5 Early Takeaways from New York Knicks Season So Far

"This team might just have a personality," I said to myself last weekend following the New York Knicks' disappointing but entertaining 111-107 loss to the Detroit Pistons. However, after the Boston Celtics disemboweled them and devoured their souls in a 110-89 rout just three days later, I'm not so sure. 

Who are these New York Knicks? Are they the Knicks who built a 21-point lead over the Detroit Pistons or the team who lost that lead? Are they the Knicks who made just one first-quarter turnover in Detroit or the squad that made 10 in Oklahoma City?  

Are they the team that exhibited symphonic harmony when Courtney Lee used a strong Ron Baker screen to make a slick baseline back-cut, catch a beautiful Kyle O'Quinn thread-the-needle pass in motion and sink a reverse lay-up in Detroit? Or the team whose starting big men wasted three seconds in Boston disagreeing over whose job it was to set the screen Ramon Sessions had just called for.

Three games into the season, there's a lot we don't know about New York in the post-Carmelo era. Here's what we do know. 

Tim Hardaway Jr. Still Has Growing Up to Do

Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

Boston, first quarter: Tim Hardaway Jr. throws up his hands for the first time.

Hardaway is already snapping at his teammates for not passing him the ball when he's open. Then Hardaway neglects to pass to an open Courtney Lee; Lee points out that fact to Hardaway. As soon as a timeout is called the two exchange tense words. Following that, when Hardaway falls and slides into the stands, the Celtics fans are quicker to help him off the floor than his own teammates.

Granted, Hardaway has some legitimate gripes, which I'll describe in more detail below. 

Conversely, if he had been passed the ball, he probably would have missed the shot. Hardaway is struggling to find the bottom of the net right now, contested or uncontested. He's 5-of-22 from long range this season (0-of-5 Tuesday) and shooting just 24.3 percent from the field overall.

Remember the THJ who stalked opponents' passing lanes and racked up seven steals over preseason? So far in 91 minutes of play in regular season, he hasn't logged a single one.

So he's in a slump; no big deal, every shooter goes through it and the only way out is to keep shooting. So maybe he doesn't know all the plays and positions; it's early days and he can learn them. A petulant attitude—which he supposedly had grown out of—is a more serious problem. (Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer sent Hardaway down to the D-League in 2015 because of his lacking commitment to defense, but praised him for being "very professional" about the assignment. Hardaway was in the Hawks' starting lineup not long after.) However, if a slump or a double-digit deficit is now causing Hardaway to slack off on defense, lash out at teammates and fail to participate in offense that isn't created for him, he doesn't belong in this starting lineup.

The good news is, Hardaway finds his own performance unacceptable and, for now, seems to have the support of other players. NewsDay's Al Iannazzone reported:

"I'm not playing the way I wanted to play, and it [stinks]. You've got to move on, get back in the gym and work. My teammates have my back. They're giving me confidence each and every day so I go out there and play."

The Three-Point Game Is Non-Existent

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Hardaway is right about one thing: The Knicks can't afford to miss opportunities to find the open man behind the arc.

They are last in the league in three-pointers made (5.3) and last in three-point field-goal percentage (24.2%). In the 110-89 loss to the Boston Celtics they sunk only one bucket from behind the arc, and it didn't fall until the fourth quarter.

One issue is of course Hardaway's current efficiency. He needs to hit better than 22.7 percent. In preseason, he shot 43.2 percent.

Yet, the Knicks are also 29th in the league in three-pointers attempted (22.0). A big reason for that is the difference in Kristaps Porzingis' role in the offense this season. You'll find KP operating on the block more often than not. Last season 32 percent of his shot attempts were from behind the arc; thus far this year only 25 percent are.  

The minimal three-point game doesn't necessarily doom the Knicks to irrelevance. The second and third-lowest-scoring teams from three-point range are the San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards, and they're 4-0 and 3-1, respectively. New York just needs other strengths to counter that weakness...eventually it might let us see those strengths. 

Enes Kanter Is Inconveniently Loveable

Enes Kanter is averaging 14.3 points, 12.0 rebounds and one steal per game, exhibits inexhaustible hustle,  and showed up to New York with better defense, a slimmer build and more attractive facial hair than ever before.  

How dare he? 

Didn't Kanter know that the Knicks already had more big men than they know how to deal with? He rudely has decided to perform extremely well and be a nice guy too. 

He leads the team in rebounds right now, and was even a match for Andre Drummond on the glass, grabbing 10 boards against Detroit and holding last year’s rebound title runner-up to 12. Kanter dropped weight over the summer so he could be quicker on his feet to improve his defense. (As he told MSG Networks' Rebecca Haarlow "You need to accept your weaknesses and work on them.")

His post game is exceptional. Right now he's weaving and powering his way to 61.3% from the field. Every layup missed Kanter is ready to follow with a put-back. They might not be highlight-worthy, but his tip-ins and mini-bank shots score the same number of points as a rim-shaking Kristaps Porzingis put-back slam.

He's eloquent on socio-political issues in the US and in his native Turkey. He's already selected his favorite Turkish restaurants in New York. When Haarlow asked if he could see himself in New York long term, Kanter said “Oh yeah, that’s my dream. That’s my hope. I want to finish my career here.”

C'mon man. Stop fitting in. You're killin' us. 

There's More Depth Than Hornacek Can Handle

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

The Knicks have too few wowee-holy-mackerel-did-you-see-that NBA stars, but they have too many role players worthy of a regular place in the rotation.

One benefit of running a trim eight or nine-man rotation (as Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek did in the tight loss to Detroit) is to give lineups an opportunity to build the chemistry this team so desperately lacks. There is also benefit in players knowing their roles, even if they don't particularly like them.

However, it leaves Willy Hernangomez's graceful, glorious post maneuvers languishing on the bench, while Kanter, still only 25, shines in the starting lineup, Kyle O'Quinn, 27, backs him up and Joakim Noah watches on TV wondering what will happen when he returns from suspension.

It leaves Michael Beasley fighting for time with Lance Thomas and Doug McDermott. Beasley has only cobbled together 31 minutes so far this season, even though Hornacek told WNBA legend turned TV host Swin Cash on MSG Networks' "The Jeff Hornacek Experience" that he could be a starter and does things that "not a lot of guys can do."

It leaves Mindaugas Kuzminskas fighting to just get out of a suit and into a jersey.

It also wastes one of the greatest benefits of a strong bench, which is to send them in when your starters can't do the job.

During halftime in Boston—after Hardaway and Porzingis collectively went 1-of-14, after Lee and Hardaway began squabbling, after Porzingis and Kanter played 'whose-screen-is-it-anyway'—Hornacek could have made changes to the lineup in the third quarter. But he didn't.   

Why not send in Beasley, with his soft left-hand, strong moves and sweet dishes? Why not send in Doug McDermott with his savvy off-the-ball cuts and heads-up blocks? Why not send in the three-and-D Demon of Summer League, Damyean Dotson? Why not send in the inexhaustible hustle machines Ron Baker and Kyle O'Quinn? 

Hornacek has a genuine challenge, but he needs to handle it better than he is now. 

The Leaders Have Yet to Rise

Andres Kudacki/Associated Press

Kristaps Porzingis is not leading the team, but that doesn't matter. The most talented player doesn't need to be nor necessarily should be "the leader."

There needn't be just one leader, nor just one kind of leader.

Coaches' leadership could be shown with a genius play designed in clutch time, an invigorating sideline pep talk, a long process of development in practice.

Players may show leadership through an impressive work ethic, a supportive arm around the shoulders, a rough kick in the shorts, a calm presence when nerves are high, an invigorating presence when energy is low, getting teammates to buckle down, getting teammates to loosen up, pulling a teammate away from a fight, backing up a teammate in a fight or any other number of ways.

The Knicks have several could-be leaders on the squad. Ramon Sessions and Jarrett Jack have given Frank Ntilikina advice on the sidelines. Beasley pulled Jack away from an altercation from James Harden during preseason. Baker, Kanter and O'Quinn always bring energy. Lance Thomas never lets anything (even his own dumb mistakes) bother him and is emerging as a leader, according to Hornacek on the "Jeff Hornacek Experience". Noah and Lee are the most vocal both during plays and between plays, giving direction, support (and in Noah's case, celebratory roars).   

The trouble is, if you add up all the could-be leaders on the team, it isn't enough right now.

Three games into the season and the Knicks have already showed signs of the kind of ill despondence one feels when one's eaten far, far too many onion rings. If the Knicks sped through all five stages (oh no, what have I done, should I see a therapist, maybe a priest, forget it I'll just eat some more onion rings) by midway through Q2 of Game 3, then something serious needs to change.

Like the starting lineup. Or the head coach.

"Fire Fisher" might have been a more rhythmic chant than "Fire Hornacek," but the Madison Square Garden crowd will find a way to make that phrase roll off the tongue before long.

Disagree with Sara Peters on Twitter @3FromThe7.