5 New Year's Resolutions for the New York Knicks
When the calendar flips to January 1, the New York Knicks will confront the sobering 2015 that lays ahead.
They will bring in the new year sporting a 5-28 record in Derek Fisher's rookie coaching season and Phil Jackson's inaugural presidential campaign. Their beloved triangle offense is coming together only in fits and starts, the defense is a disaster and 2014-15 has devolved into a lost cause.
So what does a team so beleaguered resolve to do in the upcoming year?
New York's goals must be modest, pragmatic and totally unconcerned with short-term tasks like winning a given game. Victories are largely counterproductive for a team under .200 this deep into the schedule. Any true progress for the Knicks now will be moral rather than concretely measurable.
Consistent with one's fingers-crossed vow to hit the gym more often, New York might not pursue all these goals for more than a few weeks; some they might never really attempt to see through at all. With the next year on the horizon, we simply consider them, working up to the most essential resolution, and hope for more happiness and healthiness than the past 33 games have held.
5. Give Cole Aldrich More Playing Time
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Given the disarray and aversion to defense that characterize the Knicks' frontcourt, turning to a shot-swatting, gap-toothed friend is the right thing to do.
Cole Aldrich is one of two Knicks with a player efficiency rating over 20, along with Carmelo Anthony. The 6'11", 250-pound center has put up 5.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in just 13.9 minutes per game, and he's tied with Amar'e Stoudemire for the team lead with a .558 field-goal percentage.
It's vexing how those numbers haven't earned the 26-year-old Aldrich a greater workload.
Samuel Dalembert is the only other Knick capable of providing any rim protection, but he's shooting a woeful .438 from the field. Aldrich can't space out to the midrange and hit jumpers on the other end, but he can sink hooks with either hand and he's willing to hustle for points inside.
That skill set makes him New York's only big who could prove a two-way option in the long run. His paltry minutes per game are the most in his five-year career, but the Knicks ought to run him some more to see if they have a piece of their future puzzle.
4. Do Right by Iman Shumpert
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The Mike Woodson era was not a warm time in the NBA life of Iman Shumpert, but the harshness he once faced has been replaced by loneliness today.
In 24 games this season, the 24-year-old shooting guard has frequently and openly expressed frustration with the lack of help he has on the defensive end. Though Pablo Prigioni and Shane Larkin can sneak their way to some swipes, New York's perimeter D is made up entirely of minuses outside of Iman, and he no longer has Tyson Chandler as a back line to aid him.
The Knicks have had their trouble limiting opponents in Shump's career, but now he is completely alone on an island. His only reprieve has been a dislocated shoulder, for which there is no timetable for his return, per ESPN New York's Ian Begley.
Once he's back on the court, hopefully Shumpert will find a more helpful Knicks team than the one from which injury took him. Even with a dearth of defensive talent, an upgrade in attentiveness and composure on that end will go a long way to supporting New York's 6'5", 220-pound lockdown ace.
If that doesn't happen, Shump's dismay will drag down morale as his own wanes further. With his contract expiring at season's end, his New York career will be fully defined by heartache, and it will be best for both parties to trade him for some asset worthwhile to the Knicks beyond 2014-15.
3. Find Tim Hardaway Jr. in the Corners
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Tim Hardaway Jr. is having a bizarre sophomore campaign.
He has attacked the rim with his usual smoothness, particularly in transition. The 22-year-old is still at a remedial level in terms of defense and passing, but he's devoting more effort to improve those areas of his game. The results have been uneven, but the 6'6", 210-pounder is moving toward being a well-rounded player.
Meanwhile, Tim's gone cold from beyond the arc. After hitting .363 percent of his treys as a rookie, Hardaway has followed it up with a .331 rate this season. Considering he's not scoring inside much in the half court, that poor range shooting his dropped his overall field-goal percentage down to .391.
One way Hardaway can up his efficiency would be to improve his performance on the shortest three-pointers. Timmy has converted just 12 of 41 attempts from the corners, a .293 percentage not at all befitting someone New York is developing as a distance marksman.
Rather than up his above-the-break looks, the Knicks should double down on Hardaway's problem zone. Go out of the way to get him more corner shots, and he'll either find his stroke from there or prove a significant hole in his game. Either way, New York will learn what it really has in its young shooting guard.
2. Rest Carmelo Anthony
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Melo did not play at all in the second half of New York's 101-79 blowout loss at the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, opting instead to give his sore left knee some rest, Begley reports.
""Tonight it feels like fatigue, and not getting a chance to recover from last night," Anthony said. "I felt this before the game, but I looked around the locker room and we have seven or eight guys ready to go -- I really didn't have a choice but to go out there and attempt to play and see how much I could take."
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That's a noble stance for Melo to take—the hobbling leader of the walking wounded—but as the owner of a five-year, $124 million contract, the 30-year-old star needs to stay healthy way more than any other Knick does for the long-term well-being of the franchise.
Per Begley, Knicks doctors have told Anthony he won't worsen the injury by playing on it, but that playing will slow the healing process. So long as he can deal with the discomfort on a night-by-night basis, he's cleared to play.
However, playing with a weak knee can affect the rest of his body. It stands to reason a 6'8", 240-pound man running on a balky knee could contort himself into back spasms, as Melo did in November, again according to Begley.
Anthony has spoken to Fisher, and presumably others, about the possibility of surgery. No one but Melo can tell him to go under the knife if he can heal without it. But he should let the healing process play out before he plays on, and Fisher and company should be more forceful in keeping New York's cornerstone healthy. No game played from now on this season is worth missing any next or beyond.
1. Look to the Draft
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When you go over the box scores, the most important lines belong to two guys who not only aren't on the Knicks, but aren't even in the pros yet: Duke's Jahlil Okafor and Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns.
Those are the two best big prospects in college basketball today, both of whom have the potential to be transformative talents for whatever organization is lucky enough to draft them. Okafor is 6'11", 270 pounds and already has a polished array of post moves, while Towns is 6'11", 250 pounds with the agility to drive from the perimeter at that size. Both are only 19 years old.
Losing 28 of 33 games gives the Knicks the second-worst record in the league, with only the tanktastic Philadelphia 76ers positioned deeper in the cellar thus far. And even then, Philly has picked up three of its four total wins in the past 10 games, moving two games closer to New York compared to the Bockers' last 10.
So New York is well on its way to getting a top-two pick, which would guarantee them one of Okafor and Towns if the other goes first. Now is not the time for the Knicks to rest on their futile laurels, however. Looking to the future now means looking away from today, eyeing the bright side June has in store as the defeats keep mounting.
Give Hardaway shots he can't figure out how to make. Focus on the side of the ball on which the Knicks are built to fail. Devote more center minutes to a career reserve. The progress could pay off in 2015-16 and on; if it comes in losing efforts, especially competitive ones, all the better. Any positive play that drives New York further down the standings represents the best possible outcome.
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