The New York Knicks Stink… And Discord Is Setting In

This just in: the New York Knicks stink.

Before you get mad and call me a hater let me explain my position and why I am saying this.

In the NBA, most players are prideful. You don’t get to this level of basketball without being the kind of person that lives and dies with every possession and absolutely loathes every loss.

So when you are 4-20 and have lost 10 straight games, you are usually not going to be a happy camper.

That’s what’s playing out in New York. As a result, the world largest fish bowl is pretty active.

Are the Knicks players thrilled with the Triangle Offense? No. They are losing and what they are being asked to do is uncomfortable and not natural and, oh yeah, they are losing.

It’s hard to convince guys that what’s being asked of them will yield success when your staring ten straight losses in the face.

Are the Knicks players happy with each other? No. They are losing and watching guys abandon the program to try and win a game. Toss in ten straight losses and you’ll get in-fighting and finger pointing.

Do the Knicks players dislike each other? For the most part, no; they are all in this together, but there are some guys that want to run the program and there are some others that don’t and there is frustration with that. The lapses in focus and effort are maddening inside the locker room, which is actually pretty normal on teams that are losing.

Is Carmelo Anthony looking for the door? Not specifically. But he doesn’t want to be part of a situation like this. He’d rather see things swing the other way, but he is struggling with the structure and the lack of success. This was supposed to work and it isn’t.

Carmelo looked at other situations in free agency seriously, but decided that Knicks president Phil Jackson, the $100 million in guaranteed contract money and the chance to win in New York was more appealing. That hasn’t necessarily changed. He’d still like those things to turn for the positive, but as each loss mounts, he understands he shoulders the blame and isn’t necessarily thrilled about it.

Is he looking for the door? Not yet, but that might change.

Unfortunately for the Knicks, there is no easy road to redemption here. They want cap flexibility in July, so they are not going to try and trade for a meaningful player today.

They’d like to offload some guys that are not part of the future, so you can expect the Knicks to be active as the trade market really opens up next Monday, but the truth is they just don’t have a lot to offer, especially if they won’t take back contract money.

So this is who they are, a 4-20 team that can’t figure things out. As the masses of media that encircle them on a day to day basis smell blood in the water, things like locker room discord and possible trade demands are going to be the story and it’s likely going to get worse before it gets better.

The Knicks stink right now, and they really don’t have anyone to blame but themselves.

The roster is set up to be disposable; that does not breed loyalty to team and system. They are running things many of the guys on the team are struggling to understand and trust especially when it gets tight in games and they are losing every one they compete in.

It is really unfortunate, because the Knicks do have some talent, but talent alone doesn’t win games in the NBA and that’s why the Knicks stink.