New York Knicks Disaster Season

The biggest disaster in the Eastern Conference since 2014 is the New York Knicks. On March 18th, 2014 the Knicks hired Phil Jackson to take over as the president of the team. His first move was to sign Lamar Odom, who at the time was dealing with a drug problem. Jackson successfully ruined the last year of Carmelo Anthony's prime and under Jackson's tenure the Knicks went 80-166 in three seasons. The Knicks have had two picks who have turned out to look promising in Kristaps Porzingis and Kevin Knox, but some who haven't panned out the way they hoped so far in Frank Ntilikina, who is extremely good defensively but hasn't figure it out offensively.

The Knicks have been the laughing stock of the league for sometime now and they can't even take right. The Knicks have been competing for a top 3 pick in the draft and the best they've done so far is 4th, with this year maybe looking different. Currently the Knicks have the worst record in the entire league, at 10-39, and have a chance to finally win the lottery. The last time the Knicks had the #1 overall pick was in 1985, it was Patrick Ewing. The Knicks haven't had the fortune of the lottery in a long time and this season the chance for Zion Williamson is growing everyday in New York.

The Knicks players aren't taking all of this losing well however. Enes Kanter keeps getting hit with DNPs and he is frustrated with the lack of time. He has even stated that he would prefer the Knicks to just trade him instead of keeping him around. Tim Hardaway has stated that all of this losing is "a tough pill to swallow." All of these guys are competitors and they want to win at the highest level possible, to tell someone who has won in every phase in their basketball career that they want them to lose is obviously going to affect them. Courtney Lee is currently not getting all of the minutes he wants but he is trying to stay as positive as he can. Lee is staying professional and waiting for his number to be called so he can prove that he can still play at a very high level.

Enes Kanter is having the most frustrating season of all the Knicks players. He is on a contract year and will be trying to negotiate a new deal. With him barley playing it will be hard for him to convince teams to pay him all of the money he deserves. Kanter also is a team player and one of the best teammates in the league. During the Knicks game against Washington, in London, Kanter watched that game from his couch in his jersey cheering the team on. It has also been a rough season politically. Kanter couldn't go the game against the Wizards in London due to the fact he is worried about being killed. Kanter is currently excited from his home country of Turkey because he has been very outspoken about the Turkish President. This has caused Kanter's father to be arrested and his family to publicly disown him. Kanter was benched for his 4th straight game against the Hornets on Monday and had the fans chanting to put him in. It was a home game for the Knicks and the fans wanted Kanter to come in and play. Enes is beloved by the fans of New York and his lack of playing is frustrating for all the fans to watch.

Frank Ntilikina even faced his own frustrations against the Knicks on Christmas Day. His mother flew all the way from France to watch her son play in his first ever Christmas Day game. Christmas Day is considered the beginning of the real NBA season because that is the time where teams decide to fully commit to tanking or to compete for the playoffs. Frank was apparently very frustrated with his lack of playing time saying with an edge "Did I know that I would not play?" Frank however knows he needs to be more confident in the offensive side of the ball and the fans are dying for him to become more confident. Frank is an excellent defender, even Kyrie Irving praising him after their first game against each other last year.

Kristaps Porzingis is a restricted free agent this offseason, instead of just giving him the max offer the Knicks have decided to match any offer he gets in the offseason. This would give New York extra cash to try to bring in a huge free agent to play with Kristaps, but it could ruin the relationship with him and come back to bite them down the road. Gordon Hayward is an example of this, Utah didn't give him a max offer years ago and then when he became an unrestricted free agent he decided to not resign with them, due to the fact they didn't give him a max offer.

The Knicks have put Tim Hardaway and Courtney Lee on the trading block, hoping to get some sort of future assets or do a salary dump with Hardaway's contract. Enes Kanter is heading down the buyout road with him growing more and more frustrated with lack of playing time. Even Trey Burke is on the trading block with the Knicks hoping to get a 2nd round pick for him. Every player on the team could be traded with the exception of Kristaps. Anthony Davis is in the Knicks trade targets and they are going to try to make a huge offer for him, including unprotected 1st round picks.

This Knicks season has became a complete disaster with the only end coming if they can pull off either Zion or Anthony Davis. New York fans haven't had much to root for in the past few years and hopefully that will change. The future could be bright in New York or it could just be another New York Knicks specialty of letting all the fans down.