangle offense. Over 18.8 minutes per game this year, he's averaged 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds while shooting 53.8 percent from the floor.
Another trait that fits Derek Fisher's triangle is Towns' passing ability and knack for making the correct reads. And though he's not a dominant post player, he works hard at being aggressive, though he could stand to develop more strength.
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Nailing this pick is crucial for Jackson. The Knicks have almost always drafted well—their problem has been an over-willingness to trade future assets. The majority of the team's draft rights between now and 2019 belong to others (here's the list on RealGM).
There has been talk of sitting Anthony, who has been banged up for most of the year with various injuries, until next season.
While that may be an extreme measure, it is important to keep Anthony healthy for the length of his five-year deal. Running him into the ground for a meaningless year would be detrimental to the future.
Barely a quarter of the way through 2014-15, the season is already lost.
Getting hot and winning a few games won't help the team at all. Mediocrity is like quicksand in today's NBA.
But continuing to lose gives the Knicks a head start on winning a year from now.
Open Season Next Summer
Before tearing down Jackson’s front office credibility after an admittedly bad first deal—Chandler is averaging 10.8 points and 11.5 rebounds—at least give him a fair shot.
With most of the current Knicks set to hit free agency this summer, the Zen Master will have a chance to earn the (outlandish) contract, which is worth $12 million annually, owner James Dolan gave him.
Marc Gasol would be the biggest catch, and the current MVP candidate’s brother, Pau, put some wind in the Knicks’ sails in late October.
From Zach Braziller of the New York Post:
"Pau, in town with the Bulls, his new team, said it is “possible” his 29-year-old brother could wind up in New York and mentioned he has talked to Marc about Knicks president Phil Jackson in the past.
“We’ll see what happens next year, what he decides. Hopefully he’ll have a strong year and all the options in the world, because he’s one of the top centers, interior players in the league, so any team would be fortunate to have him,” the 34-year-old Spaniard said of his younger brother, before the Bulls demolished the Knicks, 104-80, Wednesday night at the Garden. “It’s a personal decision. I talked to my brother enough about Phil that he knows what he brings to the table."
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LaMarcus Aldridge is probably going back to the Portland Trailblazers, but DeAndre Jordan will be unrestricted. Goran Dragic, Monta Ellis and Al Jefferson have player options and could end up on the open market, too.
Tobias Harris, a 22-year-old restricted free agent, appears to be the most likely player to come on board with the Knicks next summer. The young forward is a native of New York and has supposedly built up a great relationship with Anthony.
Here’s Adam Zagoria of SNY.com back on Nov. 12:
"“I’m telling you if the Knicks come at him hard, who wouldn’t want to play for their hometown team?” a Harris confidant told SNY.tv and The Knicks Blog.
The source pointed out that the 6-foot-9 Harris plays well alongside Knicks star Carmelo Anthony. The pair worked out together multiple times this summer at Terminal 23, Anthony’s midtown gym.
“They play well together,” the confidant said. “Carmelo always had him on his team when Kevin Durant came to town and they would win every game.”
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New York might have to break the bank to snag the two-way youngster, who’s averaging 18.4 points, 7.6 boards and 2.0 assists—all career-bests—for the Orlando Magic, who have the power to match any offer.
Zagoria and ESPN’s Chris Broussard also reported Harris, who goes by "All Business," will receive a boost in his Nike endorsement if he ends up in New York, Los Angeles or Chicago, which would appear to give the Knicks a real chance at landing the young star.
Calderon, Hardaway Jr., Anthony, Harris and Okafor/Towns is a pretty solid starting lineup, and if Jackson can assemble some sort of reliable bench, that would undoubtedly be a playoff team.
What if things don’t work out that way after 2014-15? After all, the 2014-15 Knicks were supposed to be a playoff team, too.
Well...that’s OK, because for the Knicks, there’s always—always—“next year.”
All stats are accurate as of Dec. 19 courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com. Contract information from HoopsHype was also used.
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