Playing without the injured Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks lost all three of their games this week. First, they celebrated Christmas by getting run off the court and all-out embarrassed by the Thunder at the Garden (123-94). They looked to be getting back on their feet against the Atlantic Division-leading Raptors on Friday night, but that was before they let a nine-point halftime lead turn into a twelve-point loss (95-83) and got booed off their home court. The second leg of their home-and-home series with the Raps was just as bad as they were handled easily by the Canadian dinosaurs (115-100) on Saturday in Toronto.
The Thunder loss was easy enough to accept, but had the Knicks found a way to beat Toronto twice they would be within a game of first place in the division and the automatic trip to the playoffs that comes along with it. Instead, they're 9-21, five games out, staring upwards at three teams trying to lose on purpose and a Nets team that's shockingly bad. Lucky for the Knicks, today is December 31st. Tomorrow's a new year, and so now is a time to make some resolutions and, by god, stick to them. A time to try and change.
Here are just a few of the resolutions the Knicks should make if they want to turn around their season.
Stop Getting Injured: Yoga, massages, stretch bands, ice baths, rest, anti-gravity treadmills, watching out for banana peels, whatever it takes, the Knicks have to stop getting injured. They are currently missing their most important player, Carmelo Anthony, who's nursing a sprained left ankle and has missed three straight games. Their second most important player, center Tyson Chandler, missed twenty games with a fractured leg. Starting point guard Raymond Felton, who's struggled but is still an important player, has missed thirteen games with a panoply of lower body injuries, and backup point guard Pablo Prigioni has missed six games with a broken toe. The Knicks are without both of them at present. Ron Artest hasn't played much, slowed by a balky knee that's kept him from settling into a spot in the rotation. Kenyon Martin missed time with an abdominal strain. Amar'e Stoudemire's knees continue to be Amar'e Stoudemire's knees. The Knicks are a mash unit. It shows in their record.
Figure Out a Way to Stop Opposing Perimeter Players: The Knicks are currently sporting the league's 26th most efficient defense. They are a randomly switching, rotationless mess. Nowhere is their defense more clearly abominable than on the perimeter, where their funky assignment swapping has allowed the following guards to score 25 or more points (keep in mind, they've only played thirty games): Kemba Walker (twice), Jeff Teague, James Harden, John Wall, Kyrie Irving, Brandon Knight, Lou Williams, Kevin Martin, Arron Afflalo, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. They've allowed 23 to the likes of Terrence Ross and Jordan Crawford, 24 to Danny Green and 21 to Rodney Stuckey. Perimeter-oriented swingmen Paul George and Martell Webster have gone for thirty or more, as have three-point shooting bigs Kevin Love and Ryan Anderson.
The Knicks' defense struggles all over the place but it's especially obvious when you look at players who can use the pick-and-roll game to find open jumpers or lanes to drive through. There doesn't seem to be a defensive answer for the Knicks at the point guard position and Iman Shumpert has taken a big step back this season, but communicating better and making wiser decisions about switching would go a long way.
Stop Moping: The NBA is a tough business and there's no doubt Iman Shumpert has been treated poorly by Knicks management. He's had his role devalued, he's had his name floated in trade rumors and he seems to get yelled at by Mike Woodson on a regular basis. But it was only seven months ago that Shumpert took over Game Six in Indiana, bombing away from three as the Knicks tied the game in the third quarter. After that performance and the first somewhat healthy training camp of Shump's career, it seemed that big things were on the horizon this season. But alas, the rumors, the squabbling and, most significantly, the poor performance: Shumpert is averaging just 6.2 points a game, is shooting just 30% from three and has sleepwalked through quite a few games. His performance, considering he's healthy, has been as disappointing as any for the Knicks this season. The Knicks' second most-mopey player has been JR Smith, which relates to the Knicks' next resolution.
Stop Using Social Media: Social media flareups are by no means unique to the Knicks but they seem to afflict this team more than others, going back to that time JR tweeted that picture of that girl's big butt and last season's Instagram feud with Rihanna (We Are The New York Knicks!). Just yesterday, it was JR again, this time posting a picture of Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone on Instagram with "You Know The Sad Thing About Betrayal? It Never Comes From An Enemy" First, Casino? Really? There's two Godfather movies and Goodfellas out there to quote. And second, it's widely believed the message was in response to the Knicks' decision to "cut" Smith's younger brother, Chris, so that they can make room for somewhat promising big man Jeremy Tyler to be signed from their D-League team. Chris Smith's contract, roughly $500,000, is fully guaranteed for this season, which means he gets his money despite the move. Oh, right, and there's also the fact that the younger Smith, who's played two minutes this season, never deserved a spot on the roster to begin with and was likely only signed as an, ahem, "courtesy" to JR in the first place.
No More OPP: First, the Knicks tanked to get LeBron. Then, they coveted Carmelo so unabashedly they had to give up half their roster to get him. Even after that there was the toast Chris Paul gave at Carmelo's wedding, which led to speculation that he was planning to join Melo and Amar'e in New York.
This season, there have been rumors the Knicks have plans to sign Kevin Love during the summer of 2015. The Knicks' latest crack pipe dream is for Rajon Rondo to force a trade to New York. Now, it's hard to say where these rumors come from, but this covetousness is bordering on sinful. It's certainly embarrassing.
No More Pronouncements: To start the season, owner James Dolan let it be known that he thought the Knicks were good enough to win a championship. He also fired the general manager who built the roster he felt was good enough. Just this week, after their loss to the Thunder, Dolan addressed the team and told them that no coaching change or player trades are imminent. These kinds of pronouncements are ridiculous, especially when they are counter to logic. The roster isn't good enough to win a championship and the Knicks responded to Dolan's roster communique by blowing two straight to the team at the top of the division. No more talk.
Don't Chase Bad Money With Good: The way the Knicks look now, this is a lost season. They shouldn't trade what little they have in the way of future assets for a short-term fix like Kyle Lowry, a solid upgrade over Raymond Felton who is by no means a star and is a free agent at the end of the year. Some cap filler and Iman Shumpert might be alright, but Tim Hardaway Jr. and the Knicks' 2018 draft pick should both be off the table. Kyle Lowry (or someone similar) will not jump the Knicks up to the level of teams like Miami and Indiana. No sense wasting building blocks trying to pretend.
Don't Be Stubborn: If the Knicks ever get healthy, Mike Woodson needs to stop being so stubborn. That means increased playing time for whoever earns it, especially smooth-shooting, high-jumping Tim Hardaway Jr. and, should they merit it, Jeremy Tyler and Toure' Murry, who had a relatively strong game against Toronto on Saturday night. Nothing should be off limits, especially not the small lineups that worked so well last season and that Woodson has decided aren't effective despite loads of evidence to the contrary.
New Year's resolutions are usually nothing more than forgotten about lists, promises that go nowhere. There's little reason to think that the injuries will stop, that Mike Woodson will become more open minded, or that the Knicks will figure out how to play team defense. But some people do lose twenty pounds, stop smoking and quit being so damn impulsive. Maybe the Knicks can be that guy. If not, what has thus far been the most disappointing season in recent Knicks' history will keep on being just that.
You can follow Jonathan Fishner on Twitter @therealkingfish, and check out his blog The Real King Fish.
