Without being contrarian, it would be tough to argue that any one team in the NBA had a more impressive first half performance than the 48-4 Warriors. The Spurs have their historic scoring margin, the Thunder have a chance to beat both of them, and the Raptors have been surprisingly good in the East. However, winning isn’t the only thing that impresses me. Take the way the New York Knicks took all the good will they built up in the face of seemingly insurmountable circumstance and quickly dismantled it. How abruptly they deflated a fan base that didn’t even have any air to let out back in the summer.
Yet, despite coming into the season as a team that was supposed to be in the running for a top-five pick they don’t even own, there has just been a steady growth of hope and happiness that had been the theme of the season through 40 games or so of .500 basketball. Some talked about pushing for a playoff spot, and the biggest story was always how incredible Kristaps Porzingis had been.
The real joy of fandom was talking about how well Langston Galloway, Lance Thomas, and Derrick Williams were contributing at different times. No matter what everyone thought about Carmelo Anthony, he was playing well and maybe for the first time in his career, actually elevating everyone around him.
Then came the awful slide and the firing of Derek Fisher. In and of itself, that didn’t even destroy the psyche of Knick fans. If there is anyone they’d be hesitant to defend as a group, it would have been Fisher. His refusal to set a rotation, stick to his system or stop messing with current NBA player’s estranged wives, kept him from being a protected Knick in the fans’ hearts.
It didn’t help that he had no experience and that he seemed out of his league as a rookie head coach the year before. It also didn’t help that he received an exorbitant five-year contract worth $25 million despite barely being retired, nor did fans forget they almost had Steve Kerr, who was Phil Jackson’s first choice.
Jackson himself is still received warily by the fans despite his in-ground pool filled with championship rings. From hiring Fisher, to the perception of him as a mercenary and his own inexperience as an executive, his pedigree always preceded his résumé, which of course also came with an exorbitant contract.
Now, with Fisher gone, Jackson has been rumored to not be here for long either. He doesn’t have the option to get out of his contract this summer, but there have been questions about whether he wants to see his deal to its completion.
The next victim could be Carmelo, who after being steadfast in his stance of not wanting to be traded could be moved to a contender by the trade deadline. Right after Fisher was fired, and the season looked like it was going sink further into the tank than it already was, one of the first nightmares New Yorkers had was whether Anthony’s sore knees were going to cause him to shut it down after the All-Star break for the second consecutive season.
Now, an even worse fate could be facing him, as a three-team trade that would send him to the Cavaliers, Kevin Love to the Celtics, and Timofey Mozgov back to the Knicks is being floated. Even if Anthony is publicly stating he won’t be traded, we’ve seen that things can change quickly.
Nov. 23, 2015 - Miami, FL, USA - New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony tries to pass the defense of Miami Heat’s Hassan Whiteside during the fourth quarter on Monday, Nov. 23, 2015, at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami (Photo by Hector Gabino/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire)
If the Celtics are willing to part with some of their very delicious unprotected picks from Brooklyn, then that could change things in terms of hope. It would put the team in a different light, but there would be some hope coming this offseason, with a new coach and a potentially very high draft pick. For now, the prospect of having Kurt Rambis lead a Knicks team without their best player is pretty tough to deal with.
The real shame is how low the bar was set this year. For everything that has been wrong with the Knicks, the idea that they had this barren roster and no draft pick, but, at least, they had close to double the wins of the Nets and close to triple of the 76ers. They weren’t among the dregs in the East. The bar wasn’t set at playoffs or bust, and part of the reason Fisher is gone is because he publicly admitted that wasn’t the goal. Knicks fans were fine with that even if it was weird to hear him say it. The bar was set low for fans, and for a few months, the team was lapping the expectations.
It isn’t Rambis’ fault that he is the head coach of this team on a terrible downside, and it probably isn’t his fault he had to come out and say his goal was making the playoffs. However, expectations are changing with all these decisions, and it’s tough to stand behind the team that spent the first half of the season amazing crowds at Madison Square Garden with their energy, who now have this aura of tanking without a pick going forward. After last season, it felt like being a fan couldn’t get any flatter, yet this group unexpectedly put some air back into the fan base. With all that transpired these past three weeks, it’s difficult to be excited about the next 27 games of New York Knick basketball.