Since the massive multi-player trade with the Denver Nuggets that brought Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to the Knicks, the team has gone 7-11, and this week fell below .500. Ever since they prematurely raised ticket prices for next season, the team has been an abysmal 1-7, and haven't played consistent defense in a single game. Hell, you know things are rough when LeBron James pities you. So what is going wrong, and can the downward spiral be stopped this season?
Knicks players are getting increasingly nervous about losing hold of a playoff spot: "We have done nothing yet. We are not in the playoffs right now. We are the seventh seed, but the way we are going we are declining and these teams are trying to make their push for the playoffs," said Amare Stoudemire. And while everyone knew that Anthony wasn't a defensive-minded player, even Coach Mike D'Antoni is surprised at just how inconsistent the offense has been: "Everything is so hard. It's not so fluid. It's almost like mud in your engine. We're just chugging...We just don't have presence out there. And I think we're tight down the fourth. As soon as something goes wrong we hang our head."
All the offense is being run through Anthony and Stoudemire now, and the team has become the rare NBA team with two extremely prolific shot takers. As WSJ points out, D'Antoni's ultra-fast "Seven Second Or Less" scoring philosophy which he's used throughout his coaching career seems to be on the backburner. But without results, D'Antoni's reputation as an "offensive mastermind", as well as his job, are looking slightly imperiled.
Some people are blaming Anthony, calling him Stephon Marbury 2.0; some think that for better or worse, he's a selfish offensive player who nevertheless can "get wherever he wants to all the time." CBS has a slightly different take on it, saying that this was exactly what fans should have expected but were too blinded by excitement to see coming: "It's because the Knicks are an average team in a conference with four good teams, and they're not one of them. They used to be awful and now they're hit and miss. Anthony wasn't going to change that, because Anthony is what he is, not what the Knicks and their fans wanted him to be."
Before the big trade, the Knicks blamed their last losing streak on the constant rumor mill which followed the team for several weeks in February; but now, as Frank Isola points out, "There's no fight in this club. That's what the Knicks traded to Denver." As for the Nuggets, who no longer have a go-to superstar, but do have the positive contributions of the three former Knicks Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and Raymond Felton: they've gone 12-4 since the big trade, and are holding onto the fifth playoff seed in the very competitive West.
