The New York Knicks are a never-ending punchline. The names change, but the losing persists and the NBA franchise continues presenting themselves as fodder for comedians and late night talk show hosts. When you have a storied, high profile franchise, in the media capital of the world, it’s inevitable.
David Fizdale is the latest casualty in the James Dolan reign of terror, as he got canned like a tuna yesterday.
From Mike D’Antoni to Mike Woodson to Derek Fisher to Jeff Hornacek, it’s been different faces but consistently terrible results. A lot of free expert NBA picks go with the Knicks to lose, and often to lose against the spread; understandably so. The NYK track record does not invite optimism.
At 4-18, this team has been a complete disaster; especially lately. They have lost eight in a row, with their last two defeats coming by 44 and 41 points respectively. If you can use any version of the word “respect” for this team and franchise which currently sports the worst record in the NBA.
Perhaps the best lies in tanking, getting the most lottery balls for the draft, and hoping that they can nab the top selection come May and then take James Wiseman or LaMelo Ball come June. Of course that all hinges on how strongly you believe in either of those prospects. This is major mess that is going to take several NBA Drafts and multiple free agent cycles to resolve.
In the short term, it’s interim coach Mike Miller’s problem, but the issues go above and beyond him to GM Scott Perry and President Steve Mills. The real issue of course lies at the very top, with Dolan, but he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.
It’s too bad; because the fans in Gotham deserve much better than the dumpster fire train wreck that currently resides at Madison Square Garden.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.