Nobody expected the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets to act as contenders in the East this season, many had the Knicks remaining out of the playoff bracket, while some assumed that the Nets would stumble out as well. With stars (or, at least, “star contracts”) dotting each roster, however, it was expected that these teams would at least compete with some semblance of joie de vivre.
Instead, both teams look listless. The Nets are the relatively more successful squad, working at 6-9 and just percentage points behind the Indiana Pacers for the final spot in the East. The Knicks, however, are a wreck – only managing 79 points in a home loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, watching as their record fell to 4-14.
Two days after Amar’e Stoudemire, working on a bad back and two devastated knees, questioned New York’s effort, Carmelo Anthony returned from the shelf to gut away a game on what is clearly a painful bad back of his own. Following the loss, Anthony was asked about Stoudemire’s comments from Friday:
“He has his opinion,’’ Anthony said. “Sometimes we go out there and it’s like we don’t want to be out there. We’re not giving effort like we’re supposed to. As leader of the team, he had the right to step up to the plate.’’
The “it’s like we don’t want to be out there”-line is the kicker, here. Under a younger, player-friendly coach in Derek Fisher and away from former coach Mike Woodson’s stagnant offense, the Knicks were supposed to be at least enjoyable to watch this season. The team’s defense ranks amongst the league’s worst, implementation of the triangle offense has been a failure out of the gates, however, as mismatched parts and injuries have created a miserable show.
There has been plenty of rightful criticism of the offense’s reliance on midrange two-point shots, leading some to wonder if the offense is archaic by NBA standards. Ideally, long twos are not your best move, but you can run a devastating attack with based off of midrange shots if you have the personnel to hit them. The triangle encourages penetration as a way to begin the offensive set, and it wants a close shot at the rim above all. The triangle offense is not an offense designed to set up 19-footers.
The problem is that the Knicks’ players appear to think it does, the Knicks players are not great at hitting 19-footers, and the Knicks players are a middling catch and shoot team so far this season. They’re attempting to disabuse themselves of the notion that every shot has to come following a dribble or 12, and the results have been lackluster. Even if Samuel Dalembert looks like Bill Walton out there.
Samuel Dalembert is not in president Phil Jackson’s long term plans, however. Neither is Jose Calderon, a very good but ball-dominant point guard that seems like an inappropriate fit for Jackson’s offense. This was supposed to be the year the Knicks tested things out while encouraging a new mindset, and it’s unfortunate to see how things have become so mind-numbingly dull.
The Nets are always dull. Always. Even when Kevin Garnett is pretending to bite a guy’s hand, this team is always boring. Avery Johnson, P.J. Carlesimo, Jason Kidd and now Lionel Hollins have all attempted to bring some life to this roster, but it remains a listless and unappealing squad in spite of its massive payroll.
After missing six of seven shots and sitting for several long stretches of second half play on Sunday against the Bulls, Joe Johnson Joe Johnson’ed his way through the talk with the press following Brooklyn’s 102-84 loss:
Johnson and Deron Williams combined to shoot 4-19 in the loss. They combined to make $523,600.66 on Sunday.
Now, that’s cherry-picking, but it was at least assumed that the Nets would manage to circle the wagons with the addition of veteran head coach Lionel Hollins. It wasn’t assumed that, after November’s end, the Nets would be behind the Pacers in the standings – a Pacer team that has missed David West, C.J. Watson and Rodney Stuckey on top of their season-killing Paul George injury. The Nets just seem tired and over it, and they also seem to overestimate their abilities when talking with the press:
It’s fine to have confidence in your locker room, and it’s also fine to try to beg general manager Billy King not to make any more terrible trades, but the Nets aren’t “close” to anything, even if Andrei Kirilenko (who has yet to hit a field goal this year) has returned to practice. If by “close” Deron Williams means “we’re going to wait this terrible group of Eastern teams out and sneak into the playoffs,” then, yeah. They’re close.
That’s just so sad, though.
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