New York Knicks: Are They Secretly Tanking?

For the sake of Phil Jackson‘s legacy as a member of the front office, Derek Fisher‘s future as an NBA coach and Carmelo Anthony‘s status as one of the top players of this generation, I really hope that the New York Knicks had the intentions of being this bad this season.

The Knicks have stumbled out of the gates to a 4-17 record — the third-worst in the league in front of only the Detroit Pistons and the intentionally bad Philadelphia 76ers. Twenty games isn’t a big sample size, but it certainly isn’t a small one, and the clock is ticking on New York’s chances of making the playoffs.

Although it still has plenty of flaws, the roster, as currently constructed, should be able to make the playoffs in the laughable Eastern Conference.

In fairness, Jose Calderon and Andrea Bargnani have both missed time this season, Melo doesn’t look like himself (maybe he’s too focused on being a business mogul) and J.R. Smith continues to do J.R. Smith things and may or may not have had the mumps.

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The triangle offense has been a bust thus far, as the Knicks players seem more worried about where they should be on offense rather than worrying about putting the ball through the hoop. That’s a problem. Jackson and Fisher are both preaching patience with the offense, but there has to be more going on in-house.

For we all we know, the Zen Master could be evaluating the team with an assassin’s mentality. Amar’e Stoudemire and Andrea Bargnani’s expiring contracts will bring loads of cap space for next summer when New York can take their shot at free agents-to-be Marc Gasol and Rajon Rondo.

Jackson may be using this season as a litmus test to see who can handle playing for Fisher within the triangle principles. My guess would be that this roster will be gutted by the start of next season.

The question is: is Jackson intentionally sabotaging his roster by making them run an offense best suited for the 1990’s because he knew they had no chance of making noise this season? Also, am I giving Jackson too much of the benefit of the doubt if I believe that theory is true?

Look, the narrative of tanking has gotten way out of hand thanks to the ways of the 76ers and now any team with a terrible record will be under the tanking microscope. I have read stories accusing the Lakers of tanking because of their similarly outdated style of play and the salary cap strapping contract they chose to give Kobe Bryant.

But, it is a real thing if teams start out the season with a 4-17 record.

The idea of obtaining a top five pick starts to gain more traction as the struggles grow and having a high pick in the 2015 draft would be a welcomed asset for Jackson to have in his back pocket. Cleveland was able to turn their lottery luck into Kevin Love this summer.

A big market team (or in Cleveland’s case, having LeBron James) with a high draft pick is an extremely lethal combination. It could have an affect on free agents, or any potential trade talks for an impact player.

If someone asked me prior to this season if I thought the Knicks were secretly trying to tank I would have told you no. The trade for Calderon was supposed to make them better in the short term and Jackson’s pitch to Melo had to be centered around making the Knicks competitive as quickly as possible.

Having said that, their reluctance to make any adjustments on the offensive end seems a bit fishy.

Usually when a team with preseason playoff expectations that plays in New York is 4-17, the coaches and front office attempt to make some kind of adjustments. You don’t say things like this to the Daily News following a loss to the Hawks on Nov. 11:

"“I want to say that this is something that I discussed with my coaching staff and the players about three weeks ago, that this is going to be a very tough start, and we can’t get disappointed if things don’t go well right away. It’s all part of the process, I think we think in terms of basketball-wise, Thanksgiving, December, as times when you really say, if you haven’t gotten it by now, we have to think about if you are a learner or if you’re not a learner as ballplayers, individual ballplayers, at that time.” – Phil Jackson"

At this point in time, the Knicks are lacking ballplayers that qualify as learners, but maybe that was a part of the plan for the Zen Master all along.

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