Why the Knicks’ poor play is both unsurprising and hilarious

The fact that the New York Knicks have lost 13 of their last 16 games, while also losing three of their last four since the February 10 trade deadline, makes it even more hilarious that they decided to keep their current core together and not make a single trade.

The Knicks currently sit at 25-34, good for the 12th seed out East. With their remaining schedule ranking fourth in difficulty according to Tankathon, it is likely that the season is already over for the New York Knicks.

However, for most Knicks fans. this is not surprising, because, for some reason, the front office of the team decided to not make any moves to change up the team.

Whether it was to bolster the roster and make a playoff push, or break it down and rebuild, the front office did nothing. They sat around and did nothing all day on February 10 and left us fans with the same roster we’ve had to watch all season.

Here is why the Knicks playing poorly after the trade deadline is both unsurprising and hilarious

As previously mentioned, the Knicks have lost three of their last four games since the trade deadline, and if you have been following the team, you will know this is not surprising. While yes, a small portion of this lack of success can be pinpointed at the loss of RJ Barrett, the Knicks were not winning many games beforehand, either.

The Knicks were not very successful before the trade deadline, making it seem as if they would choose a direction – either rebuild or make a playoff push. This made it even more surprising when the Knicks did not make a single trade at the deadline, deciding to stick with the same roster that brought them little success.

For the sake of this article, I will say that I did not care if the Knicks decided to rebuild or push for a playoff spot, I just wanted some moves to be made. Specifically, they should have traded away disappointing veterans like Alec Burks, Kemba Walker, and Nerlens Noel to clear up room for some of the young players.

I remember sitting in my dorm room waiting for the Knicks to make at least one move at the deadline. However, as time went on and the 3:00 deadline came closer and closer. I began to lose hope that the Knicks would do anything. And I was right to lose hope.

With the Knicks blowing two 20+ point leads against subpar teams in a span of three games, it has become quite comical to watch this team struggle after refusing to make any moves at the deadline.

I truly do not understand how the front office watched this team struggle for the first half of the season and told themselves that this is the roster they want to run with.

I try not to criticize the Knicks front office too often because they have done a very solid job recently in terms of rebuilding this team. However, with signings like Evan Fournier and Kemba Walker being massively disappointing, alongside the lack of trade deadline moves, it is starting to become difficult to back them up.

While I personally believe the best thing the Knicks could have done was break down the roster and rebuild, I would not have been too angry if they decided to trade some young assets away to make a playoff push, depending on the assets.

It does not make any sense for a team to play poorly, lose multiple games, yet not play their young players. And with guys like Taj Gibson getting more playing time than Obi Toppin recently, it may be time for head coach Tom Thibodeau to go as well.

The way the team is built does not suit Thibs’ “win-at-all-costs” mentality, and it has cost the team big-time in several moments this year. And it will continue to harm the team if he does not play the young guys in an effort to help their development.

I truly do not understand why the Knicks front office thought keeping the same exact roster at the trade deadline was a good idea. Not only is this roster dysfunctional, but it doesn’t win games, something should have changed prior to February 10.

Hopefully, the Knicks make some changes to both the roster and coaching staff during the offseason, because if not, things could get very rough in the coming years.