Being awful would bring better tomorrow for Knicks
Stars win championship, and the Knicks need to get them through the draft by losing
The Knicks taking a 118-113 loss to the Washington Wizards Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden after blowing a 27-point lead would cause consternation among Knicks fans. But that isn’t the case anymore as Knicks fans have checked out after Kristaps Porzingis tore his ACL that has him out for the season.
For the Knicks fans that are still engaged for whatever reason, they were thrilled that their team lost their eighth straight last night. They know the more losses the Knicks have, the more chances they get a top three pick in the NBA Draft.
This is where we are in the nondescript portion of the NBA season. It’s all about being so bad now so that the Knicks can have a better tomorrow one day. That’s the only thing interesting about this 23-36 team as they will miss the playoffs for the fifth straight season.
Yes, it is depressing that the Knicks are in this state again, but it’s for the best that they don’t win anymore games this season. In a league that features so many teams such as the Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns tanking to get the next NBA star, the Knicks need to keep up with them by losing more.
The players and the coaching staff will try to ruin that strategy. For them, these losses are on their record, so they are not going to keep losing just for a team to get a draft pick. Most of them will not be around next year, especially beleaguered Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek, so they couldn’t care less about the Knicks’ future. Even if some stay, they are not going to approach each game with the intention to lose. Pride and professionalism are at stake for them.
Fortunately for Knicks fans and management, the team is so bad that they don’t have to tank. They can lose games on their own. Now they are going to win a few. The law of averages suggest they are due for a win. They just can’t get to 30 wins, which is feasible.
The sad thing is they have to do it again for the next two seasons until they can form a big three through the draft. They need to get players that can build around Porzingis. It’s hard to get a game-changer through a trade, and no free agent of that caliber will want to waste his prime years playing for a team that is going nowhere.
The Knicks will be awful next season with Porzingis not likely starting the season, so they will get a headstart of winning the NBA lottery by being so bad from the first game of the season.
For fans that saw bad Knicks basketball for 20 seasons now, this is going to be an inconvenience. They want to see hope now. They want to watch meaningful basketball during the dark days of winter. They want to get back to what the team was in the 90s when they were a must-see TV. They want to go to sports bars in the winter and enjoy their night with the Knicks. They want to see the team matter.
It’s understandable if they feel that way, especially if most of them are in their seventies.
Still, this is the price the Knicks have to pay. There should be no more shortcuts to success. The new Knicks management team needs to stick with their plan of being awful and build around the team through the draft. That means no more making bizarre trades such as Phil Jackson trading for Derrick Rose or Isiah Thomas trading for Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry. No more signing free agents to accelerate the rebuilding process as Jackson did in signing Noah.
The Knicks have to bottom out several times before they become good. They can look at the Golden State Warriors as a way to build a team as they drafted Steph Curry in 2009 and Klay Thompson in 2011, which set the stage for them to be NBA champions several years later. They can look at the Oklahoma City Thunder for building a team when they (then-Seattle SuperSonics) drafted Kevin Durant in 2007 and Russell Westbrook in 2008, which set the stage for them to play in the NBA Finals in 2012.
Tanking to get a high pick is one thing, but drafting the right one is another.
The Knicks can’t worry about that right now. They just have to focus on being bad before they can be in a position to get it right or screw it up.
Who says this season and next year are meaningless? The fun part actually is now.
